In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Elaine Dundy’s 1958 novel The Dud Avocado. Topics include the fun and original voice of Sally Jay, the darker themes in the book (surprise surprise, they involve men), free-wheeling and heavy-drinking Paris nightlife, how not to lose your passport, trips to Canada, being a Dreaded Librarian, and Sally Jay’s ending - what does zymotic mean in this context?! Plus, Title Talk! And how cool the author seems to have been.

This week’s drink: Avocado Gimlet via Scratch Distillery

INGREDIENTS (makes 2 drinks):

• 5 oz Pepper Vodka
• 1 oz Fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz Agave simple syrup
• 1/2 fruit Avocado
• 1 cup ice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chile powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut the avocado in half and spoon into the shaker.
2. Add the syrup, vodka, and lime juice.
3. Muddle thoroughly.
4. Add ice, and shake thoroughly.
5. Rim your glass with salt and chili powder.
6. Strain contents into glass. If served up-done. If using a rocks glass, add a nice large rock.

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

Bonjour, Tristesse by Francoise Sagan

Party Girl (1995 film)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read Remain by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan

Welcome, 2026! In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss pod favorite Lily King’s 2025 novel Heart the Lover. Topics include the way Lily King packs a punch in a short time, pompous young adult men in academia, Sam vs. Yash, revealing Jordan’s real name and how the men in her life defined her, the importance of first loves and how weird it is when you realize you’ll never talk to that person again, and feeling feelings.Plus, Title Talk!

This week’s drink: Rose and Ginger Paloma (aka Heart the Lover) via Half Baked Harvest

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 2 ounces silver tequila
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1-2 tablespoons rose water
• gingerbeer, for topping

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill your glass halfway with ice. Add the grapefruit juice, tequila, lime juice, and rose water. Stir to combine and then top with ginger beer. Garnish with fresh roses.

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography by Janine Barchas

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor wrap up 2025 with their favorite pod (and non-pod) reads, plus other favorites from movies, TV, music, and more!

This week’s drink: French 75 via Friday Night Cocktails

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 oz gin
• ½ oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• ½ oz simply syrup
• 3 oz Champagne
• Lemon twist, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a cocktail shaker, add the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Add ice and shake until chilled.
2. Strain into a Champagne flute and top with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Varta

Eat Up!: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want by Ruby Tandoh

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Tilt by Emma Pattee

Trust by Hernan Diaz

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Good Things by Samin Nosrat (and her podcast Home Cooking)

The Art of Gluten-Free Bread by Aran Goyoaga

Lugma: Abundant Dishes and Stories from My Middle East by Noor Murad

Great Short Books: A Year of Reading—Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also se

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Madeline Miller’s 2018 novel Circe. Topics include work holiday parties, weird winter weather, every child’s obsession with Greek mythology, the true nature of the gods, Circe’s banishment, and commentaries on womanhood and motherhood. Plus, we cannot recommend the 1997 Disney movie Hercules enough. Go watch it!

This week’s drink: The Circe (a Taylor original)

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ oz Kitron (or other lemon liqueur)
• 1 ½ oz gin
• Lavender bitters
• ½ oz lemon juice
• Egg white

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and shake for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake again until chilled
2. Strain into a coup glass and garnish with a lemon peel

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we talk about our favorite reads (and other things) of 2025! Then tune in January 6th for our first read of 2026: Heart the Lover by Lily King

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss our One Hundredth Book!! M.L. Rio’s 2017 novel If We Were Villains. Topics include Stranger Things, Bisexual Disaster Oliver Marks, insufferable drama kids, the genius of Shakespeare, 90s Shakespeare adaptations, the frustratingly vague ending, and shades of Half-Blood Prince (and High School Musical??)

This week’s drink: The Friendly Betrayal via The Attic on Eighth

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ oz Bourbon
• 7 drops grapefruit lavender bitters
• ¾ oz grenadine
• Juice of half a lemon
• Ginger ale, to top

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a rocks glass filled with ice, pour in the bourbon and bitters, stir until cold
2. Slowly drizzle the grenadine over it to create a layered effect, following with the lemon juice
3. Top off with the ginger ale, give it another light stir and enjoy

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

Derry Girls (on Netflix)

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read Circe by Madeline Miller.

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Gabrielle Zevin’s 2014 novel The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Topics include a seemingly lackluster movie adaptation that we definitely will end up watching, the Hallmark movie premise that’s very well written, our desire to monologue in real life, reading short stories, literary fiction vs. genre fiction, chicken pox and shingles, what spices we would be, the elegance of picture books, the triumphs and perils of middle school/high school English classes (shout out to Mr. Solorio, the GOAT), the perfect amount of sentimentality in this book, and the dream of owning a bookstore.

This week’s drink: Hot Buttered Rum via Friday Night Cocktails

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 oz gold rum
• 1 TB buttered rum batter*
• Boiling water, to top
• Cinnamon stick, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a mug, add the rum and batter. Fill with boiling water and stir until the batter is dissolved. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

*For the buttered rum batter: In a large bowl, combine ⅔ cup dark brown sugar, ½ cup unsalted butter (at room temp), ¼ cup honey, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, ⅛ tsp ground cloves, and a pinch of salt. Beat until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge (or freezer).

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

The Art of Gluten-Free Bread by Aran Goyoaga

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio.

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s 2019 novel The Mercies. Topics include Leif Erickson Day, an entire village of women obviously being witches, the divide between the old ways and the new, men feeling the need to burn women to appease their fragile little egos, and endless night in the north. Plus: inflammation! (and not the witch burning kind).

This week’s drink: Nordic G&T

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-2 TB caraway seeds
• 2 oz gin
• Tonic water
• Lemon wedge

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix gin and caraways seeds together in a small jar, leave overnight or as long as you can! When ready to make the cocktail, strain the caraway seeds and pour strained gin over ice. Top with tonic water and a squeeze of lemon!

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

In this week’s episode, Kayla and Taylor discuss Stephen Graham Jones’s 2025 novel The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Topics include pronouncing French words, tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki drinks, reading (and watching) horror, new vampire lore, the importance of buffalo, America’s nightmare, the nuance of Arthur Beaucarne, and giant mole people.

This week’s drink: Blood Moon Boulevardier via The G&M Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

For the syrup:

• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 3 cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 3 inch orange peel

For the cocktail:

• 1 oz bourbon
• 1 oz Campari
• Optional: red edible glitter

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Start by making the spiced wine syrup. Add 1 cup red wine, 1 cup sugar, 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 whole cloves, 1 star anise, and 3 inch orange peel to a small pot. Cook on medium until all the sugar has melted and the mixture has thickened (about 30 minutes), then let cool.
2. Add 1 ounce bourbon, 1 ounce of campari, and 1 ounce of the spiced wine syrup to a mixing glass with ice. Stir to combine. (optional: add red edible glitter)
3. Pour into a coupe glass with an ice sphere

Current/recommended reads, links, etc.:

Bring Them Home documentary

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Follow us on Instagram @literatureandlibationspod.

Visit our website: literatureandlibationspod.com to submit feedback, questions, or your own takes on what we are reading. You can also see what we are reading for future episodes! You can email us at literatureandlibationspod@gmail.com.

Please leave us a review and/or rating! It really helps others find our podcast…and it makes us happy!

Purchase books via bookshop.org or check them out from your local public library.

Join us next time as we read The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave