The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark is our latest read, and our last read before we take a few weeks off for spring break. One of us loved this book, and one of us really and truly did not, and that’s what makes for a fun book club chat! Miss Brody is a progressive teacher at a rather formal and traditional girls’ school, who’s girls (the Brodie set) are being groomed to be the “crème de la crème. “ She’s in her prime, she’s got two lovers on the faculty, she’s influencing young minds....
Mar 17, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 29
One day in the early 1940s Douglas Harding, an English architect, was hiking in the Himalayas when he had a shocking realization…he had no head. He realized that we can’t see what he called the eight inch ball on the top of our body, except by looking at a photo or a reflection in a mirror. If we cannot see ourselves the way other people see us, how do we know who we are? At the moment he realized this, all sense of time past and future fell away. He forgot his name, gender, even what type of an...
Mar 03, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Silence by John Cage is a collection of lectures and stories. Some are written in vertical columns. Some have, let’s call it interesting, spacing. And some, as Cage will tell you, have piano accompaniments, street noises, and the like. There was a lecture where he gave himself one minute to tell each story. So if the story had three lines, he had to stretch it. If a story was long, he’d have to talk fast to fit it into a minute. There’s a lecture called What Are We Doing? It’s actually three lec...
Feb 18, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 27
A “monkey girl”, sleepless people (one named David Jones - not our David Jones), water diviners, an author who was a channeled spirit, psychic detectives, and so many more “Strange People”. This collection of stories relayed by Frank Edwards will entertain, will make you wonder, and will sometimes tug at your heart. Perhaps the most heart wrenching story, and the story with the biggest Bowie connection, is that of Joseph Merrick, the so-called Elephant Boy. Bowie played this character beautifull...
Feb 04, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 26
To start with, Laing states that the basic purpose of this book is to make madness, and the process of going mad, comprehensible. The full title is The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Okay, what’s the definition of existentialism? It’s a philosophical movement that stresses the individual’s unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for making meaningful, authentic choices in a universe seen as purposeless or irrational. What did this all mean to Bowie? We ...
Jan 21, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 26
If you follow us on Twitter you know that we’re reviewing All The Emperor’s Horses in one episode. And you know that this read is also found under the title Peking Story, which is the newer version with a chapter added at the end, which was written years after the original story was told. Intrigued? You should be! The Emperor’s Horses is the story of a young American teaching and studying in China. He marries into the aristocratic Yu family, and into the family mansion and gardens, which are cha...
Jan 07, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 24
We typically split our reads in half and record two episodes per book here on the pod, but Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse was such a quick read that we felt one episode would do the job. The story is in the title, Billy is a liar. He’s a 19 year old who is living at home with his parents and grandmother, working at a job he hates, dreaming of being a comedy writer. Even though this book was published in 1959, it sounds like your typical kid of today. But, the thing that sets Billy apart is that ...
Oct 22, 2019•22 min•Season 1Ep. 23
We’re wrapping up The Leopard, so you may wonder, “What the heck is that animal in the photo? It doesn’t look like a leopard.” You would be correct! It is, in fact, not a leopard. It is a serval. A much smaller feline, it is the symbol on the Tomasi di Lampedusa coat of arms. One of the serval’s few North African ranges is near Lampedusa. And, servals were (not very commonly) owned by some Sicillians as exotic pets. But, we suppose that in English, “The Serval” might not have sold as many books ...
Oct 08, 2019•21 min•Season 1Ep. 22
The Leopard, by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, is an historical fiction novel centered around Prince Fabrizio (the leopard) and a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy in 1860 that is threatened by the forces of democracy and revolution. One of us swooned over The Leopard, and one of us chuckled, but by the end of the first half we were both looking forward to the rest of the book. Listen to find out why! (Oh, and here’s a fun tid bit: The title of the book in Italian did not actually translate to “The L...
Sep 24, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 21
We’re wrapping up our journey with Sal and the gang with the second half of On The Road by Jack Kerouac. And we are a house divided. One of us liked it, one of us not so much. There were some beautiful life lessons, mostly learned by watching the supporting characters, the jazz musicians and the people encountered on the Mexico trip. Did we continue to see Bowie in the book? Mmmm, not really. Does the book hold up today? Well, geographically yes. But, if you are in a different phase in life than...
Sep 10, 2019•27 min•Season 1Ep. 20
We’re going On The Road with Bowie as we read Jack Kerouac’s classic. And in some very specific instances, we did feel we were seeing a Bowie connection in one of the characters. For us, in the first part of the book, it was Dean, and we'll tell you why. Did you see it, too?? And we imagined another friend of Bowie’s as we traveled through the pages of this book, as well. We’ve also taken the liberty of suggesting a few songs that might accompany you on Sal’s journey. Take a listen and share you...
Aug 27, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 19
We’re wrapping up The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard, and yes, there are more case studies. Loads of them. And they’re actually quite interesting, but to inject a little fun into the second half of our discussion, we’ve decided to try something new. We’re playing a little game called, “Is This Still True Today?” If you play along, tweet us some of your answers and let’s discuss! You can find us on Twitter and Insta @75reads.
Aug 13, 2019•33 min•Season 1Ep. 18
We’re diving in to The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard, an examination of how our thoughts and feelings are manipulated by advertisers and media. The book was first published in 1957 and is chock-full of case studies that took place in the 1950s. Yes, it’s dated. And yes, some of the phrasing makes us want to punch the author in the face, but the book does show how the manipulation of the American consumer began. The book cites studies that will make you laugh and make you angry at the same t...
Jul 30, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 17
We’re wrapping up A Grave For A Dolphin discussing some of the most beautiful and heart wrenching love stories we’ve come across. There’s the tale of young Hassib who is the most tragic character in a true love story we have ever read. From the book: “I had always thought that ‘to love to distraction’ was an idiomatic expression: an unlettered ragamuffin fourteen years old had taught me that it can also literally be true.” And there’s the story of the relationship of Camara and Shambowa…and a do...
Jul 16, 2019•26 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Ten year old Alberto Denti di Pirajno met a man at a retirement party he attended with his mother who was celebrating fifty years of making Punchinello’s noses. Fifty years at this job. Making puppet noses day in and day out. Unimaginable! The author thinks perhaps this was partially at the root of his wander lust. Alberto grew up to become a doctor, and the material for A Grave For A Dolphin came from his experience as a doctor and an administrator in Italy’s former African colonies. The themes...
Jul 02, 2019•27 min•Season 1Ep. 15
We continue riding on Joe’s emotional rollercoaster. There’s true love. There’s loss. There are affairs and fights. And, some of the things that Joe says has us wondering if maybe we hate him. But, he knows who he is. He calls himself out on his flaws. He’s human. So maybe we still love him a little bit. One thing we’re both sure of is that we absolutely, positively love this book. We cannot recommend it enough! Listen to the episode to hear why! Twitter: @75reads IG: @75reads...
Jun 18, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Okay, we know we said that our previous read was our favorite yet. Let’s just say that Room At The Top is our favorite fiction book on the list thus far. And a Bowie character clearly comes to mind while reading this book! Clearly. We see him in several of the characters actually, especially the protagonist, Joe. Which Bowie persona do we see? The Thin White Duke. He's everywhere in this book. Would love to know if you agree. Tweet and let us know: @75reads
Jun 04, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 13
What can we say? This is our favorite book, yet! By the end of The Outsider, we felt as though we could almost see Bowie’s thought process as he read it. In part two of the book, we were introduced to more Outsiders, some of whom seemed to have it a little more together than the Outsiders from the first half of the book. And we formed an opinion about what type of Outsider we think Bowie might have been. Our conclusion was definitely unexpected! For links to socials and our complete reading list...
May 21, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 12
At first we didn’t get it, then we got it…in a big way. There are bits of this book that feel very Bowie. In so many interviews, we can see that part of his genius was that he was always searching. So are the various types of Outsiders described in this book. Which type of Outsider was Bowie? Was he, in fact, an Outsider? Are you? Join us as we begin to figure it all out. www.75reads.com
May 07, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 11
If you listened to our last episode you know that, while we knew ol’ Humbert Humbert was a horrible human being, we still found him humorous and quite sharp. Well friends, in part two H.H. has lost his charm. We see him for what he is, an incredibly cruel, horribly narcissistic pedophile. Of course, one of the best death scenes ever written occurs at the end of this book. It alone makes part two worth the read. Join us as we wrap up Lolita, and let us know if you felt the way we felt about the s...
Apr 23, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 10
This book is timely, given the release of the Leaving Neverland documentary and the Me Too movement. It’s the story of a middle aged literature professor / poet named Humbert Humbert, who is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl whom he calls Lolita, and with whom he becomes sexually involved after the death of her mother, once he is her guardian. For such a hard subject to stomach, we actually found Nabokov’s writing to be quite beautiful. At the end of part one of the book, we found Humbert to be c...
Apr 09, 2019•37 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Are you a Diamond Dogs fan, or not so much? Does it correlate to how you feel about George Orwell’s 1984, the inspiration for the album? We can recognize 1984 as a great work. We can agree it’s a great work, and be very happy not to have to read it again any time soon. And most people we’ve spoken with, whether they enjoyed 1984 or not, do recognize its merit. That isn’t always the case for Bowie’s Diamond Dogs. We dive into that, as well as some history behind the making of the album. And, we t...
Mar 20, 2019•27 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Well, we are back at it again with 1984. And we are so ready to be finished with this book. In the current political climate, it all hits a little too close to home. What we've learned from Winston and Julia is that when the mind just changes opinions like a switch that's flipped at the whim of the few who are in power, and when we deny what we see and what we know, we really are "as good as dead".
Mar 05, 2019•34 min
We read it as kids, and now we're revisiting it. 1984 by George Orwell. Originally published in 1949, it seems only to grow more relevant with time. And that is a frightening statement. Friends, to put it mildly, we are terrified. And while this book is an amazing work of literary genius, we can't wait to never have to read it again. Join us for part one of 1984, won't you? Let's all be afraid together.
Feb 19, 2019•34 min•Season 1Ep. 6
We're talking about the second half of The Street, by Ann Petry. And we have feelings. More specifically, we were bothered. On so many levels. The second half of this wonderful book really struck some nerves with both of us, and we’re letting it all out in this episode. Is it just us? Were you slightly enraged, as well? How far would you go to save the person you love most? And was Lutie somewhat delusional? Was she, or wasn’t she, a good mother? Maybe it’s not that simple. Let us know what you ...
Feb 05, 2019•38 min•Season 1Ep. 5
The Street is the story of a young, black, single mom, named Lutie Johnson who is struggling to raise her son, Bub, in the racial dissonance that was Harlem in the late 1940s. In this episode of 75 Reads, we’re covering chapters one through nine. We talk about Lutie’s cheating ex-husband, her sweet eight year old son (who, in our opinion is left alone entirely too often), her job working for a white family in the country, the reason why Lutie and several other characters in the book hate white p...
Jan 22, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 4
This episode isn’t a book review, it’s kind of a love letter to our beloved David Bowie on the month he came into this world and also left it. It’s a few thoughts, a few facts, a few laughs. We hope you’ll take a listen, and then take a moment to share how the art and the life of David Bowie has touched you, and impacted your life. Kindly tweet us at @75reads or comment on Instagram @75reads. If tweeting isn't your jam, we love snail mail: P.O. Box 1564, South Pasadena, CA 91030-9998. *Bowie and...
Jan 08, 2019•25 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Join us as we follow young Richard to the north. Will Chicago be the place where the color of his skin is no longer a factor in how Richard lives his life? Friends, we had some feelings about part two of this wonderful book. Things we were afraid to say, but said anyway. Things we loved, things we wish we’d loved. It’s all here in episode two. For bonus info and blog posts by hosts, Jo Bozarth and April Bowlby, head over to https://www.75reads.com And join in on the book club action on Twitter a...
Oct 11, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In our first 75 Reads book club episode, we're discussing part one of Black Boy by Richard Wright. We begin our journey with Richard as he goes from a young boy living in the Jim Crow south, and we follow him through high school and his impending departure to find a new life in the north. Join us as we read the books that inspired the people who inspire us. Season 1 begins with David Bowie's recommended reads! We're starting with book 75 and working our way through to number 1. For bonus info an...
Sep 18, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1
It's the 75 Reads book club podcast! In season one, hosts Jo Bozarth and April Bowlby make their way through David Bowie's reading list. Here's a teaser of what's to come! Join the book club! Find 75 Reads on Twitter: https://twitter.com/75reads And keep up with posts from the ladies at: www.75reads.com
Jul 25, 2018•2 min
