 And we are live to talk about Ludd in the Mist. And we're all dressed up as we promised we would be. Hello, hello, hello, hello. You finished at 5.22 a.m. Hello. All right, so I don't, do we, everyone knows who everyone is, right? We don't need introductions, we don't need to explain our costumes unless we want to explain our costumes. Actually, I was gonna say Mara, I think sewed her own costume. So I, so this thing I've ever sewed in my entire life. So I'm very proud. Anyone else want to tell us about their crafting? Bought a cloak from Amazon. It looks beautiful. You hit that button perfectly. I'm pretty happy. I figure for $20. Yes, we tried, although I was, I forgot, was it time to you Mara, about how like having read the book, I don't know that like, dressing as fairies makes as much sense as dressing as like fancy townspeople. Yeah, it's more fun to dress as fairies. I've been referring to this as who villain the war on drugs. Not, not inaccurate. All right, well, I guess we should. I'm wearing a blanket as a cloak. And I just want to point out that no one would know that was a blanket. If you know, I would never know. Well, like I've also decided I wear capes this year. So I've been doing blanket capes a lot, but I have a cloak pin. So I figured you can't see it, but I'm like, it should, it should have. You or someone should have done like Elf as a superhero. You know, like, what if Marvel had like a Faye? Well, they did, but no one liked them. Thor 2. Oh, hella. No, Thor 2, The Dark Elves. Oh, I did see Thor 2, but I think I was sure. I was almost going to do Vera when we were all playing D&D together. My half elf rogue, but I decided I was going to go more springtime rather than like surly. I mean, it is a very springy book. I mean, just from the cover. Also, I think, am I the only one with this edition? Yeah, I'm jealous of that edition. I know it's beautiful, but I didn't see it when I was looking to buy it. Oh, I got it from Blackwells, but it was, I think it was cheaper than whatever that was. That's a nice art too. Yeah. I think that's the original, the cover that Amanda's showing. I think that was when it was originally published. That was the art. Nice, very pretty. Mine is cheap, self-pugged. Yeah, I have the same one, Mark. Oh, do all of us have ears? I have like ear cuffs that are hard to see actually on camera, so I may as well not have done it, but. I got a two-pack, so I have bigger ones, but I decided I'm going to go smaller ears because otherwise it just looked dopey. I did the same. The big ones were like kind of weird, but they look really cute on my kids. They like my youngest looks like Mr. Thomas. Yeah, because he saw the girl into the ears. I'm an adult, that's my excuse. Yeah, I feel like when I put these on like at home, I was like, oh, these are like really obvious, but when you're like on webcam, you can like barely see it, so. Yeah. You look fair enough. You have like the crown. If I didn't have the crown, I'd really be up a creek. I like that crown. It's a good crown. The crown was like the first like costume anything I bought, and then only like, I think it was when you guys were talking about getting ready for this and about like the struggles of the ears. I was like, I didn't even think about getting ears. I was like, I should get ears. And then I saw these cuffs and I was like, I'd wear this to Renfair, so I got the cuffs. Well, full disclosure, I would not have purchased ears, but they came with my crown. So they were really a twofer. Perfect. I already had most of this from previous things. The only things I bought were the cloak and the ears, so. Yeah, so this is a pirate shirt. It's a Seinfeld shirt. Well, it's like an 18th century design. I got it from Bernadette Banner's channel. So it's a nice base, and I feel like I can put other things over it in the future. Oh, certainly. Definitely, obviously, a pirate costume. Well, clearly. Whenever I'm going to dress up like Kyle Haven someday. Or, yeah. Kenneth. Honestly, you could dress as anyone in the world of the realm of the elderlings with that shirt. That is, you know what? That is true. So mission accomplished. Just like put on a check vest and you're the fool. Yeah. Yeah. You know, just like start crying and I'll look like Fitz at any point in his life. He does cry a lot. Well, I mean, just also his life deserves tears. I love Bernadette Banner, too. And she is very, this was her beginner project. And I think she's being a little generous, but I made it work. Oh, you mean with like, she's overestimating what beginners can do? I think she doesn't provide enough information for, but I have rewatched that video approximately 200 times at this point. So. All right. Then your expert level. Yes. Yeah, I didn't make anything. I only spent money. Well, this is my, this is my, well, I'll give you guys a sneak preview for a vlog that will come at the end of the year. I'm using this as an opportunity to listen to audiobooks. So I'm selling and listening to audiobooks and this is giving me like a reason to do that every quarter. So I'm vlogging my travails and we'll have, hopefully I will be a sewing master by the end of this year. I'm just imagining a vlog in which you're doing, I know it's not cross stitch, but if you were doing cross stitch and it was like monogramming something, but you're listening to an audiobook and suddenly what you're writing in your monogram turns into like something from the book. Well, it's interesting I listened to a lot of read me romance audiobooks. That could get really interesting really quickly. All right, so. We'll sing things. To begin actually talking about Let in the Mids, I think we typically go around to give our star ratings as a starting point. So if we want to Bethany, Amanda, like, you know, clockwise. I gave it five stars. I loved it. Okay, Amanda. I gave it three stars because I liked it. I thought it was fine. I think it's good for what it's doing because it's just not something I'm into. It has a Tolkien style that I'm like about. So it's it's it's me, not the book. I mean, it is very old style. I mean, this is pre told. I mean, it's so even older. Yeah, I'm aware Tolkien is maybe inspired by but like I read Tolkien first. So yeah, no, for sure. It is that style. And I'm like, it doesn't work for my brain function. But I liked it. It's fine. Three stars. Well, I'm excited because I gave it four stars. So I feel like we don't have any hating this time around. I really I thought that this was like a delightful version of what it was like you, Amanda. It's not like it doesn't quite to me have the like clarity and impact of a Tolkien's prose. So that holds it back a little bit for me. But like this is just different than anything I've ever read before in a delightful way. Yeah, I also give it five stars. So all right, no one's going to rant today. So I think that's it. We can all go home. Well, guys, we've been looking for this for a book like this for a while. I mean, I have jokes at the expense of some of the characters, but it's not a rant. In fairness, the book itself is like at the expense of the characters. Oh, my gosh, Nathaniel. Which is a big difference from Tolkien. Tolkien loves his characters. And Hope Mearlis does not love her characters like Tolkien does. Nathaniel is the epitome of a himbo becoming self-aware. Yeah, like a middle-aged himbo becoming self-aware. Basically, you get introduced to him where he's just like, oh, wait, I like my son. Oh, my god, what about me? I'm going to give you a hug. What? Am I amuse you to know that? I'm not killing this father game. He just realized he liked his son. I'm beginning the book. The son's like 10. It's been a while. I mean, toxic masculinity. The alienated from their tender feelings towards their children. Nathaniel is just a victim of the patriarchy. He is a himbo who's becoming self-aware, and he fails up all the time. He's like, oh, wow, this worked out. It was fated. It amuse you to know. Because I was reading it physically. And in my head, I didn't choose this. It just happened that every time Nathaniel spoke, in my mind, the voice that I was hearing saying his lines was Benoit Blanc from The Nights Out Movies. He just is, like, the oldy feyland Benoit Blanc. OK. So he's just like Daniel Craig. You see your picture in here. He's like needlessly verbose, circuitous ways, the way that Benoit Blanc does. So, yeah. And I loved him and Ambrose. They're just kind of bros. They're just doing browy stuff. They're really like children. So as to reminding you of Stardust or inspiring Stardust, yeah, when I first started it, I was like, well, obviously, Gaiman likes this. And this is obviously why he wrote Stardust. But that being said, because that was my initial impression of it and because I do know the story of Stardust, I fully expected very quickly to go to Fairyland. And we basically almost were not in Fairyland at all. Yeah, this is really like a political murder mystery. Yeah. Well, let's go under if Stardust is like his going to Fairyland fanfic of this book. You know, like if you want. He's like, damn, I like that book, but I wish we had spent more time in Fairyland. Let me fix it. Yeah. Yeah, there's, I don't know. I think part of what I like about this book is it has like weirdly dark moments in it, like the whole like, hey, let's have a competition to see who can make this person off themselves. I was like, oh, God. And it's conveyed casually that I was like, did I? Am I reading this correctly? And yes, I was. I was like, wow. Can we talk about the Duke for a minute? I was very confused by the Duke character. The Duke was a lot. The Duke was a full on rapist. And like everyone was like way into the Duke. Like all the maidens were still wearing like his symbol and stuff. And like, he was the one who was like giving the fairy fruit to the town. So like, what does that say about fairy fruit? Cause I feel like fairy fruit is like, you know, a metaphor for like the spark of creativity. Now humanity needs it, but it's being like given out by a full on rapist. So I mean, what does this say? So like I was confused by some of the metaphors in the book. Yeah. He feels like he delights in the harm of others. And then like, he's like a light set. Well, I saw a review that I thought was really interesting that was wondering if this might have been written when there were people trying to like, I don't know, I can't think of the word, but like trying to ban alcohol if there was like a temperance movement. Cause it does have kind of like the light side and the dark side of the fairy fruit. And I could see it if it's supposed to be a metaphor for alcohol of like how it can be a problem depending on the person who like is using it or giving it, but it can also like- Does the additions that you guys have have the forward by Neil Gaiman? No. I don't think so. So like, I won't read the whole thing. It's not very long, but like the last paragraph he addresses like the different like things that people have like accused it of being. So he says, I have seen additions of lead in the mist which proclaim it to be a thinly disguised parable for the class struggle. Had it been written in the 1960s, it would, I have no doubt, have been seen as a tale about mind expansion. But it seems to me that this is most of all a book about reconciliation, the balancing and twining of the mundane and the miraculous we need both after all. There's little golden miracle of a book adult in the best sense and as the best fantasy should be far from reassuring. Yeah, I mean, it makes me think of two very popular fantasy stories that come later. One is Lord of the Rings, like people talking about the, what does the ring mean? I think that's a good sign of like metaphorical richness in something is that it could be interpreted a lot of different ways. The other thing though that I was just thinking about while we were talking about fairy fruit is it does, it's sort of like Voldemort, the name Voldemort and Harry Potter where like nobody wants to call it wants to just say fairy fruit. Except that I like that it becomes decensin in the way that like they refer to it in legalese as like silk instead because like they refuse to officially legally acknowledge the existence of fairy fruit. And so then you're actually charged with the possession of like silk instead of like fairy fruit. And then you can't actually like prosecute that because like how are you gonna have evidence supporting that you have a thing that you're not like legally acknowledging exists? Which I loved how like the way it poked fun at like the kind of absurdity of legal kind of like technicality is. Yeah, I like that too. Yeah, no, I think it's, I thought it was really interesting. And I don't know, like like Urza says it was written around the time of prohibition. So I, my guess is that that's part of at least what the fairy fruit is about. And to me that makes sense because you do have people who misuse it. But prohibition happened in America. No, but it was, there was a temperance movement in the UK too around the time. There was, it just wasn't successful. Yeah. The Brits are like, I need my gin. Right. Yeah. I mean, they drank a lot of gin in this too. But no, like I said, it's Whoville in the War on Drugs. And then the end of it is like, fuck it, let's all do drugs. And then export it to other places and candy it first. Like they make a whole like industry out of it. So I like Whoville in the War on Drugs. Fuck it, let's do drugs. Well, and I like in that kind of vein of like drugs, like the idea of like the doctor and his complicity and everything in the tale, I think is an interesting commentary on like. He is such a creep. Why didn't at the annual be like, yes middle-aged man, please take my son on the road with you. I just will assume you won't dittle him. Like, oh my gosh. Like, I would never, I would not just like allow some strange man to take my children places. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's the thing, right? We know a lot more now. And you think about how like the whole thing was his wife was like, he's a doctor. You have to just let him have his way because like titles would give people, you know, like, I don't know. I thought that was interesting. I felt like reading from the perspective of a woman at this time was fascinating. Like the way the white girls, like all of the people, men and women and their relationships with each other was fascinating to me. Like, I really enjoyed all of that. Also, I loved the like nanny housekeeper or whatever who was like, yeah, we've been knowing about fairy fruit and y'all were super against it. So I was just like, fine, we won't talk about it, whatever. She was like, you know, that like, I don't know. I think that is a stereotype and a trope of having the like servant class person who's just has like no nonsense, very common sense, very like, I know the score. I know what you like, I know what the upper classes think and do. I know how they function. I know what the lower classes think and do. I know how they function. She's like the interpreter between like classes. Yeah. I also liked that Nathaniel's just like, tell me I'm good. Please tell me I'm a good boy. Like he's so whiny. He's like, please tell me a story. And she's like, why don't you go make up with Ambrose? Like he probably wants to make up with you too. He's like, really? Like he's 40. You know what he's like? Okay, I'm gonna go make up with Ambrose. And then Ambrose is like, I want to make up with you. Let's drink gin. And so like, the characters are like, it was like stepbrothers, you know that? He was like, we're adults with children. Anyways, maybe I'm picking up on the funny, weird things about this book that no one has. No, I think it's there. One of the book is pretty irreverent. That's why I was like, being Tolkien-esque. Like again, Tolkien is very like these characters. He takes himself to other serious things. Yeah, this is very satirical. Yeah. No, I think you're picking up on something that's there, Amanda, which is like, it is pretty. It is. I was like, what's wrong with you? So like, I expected it to be more like stardust, where like we go to Fairyland and like it's a lot more of that. And then so one, we didn't really go to Fairyland. I mean, we did, but like barely. And two, because it is so irreverent and so like making fun of the class structures and making fun of how society works and making fun of how society regards something as fantastical and inexplicable as like Fairyland. What it actually ended up reminding me of most is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is like the position that that book takes in like making fun of British society and how like the etiquette of referring, because like, you know, a nobleman doesn't engage in practical magic because that's so like uncouth. You know, a magician who's like a nobleman is just like studying the history of it. Cause you don't actually do it. Like little like parlor etiquette and politics and whatever. And like that's kind of the tone of this where you're like, it's like crazy, wild, dark, kind of scary fay that don't have your best interests at heart mixed with like, like British society. And that's like, you know, oh, that is not something that is done. Yeah. Yeah, I like the, in general, I like the political stuff in this or like the political machinations. I thought all of that was, I tend to like that as a plot anyway, but I thought it was like satirical and interesting and I don't know. And also like funny, picking up on some of the things Amanda's talking about. Like I liked it when Nathaniel gives his whole like rousing, like we have to like fight. We, you know, he tries to give like a Churchill moment and then somebody just stands up and like cites, you know, a part of the law that says that they can kick him out. Like that, that made me laugh. Like you're going to be dead in the eyes of the law now. So we're going to do a formal funeral procession. Yeah, you lay on this pallet and let us walk you through town. You're dead now. Which like is totally like there's stuff like in the law where like we just do it because the law requires you to go through the formality of like doing this thing, even though like it's completely unnecessary, but like the law requires you to like actually like physically go do the thing because that's how it officially works. Now you've actually done the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was funny. Yeah, some, Lacey said that she would have rather studied this in high school English than some of the other crap that made me think of, I would put this in the same boat as like Gulliver's Travels as something that would be a great thing for high schoolers because it's fun or like it's interesting to like talk about like what was going on in the time and like it's a much more interesting, I think way to engage with time by gone eras than just some of the like drier things that they have to read. Well, and we get like, one thing that I thought was interesting about this too is we get such different cross sections of society in characters. Like you even have Bess who is like the town prostitute basically. And, but she's not like despise, she's like happy and like happy, seems happy with her life and what she does. And you know, yeah, people are like, well, maybe she's not the appropriate maid to have at the girl's school, but like, I don't know, I just thought it was interesting to see. Oh, for that, right? What? Another people talking sign language to her? Yeah, cause she can't speak and she can't hear. She's like, but it, yeah, I just thought that some of those kinds of things were like details were really interesting. Also, cause this is an older book, but it was written by a woman. And so like, we see a ton of female characters in it, which is not that common for fantasy in general, particularly not older fantasy. So like, because a lady wrote it. Madam Chanticleer is dope. I love her. Also the names, can we talk about Moon? Oh my gosh, honey, was it Honey Sockblow or something? Moon Glove, Moon with Honey Sockblow, whatever that is. Like Tea Whistle and like whatever like weird, like silly names that they come up with in like. It's like mixing a sixties commune with like British snooty society and coming up with the most fanciful nonsense names. Yeah. Mrs. Whistle Down, like from Julia Quinn. You know, it's always like ridiculous multi-syllable names and make no sense. Which I think right is supposed to be like that and like the curses that they use are supposed to be that there's clear evidence of the fairy limb still being such a big part of their world, even though they refuse to acknowledge it and pretend it's not. Yeah. Yeah. Like fairy is like the worst word. And also like toasted cheese was like their curse. Yeah. That sounds great. You son of a fairy. Yeah. It was like delightfully whimsical when it was trying to be, yeah, serious, which was just interesting. Yeah. Tonally this book is kind of unlike one I've read before. I'm struggling to think of a lot of comparison. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I've not read it. Because it's like whimsical and creepy and funny and philosophical like. Okay. Yes. Jessica says these names are so queer. I did think like, I like a reading of this, of like being queer coded, which I don't know is like authorial intent, but I like that as a read, like as an angle to read this. Explains Nathaniel and Ambrose. Yeah, I mean true. Ambrose is obviously, you know, a misogynist. And then like, but like I feel like Nathaniel is such like a himbo that he's just like, oh wow, my wife is like way smarter than me. No wonder she doesn't want to have sex with me. Like there's that whole scene where she's just like, what's up? And she's like, oh, no. That was really funny where she was just like, oh, like, ew, have you met you? But then at the end of the book, she was like, no, I'm a Nathaniel. You're not running me out of my house. Like I like her a lot. Arliss says, I actually think many of the names were very specific. They often had linguistic roots that described the character. And yeah, and I think that's kind of almost an extension of the way that like a lot of names do carry meanings like, you know, Smith comes from like the trade that you would have had. And that's why your name, like a vestigial structure, like the name still exists. So like in that sense, they're like, okay, well, if our names nowadays show the roots of like the trades that our ancestors had and things like our positions that they held or areas they lived in, then for a fairy influenced culture, their names would also carry that influence the way that our names now do. Yeah. I thought there were some interesting allusions to maybe what could have could be like sort of neurodivergence at the time. Like I kept thinking with the sun when the doctor was talking about him and saying, well, you know, like some people just are born like moving to their own tune and they just need to like go to a place where they can learn to move to a different tune so that they can fit in with society. Like I just was like, I feel like that's like, you know, like speaking to something there which I thought was interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I thought Lear was like a really good baddie. Yeah. But also like the baddies were the baddies but like our goodies weren't very good. So it's like, and our baddies weren't like, I mean, there was when Nathaniel, you know, was thinking about what Lear said when they were being like prosecuted and he's like, doesn't actually feel that good about defeating him. Cause he's like, there's kind of like a moral right to what he's saying he was trying to do and the way he's like, yeah, you caught me and this is what I was trying to do and I wouldn't do it any differently and like, you're welcome for what I did. And he's kind of like, oh. Well, when you put it like that. Yeah. You're way cooler than all of us. Like we're like, wow. We didn't think people talked like that. It's like, oh, you're kind of just duck or feel good. Well, and I mean, what he was trying to do ended up happening. I think the problem was that he himself was so twisted it was like everything he touched got twisted. So even though like the idea was the right one, I don't know, it was really interesting. She was friends with women who were known to be into women. That doesn't mean she was, but. Oh. So you might be on to something there, Mara. I love that dare not speak its name. Well, I think too that like, I mean, because fantasy as a genre really wasn't such a thing back when this was written, it wasn't really until Tolkein came along, that if she was writing something fantastical like this that I don't know, I feel like thinking outside the box in that kind of way and wanting to have a different understanding of the world and exploring what that might mean comes from a place of feeling othered already. Yeah. Yeah. One thing I'll say knowing that Jessica, which is interesting is when I was reading it, I was wondering because I know there is history of girls who would go to finishing schools would commonly have like their first relationships with each other. I mean, boys doing in boys school. And boys too, but then sort of leave that behind when they became wives and the way it talks about the girls in the finishing school and their relationships with each other and then how it changes after they leave and get married to Ben makes me wonder if that's part of what kind of the subtext is. Could be, yeah. I mean that, yeah. When you have homosocial environments, you know, what do you expect? Yeah. But I have to say like, I also just, I mean, I thought I was very amusing and clever and thought provoking, but the whole time I was reading it, I just, I felt like I felt like I was in slash wanted to be in like an English garden party with like a floral gown and the sun is perennially in late afternoon state and there's going to be a lemonade and cakes galore and it's kind of the vibe of like watching any cozy Agatha Christie where there's like an English Fet Fet. Is that what it's called? Fate. Fate. Like when, like that was just my whole like constant, like there's all these like foods and fruit and like the very beginning of the movie Atonement, you know when it's like sunny and there's this beautiful estate and there's a fountain and they're having this like fancy meal. Like that was just like my, it was just such a lush sensory like feeling of being in this book where I wanted to have like a charcuterie table with all the fruits, all of the cakes and constant like evening glow of bright orange sunlight that is like after a wild game. And wild time flavor gin. Yeah. Yeah, lots of different gin punches I feel like would be. Yeah. Well, speaking of that, cause you know, I mean, so bit early, but like I was thinking we could all have like a tea party for the next one cause we're going to be dressing up. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yes. This is the first hint. There will be an English tea party maybe. I think it might be nice. We can all have little cakes. Cause we're reading Alice in Wonderland, correct? No, like I was at Reading Sprints and everyone was trying to get me to reveal it and I did it. I kept it secret. Well, I'm sad cause it's supposed to be showing up today. I was hoping to have it to show. I have mine. So it's okay. I was like, I kept it secret. But yeah, I was thinking a tea party. Yes. I love it. Yeah, we should. Well, I just realized I really fucked up. I should have brought some fruit. I have like a bag of teas. I was just saying I just have some like sumo citrus which isn't really the vibe. Lemon in my tea. I have Cherry Blossom LaCroix which I think is as fair as LaCroix gets. I think so. I have a berry and then headache pills. That feels right. I've made it. Oh, also with the thing we were talking about, I just like now, cause now this is in my head. The scene where they all end up sort of drunk on fairy fruit dancing together. I mean, like if that doesn't have some like queer undertone. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I feel like, you know, again, the forbidden fruit, like I think there's definitely a reading here. Yeah, like so. Well, also the way that like queerness has always existed and people have always known that it has but they refuse to acknowledge its existence and they refuse to acknowledge like legally speaking that that's a thing. Even though like they're gonna condemn you for doing it but we don't legally recognize that it's a thing. Yeah. That's really, that is actually a really good point. Like that could definitely be a major subtext here. That's so, yeah. Yeah. I just think anytime you have a book filled with characters named like Moon, Love, Honey, Suckle, you gotta, I mean, it's gotta at least be on the table to think about. I mean, yeah. How did Ambrose name his kid that? Cause Ambrose is so like stuffy and moon love. I'm like, how did that happen? I don't know. And his wife was like supposed to be the dumbest woman in town. So I'm like, I don't think she named her. I'm like, who named this kid Moon, Love? Maybe it was his mom's name or something. I was gonna say maybe it's a family name. Maybe, I don't know. But if just like. I liked to, in Nathaniel's family, how like the housekeeper nanny, she always liked the son better but the mom always liked the daughter better and how like it was no secret that these were their preferences. Yeah. That's very, you know, healthy environment for a child to grow up in. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't know. There was just a lot of things that I thought were funny. And I was, I was making fun of, but like in a respectful way. I'm not calling them stupid, but like there's a lot of like himmo behavior here that I was like into. But I mean, I think that's intentional. Like I said, like it's not like. He's like scaling up. No, I mean, I think you're right. I think that's exactly who he is though. Yeah. Like I think she, you know, like, yeah, you're not wrong. Yeah. And I like, it's nice when a book lets you left with it as opposed to add it. And that's what I felt like this was. Like it, it created a lot of intentionally absurdist things to laugh at. Yeah. Yeah. I just still don't get the Duke. Cause like. The Duke is weird. Like that, yeah. And Ambrose come, not Ambrose, Nathaniel comes back and he's like the Duke's deputy. And this is a good thing. And it's just like, they try to kidnap your son. And also. I do not understand that ending really. Me greatly. Yeah. Well, I mean, I do know, I don't know if this influenced it at all, but I do know that there was a time where like English lords or whatever would do that with like brides the night before their wedding. Oh yeah. So like, I mean, so I'm part of it. It might just be based on like real history and maybe how that was, was treated. But like also, you know, I mean there, maybe there's always been sort of playboys who are horrible, but people continue to like them. Yeah. I don't know. Cause I do. We haven't seen that in our culture at all. I don't get the vibe that hope Meryl is. Meryl's liked the Duke. The way that we wrote it out. I think in some respects, I think she wanted, this is where like I would, you know, Neil Gaiman is my lord and savior. So I grew with everything that he said. But, but sincerely, when he says that like, I think this most of all is a book about reconciliation and balancing and twining the mundane and the miraculous and that this book is meant to be troubling. And I think that she is kind of trying to show how like this fairy land and the fey is like dark and fucked up. But the society, when it tries to like ignore the fey and suppress all the fey is dark and fucked up. And like, it's the fact that they've like so like separated themselves and created this like separation that they're both completely fucked up. And that it's like bringing these two sides together is what makes brings that balance that both need. So I'm not, I'm not being facetious. Can someone explain to me what the ending was? Like, I don't think, I got that he was the deputy but I did not understand what that meant. Like what? He brings the fairy fruit over and now it's legal. And now they have the whole industry on it. And they like candy it and sell it to other cities. So everyone- Well, but it's, you know what? It's sort of like like legalizing marijuana now, honestly. Like now we're going to make it like- But to me, the idea was that then they can make sure that it's done in a proper way so that people aren't being harmed by it was like- I got all that, but like what is Nathan- Like I get this impression that Nathaniel is like this hollowed out shell of a man in some ways. Like did I just misread that? I didn't understand. Like I don't think I understood what his perception of events when he gets back is supposed to be. For me, it seemed to me that it was possible to interpret all of this, is that fairy land is the land of the dead and that he died and that he came back now because he went over a cliff and that like that's when he's like fully in fairy land. But he's returned now just the way that the silent people, the fairy people do. And so it's by like- He's kind of like almost a messianic figure to a certain extent because he like died in order to save his son and daughter and saved like, well to be fair, that's literally the opposite of the situation. Well, I kind of think he's kind of like Dorothy seeing behind the curtain and figuring out the wizard isn't the wizard. Like he went to fairy land and he's seen past that. So all these things like the things that haunted him like the note he kept hearing isn't so magical anymore. So he's kind of like lost that magic because he's seen it now. He's like, it's not magic, it's just this. So I think he's just kind of disappointed. Like he saw the wizard for who he really was. Wizard of Oz reference. Yeah, I can see that. Definitely not haunted anymore by things. To me, I just read it as like, these were again, like he and all of the town were like terrified of and suppressing and ignoring and denying that part of themselves, that part of the town, that part of reality in the way that they even through legality, like defined reality. And there was like all this conversation about like, reality is defined by what you make it. And you can control it by what you make legal. Like how you speak about it. And I think like when he allowed the fairy land part of himself and everything that he feared about that part and everything about what comes from that land, when he like fully embraced all that, then like it's no longer a thing to be afraid of or to be mesmerized by. The magic's gone. Yeah. Yeah. That all makes sense to me. It makes me feel like I didn't just like lack reading comprehension. So I read it a couple of times and it was like, I feel like I'm missing something. Like from when he falls off the cliff to like where he's at. There was a large town. Where it's just all of a sudden Ambrose decides, fuck it, let's all eat fairy fruit. And then the fairies all come to town. And then Nathaniel's there with Randolph on horses. And they're like, happy ending. Yay. You know, it seemed to me that like he, it was through him. Cause that was also why they feared him so much because of some kind of like prophecy or whatever. But that like he by being from the town, but now becoming a part of fairy land was the bridge that was necessary to create a connection between these two lands because without them, it's like us versus them, but he is of both. And because he is of both, then now they can be together. Well, and also we do know that some of it is, you know, the dead returning. So I think it's interesting that it's also like embracing their past, embracing their ancestors. And like someone mentioned maybe Pagan undertones that yeah, like maybe finding a way to sort of like let modernity like religiously to like cohabitate with. Well, particularly in the way that like, you know, typically we've seen in stories and in true history that like it's usually like the rural, the like the lower classes that keep, you know, they put food out for the fairies and like they go to church, but they also like do all the like superstitious Pagan stuff and it's like that is not done. We are only Christian. And so here too, we had the lower classes fully, like it was not that like the entire town denied fairy land. It was that the upper classes denied fairy land and that the lower classes were like, yeah, fairies are a thing and we eat fairy fruit. Like we know about it, it's fine. I know there's like one other thing that I was thinking of also just like in their method of storytelling and like the metaphor they're getting at where like the men's stories seem to be much grander than the women's stories. And you know, like who's back on that horse coming into town with the fairies, it's Randolph and Nathaniel. What about his daughter? Remember when he rescued his daughter by being pedantic and all the other like girls that got like Randolph, but they didn't get all the way to fairy land. They just made it to the Elvin Marshes, which I guess is like halfway. And then he's just like, no, I'm going to talk about the law for a minute. And he bored everybody to death so hard that they got set free. And he just fucked off and left them. He didn't like help them get back. That was probably a big adventure. These are a bunch of the young girls on their own trying to get home and they get there. And they're like, master Nathaniel saved us. And he's like, no, he just talked everybody to death and fucked off. Like I feel like his own story is a bit aggrandized because he has a penis throwing it out there. Yeah. I mean, like he gets a lot of credit for happenstance things when clearly he's- Although it fair as he did save them if he hadn't stepped in and was like, this is not legally acceptable. What you're doing, you're not allowed to sell them right here. Yeah. If he hadn't done that, then they would have all been fucked. Yeah. But he wasn't like, you can't sell my daughter. He's just like, no, legally. And I was like- Right. This is not the correct procedure. You have to be like- I mean- He's not aware, right? Like he's still becoming self-aware. Like right, this came out in 1926 and it was absolutely the case that women didn't have a lot of rights. Yeah. And it was their fathers and husbands who had to like speak up for them. And so, I don't know. It's like, I think it's just such an interesting thing for the place in history when it was written. To me, it most reminded me of like that trope in fantasy and in fairy tales where like, it come to this like, you know, moment where the protagonist is like, there's the wicked fairy, there's the wicked devil, there's the whatever. And then you get to this point and they're like, aha, but I have a trick up my sleeve. The technicality that you never saw coming, evil devil that tried to trick me. I actually have a reason why you can't have my soul. Like that's what it reminded me of where he like walks in and he's like, legally you can't do this actually. Ha ha. So like that's what it reminded me of. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. He's getting a lot of credit for things. Maybe he didn't really do that much for. Which was accurate to the time. Men got credit for all kinds of things. Not like the hour days when that never happened. Yeah. Never happens now. Feeling bag layers of the fairy fruit to find other things happening in this book. Exhausted Wingo says, it seems to me to be saying that without diversity, we're only living a half-life. And with embracing everyone, lives could be richer for it. I would agree with that. Oh, I was pleased. Aurelis says, I was just pleased to see that Nathaniel saved them with words and not violence. And this book published right before a world war. Yeah. In general, this book like while being very dark is, it doesn't have any like action set pieces or violence or wars or battles. There's never like, let's fight the fey. It's always like, technically. If you look at subsection three, article four. Which is also like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Newell. You can go dig under a thing. Yeah. Like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Newell takes place during like Napoleonic Wars. And like that being said, it's utterly devoid of like actually like battle and fighting. Like the way magic is applied to war is the most fantastical ludicrous. Like, I guess you could use magic like that to fight a war. Well, it seems like this was definitely a success. Like, I think probably our biggest success since Southern Book Club. Yeah. Not cause it was like a perfect five star for everyone, but if we didn't have anybody to pay it. Everybody pretty much liked it. Yeah. Yeah. But it can be done. It can be done with logic. Yeah. Even if it wasn't like, I know Amanda, it wasn't like your thing so much, but like you didn't hate it. It's not the book. It's me. It's just the writing style. Like I don't particularly like Tolkien. I said what I said. I get it. The story is good, but reading it is not a pleasant experience for me. I did learn some new words reading this book. There were a few things I looked up while reading that I was like, what does that mean? Actually, let's talk about words for just a hot second because I did end up getting the audiobook. And I had the physical copy, but the audiobook took out some of the more perhaps racist terms that are in the text. Indigo, for example, you should get referring to people as indigo, but they took it out of the audiobook because it would skip the word. That's interesting. That is interesting. I mean, it's the language of the era and I don't think she was using it hatefully, but like, you know, the connotation is not good. Ye olde unintentional racism is. Yeah. There's a lot of that in Lord of the Rings, too. There's messages that are like, well, we wouldn't phrase it like that now. Well, one thing that was interesting about this was reading this to the point of it being right before the World Wars or is that she uses the word Holocaust in its original meaning, which now like it's so tied to specific events that no one uses it anymore. So it was just really interesting to see it like used. There's a lot of words like that when you read older books, where you were like, yeah, like Holocaust is tied to a specific event, but there's a lot of words where like, even if it's not tied to a specific event, we've come to use it. I mean, like the word queer, back when you read that in an old book, they don't mean, if you see gay, queer, those words mean happy, those words mean strange. Like it doesn't mean what we mean it to mean now very specifically. Yeah. Pleached, yes. This is one I looked up, which was really interesting. It's like intertwining trees, like trees that are grown to intertwine their limbs, like together to make like a tunnel. So when he talks about his bleached alley through all the time in the book, that's what it is. It's like a tunnel of trees. Very Rivendell. Word of the day. Many people still do that. They grow like trees. We just don't know what to call it. We just call it a tree tunnel. Lots of magic. We start very fruit. I would love some fairy fruit, please. And thank you. Sounded amazing. I always think they taste like apricot. Is it just me? I don't know. I feel like fairy fruit tastes like apricots. I always think of something, something just that has to be very juicy. And apricot is the opposite of juicy. I don't know. Cause whenever I think about apricots, I feel like they're juicy, even though I know they're not juicy, but I just feel like they're apricot with like honey. I tend to think of like plums. I'm thinking of like a mango. To me, I don't, cause I associate fairy and fake stuff with so much like Englishness and like Western Europe. So then like, I think of Western European fruits cause like mango is so tropical. So that's why I'm like plum. See, I think about like, I think of like a peach, like a really ripe, juicy peach. I feel like we're all getting kind of fuzzy-ish fruits. Fuzzy, like fleshy fruits. Well, to me, I also think of plums, specifically red plums, cause there's always like this sense of like red color and purple color is kind of like blood and passion. Like, you know, that the fruit would have to be that color. Well, that was the question I was going to ask you guys, would you eat the fairy fruit? Yes. Fuck yeah. Are you kidding me? I live my 20s in a cloud. Like, I'm a rule point of being a fairy fruit. If it wasn't legal, I would not eat it, but I would want to eat it. Oh yeah. No, I would have eaten so much fairy fruit. Like now maybe I would try it, but I think for a long time now. Yeah. But I would like to do a lot of research and like just try a little bit. Yeah, I would do like research on the best beginner's fairy fruit. And like right now. Microdosing fairy fruit. I would like microdose fairy fruit for a little bit before I like worked up. Yeah, that would be me. You would call me and then I would give it to you cause you would know I'd probably have it. You'd give me the food. I would end up being a dealer of fairy fruit. You're like sneak it into my food but don't tell me when you're going to do it. Yeah. No, I would get ready. You get like a pack of Oreos and then a fun movie that's not too serious and you eat all the fairy fruit and then you have snacks and then you have a fun movie. Where did the Oreos come into this? Like it seems like- You usually get munchies with marijuana. I think fairy fruit tastes like one stop shop because like by eating it. Yeah, but no, you're going to be hungry again. It's just fruit but like Oreos they have a crunch and a smoothness. It's a good texture for this particular mindset. Well, I'm with Bethany. I'm envisioning like you strip down and get into like- No dancing in the moonlight in the woods. Yeah, like I'm imagining like dancing in a circle. Yeah. I'm just having a good time at home. Like I'm imagining like the Saters coming out and like there's like a drummer and like it's a whole. Yeah, that to me sounds more like what it would be. Yeah. I'm doing modern day fruit. I'm not going back to that era. If you haven't know, I put Oreos in the mix. Pros hundreds of years ago. Thank you very much, Ryan. Pros 100 years ago, registers differently in our minds than in the intended audience. It's what makes reading antique literature so difficult at times. Tolkien's prose would have sounded normal at the time. Yeah, that's true too. That's part of the interest of the evolution of language in general. Part of what I love about Jane Austen is you can kind of see the transition point because sense and sensibility reads more oddly to our current taste than some of her later books do. And some of that is her growing as a writer. But I think it also just reflects like an inflection point of how contemporary the writing of the time feels to us. I saw a TikTok recently that I thought was really interesting talking about the language in Tolkien. And it was specifically talking about how like things have shifted over time so that now we think of like the and thou is being more formal. Oh yeah, because that was casual. Well, whereas at the time, the and thou was like intimate. Yeah, that's the informal. Because just like the plural in most languages is the formal. Also, it's either plural or formal. And then we just end up so the and thou is the informal singular. And because we got rid of it, then it sounds archaic. And because it's archaic, that makes it strange. And by being strange, it makes it faint. Yeah. No, but there was like there was this interesting thing about there's a point where Aowyn is talking to Aragorn and goes from using the formal you to the and thou. And that like at the time, it could be seen as almost like a declaration of her love because she's switching to this more like intimate form of addressing. Amanda and Bethany, I exhort you to try to get your lovers to start referring to you as the and thou. I'm just going to start it in Aowyn. Thou art my husband. Thou art my life partner. Thou art my boo. Thou art my day. But I feel like if you do decently regularly read things that are more archaic, if it's like your first time ever, then it's going to be a rough ride. But if you do, then for me anyway, like when you first pick it up or when you first like sit down to read it or watch it or whatever, it's like at first, it's like, oh, OK, what are we doing? But then when you like get in that flow, like it's like, well, I think I'm only the only one that's bilingual. I used to speak French. I speak really shitty Italian. Not enough to say I'm living good in it. Because I was going to say like switching between languages. It's like you understand both. But it's like, OK, wait, no, I have to like switch gears and like think in the other language now. So I feel like it's like that, but it's still in English, where it's like, OK, I have to like tap into the part of my brain that thinks in the way that this book thinks and like anticipate long sentences and anticipate following a convoluted, multi-closed sentence. Yes. And like because, you know, like I love Shakespeare and I like reading classics and stuff like that. But like when I start watching a Shakespeare play, it's not like from go. I'm like super comfortable. It takes me like a few minutes to get in the flow of it. And I felt like with lead in the midst, I was like, OK, whoa. And then like a few pages in, I was like, OK, I'm with this. I'm very with this. Yeah. That's part of why I like if you're struggling with Shakespeare, read it out loud, because I think hearing it helps you kind of get in the flow a little bit more than just watching on the page. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Something you just kind of get back into the flow of and yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It wasn't necessarily the antiquated language for me that wasn't like hitting because like I read I do a lot of drunk classics on my channel. And like it's not always like the antiquated language. It's like how they're telling the story and like how they use their language that they're using doesn't always like not every, you know, authors get a vibe with every reader and it's looking like I love the story. It's painful to read for me. So it's like it's just the way he tells it. Tom Bombadillo. Well, Tom Bombadillo can straight up go fuck himself. I love him. I like Tom Bombadillo too. I hate I love Tolkien. I would have until very recently said he was my favorite fantasy author. But Tom Bombadillo. I mean, I 100% endorsed the choice to take him out of the films because he does nothing for the plot. Yeah, like as a side quest, I thoroughly enjoy it. Yeah, I hate it. I hate it so much. Yeah, but, you know, he's like he's the Jar Jar Binks of that era. But we're going to move past that. But yeah, no, it's like it's I don't know. I hope Meral has had that same kind of Tolkien quality to a writing where I'm just like like it wasn't pleasant to read. Like I had fun with it. So it's just like a me thing in my own personal flavor profile. Yeah. Yeah, I think for me, and I know obviously Mara disagrees with Miss like I I like Tolkien, I like it better than Amanda does. It's never going to be like my absolute favorite reading experience because it's not very character driven. I mean, the characters are important, but it's like it's this distance like more arms length, they're more archetypal. It's not like this like very close, like messy, great, you know, character study, which is like what I'm most like in books. And because let in the mist kind of is more that way where it's like more just about like characters and like their idiosyncrasies and humans being messy. I kind of enjoy let in the mist more than Tolkien. Tolkien's like, let me tell you about the trees and how important chivalry is and how this noble oath must be taken. It's just like, that's great. I like let in the mist because it's a mess. Well, I wish like whole keen is like my one because normally I hate that's like I don't like that in fantasy. It's like I read it in Tolkien and don't want it ever again like like his version of it and no one else's. Tolkien's version. I like both for different reasons. Yeah, then again, Bethany and I grew up with a lot of Bible talk. So I think that also helps you with Tolkien. Like if you're used to a lot of like. It could put you off Tolkien, though, I mean, it could. But yeah, I'm aware that there's theories about who Bombadil really is. But nevertheless, completely regardless of that, the plot and what happens and is important to the plot of those books. He is completely irrelevant. Yeah. And I mean, I I don't want to yuck other people's young. Like I get why people like like Tom Bombadil, but he's the reason I DNF fellowship the first time I tried to read it. Because I was like, what is happening? Are we best friends right now? Because you're all same. I got to that point and like couldn't go forward. Yeah. And I had to do it for a book report. Mind you, I passed the book report. But like mainly because I mentioned Tom Bombadil and how I didn't like him. And he's like, I know you read the book. I was like, yeah, I didn't just see the movie. Yeah, I didn't go back to the book until I saw the first movie because I was like, oh, OK, he must not be a big part of this because he's not even in this. So I'll go back and try again. To me, like I said, like it's it does completely halt the plot. And that's why like taking it out is a good choice for a film. Yeah. And like I mean, an editor nowadays of Tolkien was writing would be like, do we need this? Can this be like a short story you publish separately? But at the same time, like just being in that story, if you're like fine with like, if you view it as like, well, before I continue Lord of the Rings, I would like to read this short story in the world of Lord of the Rings. And like it's very like reminiscent to me of like Eastern European fairy tales. So like I like it as an isolated little story. I think I probably would like it if it was like a novella or something. I probably would be into it. But for the flow of the story, I was like, oh, no, I don't want a whole. I don't want three books of this guy. Like, oh, no. And imagine if Tom Bombadil was one of the fellowship. Well, that's kind of what I thought. I was like, no, you know, he might put off the ballerog with his little song. Yeah, no. Oh, my God, can you imagine? No, I don't want to let me sing this song to you, Mr. I mean, while he does that in the fellowship is like, OK, he's got it. Let's yeah. We'll leave him behind you, you know, but it's still like I passed my book report because I hate it on Tom Bombadil. And that's how the teacher knew I read the book. So I didn't read anywhere past. You know what? I still I still pass the book report. We're like, thank you, Tom Bombadil for that. Yeah, I got credit for reading. Well, since we're talking about Tolkien, how do you guys feel about them taking out the scouring of the shire from the films? I get it, but it is interesting. Like it adds, but I understand why they didn't include it. It's I mean, I think the I know people gave for Turn of the King a lot of shit for like a lot of its fake endings. They weren't fake, but they weren't fake. But I assume that's part of why they took it out was like, oh, my gosh, we keep like there's too many already. Yeah. Tom Bombadil is because there's so many things going on. You can't push past them, it's not for you. It's the litmus test. I almost failed that that test. It wasn't for me. But I yeah, like I really love what the scouring of the shire does thematically. Like I think it's really important, but I understand there's so many storylines happening and for a film, it's difficult to have like a separate resolution for each one of them in the way that it can work a little better in a book. And the scouring of the shire feels a little anticlimactic when you're like, we did the defeating of the big bad and mission accomplished. And then we're like, fuck, there's more. We've got to defeat this too. You know, it's like, I mean, it doesn't fit like the normal flow of things. But yeah, I like it in the book, but I get why they didn't put it in the movie for sure. Well, I think also the book was just like a lot of things, like because they become more cinematic, all the battles are more cinematic. Like going to Mount Noom is more cinematic. And it feels like more of this, like this is the end all be all epic ending of all things. This is it. And so like in the book, like it's obviously extremely important and climactic that that happens, but it doesn't have that like sweeping score. This is what we've been building toward this whole time. And like because it's that way in the movie. And if you were like, OK, scouring of the shire also, then you're like, what? I agree with Ryan, like I. To me, the Lord of the Rings movies are what I go to to talk about like the way you do an adaptation, which is it's an interpretation. It's not slavish to the source material. It's an interpretation of it. And I think that it completely make like I don't really have any problems with the things that they took out. I yeah, like none of them really bother me. I OK, I would have liked like they're like the romance between Aoun and Faramir is so good in the book. OK, yeah, it is. And they make Faramir kind of a needless baddie. They do two towers. I that if I was going to have a critique of them, I wish that they had not done that with Faramir because I feel like it's not trust in the audience, trusting the audience to. Let him be what he was in the book. I think it's mostly done to not so much. I don't think they had Faramir in mind when they did it. They had Sam and Frodo in mind when they did it because they needed some kind of a little like stumble to like so that their plot line can have like a conflict. And without that, you're like in Helms Deep and all this is going on. You're like, so what's Frodo and Sam up to there on the way to Mordor. So it's like by making him this like baddie for a second, they're like, well, we're going to create a little like situation for them to deal with. And then immediately have Faramir revert back to being Book Faramir because he's done with like playing the role of baddie for the purpose of the side quest. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I understand like on paper why it made sense to do it in a movie. But I don't like. Yeah. Like if I were going to pick one thing I don't like, it's probably that. If I'm going to pick one thing I don't like, it's the way that like Sam violently assaults Gollum. And then we're like, we go on with the story and like it's just such a like that's not what Sam would do. And it's so like out of character for their relationship. And like, yeah, I just feel so contrived and strange. And yeah, I don't like that. It's fair. I feel like this is that one time I was watching Lord of the Rings with Yuliana and then you were trying to explain everything to me. I remember that you hadn't seen the extended edition and all of us were like, you know, Aragorn is 87 years old and you were like, he's 87. He's like, you know, I was skiing with the fish stew and you were like, what fish stew? There is no fish stew. And we were like, there is no fish stew. People think that was great. I was like, am I insane? Why do I not know the story? I legit don't remember what the originals are actually like because I really only have watched the extended. We were like, how do you not remember the hilarious fish stew scene where you learn he's 87? How is this not prominently remembered? I don't know. Like, I feel like I should do the series for drunk classics now because like I haven't really read them because like I tried again with the Hobbit and I hated the Hobbit, too, because I just don't like the writing style. I don't know if adding alcohol is the best idea, but maybe. Maybe add fairy fruit to tie back in. I do do high spirits. So maybe. I don't know. I mean, I think if this writing style doesn't work for you, well, you know how much the Hobbits like mushrooms. No, that's too. Well, they're we what is their weed called? Hold Toby. Yeah. Long bottom leaf. Long bottom leaf. There you go. That's what I was thinking of. I do love that one. The in it's like the beginning of Return of the King when they find like this little smoke coming out of the little storage room in the in the in Isengard. And that's where they find Marion Pippin high out of their minds. Just like snacking. Yeah, Hobbit's like for me. When they have their little moment of like when they find a long bottom leaf and they're like, should we share it with treebeards? Because they like they're being greedy and they're like, no, it's a leaf. It's probably like a cousin of his. Like he'd be offended. Like we can keep it for we're doing it for him that we're not sharing it. Better. Better not tell them. Oh, man. Anyway, I do think about not specifically George Armin, but I do think a lot about how like a lot of things, not even just language, but language, too, about how many things nowadays I liked because I we like to romanticize the past and be like, oh, how old fashioned to light a candle right with a quill. And I like to imagine that texting someday some will be like, oh, how old fashioned to imagine I was living back in the day when people texted that was like such an old timey thing to do. So I like to like play pretend I'm living in the olden days of the future so that my life just feels more romantic. Yeah. Well, like, I mean, even we're living in that already. I mean, like you'll see an older movie where there's like a floppy disk and you're just like, oh, my God, wait, they 3D printed the same side or like a tape like a cassette tape or a pager. Yeah. Yeah. Do we want to make announcements? Oh, yeah, we're already an hour into this. This was a good pick for us as a. It was a good conversation. I'm not a terrible branched off. All right. Well, that's me for the year. OK, you guys tell me what things are going to make me suffer through so I can show up and rant. You know, like I was like in my reading spritz. Everyone's like, well, why didn't you pick Austin? Like Leanna might like that. And I was like, oh, that's a good idea. But I think you've read a lot of Austin, so I didn't pick it. But anyway, we're doing O.G. 23. We're doing an O.G. version of our chosen genres of choice. Mine is going to be the end of April. And I picked going O.G. here splendid by Julia Quinn, which is Julia Quinn's first book she ever published in 1995. So I'm thinking O.G. for Julia Quinn commercial romance. Yeah. I mean, Bridgerton, you like Bridgerton, Leanna. So maybe there's hope, but this is her first book. So I like Greg Asian page. That's what I'm like. I'm going to get my book because it's like behind me. I am waiting for mine to come, though my my fabric just showed up. So I mean, I tried to find the purple and couldn't. So I'm excited to make a Regency dress and have a tea party. It sounds like I am so excited. Because I was like, we could be a lady's tea party. We'll have to figure out. I don't know, because I might. I know April is a long time away, the end of April, but I might not be available on that Saturday. So it might be off to be on a Sunday. I'm just telling everyone in advance. So it might be a Sunday tea. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. We'll figure it out. Julie, Gwen, Splendid, O.G. 23, 1995. It's sufficiently old. Yeah. The 90s is present day. What are you talking about? How it's almost 30 years old. Oh, not possible, not possible. 28, you know, it's a full on adult. Well, genre fiction is like it ages quicker. Like commercial genre fiction, like has a shelf life of five to ten years. So I'm expecting we're going to have some problematic things to talk about. So yeah, less problematic in general. Because like I could have gone further back with romance in like the 80s or 70s, but like, yikes. I thought you were going to make us read like Saddle Thunder or something. No, I'm not going to. I'm not going to. Recent stuff has some problems. So I'm sure there will be things to talk about. So yeah, there are. I picked it. There we go. I picked it. We're doing it. I'm excited. It's a beauty. I love that purple. I'm very I thought that was a beautiful, rich, little pansies on the cover. I despise purple above all colors. Really? There's not any addition is purple. I know I'm going to get the UK edition. They're not all purple. This one just happens to be purple. Even the UK edition has more purple than I would like, but it's certainly less purple than it is. Anyway, it's blended by Julia Quinn, 1995, OG 23. I'm excited. I'm just going to be full. I love them, the Bly Manor adaptation. And the little girl spends the entire time saying, perfectly splendid. So I will be saying that throughout the entire life. We've been one. Should we just announce that one for now? No, I think we should because we pretty much know what we're doing. So we might as well announce the year. So, OG 23, we're going to go to Golden Age of Detective Fiction in July, which is my month. And we are going to read The Cask by Freeman Willis Croft. I think I forget. We're reading this because last year when I did my term in a books, it was one that like several of my patrons recommended to me and wanted me to read because they said they thought I would like it. So it has a recommendation to it. And yeah, I'm going to dress up like Sherlock Holmes for that one. And that will be July. Yes, that's July. That's the end of July. So what are you now over on Bethany's channel? What wait, what era does the cast take place in or was written in? It is in the 20s or 30s, I think. I'm a Dora. Yes, I'm doing old timey Sherlock Holmes because like old timey mystery. Yeah, that's the thing is old timey mystery. I just love it. Yeah. And then for October, OG 23, we're going to do a somewhat earlier take on horror. This is like in between. It's not as I could have gone farther back, but it's like the 60s. So we're going to read The Magic Toy Shop by Angela Carter. Which has a creepy toy shop puppeteer and we can dress up as creepy dolls. Yes, for Halloween. So that'll be fun. Yeah. And my addition is purple. Oh, I have the addition Bethany does. It's the very. You know what? I bought it because I saw it in one of your book calls, Mara. And I was like, that is pretty. I'm going to cut it's beauty. There is a hardcover edition of it that I want, but I also haven't read it yet. And I was like, I'm not going to buy that if I don't know. I like it yet. Yeah. Oh, actually, I think Arliss was the one was one of the people who said that I would like the cask now that I'm looking at this. So Arliss, your wish is my command. We're doing this for Book Club. So we have no pressure. We all hate it. Regency era heroines, detectives and creepy dolls. Yeah. On deck. We're dressing up for all of them, too. We're dressing up for all of them this year. I think it's going to be fun. I had so much fun doing this. Like, I love this. I hope we do this forever. I really like dressing up. It's fun. Yeah. And I was jealous that Bethany always gets to be the Halloween show. So now I used to be the Halloween show and I'm still sad. Well, now we all can have costumes. Yeah. Beth is Leanna's nemesis, it seems like. Oh, no. Orange is the superior color. I will not be taking other opinions. I mean, I went to the University of Tennessee, so I cannot disagree with you. Thank you. I was wearing a tiara this whole time, but it's dabbing my head. Oh. And funny story, I bought this in West Hollywood after a drag show and I was very drunk. What's a beautiful tiara? I don't know why they had it. I went into a smoke shop in West Hollywood and they had this and I was like, I need this in my life and I bought it. I love it. So it has a fun story, at least. I don't know why it was there. So we've got Faye. We've got Regency Ladies will be detectives and then we'll be creepy dolls. Yeah, that's a range this year. I meant for New York, we have to dress as all four at once. Oh, wow. That's going to be quite a lot. Well, I'm just kidding because I will have, like, some costumes that I can actually wear when I go to Comic-Con this fall. Yay. Yeah, I've got to figure out what I'm going to do for creepy dolls. I'm envisioning some sort of very poofy sleeve situation. Yeah, I want to do a giant bow and have fun with the makeup. I think it's going to be fun. We all have to have our heads dropped the entire time. Yeah, the makeup for that one, I think, will be fun. I'm excited. Or you could be like a puppet or something, but I just figured puppet is harder to... Yeah, there's a lot of creepy dolls this year. How to sell a haunted house has a lot of creepy dolls. Megan has a sort of a creepy doll. Where's the fay in this, Beth? Yeah. How do you... Fairy dolls. Fairy dolls. Regency fairy dolls. It could be Regency in the fay realm. You know, they were there, too, in the era. That would be John and the Stranger Mr. Norrell. I'm very excited. You can't see it, but it's like a blue seersucker for my dress. So I'm excited for that. And I got some lace. You're going to have like a cravat happening, or when there's like a fissue. Yes, I got the material for a fissue because my cup runneth over, so. Girl, you're the same. Empire wastes the things and not for the busty. Yeah, I was experimenting with like a balconette because I was like, that's probably the best approximation. And I was like, no, that's a lot of boob. A lot of boob. Yeah. Yeah, I'll have to figure out what my costume will be, but that'll be fun. I'm excited. All right, I'm really excited. I'm going to be Regency-era baddie, and I'm like into it. I'm excited to have a reason to make a Regency-era dress. Like, this is pretty exciting. I think Regency-era is like among the more comfortable eras of costume. Yeah, well, it was about like organic, like, you know, back in touch with nature, so. Yeah, class, everyone's kind of like straight up and down a bit like columns and. It was pregnancy-friendly fashion. Yeah, which is convenient for a plus-sized woman, let me tell you. And more people just force stays instead of corsets a lot of the time, so. Yeah, yeah. More moveability. Well, thank you all for joining me this lovely morning slash afternoon for dressing up for not hating the book I chose. Yes, this was good. Good choice. Glad you picked it. Well, I'm actively trying not to hate any of the books this year. I love that. Let's manifest that this year. I cannot make that promise. Refuse to ever make that promise. I never try to hate books, but yeah, it's just how it is. All right. Well, I'll enjoy the rest of your weekend. I assume you guys are going to remain in costume for the remainder of the weekend, so. Of course. If you hear about me on the news, I'll have taken some fairy fruit and frolic through East Nashville, a la mode. I was telling my patients that I think I should. Into the debatable hills. I think I should attend a staff meeting at work via Zoom just like this and not say anything. And then if someone says something about it, I just act like they're being offensive to my teacher. Yeah, if I should have to go to this for my first meeting on Monday. Yeah, fuck. What's the problem, guys? It's not business casual. It's very rude to ask how dare you. All right. Well, thank you and bye. Au revoir.