My friend and sometime co-author G.J. Villa recently joined me on BAB! to discuss the highlights of his reading in 2024. Villa made his way through 31 books in total during the Year of the Dragon, but we chose to focus on 4 of them: 2 works of fiction and 2 works of non-fiction. During the lightning round at the end of the pod, I asked Villa about some of the other books on his list and he provided some solid recommendations. As it turned out, the theme of our chat was Nuance and Complexity. Press play above to hear the full convo, during which we discuss, among other things, paperback and hardcover editions vs. ebooks, Franco-American colonialism in Vietnam, the unreliable narrator, the pronunciation of “Pulitzer,” sex education in America, dirty magazines, the evolution of porn (which is apparently a speech act), academic obscurantism, moral panics, the Mexican border, the queer community in Putin’s Russia (with Tomek offering his perspective in the chat), and Francis Ford Coppola as auteur. If you missed the livestream, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss the next one. As always, let us know what you think, book-burner!
Show Notes
Villa’s top fiction picks:
Villa’s top non-fiction picks:
also recommended by Villa:
the full list of 31 Baskin Robbins flavors:
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