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Unfortunately Required Reading

Unfortunately Required Reading
Review and relive the books that made you cringe in school, but now with cocktails and sass.
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Episodes

The Book Club

Welcome to our first "Book Club" episode, as Amanda and Victoria discuss Sinners, Conclave and the atrocious Lilo and Stitch live action. Fair warning: there's no outline, no script, and plenty of tangents. Back to our regularly scheduled programming in July!

Jun 08, 20251 hr 43 min

The Haunted Audio (Turn of the Screw)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss Henry James' novella, The Turn of the Screw. After Daddy's Little Harbinger shows up (Mothman) our audio started to have some problems, the episode crashing twice. The rest of his death story is posted on UnfortunatelyRequiredReading.com for the curious.

Oct 19, 20241 hr 37 min

Diet Malthus (Ishmael)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss the Daniel Quinn book of Socratic dialogue with a gorilla, Ishmael .

Sep 28, 20241 hr 30 min

This is My Roman Empire (I, Claudius)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss Robert Graves' epic I, Claudius , and immediately questioning Graves' concepts of history.

Aug 31, 20241 hr 18 min

Episode 115: Word by Word (Bird by Bird)

Happy Birthday Month to Amanda! This month, we discuss Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (and Victoria actually does the shortest short story long.)

Jul 22, 20241 hr 5 min

City of Naw (City of Night)

This month Amanda and Victoria discuss City of Night by John Rechy for Pride Month and discuss the old ways and the new of Queer community and acceptance.

Jun 29, 20241 hr 27 min

Little Scam on the Prairie (Little House on the Prairie)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie , Manifest Destiny, the Minnesota Massacre, the lie of Westward expansion and why neither host can spell prairie.

Apr 13, 20241 hr 27 min

A Bug's Life (Metamorphosis)

This month Amanda and Victoria discuss Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis , traumatic childhood abuse, and the utterly depressing life of Franz Kafka.

Dec 17, 20231 hr 20 min

Do You Want to Get Sued? (The Shining)

For Spooky Month Amanda and Victoria discuss Stephen King's infamous work The Shining , alcoholism, hotels, and Stanley Kubrick.

Oct 07, 20232 hr 25 min

A Whole New World (Brave New World)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, ethnobotany, drugs, and enough weird stuff to fill a 2-hour podcast.

Sep 09, 20232 hr 7 min

Look Down (Les Miserables)

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss Victor Hugo's massive fan fiction, Les Misérables.

Jul 22, 20231 hr 23 min

Animal Harm (Animal Farm)

This month Amanda and Victoria discuss George Orwell's Animal Farm, and the historical events that inspired it.

May 20, 20231 hr 37 min

F*** You, Mark Twain

By some miracle, we made it to 100 episodes. This week we discuss Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and wonder why we give this book to children.

Apr 22, 20231 hr 32 minEp. 100

The Ultimate KGB C*ck Block (Doctor Zhivago)

This is the reuploaded version of our episode on Doctor Zhivago. Some listeners advised the end had been cut off by our editing software. Thank you! This week Amanda and Victoria discuss the drag that is Doctor Zhivago and why it was so scary to the USSR.

Feb 26, 20231 hr 19 min

The Return of Two Host One Mic (The Secret Garden)

Amanda and Victoria FINALLY get to record together in person for the first time in....almost three years? Welcome back with The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We discuss ableism, rest cures, and the garden metaphor.

Jan 21, 202351 min
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