Episode 038: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

In this episode, we discuss National Book Award winner Far From the Tree by Robin Benway.

Kim suggests They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.

Amy suggests The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas.

Molly suggests Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares.

Cash Money suggests White Oleander by Janet Fitch.

Lindsey suggests the television show The Fosters (and definitely NOT The Secret Life of the American Teenager).

Nate suggests We Are Okay by Nina LaCour and Freaky Friday (w/ Jodie Foster: he specified this, but it did not make the final cut).

Also because no one will understand what is meant by Molly's statement, Kim has—on occasion—cosplayed as as Rita Skeeter.

Episode 037: The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos

I pulled one of our proof of concept episodes out of the vault for this week since I (Nathan) suggested this book in our discussion of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez. Here we talk about The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos, published in 2016.  We used to believe that brevity was the soul of wit, so we aren't as detailed here as we tend to be now, but this book deserves your attention. 

We used to only suggest a handful of books (and did so as a group), so here we suggest Paper Towns by John Green, She's Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick, and I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest.

Episode 036: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez.

We prove to be less than perfect podcasters: the recording came out a bit too quiet and a lot of compression was used to salvage comments. Things sound a little fuzzy or underwater. (Don't worry Nate and Amy were not forced to discuss this book while underwater.) We manage to discuss National Book Award finalist I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez.

Kim suggests Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani.

Molly suggests Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina, Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez, A Step From Heaven by An Na.

Lindsey suggests City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson, I Was Here by Gayle Forman, and the television program Veronica Mars.

Nate suggests We Are Okay by Nina LaCour.

¢a$h Mo₦€¥ suggests Gabi a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez, and the film Real Women Have Curves.

Nathan suggests "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths and The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos.

Amy suggests Gabi Girl in Pieces as well, and ties up our conversation on Lady Bird.

Episode 035: Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

In this episode we discuss the debut novel by S.K. Ali the Morris Award finalist Saints and Misfits.

We discuss how we're hoping for a whole series of books set in the same town (possibly following the side characters), the potential arguments the novel lays out about owning the way you are portrayed, and how Nate never wants anyone to look at his forehead.

Nate suggests The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

Lindsey suggests Ms. Marvel. (Lindsey also describes a song during our Random Comments section; Amy joked that it was probably by Fall Out Boy. The song is actually "I'm Just a Kid" by Simple Plan).

Nathan suggests Exit Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston.

Our next recording session takes place on May 7th, we'll be talking about I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and Far From the Tree by Robin Benway. You can expect those episodes over the next few weeks.

If you want to see what we'll be reading after that, please check out our Goodreads group in the next few days. We'll be adding the books we'll be discussing in the coming months. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/415645-is-it-teen-enough-for-you-now

Episode 034: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Okay, so, we loved this book so much that we decided to follow its format and work our usual routine backwards to replicate the reverse chronology of the book. We also had an unexpected 45 minute delay before recording, so we are way more keyed up than usual, and goofiness ensues. Please hang in there (especially if your name is Energy Lockhart).

Molly suggests all of E. Lockhart's other books.

Amy suggests Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.

Kim suggests The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (Nathan suggests the film), Here Lies Daniel Tate by Cristin Terril, and Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson.

Is It Teen Enough alum Katie (via Goodreads) suggests  the movie Memento.

Nathan suggests the films Six Degrees of Separation and The Last Seduction, and the book Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis.

Episode 033: BT Gottfred

Hey, we got BT Gottfred on the line to talk about The Nerdy and the Dirty! We also talked about walking Peter Stormare's dog, sensitivity readers, and what would be lost from The Nerdy and The Dirty if BT subscribed to the "show don't tell" school of writing (spoiler: it'd be a lot).

Episode 032: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Because of some major technical difficulties, you can expect this episode to be less well-edited: sound levels are not fully set, and we meander far more than Nathan generally allows. BUT, we do have an in-depth discussion of Laini Taylor's Strange The Dreamer, complete with wildly divergent opinions, (srsly, though, we love you Laini Taylor, come on the show!),

We discuss the concept of crafting read-a-likes today and during this informal discussion, Lindsey suggests I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, and Nate suggests Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman.

Additionally, Lindsey suggests Bitter Blue by Kristin Cashore and the Netflix series Jessica Jones.

Cash Money suggests The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry and Scythe by Neal Shusterman.

Amy seconds Scythe.

Kim suggests Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Nathan suggests the 1985 feature film Ladyhawke and the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (you should also read the manga by Hiromu Arakawa).

Nate suggests The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black and Shadow Shaper by Daniel José Older.

There is also a lot of discussion of the book And I Darken by Kiersten White: our sort of perennially favorite divisive title.

If you want to see what titles we're planning to read (or have already read) or just be friendly with us, join our Goodreads group at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/415645-is-it-teen-enough-for-you-now