Points of Origin by John L. Orr *Patron’s Choice* - Episode 221
Terrible Book Club
Paris is on the case again this week! Our Patron Patrick requested that we read and review Points of Origin saying, “This book was written as a fictional story about a fictional investigator trying to catch a serial arsonist who was terrorizing California in the 1980s. The author was a[n] actual fire investigator at the time and this [was] based off of real events. Literally real events! Because it turns out the author John Orr, the arson investigator, was [convicted of being] the real life arsonist…This book was even used during his trial. In the book he had knowledge about the...
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Just Call Me Orville: The Story Of Orville Redenbacher by Robert Topping *Patron's Choice* - Episode 220
Terrible Book Club
Get out your corn kernels and hot oil, today, folks, 'cause we're goin' poppin'! Today's book comes to us from our longtime Patron Arrant who said, "I read [something] that might be fascinating for you guys rather than simple bad: "Just Call Me Orville" by Robert Topping, which is about the life and rise of Orville Redenbacher. Yes, the Popcorn guy. I quite enjoyed it and I was surprised by how fascinating and genuine he was as a person. And if anything, it fits into the weird food universe since he's so synonymous with the popcorn brand that people didn't even realize he was a real man and...
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Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland *Special Guest Mary Parker* - Episode 219
Terrible Book Club
Chris was called away on a years-long shipping voyage by a conniving relative, so he can’t be with us today. In his stead, Mary returns! You may remember her from such episodes as this past October’s The Phantom of Manhattan, 2021's Die Hamletmachine, and our now beloved E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in His Adventure on Earth episode from 2023. We discuss our experience reading Fanny Hill by John Cleland, originally published in 1748 and since routinely banned as the first known published English-language erotica. Mary found a copy of this in a little free library years ago and since then, it...
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The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD (the book from the AppleTV Show Severance) - Episode 218
Terrible Book Club
We revert to our previous format this week with both Chris and Paris reviewing today's book. The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You was published in the last week of January of 2025 by Apple Books and immediately caught our attention since Paris has been obsessed with Severance since it debuted and Chris was recruited into the madness this year. We thought it would be fun to check out a prop from a TV show that had become a real book. Listen as we do Ricken's self-help exercises and become severed in real-time! If you are trying to keep yourself completely pure before watching...
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Who Killed the Fonz? By James Boice *Patron’s Choice* - Episode 217
Terrible Book Club
This week, Paris turns up the Perturbator records, dons some aviators and a trenchcoat, and heads out into the rainy nights of 1980s Milwaukee to help our Patron Fred. Fred wrote to us saying, “...the sheer notion of a murder mystery with Happy Days characters that is apparently officially sanctioned by whoever owns the rights is enough to give me pause. I can’t even find any information about why th[is] book was made and I just end up asking myself, “Who is this for?” because while I don’t doubt that Happy Days still has a large fan base, I don’t think many people would want to...
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In The Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland *Patron’s Choice* - Episode 216
Terrible Book Club
Chris has to travel to another reality again today - this time, it's a Grecian fantasy world that isn't actually Greek! Speaking of Greece, thank you to The Metal Classicist for pronunciation help on today's episode. Our Patron Austin sent Chris on this voyage through the world of In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland for his Patron's Choice this year saying this was, "...a book about a girlfailure who ends up step-cousins to the royal family, all of which become inexplicably interested in either becoming her friend, fucking her, or both. Some highlights includ[e] a first chapter that...
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A Live Reading of The Horse of the Invisible from Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson *Special Guests D & Ken of Antiques Freaks* - Episode 215
Terrible Book Club
Nearly 5 years ago to the day, we reviewed The Horse of the Invisible with our very best podfriends the . Years later, we realized that we had never actually read the story aloud as we had promised you, as we've done with all the other Carnacki stories. Once again, we were wrong - there is yet one more 'nack to Carn, so the Terrible Antique Book Freaks assembled anew! Dust off your and enjoy a second round of the gobble-neighing contest, all set to the impeccable scoring and SFX talents of Chris (). If you haven't had enough invisible horse after you listen to this episode, you can...
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson - Episode 214
Terrible Book Club
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson has been floating around in the American pop cultural stew for the last 22 years. Paris had always been interested in reading it, so when it happened to be in a pile of books some friends were giving away, she heeded the call of our dark lord and tossed it on the schedule for 2025. Get on your fancy new bicycles, affix a lightbulb to the front, grab a can of PBR, and somehow also balance a bowl of Shredded Wheat while you're at it for a wild journey from the 1880s through the early 20th...
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Black Moon Rising by Frankie Rose (Callie Hart) *Patron's Choice* - Episode 213
Terrible Book Club
Chris had to go to space again this week. This time, he takes us to a galaxy kinda far away and sort of a while ago (or maybe now? or in the future?) because our Patron Miles requested Black Moon Rising for his Patron's Choice this year. Miles wrote to us saying, "Since I requested two books in a row that were both deeply political, I figured I'd instead give you guys something lighter: published Star Wars fanfiction. The book I'm referring to is Black Moon Rising by Frankie Rose and Callie Hart...to give you an idea of how egregious it is, it starts with a prologue that feels...
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Rabid Heart by Jeremy Wagner - Episode 212
Terrible Book Club
Somehow we ended up with another zombie romance around Valentine’s Day for the second year in a row. Paris chose Rabid Heart for this season after her partner randomly turned to her one day last year and said, “Hey did you realize Jeremy Wagner from Broken Hope is an author?” This piqued her interest since she fondly remembers being at Broken Hope’s comeback show at Maryland Death Fest 13 years ago. It’s not usually her type of death metal, but something about that show was extra fun and every now and then when she's feeling ignorant and wants some dumb slammy shit, she may put...
info_outlineChris found The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler out in the wild at a bookstore in NH when he was on a trip earlier this year. Considering apps themselves are often terrible, a book about an app seemed like a good candidate for the show.
Musings and derailments include: Chris gets really upset about the recurring stereotype of shitty musician boyfriends/husbands and we wonder about several things in the text such as British chins, sending cookies in Ubers, the power of polka dots, and babies smelling like fresh bread.
In addition to our usual barnyard language, today’s episode includes discussion or mention of infidelity, closeting, and the horrors of capitalism in app form.