Episodes

  • What the Spell? (Life’s a Witch #1) by Brittany Geragotelis - Episode 203
    Oct 22 2024

    This was recommended eons ago in the age of 2021 by Twitter user KirliaHookah who described this book as, “Hey what if we crossed Sabrina the Teenage Witch with Mean Girls poorly?" which turned out to be perfectly accurate.

    Musings and derailments in this episode include: Chris's DeathNote powers, George Michael Clooney, the Dance of Tables, the limits of school guidance counselors, Chris's criminal past, and we play a magic word guessing game.

    In addition to our barnyard langauge, today's episode includes discussion or mention of bullying.

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    1 hr and 35 mins
  • The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth *Special Guest Mary Parker* - Episode 202
    Oct 8 2024

    Happy Octoberween, dear listeners! In honor of the season, we bring you some spook-adjacent books for October's episodes. Today, our favorite guest Mary Parker is back with the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera musical - in book form! Although it was also turned into a musical, but remember this book is not the sequel to the original Phantom of the Opera book by Gaston Leroux...yeah.

    Musings and derailments in this episode include: the morning routine underneath the Opera Populaire, Paris transforms into Girl Boss Mammon, Mary becomes a Valley Girl Priest, and Chris plays God.

    In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion or mention of ableism, accidents leading to physical disfigurement, guns, murder, and suicide.

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    2 hrs and 15 mins
  • Second, Ambitions (Book #2 of Last Intentions) by SJ Saunders *Patron's Choice* - Episode 201
    Sep 24 2024

    Julius the Nice Dragon offered us a true Patron's Choice: Return to The Dunks or choose a new path. We still had plenty of iced coffees to trade, so we made the only choice we could as Bostonians.

    We rarely recommend prerequisites for episodes, but we think you should check out our review of the first book in this series before listening to today's episode because a) it's a good episode and b) we'll address elements of the series in that episode that we skipped today: Episode 165 - First, Impressions (Book #1 of Last Intentions) by SJ Saunders Patron’s Choice

    Musings and derailments in this episode include: Boston, the MBTA, Mass Metal Gear Solid, store brand names, and a brief glimpse into Fourth Wing horrors (this was recorded much earlier this year and was perhaps where Chris got his idea to surprise Paris on the 200th episode).

    *Local primaries and the general election are both coming up fast! Head to vote.org to check your voter registration, register to vote, preview your next ballot, or request a mail-in or absentee ballot.*

    Referenced in this episode:

    • Weird Studies - Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films: On the post-apocalyptic sci-fi glory of the Mad Max franchise
    • Folding Ideas - Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins: Another fantastic Dan Olson piece on a book publishing MLM/pyramid scheme/scam

    In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode discusses body horror, action-movie violence, suicide, guns/weapons, and medical experimentation like cloning, mind control, and genetic alteration.

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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Fourth Wing Storytime & Terriblo's Choice Awards - Episode 200 Livestream Spectacular
    Sep 10 2024

    Chris read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros on his own and retold the plot to Paris on this very special Twitch livestream to celebrate 200 episodes of Terrible Book Club. Afterwards, we bestow honors on the last 100 books over 11 categories in the 2nd edition of Terriblo's Choice Awards. Watch the video version of this episode for free on our Patreon!

    *The general election is coming up fast! Head to vote.org to check your voter registration, register to vote, preview your next ballot, or request a mail-in or absentee ballot.*

    (1:58:47) The 2nd Quadrennial Terriblo's Choice Awards - Episodes 101-199:

    • Biggest Surprise: The Golden Basement
    • Most Unholy Abomination: Splattering Yet Endearing
    • Most Toxic Message: The 1776 Report
    • The ExcavatingLizard My Immortal Award for Worst Editing/or Proofreading: Tied!
      • Interview with the Devil (Part I - Victor's Account)
      • Millenium University
    • Most Likely to Become an Off-Broadway Musical: Drag Queen Dino Fighters
    • Most Disappointing Character Arc: Things in Jars
    • Mary Sue Award: The Man Without Qualities
    • Pepe LePew Needless Romance Award: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in His Adventure on Earth
    • James Randi Award for Worst Non-Fiction
      • General: Feeding the Dragon
      • Health & Woo-Woo Wellness: Genesis Diet
    • Best Romance:
      • in a Drama: Valentine's Day For Baby Zeke
      • in a Comedy: The Hog
    • Worst Book from Ep. 101-199: Reaper's Creek by Onision

    In addition to our usual barnyard language, this episode includes references to sex, murder, violence, weapons, and poisoning.

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    3 hrs and 10 mins
  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree *Patron's Choice* - Episode 199
    Aug 27 2024

    We finally got around to checking out this 2023 BookTok phenomenon thanks to our Patron Austin, who described Legends & Lattes as, "a cozy and wholesome story about overcoming your past and settling down to...side with the mob threatening to burn down your establishment.”

    Despite the nerdy theme, the focus today is more on the cozy than the fantastical. Our poisoned expectations are completely subverted and we've rarely been so delighted. In addition to our usual barnyard language, we warn you that this discussion will make you think about how you could really go for one of those right now.

    Musings and derailments in this episode include: Dunkin’ Orcnuts, Squirrel alarms, language failures, Fren-talian gnomes, the extended Mr. Rat family, and our jubilance over not having to read pornography becomes mildly pornographic in our delirium.

    *Local primaries and the general election are both coming up fast! Head to vote.org to check your voter registration, register to vote, preview your next ballot, or request a mail-in or absentee ballot.*

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Less Terrible Book Club 2024 - Episode 198
    Aug 13 2024
    This time, we read stuff NOT for TBC, listened to music, watched TV and movies, and played video games! After a failed guest episode, we had to fill the schedule so we decided to do another recap of the non-TBC books, music, and video games we've enjoyed so far this year like we did at the end of last year. If this is your first time listening to this show, maybe choose another episode because today we’re talking about our personal media consumption so far in 2024, so you’ll (mostly) hear about things we actually liked for once. Musings and derailments in this episode include: our love for the Hendrick’s seasonal collection and the Polar Summer Seasonal 2024 flavor line-up; can sexy clowns enter into the Clown Registry? the best and only use for AI; heavy metal doctors; sneaking Andrew Tate into trad metal playlists on YouTube; and Skibidi Toilet Trees. *Local primaries and the general election are both coming up fast! Head to vote.org to check your voter registration, register to vote, preview your next ballot, or request a mail-in or absentee ballot.* Books (3:35): Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Grave Goods & A Murderous Procession from The Mistress of the Art of Death series by Ariana Franklin What My Bones Know by Samantha Foo Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinneman Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe The Serpent’s Tale by Ariana Franklin The Deep by Daveed Diggs, Rivers Solomon, and William Hutson Egg: A Dozen Ovatures by Lizzie Stark Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha A Fool and His Money by Anne Wroe Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud Music (48:40): Heavy Music: Ulcerate - Cutting The Throat Of God Vitriol - Suffer And Become Aborted - Vault Of Horrors Wormed - Omegon Entheos - “All for Nothing” Gaerea Vulvodynia Wormhole Smothered Sun Pathogenic Cognitive Ice Giant Leylines Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose Savage Oath - Divine Battle Writhen Hilt - Ancient Sword Cult RHÛN - Conveyance in Death Hulder - Verses in Oath Houle - Ciel Cendre et Mis​è​re Noire Myth Carver - “Crimson Terrain” & “King of the Pyre” Triumpher - Storming the Walls Demon Chrome - Hung, Drawn, and Quartered The Watcher - Your Turn to Die Electronic, Pop, & Other: Emil Rottmayer oDDling Hotel Pools A.L.I.S.O.N. Jim Kirkwood Maggie Rogers Sabrina Carpenter Obscurest Vinyl - “I Glued My Balls To My Butthole Again” & “You Look Like You Could Use a Fuckin’ Lamp” Vivid Bloom - Out of Focus Glass Beams - Mahal Movies/TV (1:29:40): House of the Dragon, Delicious in Dungeon, Fallout, The Boys, Great Pottery Throwdown, The Acolyte, Fargo, Blue Eye Samurai, Dune Part Two, Mad Max: Furiosa, Late Night with the Devil Video Games (1:59:50): Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Gobsmacked
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    2 hrs and 14 mins
  • Cultural Passport: Book 1 by Shivangi Sharma - Episode 197
    Jul 30 2024

    A fateful tweet last summer by the author themselves brought this book into our terrible orbit. At first glance, it looked like a short read by someone with expertise in the field they were writing about, so we figured why not? We've never done a travel book on the show! Little did we know: our passports were about to be stamped for a journey on a AI-fueled train to capitalist hell.

    Today's episode includes our usual barnyard language and some references to colonialism and sex.

    Please Note: Chris accidentally mispronounced Cristiano Rinaldo's first name as Christian throughout the entire episode. Whoops!

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    1 hr and 45 mins
  • Home Grown Worries by Alex Donahue - Episode 196
    Jul 16 2024

    This week we discuss Home Grown Worries by Alex Donahue. We reviewed Alex’s other book, Leon & Chris, back in Episode 114 in 2022; he’s hoping that this is an improvement on that one as this is its spiritual successor. In turn, this episode is our spiritual successor to Episode 114.

    Once again, Donahue's book has great art for kids and it seems like he actually took some of our advice from last time; gone are nearly all of the mechanical writing errors and tedium! While we didn't feel the core story was very captivating, we're impressed with Donahue's masochism. Never have we had an author ask us to review their work - and go through with it - twice. If anything, this is a sign that he has the fortitude to keep refining his work and succeed as an author.

    Musings and derailments in this episode include: the bounds of furry art, Castlevania, and singing the fake song in the book.

    In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode discusses violence and bullying between adolescents.

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    1 hr and 13 mins