Hi, I'm Sarah Colonna.And I'm John Ryan.And you're listening to The Book List.The Book List.The Book Lisp.Oh, that's right.You're listening to The Book Lisp. Hello and welcome to The Book Lisp with John Ryan and Sarah Colonna.Hey, John.Hey.
The title of the podcast is, in fact, The Book Lisp.That is not a typo, as someone thought very politely.
Yes.Someone asked us to check our spellcheck.
Very politely.John, why is it called The Book Lisp?
It's called The Book Lisp because if you have at least one good ear right now, you can tell that I have a little bit of a speech impediment.
And you know, this is 11 years ago, this wouldn't have been possible because once I met you, I really came out more and was more vocal.
I was going to say, keep going.Don't say you just came out once you met me because people are going to be confused about our relationship.Thank you.
I came out of straight when we met. I was a little bit more, I was playing in the NFL at the time and I became a little bit more vocal.People kind of learned my personality a little bit more.
Um, the full story is when I was a little kid, when I was three years old, two years old, learning to talk, I had really bad ears, bad ear infections.
And even now, you know, that I don't hear very well, uh, different sounds and stuff are always hard to me.And I was in speech therapy from three until 20.
Oh wow.I actually didn't know that.
Yeah.And it was what, it was always the most frustrating thing for me is I can't hear it.Like it, it was like the, what I kept on working on it, but it was like, it's hard to correct if you can't hear.And so, um, it was great.
Cause when I met you, you're like, who the fuck cares?Like just be, you just like show your personality, show people who you are.
And then I think, I think maybe a four or five years ago, I was thinking it was like, whose voice do I hear more than anyone's? My own voice.Oh, I thought you were going to say mine.
I was getting nervous.Yeah.
The voice I hear more than anyone else's is my own voice and my own voice sounds normal.So in my mind, I was like, well, I talk normal.Everyone else has a speaking impediment.
Oh, that's a good way to look at it.
Except that we're like, you guys are the ones that don't talk normal because the voice that I hear all the time is normal.
That's a good point.That's like, well, it's almost like when they tell you to picture people naked or whatever, which I've never done by the way, as a comedian, I've never pictured a room naked.That would just be weird in my opinion, but yeah.
then maybe that wasn't a good comparison.You're looking at me like I'm crazy.Yeah.
Same, same.But it's funny because when I was growing up, I grew up in Canada and people are always like, oh, kids can be so cruel.I went through all of elementary school, all high school.No one ever made fun of my speech impediment.
Not until I got to university, got to pro football.So like kids can be cruel if they learn it from adults, in my opinion, because I never heard anything.Still, even now, I'll post something on Instagram, something you always look down as one asshole.
It's like, Bro, why do you talk like that?Take your retainer out, dude.It's like, okay.Say it to his face.
If that's you out there, I dare you to say it.Flex your biceps, John, so we can get more followers.
The book list would have never been possible if not for Sarah Colonna and me accepting that this is the way I talk and if you don't fucking like it, now's a good time to turn it off.
It's never bothered me.I love your voice.Thank you.
Yes, this is a book club podcast and we are drinking wine in the middle of the day just because, I mean, we had to shoot at some point and we didn't want to not have wine because that felt off-brand for us.
And the way we came up with this idea was that John and I both like to read.We lay in bed at night.We both are reading.We ask each other what we're reading.
And you're probably already aware if you're already here, but if you're new to either of us, you will learn that John really likes to read his romance novels.
I really do.I mean, sometimes you say romance novels, people think like drugstore, like Fabio on the cover, airbrush, not that far.No, I don't go that far.
That's what shows up on your Kindle as recommendation.
That's when it started because I always read on a Kindle and we were on vacation one time.And when you're on a Kindle, when you go to standby mode or like sleep mode, it comes up as like a suggestion.This should be your next read.
And it's always like a cowboy with half a shirt on.And it's like a rough ride home. It's always like very brat brokeback mountain ish.
It's like whatever for whatever reason, the algorithm, Amazon's algorithm thinks I'm like a desperate housewife from Indiana who's about to leave her husband or a guy from West Hollywood.Yes, that's my about to leave with his husband.
That's my algorithm.And I'm a sucker for it.And I just keep on reading the same books.And I do read a lot.I read a lot of other things other than like the romance.I love the Ellen Hildebrand.
As you know, I've read all 28 of her full length novels, Abby Jimenez, as well as my go to Taylor Jenkins.What's her full name?Taylor Jenkins.Whatever.
I. She's very good, too.Well, it's funny because when you win.So I really like Taylor Jenkins read.OK, I really like to read like a thriller.Anything that says psychological twists, heart pounding, blah, blah, blah.I like to read those.
And I I set murdery like the lifetime version, lifetime cheesy movie version of a novel sometimes, but then also sometimes a little bit more serious than that.
And we just thought it was kind of like an odd mix that we both, that he reads the lady novels, I like to call them, and I read the murder novels.And we started talking about, oh, how fun would it be if we do a book club podcast?
He'd always wanted to do the book list.It was always her idea.And he said, why don't we do it together?And one month they have to read one of my suggestions, one month they have to read one of yours.Now, I will say,
When you first told me about Ellen Hildebrand, which she's obviously a hugely famous author.A lot of people read her books.I did assume they were all sort of romance novels, but she does a little mystery.
Yeah.My first selection here that we'll talk about, it's not just straight up romance.There's some romance involved.
Eventually you want to punch both the characters in the mouth, and then you cry with them, then you laugh with them, and then you cry with them again.So it's not just straight up a Hallmark movie, but I won't
kick a Hallmark movie out of bed, they're pretty good too.But it's not just straight up romance cut to the end.They find each other in a forest and live happily ever after, like Hallmark Christmas movies.
And then in my books, if people find each other in the forest, usually it's that one of them's dead. So that's what I like to read.And we have been going back and forth about how to do this.
So we figured you guys listen, I, we, we pulled you guys at the book list on Instagram, which is if you're not following that follow there, we'll always announce what books we're reading.
and we figure we'll start the month off discussing whatever we want about books.
The second and the third weeks will be related to the book that we announced, maybe things that are in the news that related to the books that we announced or just parts of the books, but we're not going to break it down until the very end of the month so that you have the full month to read your book.
The fourth week of the month will be the quote-unquote review
And I have to go ahead and say right now, just to prepare people, when we discuss books, because we started doing this with John, he was guesting on Are You My Podcast, which is my podcast with Mary Radzinski, which is very funny if you don't already listen to that.
And he came on to give us his summer reading list, and our fans were very into it.And a lot of people were surprised to find out that John, what he likes to read, I don't know why, it's just not the typical thing, right?So,
That's when we decided to turn it into this and I polled people and everyone decided one book a month is probably the best. case scenario, but breaking it down per week seems like too much to me.
It's like, yeah, we're not going so in depth to the book.It's more just, we're just having fun with it.We're going to, we're going to talk about different issues that come up in the book that it relates to the real world.
Maybe, uh, on the second and third, um, podcast of the month.And then the fourth one, as you said, we're going to really break it down, but not to the point where we're depicting chapter by chapter.
We're just kind of not that serious, you know, talking about our, our boots, our new friends in the book.
Yeah, and also I want to warn everyone that I get really annoyed with characters sometimes, and that doesn't mean... And so I'm not bashing... Nothing with the author.Yeah, I'm not bashing the authors by any means.
I'm like, but sometimes I get annoyed by characters in a book, but I actually like that.I like when a character annoys me.And a lot of times I think they're meant to.
Now, John always has very specific authors, and I don't know if I should admit this or not, but I'm going to because that's what we're doing here, is I sometimes just pick mine based off Amazon suggesting, not the drugstore cowboy, whatever.
novels that he has, but it'll be like based on your reading.And then I'll just read a synopsis and it'll say heart pounding, psychological thrill or blah, blah, blah.And I'm like done in.
And so, but for me, that's been fun because I discover a lot of authors that way. that I don't know that I would have read before.One of my favorite authors is Tess Gerritsen, and I discovered her a long time ago.
I'm not starting off mine with one of her books.We are going to tell you in a moment what both our books are so that you'll have November and December, but Tess Gerritsen, you might know her.
from, you might know her series that was created off of her books, Rosalie and Isles, that I think was on Lifetime.And they created that series off of two of her main characters.
And that series was very, I think, watered down compared to the way that she writes.But her very early books, of my favorites of all time, which we will do eventually.
We're not starting off with it because I'm afraid you guys will be afraid of me because it's called The Surgeon and it's a serial killer who was a surgeon.Eric Roberts would play him in real life.Oh, if Eric Roberts could play him.
You guys know I love Eric Roberts and if you guys have ever seen the Stalks by My Doctor series on Lifetime, it's the greatest movies you'll ever see in your life.
Um, so anyway, I, we're not starting off with anything quite that crazy, but we might get to it eventually.But I do have a lot of authors that I've discovered from going on Kindle.
So my December book is going to be somebody, uh, that I actually have not read this book yet.I'm taking a risk here because I want you guys to read it along with me and then we'll just decide together if I picked a good one or not.
It's got a lot of great reviews.It's super, uh, but we should start with yours. just so everyone can write down what they're reading for November.
So our November book will be from my very favorite author, Ellen Hill, the brand.She's been my favorite author since I read her.The first time I read her book was, um, summer of 69.
So I kind of got the game late and then, and then I went back and read all, you know, now 28 novels.Uh, she'll write one book a year.
Now she's retiring, but she'll read, write one book a year based in Nantucket, one book a year based in the Virgin Islands. And, uh, my pick was one of my favorite books.It's called 28 summers.
That's the number one book for we're on the podcast for November 28 summers by Ellen Hill, the brand.
And as I said, it's one of those books where you love the main characters and then you hate them and then you cry with them and then you hate them again.
I was crying a little bit the other day.I've already finished it, but but just to be prepared.But we I was crying a little bit at the end of the book, which I was surprised by myself that I had that kind of feeling about these characters.
No one gets murdered.No, it's flashed up like yearbooks. You know, eight summers in prison, but it's funny because I went and looked at some of the reviews and the reviews are overall, they're very good.
But when you go down like that weird rabbit hole, like a Reddit rabbit hole, there's people are like, I don't like the way she's glorifying cheating.I couldn't read this book.Um, I don't think she's glorifying cheating this book.
I think it's just a book.
Yeah, I think it's two characters in... They're not real.They're not.It's a book.Sometimes you have to remember that.That's why we call it fiction.Yeah, I know.But think about how I felt.
I mean, I used to watch General Hospital and boy, did I get mad sometimes.
You should be mad at the storyline, not the author.
I don't know, I've told you this before, but they used to have a hotline, General Hospital used to have a hotline, and it was a 1-900, so you had to pay, but you could leave your feedback.
And when I first moved to Los Angeles, and I was living with my dad and my stepmom, and had just graduated college and had zero friends here, the characters on General Hospital were my only friends.
And so I used to call the 1-900 hotline, and I would leave them my feedback. And one time my stepmom got her phone bill and she said, oh my God, she took me in my room by myself.She didn't want my dad to hear it.
She said, you have to tell me about these 900 numbers you're calling.And I was like, oh, I was so embarrassed.And then I realized she was so relieved when I told her it was general hospital, because she thought I was calling like a sex line.
Oh, that's amazing.Also, this is information I would have liked to have before we got married.Sorry, too late.Yeah, no problem.Now I'm adjusting.
Yeah, it's going to be fine.
And do you want to announce your first book for December?
Yes.So mine is called On a Quiet Street, and it's by Serafina Nova Glass, who is, I think that's right, we're going to make sure, Again, I don't follow the favorite authors quite as well as John does.I mean, I have some, and I've discovered them.
Yeah, Serafina Nova Glass.I read another book by her that was called Vacancy in Room 10 that I really liked, that I do believe I'll make a book at one point.And another one, something about a wife.I love those.Something about a Pissed Off Wife.
And this one's called On a Quiet Street, Serafina Nova Glass.So that will be your book for December.So if you just, in case you go to the library for your books or you, what are you, or you can, you know, you can rent them off of Amazon and whatnot.
So those are your first two.
And you're really going to get a monthly mix because you know, as we said, mine's more of a romantic base and yours is more of a slasher. Yeah, we saved the slasher psychological thriller.And the thing is, though, save those for December.
I would say it's like we go on a holiday or something.These are like our go to books.This is like my my go to genre.That's your goal.But we both like each other's books as well.I love right now Freedom McFadden.
Yes.I introduced him to Rita McFadden.She wrote the Housemaid series, which you guys... Incredible.
I think she has three or four books on the New York Times bestseller list right now.Colleen Hoover, I love, who writes some of the most twisted books I've ever read in my life.Verity, if anyone's ever read that.
That's a great one.After you read that, you're like, this fucking woman has a screw loose to write a book this crazy.
It's so funny that sometimes I go the way we read differently.I mean, we both are Kindle readers because we travel so much.And so if Kindle cares to sponsor us or something, we would love a new one.But I do like to hold a book.
But I think the one downside to Kindle, and it's the only downside because we can travel with so many books, I blow through them on the beach.Like I read the kind that you can read in a day.And then
there's the, and then you, so you obviously aren't having to pack a bunch.And then it's just so, then you can see more recommendations, books you might like, all that.
But the one thing downside is you don't hold it, you don't look at the cover very much.I literally will forget the title while I'm reading it.I don't look at the author's name as much.
And then once I finish it, if I really liked it, then I go to that author's page and I get more from them. but it's made me find more authors, but it's also made me a little bit scatterbrained.
When someone says your favorite author, I panic and I'm like, I don't know, whatever, you have to look at my library.You've got to go back and look in your app.Yeah.
And then in fact, with this one, I got nervous that I'd already read it because I thought, oh, did I delete it from my library?But I hadn't.Now, you picked 28 Summers because you have read it.
I read it back during COVID.It came out in 2020.I did read it when I was thinking about like the best novels to introduce our fans to our reading styles.That was the one, the first one that came up in my mind.
And I didn't think that smartly.I thought I'm just going to read by an author that I've enjoyed something from recently.This book's a copy, I think it's 2022.
It came out, had a solid... I do a lot of like Goodreads and Amazon reviews, has really good reviews and all that.So I thought it would be kind of fun to see a different one.
And like I said, some of the ones that I have read, we'll do those at some point too.
I'm looking forward to your picks, because they're the books that I wouldn't necessarily read.I know you introduced me to Frida McFadden and then I started reading all of her books and they're incredible.
So I'm looking forward to being introduced to more authors, like the author of your first book I've never read before.
I'm trying to remember who read, who wrote you. You, you mean you, Caroline Kepnes.I don't know if that's how you say her last name.She's read about she's written a bunch of books that I like.I was just looked it up.
But you the book that's turned into the Netflix series, you know, those are some good books.They're fucked up.Yeah.And they and she has a series after that.She is.She writes some really good.
Those are probably a better example of some of the ones that I like, like a little bit like a like a boyfriend or a girlfriend's a little messed up.And then, yeah, they like to hurt people.
I know like Margaret Atwood was a Canadian author.So she was like standardized reading like all through our high school days.And she's a great author, too.
Like Handmaid's Tale?Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah.Were you always a big reader?
Yes.I have been, I've always been a big reader.My, um, my stepdad's a big reader and he, I actually introduced him to, um, big library guy.Yeah.He loves the library.He loves going to the library.And so, but I always send him books.
He was for, he loved Westerns.He liked Louis Lamar and he likes, uh, he likes James Patterson.Yeah.Yeah.Um, Michael, uh, you know,
Oh, yeah.I call him Mikey sometimes.
Connelly?Nope.Anyway, two smart people talking about books.But I introduced him to Tess Gerritsen and he really liked her books.So yeah, he's a big reader, but I have always been.I have not.No?
No.This is kind of like a pay it back.I remember in high school, I think I read one book in high school and it was Friday Night Lights.
Oh, my God.I love that book.
I think I read it two or three times, but literally in Mrs. Stewart, if you're still alive, I doubt you are, but in your English class, I remember one time we had to read a book and we had to, we had a whole month to read the book.
And then we had to sign up to like present the book to the class.We all wrote, we all read the same book.So I signed up for Friday afternoon, like the last Friday.So everyone signed up for Monday, Tuesday, Monday, whatever.
So I don't even open the book for a month. I listen to everyone's presentation.
I then go home on Thursday night, I make like this big board just based on what everyone said, all the stuff, the topics they put, they put up this big board, and I just bullshit my way through this five minute presentation on Friday afternoon, because I'm the last one to go.
And you hadn't read it.No, just based on what everyone already made.I had 25 presentations of the freaking book.I didn't need to read it.And so I got 120% because I made a board.I went above and beyond Ms.Stewart said.I'm sorry, girl.
Oh, she's rolling over.Yeah.
I feel like it's kind of like paying it back now, but I don't know what you liked it.
The clue you were like the first cliff notes person, but you stole it from all your students, all your in Canada.
We call them Cole's notes.
Yeah.It's Cole's notes.I think it was used to be a bookstore named Coles.Oh, we don't call cliff notes.
The department store here now.
It is.And you get cold dollars.
Yeah.That's where you get all your, your best off brand stuff.
Well, wait, so you stole, okay, so you stole everyone else's sort of presentation, turned it into yours.
Said that this was what you liked.
And then got the best mark in the class.
And then you got the best mark in the class.
That was an example of the shenanigans I pulled in high school.But I feel bad.I think I read one book and it wasn't even a signed book.I watched a lot of movies and then we had to watch the Alive.Remember Alive?Alive?
about the Alps, the rugby team that crashed in the Alps.And they came out with a movie about it recently.
But that was one of them, and I was like, I'm just gonna watch the movie.Okay, now that you talk about movies.
And now, fast forward, I'm the nerd that's like, have you seen Harry Potter?Like, yeah, I have, and I read the book.
Yeah, I'm like that nerd.I'm like, I'm not gonna watch the movie, I read the book, it's way better.
I have to say I've never read one Harry Potter novel.I've read them all.I know.I had to get, I had to get past that.Have you, have you, I don't care about your list, but I care about your Harry Potter problem.Yeah.
Um, what about, so, but you've seen the movies.No, I've not seen any of the Harry Potter movies, but I've read all the books.Okay.I feel like I can take that better.Like if you were like, Oh, let's go see a Harry Potter movie on a Saturday afternoon.
I'd probably say, Oh, I'm busy.And then I'd pack. but it's just not my... And that's not... I know that there are incredible books and they have a huge fan base.It's just not my reading.It's just not something I've ever understood.
You know why I started reading all those novels?Because it was such a big part of popular culture at the time.
There's Jeopardy questions, there was like... Talking about Gryffindors and Slytherin and all this stuff that I thought that it was such a big part of popular culture that I needed to read it to be a part of it.
But you did not feel that way.
No, there's enough pop culture going around for me.I'm good.But just that you brought up movies versus the book, because you said Friday Night Lights.
Which is a very good book.
And it's all based on a book from 1987 in Odessa, Texas.Premium Panthers in Odessa, Texas.Back when like 1987, High school football was already huge, huge, huge in Texas.I think back then it was kind of like unmonitored and huge.
Like 87 coaches were making like $100,000, which is like in today's dollars, like a half a million dollars. So it was just like kind of like totally unmonitored and guys just doing whatever they wanted.And that's what the whole thing was based on.
It's still going with different shows and stuff now.
Oh, well, I grew up in Farmington, Arkansas.And and I mean, Friday night football was everything, right?Everyone's so excited.Such a big night.It's like I can smell the Frito pie from here.It's so good.But I loved I loved Friday Night Lights.
And I know because I knew that world.I mean, people did take it too seriously.People did remember.But remember the movie with Tim McGraw?
to hold on to the ball.That's your favorite line of my favorite line, because he's drunk.
And then he's like and he's mad that the QB, he's the father of in the in the TV show.It's QB one, right?
Yeah.What's Tim?Tim Riggins on the show was a running back.
Yeah.QB one miss Matt Sarensen, I think.Yeah, I don't know.Anyway, it doesn't matter.
But Matt, but Tim McGraw gets real mad at his son for dropping the ball during a game and he's drunk in the backseat of a truck and he goes, well, can't you hold on to the ball?And then he kicks out the window.
And then he tapes his hands to the football, which is a little bit dark, but I loved it.But a good reference for book versus movie is actually Your Girl. or show, Ellen Hildebrand.
The Perfect Couple that just came out on Netflix.
The Perfect Couple was just out on Netflix.Talk about pop culture.We're on it, guys.We're on it.
So we watched that show, and because I wasn't quite enjoying the show, I decided to read the book to see if I would like the book better, and I liked the book a lot better, and I finished the book while we were kind of watching the series.
So it was like, first of all, I'll be honest, I love a spoiler.I don't give a shit.It doesn't ruin anything for me.You can tell me, I love a spoiler.If I find out what's happening, it relaxes me.
And then I can just ease into, oh, I already know who murdered someone throughout this entire book.It's going to be great when it gets to the end.I'll feel so satisfied.I don't care.And then I can watch him.
I can watch that fucker the whole book, you know, whether it's a man or a woman, I can be the last chapter first.Yeah, I stopped doing that.OK, just because it's harder on a Kindle to be honest. You gotta go back.
It used to be so much easier with a book.You just flip to the back and then, but now it's like, it's almost like they know you're doing it.You feel like kind of dirty about it.So I did stop doing that.But if I can find spoilers online, I do it.
I do it for our reality shows.
Yeah.The only one I don't do it for is married at first sight because I do that on my podcast or even my podcast. And I can't ruin that for myself because I have to speak in time during the show, right?I don't want to ruin it for our listeners.
And plus, there's no spoilers out there on that anyway.I wish there were.But I do like The Bachelor, Reality Steve.I go right to his page.I don't even watch The Bachelor.
I don't even watch it anymore, but I still go to his page and I go, Oh, look at who he ends up with or who she ends up with.And then I'm like, why do I care?I don't even watch it.
Reality.Steve is like the ultimate spoiler.And Sarah is such a spoiler that Sarah, I think Sarah's gone out for dinner with reality before.That's how in deep you are with reading stories.
But also then this first book that we're reading should be perfect for you.We've been reading the book and the book starts at the end. It's not really a spoiler, because it is the first chapter you'll read.
It's called 28 Summers, and it's kind of a same time next year.
Alan Hildebrand, that's your assignment.
If you've seen the movie Same Time Next Year, it's kind of like that.
What kind of like that?They reference it, the whole book.
They watch it together.And so the book starts off, the very first chapter is Mallory is on her deathbed, and she says to her son, go get this phone number out of this hidden area.
and he calls the person, and it happens to be the President of the United States' husband, and she's like, my mom needs you to come here.
And he thought it was like a prank.And that's the very beginning.
That's really chapter number one.So it starts at the end.So we already know there's 28 summers between then, and then it starts off in 1993, and it goes all the way to 2020. chapter one.
Well, the best part about that is while I was reading it at one point, John goes, have you gotten to the part where Mallory had a kid yet?And I go, fucking spoiler alert.And he goes, that was the first chapter.I'm like, oh, right.I forgot.
So I was kind of perfect for you.It starts the end.It does.I like something that I like when when movies and TV shows start like that.But the perfect couple was not.I didn't like the series.
I felt like if you were not an Ellen Hildebrand fan before, and you hadn't read any of her books, and then you saw this show based on her book, I personally was wondering if people went and would go then buy her books based on this TV show, or if they'd be kind of turned off by it.
And not that it was bad, I just thought it was not nearly as good as her books.
And it's hard to be any kind of television movie as good as the book. Um, there in the, in sometime in this book, they reference like women are writing all these books, but men are dominating the bestselling list.
And I'm happy to say like four years later, this book was written in 2020, four years later, it's quite the opposite.Yeah.You look at the New York times bestseller list.
It's like Colleen Hoover will be like five, uh, freedom of family, the next three.And then it'll be like a new hell Ellen Hildebrand book or whatever.But it's like almost every week, 10 to 12 authors are dominating the New York times bestseller.
Do you know what other female author has been on the New York times bestselling list?
Thank you.Number five, life as I blow it, pick it up.Uh, and has anyone seen my pants?That's my other book.
We won't review those cause that would be awkward, which speaking of, so my second book, I am also an author.It was called, has anyone seen my pants?Cause I like very serious titles.And, um, I write very, it's about dating all through my thirties.
And I wrote very, um, I kind of wrote forgetting my mom would read it that if, if that makes any sense.Right.Um, and my mom's sweet.Cause she, every time she read both of my books and she's like, I just love how you just like make stuff up.
I was like, sure. That's what I did.Let's do that.But I wrote about our relationship in that, and we had met.It was truly about dating.I'm not trying to flip this on a book about myself, but I just think this is an interesting thing.
is that I was writing about meeting John, after writing about being single all through my 30s, and the fact that I enjoyed it, and the fact that I was tired of people asking me when I was gonna meet someone, and the fact that it's okay to be single, and blah, blah, blah, and focus on your career, and not settle for some bullshit, and then of course, I meet him while I'm finishing the book, so I wanted to be honest, and I wrote this ending where I was like, I met this guy, we'll see where it goes,
And when people read it now, they always write me and they're like, if they weren't still following me or had just discovered me or something, they would say, I'd ran to your page to see if you ended up with this guy, which I did.
But I wrote about, I kind of forgot that I was writing like your mom might read it one day.
Oh, she read both of them.
Yeah.And it's just, I know she loved them and she's the coolest lady, but it's just, it's sort of weird to realize that.You really put yourself out there.I did, but I wasn't thinking about it, but that's.
When I first was asked to write a book, I got very nervous.I said, why would anyone ever wanna read a book by me?I'm not like, it's not like I'm Carol Burnett in my 90s with this whole life story to tell, right?
It's like, I just had some ideas and some short stories that I thought connected well and would be, and readers would connect with them.
And my book agent, Robert Gensler, who's the best, and he's gonna be sending us some books for the podcast too, and that's gonna be a good way for you guys to discover maybe some authors you don't know. But he said, are you a reader?I said, yeah.
And he goes, well, do you always know the author that you pick up the book by?And I was like, no, I barely ever know them, in fact.
A lot of times it's better when you don't.
Yeah.And he was like, there you go.He's like, it's not like someone has to be finding out.Oh, of course, there's Ellen Hildebrand, there's these huge famous authors.A new one that I'm really liking, I think she's Canadian too, Sherry Lapina.
She's got a bunch of, we'll be reading some of her books.But Anyway, point is, he was saying a lot of times you just discover, you just read a book and you enjoy it, it doesn't matter who wrote it.
So that's my, I don't know what that was, but it was just to tell you guys if you're interested in writing a book, first of all, don't, it's a pain in the ass, but second, yeah, someone might be interested in your story and you have no idea.
You didn't think anyone would be interested and then you became a New York Times bestseller.You were number five on the list.
I like how he made this about me.
It's my favorite episode so far. So 28 Summers by Ellen Hildebrand.It's weird.Is it the first book you read by her?Because we'll just say it's not.
The first one I read by her was sixty nine summers.No, summer 69.And it was it was kind of like her first like real mainstream book that everyone's kind of like pumping up.
And I read that and then I went back and read every everything she's ever written because I was obsessed with it.
Now, what I saw after I finished 28 Summers, which again, the review will be at the end of this month, the fourth week, and we'll discuss some bits of it in between on the next couple of weeks.
But one thing that I saw at the end of 28 Summers on my Kindle was it recommended that I read something, The Sixth Wedding, or something like Fourth, Fifth Wedding, something like that.But it was called A 28 Summers Story.It's another book about
like referring back to this one, but it's way shorter.It was like 90 pages or something.
Yeah.So she does this a lot, um, which actually went back to McKinnell.I was like, Oh, I forgot about that.And then I was like, I actually looked back at McKinnell.I actually had read that as well.
She'll like, um, follow like characters along, like, um, she had summer 69, which was a full length, whatever, 800 page, but whatever it was.
And then she had Summer of 79, which is like a, you know, a 40-page thing, just like a follow-up so you can follow the characters a little bit.
And then she had Summer of 99, another, you know, 40 or 50-page thing, just because everyone is so obsessed with, she does such good work with character development that you want to know, like, where they are in 10 years, where they are in 20 years.
And she writes a lot of these short novels as well, just to kind of keep up with the characters, as well as a lot of the characters kind of intertwine in different novels.
One of them was, now you've read The Perfect Couple, and this one, Ed Cavendish, He shows up real quick in this novel.
He's the sheriff.In town, yes.Sheriff in town.
Chief, there you go, that's the word.
And so he has little Easter eggs that pop up in different novels, which is always fun too.
But you don't have to read them in order, right?
They're all standalone novels, but it is fun just when you read them all.You don't necessarily have to read them in order, but you see little, as I said, little Easter eggs here and there of different characters popping up.
Because we had read, obviously that's not one we're reviewing right now, but we had both read Swan Song, because he introduced me to Ellen Hildebrand a bit ago, and Swan Song was her final book, right?
I think her final solo, full-length, Nantucket novel.
Oh, so she's retiring like Tom Brady, right?
Well, I think it was in the morning.I'm on her email list, sweetie. So the morning the book was released, she released an email to everyone on our email list being like, this is, it's called the swan song cause this is my swan song.
But then she also announced that she'd write a book with her daughter doing some other things.But she's like, I think I've exhausted the topic of Nantucket.I'm not going to touch it anymore.
I'm going to leave that alone, which also leaves her open to the British Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands, which she writes about.But I think she looked, see going toward retirement, she has a podcast now.
She replied to me on Twitter one time.That was fun.
She did.Yes, that's actually a good way to close out this podcast is by you telling that story, because that really entertained me once when you wrote you posted something about.
I think I've got a live tweet at the end of the book.Be like, so and so just showed up.Jesus Christ, Alan, what are you doing to me?Whatever.And she's like, oh, my God.Now my fan base now includes an NFL player.
Yeah.She was very surprised.You were very excited about that.Almost as excited as my mom was when Luke Bryan tweeted her.
Wow.I'm not that excited.I know.I haven't stopped talking about it for 12 years.
No.But she actually said Luke Bryan twatted me, and that was very upsetting for me.But he did.I have the tweet to prove it.
So we really just want to introduce for this episode ourselves, if you don't know us, which we didn't really do, but I'm a comedian and an author.
I'm a former professional football player.
And I'm also an actress.And then John, now you can talk.Anything else, sweetie?Yes. Actually a writer.
Anyway, go ahead.I am a former professional football player.I played professional football for 19 years, 12 of those years in the National Football League, mostly with the Seattle Seahawks.And now I'm retiring and I don't do a lot.
He reads.Now he's retired. And he reads, and so we have a podcast.And we would love for you to join us.And 28 Summers by Ellen Hildebrand is your first assignment.
If you wanna go ahead and get your second book for December, it is On a Quiet Street by Serafina Nova Glass, question mark?Yeah, that's right.And we look forward to you guys following along with the book list.Can't wait.The book list.The book list.
The book list.The book list. the bookless.
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