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Season Six
Episode 63 - The Duchess of Malfi (1614)
Subtitle: We're ALL taking the snail dogsled
Abby calls Daniel: Football Hooligan
Daniel calls Abby: Soccer Mom
Casting: This should be a Paul Verhoeven film with Eva Green as the Duchess, Joaquin Phoenix as Ferdinand, Michael Sheen as the Cardinal, Robert Pattison as Antonio, James McAvoy as Bosola, and Mia Goth as Cariola.
Advice: If you're not sure how you feel about a book, it's OK to follow discussions about it. Be discerning about who you listen to and align your perspectives with, but sometimes you can clarify your own opinion based on the opinions of critics who you always (dis)agree with.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: The next banned book is a bit sexy, and you don't get any sexier than a text from France.
Show Notes: This is the beginning of a season dedicated to banned and controversial books.
SMFMS Bookends 15 - The Duchess of Malfi (1614)
Subtitle: Too Hot To Handle
Abby calls Daniel: The Glocestershire Cheese-Rolling Competition
Daniel calls Abby: Kraft Singles Night
Remedial Bad GoodReads: Jane Eyre
Daniel's Media List: Children of Men (2006)
Abby's Media List: Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust (1934), Wicked (2024)
Episode 64 - Madame Bovary (1857)
Subtitle: Going to Wrack and Rouen
Abby calls Daniel: Spearmint Rhino
Daniel calls Abby: Hooters
Casting: This is a subplot on a season of White Lotus, with Kirsten Dunst as Emma Bovary and her real-life husband Jesse Plemons as Charles.
Advice: Read banned books. Banning books is just a way of controlling someone under the guise of 'protecting' them. Look at who's banning the books and really ask yourself why. What are they scared of you knowing?
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: The next one goes out to my girls, Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah!
SMFMS Bookends 16 - Madame Bovary (1857)
Subtitle: Tom and Jerry Plus an Encyclopaedia
Abby calls Daniel: Gentle tutting
Daniel calls Abby: Hey, pencil d*ck!
Remedial Bad GoodReads: Hamlet
Daniel's Media List: On the Town (1949)
Abby's Media List: Peaky Blinders; Name of the Rose (1980)
Episode 65 - The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Subtitle: Put your 'gine into it!
Abby calls Daniel: This cheeky mare
Daniel calls Abby: Mustang Sally
Casting: Katherine Bigelow war film, from the perspective of the resistance; a woman of colour as Offred (maybe Journee Smollett or Taraji P. Henson) to reinforce that this has really happened and IS really happening, largely to non-white women.
Advice: Be suspicious of nostalgia, in fiction and in real life. It is a very powerful rhetorical tool used to manipulate people. No time period was EVER simpler and nicer.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: Our next text very prominently features a classic spring and summertime recreational activity.
SMFMS Bookends 17 - The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Subtitle: Feat. Daniel's Dogsh*t Attitude
Abby calls Daniel: Sir Patrick Stewart
Daniel calls Abby: William Shatner
Remedial Bad GoodReads: Beowulf
Daniel's Media List: Sorry to Bother You (2018); Post Office by Charles Bukowsi (1971)
Abby's Media List: Conclave (2024); Bones
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