We round out season 3 of our little podcast with another graphic novel, this time from revered author Alison Bechdel and her 2006 masterpiece, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. There was so much to discuss here, including, but not limited to sexual identity, death in the family, and toxic citrus spokespeople of the 1970's. This is an important book for anyone struggling with their sense of self that may clash with the world and family they grew up in. Even with our best coverage, there were...

Now is the time to explore strange new alien civilizations, and thereby explore strange new ideas within ourselves with Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 sci-fi classic The Left Hand of Darkness! We found a lot to engage with this month, especially in gender and how it impacts our personal lives and even how we think about ourselves. As humans, we may not have a physical shifting sexual identity like the citizens of Gethen, but perhaps how we think about ourselves can shift. Be aware, though, that...

None of us can ever know what it was like to live the harrowing experience of being a black slave in America in the early 1800's, but Octavia Butler was determined to try and give her readers a taste in 1979's Kindred. While the book was not perfect, it did leave us asking and mulling over some important questions about who we are and who we might be in different situations. Plus we get to talk about mosquito born illnesses! Slip away with us and learn about some often overlooked roots of...

Let us sit upon the ground and listen to nerdy podcasts about the death of kings. Alas, poor Hamlet! We reviewed it, dear listener! There was so much ground to cover in this legendary play by William Shakespeare and we mulled over wordplay, anachronisms, and a surprising amount of historical religious talk. As this is one of Felicia's favorite plays and the first time Ben has read it, there was a lively conversation to be had all around. Let's go to the theater tonight, it's only a penny...

It can be hard putting your life back together after the traumas of war, especially if you are perceiving different portions of your life out of order. Or at least you think you are. Come unstuck with us as we wander passively through the life and times of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five and the many events that were inspired from author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s life. We had a blast talking about aliens, post-modernism, and current treatments for ancient psychiatric conditions. Listen...

It's time we come clean about something with you...we covered the Secret History by Donna Tartt and we just can't hold it in any longer. Listen in on our confessions of researching the details of the murder filled book along with the mysterious life of its author. We also ask the question, should studying Classics be killed off once and for all? The weather is getting colder, put on your houndstooth jacket and let's go for a walk by the ravine.

The pumpkins are out, the wind is getting colder, it's time to hit the books and resurrect the dead! This month, we climb the glaciers of Switzerland and explore the involved and fascinating life of Frankenstein's author Mary Shelley. Further, we doggedly pursue topics including forceps delivery, the Year Without a Summer, and whatever Kenneth Branagh was trying to do with the 1994 film. If you don't deal with this episode now, you'll be haunted by it forever.

Come along with us as we try to rescue ourselves from our young demographically targeted book yet, A Wrinkle In Time! While we may not cover impossible distances instantaneously, we do cover our regular broad range of topics, this time including child prodigies, maturity, and Ben Franklin quotes taken badly out of context. If you want to fight It and the Darkness, all you need to do is tune into this episode. And probably some other things, too, but never mind that.

This month we're going underground talking about the book, movie, and phenomena that is Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. We break the first two rules of the club pretty brazenly as we discuss masculinity, facing your feelings honestly, and "hitting rock bottom", whatever that means. We even discuss having more than one perspective on life in our medical corner. If tonight is your first time with Questioning the Canon...then you have to listen.

For America's birthday month, we decided to peruse Mark Twain's much discussed Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There were so many topics to cover including geography, the long-term effects of alcoholism, river travel, and, of course, the unique life of the author himself. What better way to pass a hot July afternoon than floating down the podcast river with us? Everyone aboard? We're casting off!

Set out with us on our summer reading journey with the Hobbit by the wizard himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. We find a lot of comfortable knowledge holes to explore in our travels without too many bumps or things we wish we didn't know along the way. In our medical corner we give a shout out to Elizabeth Rowley and T1 International and the work they do to make insulin affordable and available for everyone, heroic work if there ever was such. Our discussion of Tolkien gets downright explosive, too,...

Here's quite a book for our season 3 opener! If you've ever been curious what the Fountainhead is and what it's all about, come join for a rousing discussion on this much pointed to tome. We dive into the details of Ayn Rand's life, her followers, and what exactly it means to be "truly selfish". We also discuss a particularly relevant medication that had a big influence on Rand's writing style. The most individualist thing you can do is listen to us! Also thank you to Jeremy Kanne for...

In our giant-sized season closer, we square up against Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen. This book contains so many details, nuggets, and plot elements that we had more than usual to say. Too much? You decide true, believer! We had a great time with this one, though, and are looking forward to what next season is going to bring, too. Ka-pow!

The winds and rain of March seem like the perfect time to bring you our take on Truman Capote's true crime novel, In Cold Blood. In the episode, we discuss about the appeal of the true crime genre, prisons, and of course something relevant from the book in our medical corner. We had a lot to say and had a good time doing it was we careened recklessly from topic to topic like Dick and Perry careened around the country. Will we ever get caught? Tune in and find out!

Sometimes beautiful things are also very hard things and the Color Purple by Alice Walker is just like that. In our discussion we range over topics including abuse, racial tensions, and also the idea of rebuilding yourself after tremendous trauma. Our talk on the author, too, goes down some rabbit holes that I was frankly not expecting to go down. Appreciate the color purple and avoid pissing off God, join us!

Perhaps appropriate for January and the post-holidays slump, we take a look at the Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's singular novel. As we swim out, we discuss honesty in writing, personality disorders, and even have a culinary portion where we try a "delicacy" from the book. There's much to discuss with this classic but if you expect nothing from us, you'll never be disappointed.

Okay, hear me out, there was a lot more to talk about with Little Women than I thought there would be. We cartwheel over the topics of domesticity, sexual orientation, and transcendental history, all while wondering if Beth is going to pull through (spoiler, she's toast). If our train is on time, we hope to be home in time to surprise you for Christmas. Make a guy of it and paddle your own canoe!

In this month's episode, we finally get around to reading a book I had deliberately been avoiding my whole life, The Kite Runner. I'm not exactly sure what made me want to read it, but coming back to things you've long been avoiding did to turn out to be on point at least. Come along with us as we discuss unfamiliar cultures, classes in society, and even lung cancer. For you, I'd do this a thousand times over.

For our October episode, we ran into the darkness with horror master Steven King and his first novel Carrie. We touch on high school trauma, anatomy, and have an in depth discussion on the life and works of King himself. Of course, we watched the 1976 Sissy Spacek film and of course we have plenty to say about that, too, as well as question what we really even mean by "the canon" to being with. Come get spooky with us!

Come along with us as we explore sex, drugs, and camp in Jacqueline Susann's bestseller Valley of the Dolls. We also...talk about the movie...yeesh. And because nothing's ever easy, we paired our conversation with a host of technical problems including the internet fuzzing out, portions needing rerecorded, and an apartment hallway smoke detector that needs new batteries! You'll find it all and in this month's episode, which, as always, for a ton of fun for us to make.

Come along with us as we explore sex, drugs, and camp in Jacqueline Susann's bestseller Valley of the Dolls. We also...talk about the movie...yeesh. And because nothing's ever easy, we paired our conversation with a host of technical problems including the internet fuzzing out, portions needing rerecorded, and an apartment hallway smoke detector that needs new batteries! You'll find it all and in this month's episode, which, as always, for a ton of fun for us to make.

It's late summer and that means it's time to celebrate the great American road trip! Maybe this trip with the Joads wasn't so great after all, but the Grapes of Wrath sure was. Ride with us in our podcast jalopy as we talk about unions, socialism, and sticking up for the little guy, all the while trying to keep the fambly together. We got just a dollar in the tank, we can make it.

Next on our summer reading list, we voyage into a little science fiction with Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. We dig into biases, warfare, and latent messages within the book and it turns out there was a lot of important topics to talk about. Suit up! We've got Battle in five minutes!

Perhaps you've heard of this little book? For our summer reading, we start with To Kill a Mockingbird and discuss not only its obvious racial implications but also the creative writing process, world building, and character development. Stay tuned and you may even learn why outhouses were important (spoiler, it's not what you're thinking!). Our podcast icon is by Jeremy Kanne Our intro and outro music is "Piggly Wiggly" by the Johnny Dodds Trio