Michael Calore: Go to the movies.
Lauren Woode: Just go a movie.
Katie Drummond: I like it.
Michael Calore: This is the worst time of year to go to the movies.
Lauren Woode: No, this is the best time of year, because air conditioning and comfortable seats.
Michael Calore: Yes but it is-
Katie Drummond: I’m with Lauren, that’s good advice.
Lauren Woode: No, I was three times this year and every time, very last minute. A friend invited me the last moment to watch the 40th anniversary of Goonies who played downtown. We went, it was fantastic. I hanged out with friends with friends one night and we said, “Let’s go and see our sinners.” It played across the street, fantastic. The theater was practically empty, it was delicious. The film itself actually looks at our friends, critics of the New Yorker Pod. They had some thoughts about the materialists, so I’m going to throw it for them, but it was wonderful. I was like, I have to go to the movies more.
Michael Calore: Oh, for sure.
Lauren Woode: What is your recommendation, Mike?
Michael Calore: I am going to recommend a book, and this is a book I read on July 4th. It is called, I cheerfully refuse by Leif Anger. I believe this is Leif’s fourth novel. He is a best seller, you may have heard of his name. This is his new book, this is dystopic fiction. It portrays a few decades from now a world in which society has crumbled in a way that feels very recognizable and familiar, a bit like a more dangerous and uncertain version of today. The entire economy is controlled by a handful of super -rich elite. The education system is crumbling, most Americans are proudly illiterate. We have a proud illiterate president in this book. Satellite communication is surprised, is completely unreliable, GPS no longer works. It is just like an eroded version of the world we live in, and it is really clearly reproduced. We fall into this world and follow the main character on a quest. The entire book takes place on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota and Western Ontario. The main character comes in a boat and he goes and he sails on Lake Superior and we follow him around. I’m not going to spoil it by saying something more than that, but it is poignant and unpredictable and also beautiful, beautifully written at the sentence. It’s like poetry for pages. It’s incredible, emotional, deep. It will be annoyed because it is a book for this moment. It’s just beautiful.
Lauren Woode: I don’t know what to say for it, except that it sounds really deep.
Katie Drummond: You are so much more sophisticated than we both. Sorry, Lauren.
Michael Calore: Well, I mean, not really.
Lauren Woode: I accept it.
Michael Calore: No, I mean, I know that I have recommended a nerdy book, but you really have to read it just because it gives you a very sharp, types of future of what it is like if you just let the richest people in the world manage the economy and manage all the basic services we rely on, to the point where they just fall apart because the most important people no longer need them, and it is the rest of us. And it’s as if it’s a little grim, it feels like the world is moving, and that’s why the book sounded so much with me when I read it. Yes.
Lauren Woode: I’m going to add it to the good lectures. Thank you very much.
Michael Calore: Natural.
Lauren Woode: Yes. I almost recommended a book of a philosopher, but I go and keep it for the time being. Once Katie is gone, we can just stick out nerd, Mike.
Michael Calore: I don’t know. I’m going to look at Goonies. I don’t know.
Lauren Woode: Welcome to Wired’s Lit Nerd Podcast.
Michael Calore: Well, well thank you for listening to this episode of Ominous valley. If you like what you have heard today, follow us on our show and judge it on your Podcast app of choice. If you want to contact us with any questions, comments or suggestions, then write to us at [email protected]. Today’s show was produced by Adriana Tapia. Macrosound Amar Lal mixed this episode, Pran Bandi was our studio engineer in New York. Mark Lyda was our San Francisco Studio Engineer. Kate Osborn is our executive producer. Katie Drummond is Wired’s global editorial director, and Chris Bannon is the head of Global Audio.