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If there is one thing that everyone here at Just In Case We Die can agree on, it’s this: Haruki Murakami is one of the greatest contemporary storytellers. Japan’s best-selling novelist, Haruki Murakami has made an international name for himself with thought-provoking, meaningful narratives that explore loneliness and the nature of love within the warm, surreal embrace of magical realism. He is the author of fifteen novels, five story collections, and five works of varied non-fiction– and that’s just a catalog of the work that has been translated into English!

This month, in the penultimate episode of the current season, Just In Case We Die celebrates this beloved writer’s 77th birthday with a lively discussion, paying tribute to his body of work, cultural impact, and vivid imagination.

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This month’s book up for discussion involves one of the strangest novels to ever be featured on Just In Case We Die. It’s a crass, vulgar, and irreverent commentary on American media wrapped up in a misguided and confounding allegory written by an Australian author who somehow managed to beat Booker Prize-stalwart Margaret Atwood for Britain’s most distinguished literary prize.

Confusion aside, this is a really good novel that made the cast laugh, think, and shake their baffled heads. How did this novel manage to woo the judge panel of the Booker Prize in an almost-unanimous majority? Especially if the judges already knew about DBC Pierre ‘s past. You are simply not going to believe what Aaron’s research uncovered!

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Remember last December when the crew at Just In Case We Die celebrated the holidays and National Read A New Book Month by combining both into one gift-giving effort? Well, they decided to do that same thing again (even if two of them still haven’t finished the books they were given last year).

Classic titles, obscure titles, novels by authors who have been mentioned repeatedly on the show, and one cast member tricked into reading a wholly new genre. Six new books up for discussion.

Happy holidays!

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André Brink’s A Dry White Season is a great example of the sort of novel Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca are describing when they classify a book as “essential.”

First published in 1979, this thought-provoking story recounts the journey of a white Afrikaaner as he transforms from a passive observer into an active challenger of injustice. Emphasizing the necessity of taking action against oppression, this novel explores the complicity of white privilege, moral awakening, and the personal costs associated with resistance.

Framed as a deceptively simple legal thriller, this is not a novel they will soon be forgetting.

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All three cast members of Just In Case We Die are acknowledging that their accumulation of books has gotten out of control. The to-be-read piles get increasingly more problematic. This is not a problem that appears to be remedying itself in the near future.

Consider:

1) Next month, each cast member will be given two books by their co-hosts.

2) Every month for the next year, they’ll be reading one book from the list for discussion.

3) Each of them will, more than likely, receive many books for Christmas.

4) Aaron has committed himself to reading every Salman Rushdie novel that has been published (and has, somehow convinced the others to pick authors of their own)

This list isn’t even counting the books that will catch their eye in reviews and bookstore displays!

Something clearly has to be done.

For November’s bonus, each of our literature lovers are picking three books from their ever-growing piles and making a commitment to read it. From post-modern masterworks to revolutionary science-fiction, from memoirs to recent award winners, from pulling the trigger on a dauntingly-long series to a recommendation from one of their own, these lists run the gamut and are sure to be surprising.

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It's Aaron's turn to handpick a book from the list, and he selected Italo Calvino's 1979 post-modern masterpiece. This novel is one that he has admired for more than a quarter century. In fact, he's been trying to foist it on Rebecca seemingly ad nauseum since 2001.

The real reason he picked it, though, is because he wants Rodney to gain a greater appreciation of post-modernism, and there are college courses that consider If On A Winter's Night A Traveler a core text for academic study. Rebecca and Aaron have placed a friendly wager on whether he likes it or not. Who will be the lucky winner?

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When it turned out that maybe Aaron and Rodney might be able to convince Rebecca that not all science-fiction was a waste of her time, Aaron recommended Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. It was a gamble, to be sure, because this is a Science Fiction novel (note the capital S and F). Space exploration? Alien race first contact? Scientific calamity that might bring on the apocalypse? Check, check, and check.

Guess what? It took two years and a well-crafted trailer for the upcoming film adaptation, but Rebecca has finally read it. This month, we’re going to talk about whether or not she liked it, what separates a book like Project Hail Mary from other sci-fi tomes, and try to come up with other recommendations that she would appreciate.

Salman Rushdie is in there somewhere, too, but you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out why!

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Pär Lagerkvist, the recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Literature, was not a writer that had ever been in the to-be-read piles of any of this podcast’s participants. All three of them, though, were affected by this novel’s message. This short 1950 novel takes a character briefly mentioned in the Holy Bible, expounds on his story, and prompts a discussion that starts with one opinion and ends with a change in perspective. How can such a slight little volume have such a profound effect on people who don’t consider themselves religious?

Be warned: religion is a hot-button topic in this episode. You may not agree with our points of view.