643. Safety, D&D, and Smut Logic: Holiday Wishes from Dani, Katie, Sneezy, Julianne and Lisa

[music]

Sarah Wendell: Hello there. Welcome to episode number 643 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. I’m Sarah Wendell, and a small note of housekeeping: there is a gigantic, massive truck outside of my house collecting all the leaves. I live in one of those places where you put all of the leaves at the curb in the most tempting pile you’ve ever seen, and then the county comes around with this gigantic vacuum cleaner attached to the back of a truck and sucks all the leaves up and gets rid of them. We get two of these services every fall, so of course they’re doing that right now when I’m recording. Sooo, yeah. If you hear that weird noise in the background, I’m real sorry. I’m going to do my best to get rid of it, but, you know, it’s like a drone noise; it’s not always for, easy for me to isolate it, but if you hear this weird sort of humming, I am not in a beehive.

But either way, leaf-picking-up aside, it’s the first of our holiday episodes! Hooray! My guests are all of you! Members of the podcast Patreon have signed up in record numbers this year to do interviews with me, so in the coming weeks we’re going to have recommendations, wishes, and bad jokes galore from folks all over the world. There is still time to sign up; if you are in the Patreon, go to patreon.com/SmartBitches. The link is in there, and if you want to join the Patreon and do an interview, the link is in there, and there are still dates available.

This week we are headed to South Africa; to Washington, DC; to Taiwan; and Connecticut to talk to Dani, Katie, Sneezy, and Lisa. This one is a little bit Not Safe For Work, but not egregiously so.

I have a compliment this week to Miiira:

You know when you enter a place where someone’s been cooking delicious things and the smell hits you and you can kind of sigh inside and out? That is the feeling you give to the people who love you, because you are warm and welcoming, and you smell good.

If you have supported the show with a monthly pledge, thank you! You get to be part of these episodes! You’re also helping me make sure every episode has a transcript – hey, garlicknitter! – [Hey! Happy Holidays! – gk] – and you have access to bonus episodes, a wonderful Discord, and did I mention interviews? Lots and lots of interviews at the end of the year. I should probably do this twice a year and see, like, check in with everybody midyear, right? We could do, like, summer stolsiss/winter solsist! I can’t say solstice. Did – I cannot – Sol. Stiss. I cannot say that word unless I real slow down, so sorry about that. Either way, patreon.com/SmartBitches.

I think we should get started. Shall we get started? On with my first interview with Dani in South Africa!

[music]

Dani: My name is Dani, and I am in South Africa. I am South African; I don’t sound South African. Long story, but yeah. I’m – it’s very hot. It’s very hot where I am, so.

Sarah: Oh, I’m sorry.

Dani: That’s all I –

Sarah: That’s the worst.

Dani: Yeah. It was very funny; I walked into a shop earlier today and there were, like, snowmen decorations up, and I was like, No!

Sarah: No, that doesn’t fit.

Dani: No! No! [Laughs] Yeah.

Sarah: I always love seeing Christmas cards from Aus-, Australia, where, like, Santa’s in a bathing suit, and he’s surfing, and, you know, the reindeer are on the beach, and I’m like, this seems very cool!

Dani: Yeah. Yeah, I’m, it’s actually unusual for me, ‘cause I did – well, actually no. My Christmases have been all over the place, ‘cause I used to live in the UK?

Sarah: Yep.

Dani: So that makes sense, but now I’m back in South Africa, and I’m like, This, this feels strange.

Sarah: Strange. Well, I mean, to be fair, the UK does take Christmas heckin’ seriously.

Dani: I know!

Sarah: Like –

Dani: I’ve a friend who works for Harrods?

Sarah: Oooh!

Dani: And the displays, and she’s in, like, the department that does the editorials and so on for their magazines, and also making sure everything on the displays are, like, proofread and so on, so she’s been looking at Christmas stuff for months.

Sarah: Oh, I’m sure she started in like February for this year. Yeah, it’s like –

Dani: Yeah.

Sarah: – people in publishing are now working on 2026, and I’m like, How do you even do that?

Dani: Don’t ask.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Dani: No.

Sarah: So tell me, what is a book that you – or books – that you really enjoyed this year that you want to recommend to everybody?

Dani: This year for reading has been a bit tough.

Sarah: Uh, just a bit, yeah.

Dani: I think the book that stood out for me most – and you see, this just shows that I need to listen to you when you recommend books – the book that’s coming to mind is The Widow of Rose House?

Sarah: That’s a good one!

Dani: I don’t know why it took me so long to read, since you and other podcasters were talking about it.

Sarah: Yup.

Dani: But I have that thing where the more someone hypes something, the more I’m like, Oh, but what if I read it and I don’t like it?

Sarah: Yeah!

Dani: And I should trust you.

Sarah: Of course! No, hype, it can be a real turnoff. The more something is hyped, the, the more it can be like, Well, that’s annoying and I don’t, I don’t think I want to hear about it anymore. I totally get that –

Dani: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – I totally get that. But that is a great choice.

Dani: Can I cheat?

Sarah: Can you cheat? Of course you can cheat.

Dani: I want to recommend something that’s not a book?

Sarah: Please! Whatever recs, bring it on.

Dani: Okay. Something that I decided to learn when I moved back to South Africa to make friends was Dungeons & Dragons. I’d been scared of it forever, and then I was like, I’m going to get into this. And I want to recommend another podcast –

Sarah: Please!

Dani: – that’s, it, the campaign is nearing the end, and it’s so good, and it’s called Girls Who Don’t DnD. So –

Sarah: Girls Who Don’t–

Dani: – people haven’t heard of it –

Sarah: – DnD.

Dani: – and it is so good. It’s, like, three Australian women who have been put into, or who have been, like, asked to do, to play D&D by this guy who knows D&D really well, and it’s just hilarious. There’s a little bit of romance in there, but mostly it’s just, like, three women being epic together. But also really ridiculous sometimes.

Sarah: That is awesome! It’s really funny that you say that, because I just went to the post office to buy stamps, which is where I got stuck in the line, and we have Dungeons & Dragons stamps now in the US. They’re actually really hard to find because people want them? So it’s a whole sheet of Forever stamps –

Dani: Yeah!

Sarah: – which means that even if the postal rate goes up, these’ll be still valid? And each one is a different Dungeons & Dragons character or, or a type, and I’m, like, I’m, like, looking at all of the art like two inches from my nose. I’m afraid to put them on letters ‘cause they’re so cool? [Laughs]

Dani: No.

Sarah: I think that’s –

Dani: I wouldn’t; I would keep those.

Sarah: I think that, I, I think a podcast of people playing D&D sounds really spectacular.

Dani: It’s, it’s one of those things that, because I was struggling with reading so much this year, listening to stories in podcast form –

Sarah: Yes!

Dani: – so bite-size story chapters and so on, has been really, really soothing for me?

Sarah: Yeah.

Dani: And I particularly like this ‘cause it’s not just a bunch of guys sitting around playing D&D, which is like a dime a dozen. This was like three women who didn’t know anything about D&D going on this adventure, and it’s beautiful. I almost cried the last episode, so.

Sarah: Oh, that’s awesome!

Dani: Yeah.

Sarah: Thank you for that recommendation. I’m going to have to add that to my, to my list.

What are your wishes for 2025 for everybody?

Dani: On a serious note?

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Dani: I wish safety –

Sarah: Yes.

Dani: – for everyone? Even here in South Africa, I have been devastated by some of the things happening around the world recently.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Dani: So that’s on my serious note. And on my less-serious note, I hope everyone can find a book that makes them scream at something and just not want to, want the book to end. I want, I want everyone to find the book that gives them an epic book hangover, ‘cause it’s the best kind of hangover.

Sarah: Oh, that’s so true. It’s the greatest. It’s awful to be, like, in the middle of it and thinking, Oh my gosh, I’m never going to read another book that measures up to this one, and then you, eventually you do. But it is, it is such a good feeling. It’s like when you finish a book and think, I could just start this again. You could just read it again right now!

Dani: Yeah.

Sarah: That is a very good wish.

Dani: Yeah. Yeah, it’s what I look for.

Sarah: Yes, it’s –

Dani: Yeah.

Sarah: That’s the experience you want: you want a book so good that you can’t put it down, and then you start over and read it again the minute you’re done. That’s, those are lovely wishes –

Dani: Yeah.

Sarah: – thank you.

Do you have a bad joke? It is okay if you don’t.

Dani: I, I checked. Well, I did a, a keyword search on the website.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Dani: I peer-tested this. I checked in multiple groups and had people tell me that I’m the worst, so:

Why did the librarian fall down?

Sarah: Why did the librarian fall down? Definitely haven’t told this joke. Why did the librarian fall down?

Dani: They were in the non-friction section.

Sarah: Nooo! [Laughs] That is delightfully terrible, and I am so impressed that you peer-reviewed this joke! Thank you!

Dani: I, I was like, this is, like, intense pressure for me. I’m like, this –

Sarah: This, this was so high!

Dani: – this is one of my favorite things on the podcast.

[Laughter]

Sarah: Thank you, Dani!

Dani: I can’t bring a bad joke! [Laughs]

Sarah: That was amazing. Thank you, Dani; that’s incredible. I appreciate that one.

Well, thank you so much for being part of our holiday episodes, and thank you for joining us all the way from South Africa!

Dani: It’s absolutely my pleasure. I, I love this podcast. Like, I’ve emailed you before, it’s, it’s like the one thing that I know I can listen to safely.

Sarah: Oh, thank you.

Dani: Right.

Sarah: I, I take that very seriously. That is a big compliment.

Dani: And also, tell Amanda she has the best game recommendations.

Sarah: Oh, I will tell her! I’m writing it down so I don’t forget right now. I will tell her because I know she takes that very seriously and, and is going to have more soon anyway, so thank you! I will do that.

Thank you for being part of the podcast this year, and have a lovely summer and a very lovely holiday!

Dani: Have a lovely winter and a very lovely holiday!

Sarah: Thank you!

[music]

Sarah: Hi! Thank you so much for doing this! This is always so much fun. I really enjoy, like, I really enjoy doing these.

Katie: I love listening to them, so.

Sarah: Oh, that’s awesome!

Katie: Yeah, they’re one of my favorite sets of episodes that you do.

Sarah: Yay! So this is the only awkward part: if you would introduce yourself to the people who will be listening and tell them where you are!

Katie: Sure! Hi, I’m Katie C, and I am currently in Washington, DC.

Sarah: Oh, hello, neighbor!

So what book do you want to recommend to everybody that you’ve read this year, or, or books. Some people do bring more than one, and I am very chill about it.

Katie: Okay, I have two –

Sarah: Yay!

Katie: – and one of them is directly related to one of the episodes you and Amanda did recently.

Sarah: Oh!

Katie: I read The Bravest Voices by Ida Cook.

Sarah: Ohhh! Okay. That’s amazing. Tell me everything.

Katie: it’s so good, and it, I read it, I started reading it before the election and finished it after the election, and it, it took on a new significance after the election –

Sarah: Little bit.

Katie: – but, but what I really appreciated about it was how, one, no-nonsense she was, but also, like, what she did, and her sister, to save people is not what you, it’s not like this super-dramatic – like, it’s dramatic in some ways, but it’s also a lot of, like, getting people to give money and convincing them to help out, and Can you give like two pounds a week instead of just one pound a week. Like, very basic community organizing kind of stuff, and it was –

Sarah: Hmm.

Katie: – it was really helpful to re-, remind myself as we are going into what will likely be kind of a dark period for the United States –

Sarah: Yeah.

Katie: – how we’re in that component. That no, no one has to be, like, the hero all the time. That you can do small things, and they are incredibly heroic to the people that they help.

Sarah: Yeah. And if you think about it, these people who gave one or two pounds a week collectively saved a whole bunch of people.

Katie: Right! Right! That’s the thing! Like, very little things add up, and they help people inc-, immensely. So that was –

Sarah: Yes.

Katie: Yes.

Sarah: That’s such a good recommendation! I have found –

Katie: Yeah.

Sarah: I have found that, with my own work with not-for-profits and donating that a recurring donation of any amount is so appreciated, because recurring means it’s coming back every month.

Katie: They can count on it.

Sarah: Yes.

Katie: They know that it’s going to be there. Yeah. And that’s better, in some ways, than getting a really large amount and then never knowing if it’s coming back again.

Sarah: That is really an inspiring choice; thank you.

Katie: Yeah!

Sarah: So what is your other choice?

Katie: This is less inspiring and more on the ridiculous, if you just need something to amuse yourself. It’s called The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish. It’s a Chinese web novel that has been translated into English, and it’s about a young man from modern times who’s been reading this novel, and he gets thrown into the world, but not as a person: as a fish. And he starts affecting the novel by being a fish and the pet of, like, the main character of this web novel. And he’s, like, the silliest, most naïve fish that you have ever met. He’s, like, just very silly and naïve, and so it’s, there’s no stakes. Like, it’s very low-stakes, and it is hilarious. It’s –

Sarah: I’m trying so hard not to laugh into the mic. This sounds hysterical! [Laughs] How, how did you read it? Where did you read it? Did you find it – ‘cause if it’s a web novel and it’s being translated, that usually means it’s a fan work.

Katie: So it is actually, Seven Seas Entertainment licensed it? They’ve been licensing a bunch of web novels.

Sarah: I love a license. It makes, means I can, it means I can link to things. [Laughs]

Katie: Yes!

Sarah: [Sings] I love a license!

[Laughter]

Katie: And so you can get it anywhere. I think I got my cop- – there’s, they, it’s coming out in four books, and the first two are out. The third will be out December 10th.

Sarah: Oh my gosh! They’re gorgeous!

Katie: Yeah, they’re beautiful.

Sarah: Oh!

Katie: They’re really beautiful. Yeah.

Sarah: The Disabled Tyrant’s –

Katie: They did a lovely job.

Sarah: – Beloved Pet Fish.

Katie: And it’s, it’s danmei, which means that it is, like, boys’ love.

Sarah: Yeah.

Katie: And eventually, presumably, the fish will turn back into a person, and they’ll get together! But it’s, it’s a lot of fun in the meantime.

Sarah: I love this so much, especially because earlier today we had a nice discussion of – hang on, let me find – I want to get the title right. There is a series called – that I just learned about from a reader, and it is called Lawn Ornament Shifters, and the first one is The Flamingo’s Fated Mate, and the second one is Gnome Sweet Gnome.

Katie: Oh my God!

Sarah: I feel like –

Katie: That’s amazing.

Sarah: I feel like we really need silly right now? Like, we really need silly.

Katie: Yeah. Really, really. I also love flamingos, so I’ll be checking that one out!

Sarah: All right then! I mean, how can you not? I’m pretty sure it’s going to be – most of these things are in Kindle Unlimited, because the more silly it is – [laughs] – the more likely it is to be in KU?

Katie: Right, right.

Sarah: What wishes do you have for everybody in 2025?

Katie: So I wrote mine down. I am wishing that people take time for their creative endeavors, for their creative life in the coming year and that they fill up their cup more than they’re emptying it.

Sarah: That is really good advice. I had to sit down and think about, you know how sometimes you, you plug in your phone and it’s fast-charging? Like, charging rapidly! I have to, like, really label my activities: which ones are charging rapidly, and which ones are charging the normal amount? ‘Cause I’m going to need the rapidly ones. I’m probably going to need a whole buffet.

Katie: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I will say the cup thing comes from my daughter. She, she came home from school one day, she was all upset about something, and she’s like, You know, Mom, it just doesn’t fill my cup.

Sarah: Ah! That’s important to recognize.

Katie: That, good job! So, like, we’ll figure out something that does, but yeah.

Sarah: Yeah!

Katie: Yeah.

Sarah: Do you have any creative endeavor that you’re going to be working on this year?

Katie: So I am writing fanfiction. I write fanfiction.

Sarah: Yeah!

Katie: And so I’m at eighty-eight thousand words in –

Sarah: Hell, yeah!

Katie: – that I’ve posted to the AO3, and so I’m hoping to finish it before next Christmas! And in the meantime, I also knit, so I do a lot of knitting. [Right on! – garlicknitter]

Sarah: That’s excellent! That is most excellent. I’m a, I’m, I think that’s a really great way to fill your cup. I know writing a fanfic really made me happy, so that’s awesome.

Katie: Oh good.

Sarah: Do you have a bad joke to share?

Katie: I do.

Sarah: Oh, I’m so excited!

Katie: [Laughs] Did you hear about the two peanuts walking down the street?

Sarah: No, I didn’t, not hear about the two peanuts walking down the street.

Katie: One of them was a salted.

Sarah: [Laughs] I should have seen that coming, and I didn’t! Thank you! Oh, that’s awesome! I love that everyone brings me book, books, wishes, and bad humor. It’s like the best time of the year for me!

Thank you so much for doing this!

Katie: You’re welcome! Thank you for giving me the opportunity; it was a lot of fun!

Sarah: Oh, I’m so glad. And I’ll try to do this every year!

[music]

Sarah: Love the lipstick; that’s a great color on you.

Sneezy: Thank you! I needed to feel more awake. And also our lips, my lip matches your glasses today.

Sarah: Well, that’s fabulous! So this is very easy; you’ve done this before.

Sneezy: Yes.

Sarah: Would you please introduce yourself? Tell the people who will be listening who you are and where you are!

Sneezy: Your favorite vampire! I’m kidding; that’s Astarion. I am Sneezy – [laughs] – over down in Boba Land, and I, I am, yes, just your discount vampire, but still very fabulous.

Sarah: Of course. Okay, so what is a book that you, you read this year that you want to recommend to everyone?

Sneezy: Okay, so I’m still on my, my webtoons stint, just slowly making my way back to, to book-books, but I had to think this through because the webtoon I want to recommend everyone, I can’t, I can’t tell you guys why I recommend it without spoiling it, so I had to go with another one.

Sarah: Okay!

Sneezy: And the one I went with was A Foxy Affair. It’s very fun, it’s very low-stress, and has what I think is, like, good, basic class politics. Like, it’s, it’s nothing too, too right, too – I don’t know – who, who’s a good class theologian? Someone. I, I can’t think of any academics at this time of day. [Laughs] But the, the main character is an assassin. She gets hired to kill, you know, someone who she eventually figures out shares a body with her client and is just, like, a lot of smut logic, because the only way to kill her client is via sex, and then it kind of goes from there, and it’s just really fun. I know I’m not selling it very well, but it’s, it’s just a little bit insane, and I just kind of need that, and for anybody else who needs just a touch of insanity and a lot of sex and just really fun and, and a character that would tell their love interest that their dick needs to be euthanized? There you go.

Sarah: Okay! I mean, fair.

Sneezy: [Laughs]

Sarah: I, I love the term smut logic.

Sneezy: [Laughs more] So you know the most notorious offenders on our, our Cover Snark series.

Sarah: Mm-hmm, yeah!

Sneezy: You know those stories where it’s like you get your magic penises, your magic vaginas, your Oh No, Someone Will Die, We Just Have to Fuck?

Sarah: Yes. The, either the world will end if we do, or the world will end if we don’t, but we really want to.

Sneezy: Right. And then there’s, like, additional layers? Like, do you know what a tsundere is?

Sarah: No, I don’t.

Sneezy: Okay, so that’s basically, it’s kind of like your dark romance love interest?

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Sneezy: And, you know, the fantasy is very much someone who’s going to kidnap you into, like, a gorgeous castle and feed you, and you don’t have to pay rent, and you just get copious orgasms. Like, that, that’s the fantasy, right, and then there’s, like, various levels, because in the fantasy realm sometimes things get very dark, and then it’s like a little bit of hate-reading sometimes, a little bit of I would hate this in real life, but oh my God, yes; in fantasy land, tie me up; have your way with me. And it’s just, like, smut logic is just when there is absolutely every reason to call the cops in the real world, but in fantasy world, in, in book world, it’s like, Yes, we’re fucking now; that’s what we’re doing.

Sarah: Yes. Also, the idea that sex takes on such importance that, like, other people are invested? Like, I never understood for the life of me the number of books I used to read where just, everyone knew the heroine was a virgin! And they just, like, talk about it like, Well, you know, you still haven’t lost that pesky virginity. Like, how did – where? Who? Who does that? Like, why? Why? Like, I’ve never understood that, but it was a very – you’ve, you’ve read these, right? Like, everyone in the town knows she’s a virgin! And it’s like, that’s weird!

[Laughter]

Sneezy: Okay, so, so I will say that most of the comics I read are from east Asia, or at least have very heavy east Asian influences, right.

Sarah: Fair.

Sneezy: There is still a lot of, like, struggles with how to depict consent and, like, balancing that with, Is she an appropriate woman? Are we allowed to like her?

Sarah: Yeah.

Sneezy: Right.

Sarah: Yeah.

Sneezy: And there’s still a lot of stories where even if she’s into it, she has to say no or at least put on the façade of Oh, this is too overwhelming for me. I don’t, I don’t know my own clitoris. Duh-duh-duh-duh.

Sarah: To be convinced or coerced or, it’s, it’s like, it’s like the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” the Christmas song, where if you take –

Sneezy: Oh my God!

Sarah: If you take the lyrics as read, he’s being really pushy and an ass –

Sneezy: Yeah.

Sarah: – and if you read it within the context of the time, she has to pretend like she doesn’t want to go, but she’s not actually putting on her coat, because they are going to go to Bone Town; they just have to do this first.

Sneezy: Yeah, exactly! And then the, the line where people say, Oh, what’s in this drink? Like, when I first heard it, I actually saw it when it was like the cover on, on Glee?

Sarah: Yeah.

Sneezy: So I heard it as, like, a very cute thing where someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, mixes a drink, and it turns out terribly, and it’s like, No, no, no, don’t, don’t worry about that!

Sarah: Yeah.

Sneezy: We’ll do something else. And then people were like, Oh no, he roofied her drink. Just like, oh, I saw cute two gay boys singing it. That, I wasn’t thinking that. [Laughs]

Sarah: No. And also, What’s in this drink? could be Wow, this alcohol is so strong I’m not acting like my normal self, who would say no to such a tempting situation. Yeah, the context changing it is always interesting.

Sneezy: Yeah. So, so, you know, smut logic is like, I feel like it’s born out of a lot of that, right, and then there’s just like, basically, you know, whenever the plot is just like, just there as like a, a plot paddle to get to Bone Town, and, and we don’t really care what happens there, right.

Sarah: Plot paddle to get to Bone Town. That is an outstanding turn of phrase. I just –

Sneezy: [Laughs]

Sarah: – need to let that wash over me. That was awesome. Okay, sorry.

Sneezy: Mwah! Right! No, sometimes we just need that, and it always, it’s always hilarious to me when, you know, there’d be comics that are specifically geared just so, so you can get to Bone Town, and then people will be complaining about the plot and how, like, I don’t, I don’t understand what this is…this, nothing happened, and it’s just like, I don’t know what you’re here for, but you should’ve read the tags.

[Laughter]

Sarah: This was telegraphed in advance.

Well, what are your wishes for 2025?

Sneezy: Oh, I had to, I had to really think about this one. This, this was a tough year for everyone.

Sarah: Yes, this one was tough.

Sneezy: So there’s a cartoon I loved, a Canadian-Japanese cartoon based on an Argentinian comic called Cybersix. I watched them when I was growing up, and the opening song, we only have a snippet of it because the production company is an asshole, wouldn’t release the full song, but, but the opening song has these lines that go:

>> I’m the one they would break in their greed and their pride, but deep in my heart I feel love so alive, and from the depths of my soul, I know we will survive.

And I want everybody to just hold onto that, because all of the things that are actively trying to break us, they cannot even exist without us, and I know we’re all in a shit situation where we’re constantly needing to negotiate what we have the spoons for and what we have the resources for and how much resistance we can muster up, you know, in the situations that we’re in, and all the various intersections that we’re in, and I just want us all to remember community. Community, community, community. Unionize. You the individual will never save world. You were never meant to. Do not take that on. It will break your heart, and it will make you believe hope is gone, when that is a lie. That will always be a lie. And always remember, when we’re together, right? That’s when we make things happen. That has never been not the case throughout history. That has always been how progress is made, and even if it’s long and slow and – keep in mind, I’m, I’m Han. So that’s the major ethnicity in China, right. We had foot binding, that whole fiasco, for hundreds of years after Wu Zetian, the only empress arraigned in her own right, reigned. Under her reign we had lesbian weddings and gay men having civil unions. We’re all on these various loops. We can’t take progress for granted; we have to keep pushing. This is true, and also, we are the ones are inevitable. This is also true.

Sarah: Yes.

Sneezy: So hold on to that.

Sarah: That’s a really good wish. Especially because it ties back to the idea of, well, smut logic in a way, because we read a lot of books where it, it actually is up to one person, where one person can, is the only person who can do the thing to save the stuff, and that’s not how –

Sneezy: Yeah.

Sarah: – it works in real life. That’s very true.

Sneezy: Yeah!

Sarah: So did you bring a bad joke?

Sneezy: Yes. Oh, I, I’m not, I’m not as on my game as last year, but I did have two this year that are also bilingual.

Sarah: Oh, I love a good bilingual joke. Bring it on. This is my favorite part.

Sneezy: Okay, so. What is the most opportunistic animal?

Sarah: What is the most opportunistic animal? I don’t know.

Sneezy: It’s a chicken, because the name for chicken in Mandarin is Jī, and that’s a homonym for opportunity! Ay!

[Laughter]

Sarah: Fair enough! I love a good bilingual joke, especially if it’s a language that I don’t speak, because then it’s just charming!

Sneezy: Well, that, that just means I get punched in the face less. [Laughs] I told my friend the panda one, and they were just like, You’re so lucky you’re on another continent right now.

[Laughter]

Sneezy: Okay, I’ve got one more.

Sarah: Yes, please.

Sneezy: What is the most skilled, impressive, shrewd fruit?

Sarah: The most skilled, most impressive –

Sneezy: Most shrewd fruit?

Sarah: – most shrewd fruit. I have no idea.

Sneezy: Yes. It is a lychee – [laughs] – because all of those things are under the word lee-high in Mandarin, and Lìzhī is the name of lychee in Chinese! So there you go!

Sarah: [Laughs]

Sneezy: Any time you want to be any of those things, you have enemies to take down; you, you have, like, a world to save; you want to go unionize; you want to take back the power that you have left on the table; have lychees.

Sarah: Sounds good! I love a good lychee drink –

Sneezy: Hey!

Sarah: – so let’s do it. Thank you!

Sneezy: Let’s do it! Thank you!

Sarah: This has always been so much fun, and I really appreciate that you got up at the ass hour of the morning. Also, are, you’ve already started tomorrow, and I haven’t finished today, so first of all, thank you for being in the future, thank you for getting up at the ass hour of the morning, and thank you for doing this!

Sneezy: Well, thank you for having me on! I’m very happy that we also matched today in our colors.

Sarah: We do!

[music]

Julianne: Sure, yeah! My name is Julianne, and I am just outside of DC.

Sarah: What book do you want to recommend to everyone that you read this year?

Julianne: It’s a little list. I don’t think they’re necessarily books that have come out this year? I don’t know if that’s okay or not, but ‘kay. So the first one is called The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post. It’s by Allison Pataki. It’s kind of like a, a historical fiction based on Marjorie Merriweather Post, who, the Merriweather is named after, which is a big theater place here. Her life was really, really interesting. I loved learning more about her, and my friend and I are actually planning to take a trip to her house in DC coming up shortly, so I’m looking forward to that. Maybe in the spring, when the flowers are out in the gardens and stuff. [Laughs]

Sarah: That’s excellent plans. That’s so cool!

Julianne: There, the only other one I have – I guess it’s a list of two – my book club recently read Demon Copperhead, which is a retelling of David Copperfield kind of based in Appalachia? And it’s Barbara Kingsolver, so I’m sure people are pretty familiar with her, but I just found the way that she wrote it so, so incredibly interesting. I have some family and friends in Appalachia, so it was really great to kind of hear something from almost that different perspective while it’s kind of retelling a, a classic story that a lot of us already know, so I really enjoyed that one too.

Sarah: That’s super cool! You read a lot of good books this year!

Julianne: Yeah, I, I, my, I think I’m at like sixty-something? I’m starting to – I think my goal is sixty; I think I’m at like thirty-something. Got a way to go, but doing pretty good, I think.

Sarah: Most excellent!

Do you have any wishes for people for 2025?

Julianne: Been a long couple weeks, long, hard couple weeks, and I think for the holiday season I really just wish for, like, peace and togetherness for people, especially in getting together with family who might not always be on the same wavelength. It’s always nice to just have a little bit of calm during the holiday season, so calm and peace for everyone, I think.

Sarah: Calm and peace: hell, yes. That is a very good wish.

So, did, did you bring a bad joke? It is okay if you did not.

Julianne: I did? All my family hates this joke, ‘cause I tell it too much, but –

Sarah: Perfect! Perfect! My favorite kind!

Julianne: [Laughs] So, where did Napoleon keep his armies?

Sarah: Where did Napoleon keep his armies? Where?

Julianne: In his sleevies.

Sarah: [Laughs] Nice! I can see why everyone hates hearing it, but I personally love hearing it, so thank you for that! That’s fabulous!

[music]

Lisa: I, I, I welcome you into my house every week.

Sarah: Aw!

Lisa: Sometimes…week, so, so it’s delightful to, to hear you, see you.

Sarah: Hello! Hello! Thank you for bringing me into your house! I hope I’m a nice guest.

Lisa: You are.

Sarah: [Laughs] Good! Could you introduce yourself and tell the people who will be listening who you are and where you are?

Lisa: I’m Lisa, and I am in Middletown, Connecticut, which is central to the state.

Sarah: It sure is. What book do you want to recommend to everyone that you read this year?

Lisa: Oh, you’re making me choose my favorite baby.

Sarah: I know. If you have more than one I, I won’t get mad.

Lisa: I do. I do.

Sarah: Okay, sounds good!

Lisa: The first – and they’re all recommendations from you guys.

Sarah: Ooh!

Lisa: The first one that I really loved that made me joyful was Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan, which is a total Shanghainese girl heist, just total fun, and y’all had recommended that one in, I think, Get Rec’d by Amanda?

Sarah: Yep. Amanda definitely recommended that one. You really, you really are familiar with our, with our work. [Laughs] This is great!

Lisa: Oh. Oh yeah. The other one is the ill-mannered, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies –

Sarah: I loved that book.

Lisa: – which was just beautiful. I’m just waiting for the next one, because they need to have their happy endings.

Sarah: It was so good and so, like, so unique, you know?

Lisa: Mm-hmm!

Sarah: It was, it was like reading a historical that I hadn’t exper-, experienced and, like, I just got off of Zoom doing an interview with Elizabeth Hoyt, and we talked at length about historical and older historicals, and it’s so interesting because I think this book was really unique in its tone and in its style. Like, I felt like I was reading a different flavor of historical, which I really liked.

Lisa: I really, I really loved that book. I loved the fact that the heroine’s a lot older, that they had their own space in the world, and that they were, you know, doing their thing!

Sarah: Yes!

Lisa: And in a way it reminded me of Killers of a Certain Age, because –

Sarah: Oh yeah!

Lisa: – they took advantage of their invisibility as older women to get things done.

Sarah: Yes.

Lisa: Just like they did in Killers of a Certain Age, which was last year’s book, but still an excellent read.

Sarah: I think the sequel to Killers of a Certain Age is coming out in, in 2025, maybe the first half of the year, I think?

Lisa: In January.

Sarah: [Gasps] It’s a January book!

Lisa: I want, I want to say it’s a January book.

Sarah: Oooh, I’m excited!

Lisa: [Laughs]

Sarah: So what wishes do you have for 2025?

Lisa: I wish that everyone could get outside and enjoy clean nature.

Sarah: Holy cow. Yeah, absolutely!

Lisa: ‘Cause I work from home, and I do not get outside often enough, so it’s my wish for myself, and since, you know, I live in nature, pretty much, you know, it’s my wish that everybody can enjoy it.

Sarah: I particularly love  how, for me, sometimes go – I’m always cold – going outside feels like, Oh, I’ve got to get a coat, I’ve got to make a hat, and I’ve got to be sure I’m not cold –

Lisa: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – and then I go outside and I’m like, I’m so happy right now! This was worth all of that!

Lisa: Yeah, exactly. I feel the same way.

Sarah: Yeah, it’s, it is really important to go outside, like, literally to go touch the grass and hug a tree and, and be outside.

Lisa: Mm-hmm!

Sarah: Oh yes. So thank you! Those are really good wishes.

Did you bring a bad joke?

Lisa: I did not bring a bad joke. All my bad jokes are from you guys.

Sarah: That is okay!

Lisa: So –

Sarah: That’s okay.

Lisa: You know, I could tell you the Helsinki joke again, but – ‘cause I know that makes you laugh riotously, but –

Sarah: I think you should.

Lisa: Okay. What happens when a Finnish sailor goes overboard, Sarah?

Sarah: What?

Lisa: Helsinki!

Sarah: It’s just true! It works me out, works for me every time. [Laughs] There, there is a joke that I tell myself when I’m in a bad mood? I think I told it on the podcast.

What is the difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi?

Lisa: I don’t know!

Sarah: People in Dubai do not like The Flintstones, but people in Abu Dhabi do!

Lisa: [Laughs] That’s great!

Sarah: I could just say to people Abu Dhabi do! And I am now in the best mood. [Laughs] So thank you!

Thank you so much for doing this. I really enjoy these short interviews and talking to people. It’s really nice to meet everybody, so thank you for doing this!

Lisa: Oh, and thank you for having me, and thank you for doing the crafts night. I hope you do more of those. That was – the craft night with, with Agatha was, was fun.

Sarah: I am definitely going to do a hangout, maybe in December if people aren’t too busy. But yeah, I’m going to start doing a little crafty hangout at least once a quarter, because it was really lovely to see everybody, and –

Lisa: Yeah, yeah!

Sarah: – work on things. Although I realized I cannot be on Zoom and cross-stitch because I will mess all of it up, because that’s two very different focal points, and I’m not good at…

Lisa: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah: I can’t do that. I know there are people who can, like, knit without looking. I am not – I have to look –

Lisa: Mm-mm.

Sarah: – at what I’m doing. And I can’t Zoom and stitch –

Lisa: I get it.

Sarah: – at the same time.

Lisa: Yep.

[outro]

Sarah: And that brings us to the end of this week’s episode. Thank you to Dani and Sneezy and Katie and Lisa for joining me and telling me all about books and other things. I love hearing what you’ve been reading this year. I will have links to everything we talked about, including the Girls Who Don’t DnD podcast and The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish. Do not worry; it’ll be in the show notes.

And if you would like to do an interview, there are still appointments available. If you are in the podcast Patreon, the link is inside Patreon; it’s inside the Discord. If you want to join the Patreon but you can’t find it, email me; I can send it to you. It’s all hooked up to my calendar, and I have dates through the beginning of December, and I really like talking to you, so I hope you sign up.

As always, I end with a terrible joke, and this joke is really, really bad, but that’s why I tell them to you: because they are bad.

Did you hear about the person going around and illegally painting houses?

Yeah, did you hear about the person going around illegally painting other people’s houses?

They got caught red-handed.

[Vocal rim shot, laughs] So bad, so bad, I love it! Listen, I just love bad jokes. If you want to send me those too, you know I would love to have them. I have one that I’m on the fence about, and I’m not sure if it’s truly, like, bad joke worthy? So maybe, maybe I’ll run it by you next week and you can tell me if it was worth it. Maybe I’ll do two next week! Oh, how lucky you are!

On behalf of everyone here, we wish you the very best of reading. Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you back here next week.

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at frolic.media/podcasts.

[end of music]