In this summer special edition, Alicia and Sarah bring in special guest Julia Breakey to discuss literature as pop culture, with a particular focus on romantacy and the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses. Get a jump on your summer reading with an adult conversation about the re-emergence of reading and the role that books also play on pop culture. At the end of this week’s discussion, they talk about the things they've been reading, watching, and analyzing outside of the classroom.
Literary terms of the week: Pop Culture, Literature, Literacy
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Music by Craig Harmann
Cover art by Matt Holman
Show Notes:
Intro notes:
Introduce Julia Breakey (co-owner of Tomorrow Bookstore)
Life imitates art vs art imitates life
FOCUS PIECE: A Court of Thorns and Roses series
Literary terms of the week:
Pop culture: “Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared meanings of a social system.”
Think NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour’s tagline: “Get obsessed with us.”
Media objects
Entertainment & leisure
Fashion & trends
Linguistic conventions
Literature: “written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit”
Literacy (has to be more than just reading and writing)
Pleasure vs enjoyment
Meeting physical needs vs intellectual stimulation
What are we enjoying right now?
Alicia: Girls on the Bus (Max), The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (James McBride)
Sarah: The First Ladies (Marie Benedict), Civil War (Theaters and AppleTV)
Julia: The Anthropologists by Aysegul Savas, The Worst Person in the World (Oslo trilogy, streaming on Hulu)
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Chapter 4.18 - Literature as Pop Culture