Mark is enthusiastic about Brendan Kerner's skyjacking nonfiction The Skies Belong to Us.  It's our first live show! Mark and Jon record in the same room for the first time ever. (We'd fooled you, hadn't we?) This episode we also talk about our most notable takeaways from the unplanned 'hiatus year', and--and!--we fulfill our long ago promise to each read a book  recommended by the other that is outside our comfort zones. Oh, they were. Derek Landy's Skullduggery Pleasant series Jon's...

Mark is enthusiastic about Neil Gaiman's latest The Ocean at the End of the Lane. We also discuss whether Brad Pitt is entitled to a victory lap for his adaptation of a show-favourite novel, Max Brooks' World War Z. We cover: Our initial discussion of WWZ Brad Pitt eating The Vanity Fair article 'Brad's War' J. Michael Straczynski Matthew Michael Carnahan Damon Lindelof The details of the film's original third act The ultimately futile buffness of Matthew Fox Steven Soderbergh's...

Jon endorses Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken. We also mention: Military Scifi Ender's Game and Movie John Scalzi's Old Man's War John Steakley's Armor Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need Is Kill Joe Haldeman's The Forever War Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers Stanislaw Lem's Return from the Stars Louis Zamperini Ben MacIntrye Wilbert Rideau Jack O'Connell

Mark feels the love for the godfather of soul behavioural economic theory. We mention: Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow; his Wikipedia page; his TED talk. Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper Franzenfreude Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook Zadie Smith Jilly Cooper (Jodhpurs! Or are they breeches? Equestrians, debate amongst yourselves. Either way, homes is getting fresh.) Fifty Shades of Grey Diana Gabaldon's...

Jon endorses Jens Lapidus’ Easy Money We also mention: Daniel Suarez's Kill Decision Tom McCarthy's Remainder, Men in Space, and C Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York Dan Chaon's Stay Awake Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker and booktrailer Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins Dan Ariely's The Honest Truth About Dishonesty Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow James Sallis Driven Emily St. John Mandel The Lola Quartet Jim Thompson Donald Westlake Simon Lelic's Rapture/A Thousand Cuts...

Mark is enthusiastic about the Stephanie Plum novels. There was a (gasp!) delay between recording and posting this episode, so a lot of the books that we talk about as 'coming soon' are now, in fact, 'out recently' and in some cases 'out quite a while ago'. We're still excited about them, though. We talk about: Janet Evanovich Kristen Cashore's Bitterblue Dan Chaon's short story collection Stay Awake. The episode where Mark is enthusiastic about his novel Await Your Reply is here, and...

John endorses Rainbow Rowell's Attachments We also chat about: Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad Interactive character map by Flip Zembowicz  Paul Haggis Steve Jobs Biography Don Delillo's White Noise Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding William Gibson's Zero History Perry Moore's Hero Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why Jonathan Tropper, Mill Millington, and Nick Hornby David Nicholl's One Day Matt Beaumont's e

Mark endorses Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. (A note on pronunciation: Mark and I are both Canadian and so pronounce the letter 'Z' as 'zed', however, that completely ruins the wordplay of the title of Brooks' book, so we played along and used the American pronunciation.) We also discussed: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (book) Moneyball (movie) Nate Silver Quants Bill James Boomerang by Michael Lewis Margin Call Brad Pitt eating Michael...

Special guest Taylor Stevens endorses Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox. There is a story behind this episode. It was recorded right before Christmas in 2011. I really dug The Informationist. I was super keen to chat with Taylor. The second Vanessa Munroe book was on the way. I emailed her and she graciously agreed to come on the show. Jon and I both read The Innocent. The day came. We called Taylor. The phone connection was horrible. WE made her change phones. Twice. The connection still wasn't...

Special guest Kevin Chong endorses David McGimpsey's Li'l Bastard. We also mention: Kevin Chong's Baroque-a-nova (French Cover) Kevin Chong's Neil Young Nation Kevin Chong's Beauty + Pity (trailers) Kevin Chong's My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love with the Sport of Kings Kevin Chong on Wikipedia, cited as an accomplished show dog handle, and for an appearance in Blood Sport 2 Steven Galloway Zoolander David McGimpsey's CoachHouse page David McGimpsey's Enroute column on...

This episode was recorded at the beginning of December, so apologies for all the nonsensical temporal references to 'last week', and stuff that 'just' happened. Something fresher soon, if all goes according to plan, but in the meantime please enjoy the sounds of us waxing on and off about: The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson Jacob Rubin's article on Slate.com, The Death of Titles The New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2011 Gridzbi Spudvetch/Boom! by Mark Haddon The woman who sued over the...

It's the missing episode 76! Where have you been, young lady? Your father and I were sick with worry. We mention: The National Book Awards The Giller Prize Laura Miller at Salon, on book awards Who the Hell is Arcade Fire? It was the New York Times: when book awards tried to go mainstream. More Laura Miller: can we even agree what makes great literature? Amazon's Best Books of 2011. (In other news: 2011 - still not over at the time of this posting.) Keith Gessen's Vanity Fair...

Jon endorses John Hart’s Iron House. We also mention: The Adventures of Tintin: Collector's Gift Set Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling The Art Museum Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor A History Of The World In 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor A History Of The World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage James Burke's Connections Chew Fables, Preacher, Transmetropolitian Iron House by John Hart on the indigo book blog

In this episode Jon endorses Joshua Foer's Moonwalking With Einstein. We also mention: Richard K. Morgan's 'The Steel Remains' Ian Tregillis' 'Bitter Seeds' Additional info: The new mass market paperback release of 'Bitter Seeds' will include the prequel short story 'What Doctor Gottlieb Saw'. Correction: The audio version of Bitter Seeds' sequel 'The Coldest War' will be released in December 2011, not 2010. Ian Tregillis on the Wild Cards series Malcolm Gladwell's ketchup...

Mark endorses Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies. We also mention: Enthusiasticast Episode 59 The Steel Remains by Richard K Morgan Juliet Marillier's Son of the Shadows Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game — Enthusiasticast Episode 69 Peter Darbyshire On Orson Scott Card at the province (also http://www.peterdarbyshire.com) www.thomaslitchford.com Enthusiasticast Episode 50 where Jon goes Romance. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot  

Special guest Catherine S. endorses Patrick Dewitt's The Sisters Brothers. We also talk about: McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses as read by Brad Pitt McCarthy's The Crossing McCarthy's Blood Meridian McCarthy's No Country for Old Men McCarthy's The Road James Franco Adapting McCarthy's ‘Child of God’ Todd Field directed Beautiful Children Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz in the movie of All The Pretty Horses Matt Damon in Contagion The Lion King Ryan Gosling's Drive The Booker...

Jon endorses Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. We also mention: Amazon working on a subscription library for books, says WSJ (http://thisismynext.com) Ernest Cline's Ready Player One as read by Wil Wheaton The 33 Best Books Remaining on the Last Day of the Borders in the Time Warner Center at theawl.com The Harvard Co-op Bookstore Walter Macken WakeField Press James Sallis' Drive Fanboys the movie

Mark endorses Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem. We also mention: Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus Sheila Heti's How Should a Person Be. Kate Beaton's Hark a Vagrant. Charlotte Gill's Eating Dirt Dani Couture's Algoma Adam Gopnik's Winter: Five Windows On The Season Douglas Coupland's and Graham Roumieu's Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People Neal Stephenson's Reamde "The Mongoliad" By Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, and Friends from Subutai Michael Crichton's...

Jon endorses Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain. We also mention: Gosling in Drive Girl With a Dragon Tattoo Moneyball Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Brad Bird and The Iron Giant EW.com Fall Movie Preview Spiderman, Batman, Avengers and Superman Bridesmaids, Hangover II, Terrible Bosses, and The Change Up The Adventures Tin Tin The second Sherlock Holmes movie The Iron Lady My Week With Marilyn, Colin Clark, and The Prince and The Showgirl Contagion, The Bourne...

Mark endorses Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. We also mention Data-driven literary criticism Spoilers Don’t Spoil Anything by Jonah Lehrer (Wired Science) The Mechanic Muse Column in the New York Times War Horse entry at Wikipedia Toronto scientists determine that fiction can change personalities in Quill and Quire Ender's Game covers over time. 1, 2, 3, 4. "The Starship Trooper's version of Harry Potter." ~ Jon. Heinlein's Starship Troopers Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash Orson...

Special guest Emily St John Mandel endorses Irmgard Keun’s After Midnight. We also mention: TheMillions Review of Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains macfreedom.com Last Night in Montreal by Emily St John Mandel The Singer's Gun by Emily St John Mandel Unbridled Book's announcement of Emily St John Mandel's 3rd novel Emily's tribute to Emilie Jacobson of Curtis Brown Patrick Brown's review of Emily Mandel's The Singer's Gun Emily Mandel's author...

Special guest Ed Champion endorses Dana Spiotta's Stone Arabia We also mention: Bat Segundo Show and EdRants.com Come Meet the Author, but Open Your Wallet NYT Douglas Coupland The IFOA William Gaddis's The Recognitions McNally Jackson 1000 Fan Theory Neil Gaiman Alamo Draft House Movie Poster Series Jennifer Egan's A Visit from The Goon Squad Preacher's F**k Communism lighter David Mitchell's New York tour Edith Bolton reading series Thomas Kinkade and James Mason Stone...

Mark endorses Ben MacIntyre's Agent Zigzag. We also mention: The end of Harry Potter movie franchise Da Vinci Code Infinite Jest The Secret The Alchemist Citizen Kane Lord of The Rings Game of Thrones Ben Macintyre entry Wikipedia Ben Macintyre's The Englishman's Daughter Eddie Chapman's entry on Wikipedia Book Of Lies by Mary Horlock The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Erik Larson's Devil in the White in City Ben...

Jon endorses Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why. We also mention: John Locke becoming a million seller on Kindle, 99 cents at a time. .xxx TLD entry on Wikipedia His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik Studios pull back from San Diego Comic Con (ew.com) Beastly book and movie Meghan Cox Gurdon's Darkness Too Visible from WSJ.com Sliding Doors Falling Down Gossip Girl series Music: Thanks to Drift for licensing ‘Invisible’ under creative commons.

Mark endorses Wilbert Rideau's In the Place of Justice. We also mention: Rockstar Games' L.A. Noire Christine Love's Digital: A Love Story Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus TEDTalk Jon had a TI-99 4a, not an Amiga FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez DCU Online Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King and movie The Green Mile by Stephen King OZ The TV Series To Kill A Mockingbird Angola Louisiana State Penitentiary The Angolite prison newspaper Wilbert Rideau on...