Why was language created? Why are so many millennials obsessed with a giant history book? And what the heck even IS money? J & V contemplate these questions and more during their discussion of international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari with special guest Varun Bhoopalam.

Victoria interviews the creators of The House of Baba Yaga, a feminist-horror radio drama from The Impostors Theater company, about their experiences in the production process and their thoughts on the genre of horror as a whole.

Julia and Victoria host an introvert support group with their friend Sherilyn Koshy, over the book Quiet by Susan Cain, as they examine their experiences as sensitive people in a chaotic and extroverted culture.

Julia’s college friend and former editor, Nicole Block, joins J&V for a discussion on Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, a novel of twelve interwoven stories in a poetic and Virginia-Woolf-esque style. Join us as we learn about empathy, and English queer history, and property rights, and everything in between.

This week Julia and Victoria answer the question: “What’s on your bookshelf?” And it leads them to surprisingly deep thoughts about home and belonging, authenticity and the search for happiness. Plus Victoria is still searching for a long-lost book she made the mistake of loaning, so if you find it, let them know.

Julia and Victoria are joined by creative writing grad student Waringa Hunja this week to cover Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection Interpreter of Maladies that covers a wide variety of unique perspectives from the Indian diaspora. Turns out, after winning a Pulitzer for this book, Lahiri taught herself Italian and starting publishing books in her fourth language just for fun, so J & V are particularly excited to have a writer as a guest so they can all drool over Lahiri’s incredible talent and general awesomeness together.

Julia, Victoria, and guest Hayoung Roh learn more about autism this week with Naoki Higashida’s debut book The Reason I Jump about his experience as a nonverbal autistic boy growing up in Japan. Julia is autistic, Hayoung has a brother with autism, and Victoria is their friend who’s trying to learn as much as humanly possible to be supportive; so whether you’ve done tons of research on autism or have no idea what’s going on, you’re in good company! With Naoki Higashida’s help, we’ll work together to unlearn our biases and try to find actionable ways to make the world a better place.

Get ready to contemplate the nature of reality this week with Julia and Victoria and special guest Reidlee Lynn as we read A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, the author’s award-winning third novel about two women on different continents in different times connected by a single story.

Listen to Julia and Victoria, with special guest Emma Smart, as they lose their minds over the gritty poetry of Traci Brimhall in her newest collection Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod. Follow Brimhall on her journey as she tries to find small joys in a dark world, grapples with tragedy after tragedy, and defies the gods of Love and Death.

Julia and Victoria are joined this week by women’s health advocate Elizabeth Endara to dive into the bestselling second novel by Madeline Miller, Circe, about an often-misunderstood figure from Greek Mythology and her experience of being a woman on the margins. They discuss the ways Miller plays with tradition, Circe’s complicated relationships with men, and the surprising experience of relating to a woman stranded alone for years with no contact with the chaotic outside world who starts teaching herself magic and talking to plants to pass the time. It’s time to get witchy!

Julia and Victoria return once again to the story of Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis 2 as young Marji navigates the perils of living on her own in a foreign country, particularly one where her race and heritage are viewed as a political statement, and the difficulty of deciding the direction of her future adult life. Satrapi’s story blows open our culture’s generalizations about “The Middle East” with nuance and humor and heartbreak. This book also makes it abundantly clear that no one will ever be as cool as Satrapi - absolutely no competition.

Romance may be struggling to break the six-foot barriers that divide us out in the world, but on Book Club with Julia & Victoria, romance is not yet dead. This week we’re trying out something new, reading international bestselling romance novel The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. We’re joined by our recently-engaged friend from high school Bethany to discuss the relatable characters, important themes, and sweet moments that make this book special.

No matter how highly we anticipated reading Friday Black, the debut short story collection by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, there was nothing that could have prepared us for range of genres, disturbing imagery, and thought-provoking fantasy that we found in this book — everything from consumerism zombies to post-apocalyptic knife queens. Join us as we barely scratch the surface on the brilliance of this collection and explore how distancing ourselves from reality helps us see the world how it truly is.

If Julia and Victoria have learned one thing from Morgan Parker’s book of poetry There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, it is this: Beyoncé is an eternal member of the classical poetry canon, and her words will be taught in schools and make their mark on society for years to come; as will Morgan Parker’s. Can’t argue with facts.

Julia and Victoria should have read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe in high school or college, and yet here they are in their twenties, with little to no knowledge of one of the most important figures in African literature. Listen in as we learn new things and attempt to use a podcast platform to remedy one of the failings of the American education system.

Julia and Victoria spend most of the episode discussing how problematic Rowling’s representation is of the House Elf justice movement, so it is a prime example of “the Harry Potter generation” becoming disillusioned with its author. This will be the last of the Harry Potter series for us as we move onto more worthy subjects.

Julia and Victoria have not stopped talking this book since it came out in April, so they decided to put their ongoing conversation on tape. In You’re a Miracle (and a Pain in the Ass), science expert, empathetic public speaker, and hard-core nerd Mike McHargue (known professionally as Science Mike) dives into the core of what it means to be a human in the twenty-first century. Starting with the essential question, “Why do I do things I don’t want to do?,” this book covers everything from the ways technology and pizza are shaping social justice movements, to how an understanding of brain structure and core emotions can lead us into radical self-love and acceptance. An essential read for any human being who feels feelings and thinks thoughts. Let’s get into it!

What are the physical and emotional costs of time travel? Why is Crookshanks literally the smartest cat who has ever lived? What are the magical properties of chocolate? How much does Dumbledore really know? And when did Hermione become an animal rights activist? All this and more as Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban takes us to darker, more thoughtful places, and leads us to discussions about mental health, trauma, and what it means to actually be a good adult human.

This episode we follow the journey of two half sisters and their descendants through more than 300 years of Ghanaian and United States history in Yaa Gyasi’s novel Homegoing. From Cape Coast Castle and the slave plantations of Alabama to Jazz Age Harlem and the African independence movements, Gyasi examines the generational trauma caused by colonialism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We’re joined by guest Hayley Schueneman, a Chicago-based writer, and together we explore Gyasi’s brilliant debut novel.

Julia and Victoria embark on an important investigation to answer one simple question: Why is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets most likely to be readers’ least favorite book in the series? Plus, in the process, we solve other mysteries, such as “Why is Professor Lockhart so annoying?” and “What happens when Hermione isn’t around to keep Ron and Harry from doing something stupid?”