Liquor & Literature Podcast
We are a podcast, a book club and a happy hour! Join us every month as we dive into a book of our choosing with a tasty drink pairing and food recipe to go with the theme! We will also be covering the history of the author and any movie/media adaptations of the written works we read. Episodes are released at the end of each month with social posts throughout to keep listeners engaged and informed on the literary works we are highlighting. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram @LiquorLiteraturePodcast and join our bookclub today. Keep the pages turning and the drinks flowing!
Episodes
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a breathtaking novel following the life of a young boy, Amir, and his experience in Afghanistan during the downfall of his country’s monarchy, his adaption to moving to the United States, and what drives him to return to his home city of Kabul as an adult. Listen along as we discuss this emotional rollercoaster of a coming-of-age story as Amir replays his life before our very eyes in ...
It’s time for another xtrasode of Liquor & Literature! There are so many books out there, it’d be quite a feat if we were able to cover every single one on this podcast. We wanted to create a book recommendations episode to shout out three books that we won’t be covering as regular episodes for various reasons (i.e. not having a media adaptation or are too long of a text). So, take a listen and learn about some books that we ha...
Join us for our 14th episode as we discuss The Ritual by Adam Nevill. This horror novel follows a group of men hiking through the Swedish woods. Their holiday quickly goes downhill as they stumble upon several unsettling entities that make them question going on this adventure in the first place. Will this camping trip lead to their demise? You’ll have to listen to find out!
References:
- The Ritual by Adam Nevill
For our 13th episode of Liquor & Literature we are covering the 2012 award-winning book The Round House written by Louise Erdrich. This coming of age novel tells the story of Joe, a young boy living on a Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. Joe has to learn to grow up quickly after a horrible incident happens to his mother. Join us as we follow Joe and his family through this emotional rollercoaster.
References:
- The Round Ho...
For this episode of Liquor & Literature we will be discussing some notable poets that we have picked to focus on for our first installment on poetry! Join us as we learn about the lives of Nikita Gill, Robert Frost, and James Baldwin while reading selections of their work. With this being an xtrasode, we don’t have a specific drink pairing for this month, but we do have a few local Missouri breweries we’d like to give a shout o...
To every millennial’s delight, this episode of Liquor & Literature will be discussing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! This childhood favorite intrigued and unsettled millions of children. Very rarely could you check these books out at the library, as they were so popular! On the off chance your friend was able to get their hands on these creepy classics, that sleepover would be one to remember! Join us as we read some of our...
In this episode of Liquor & Literature we discuss the breakthrough novel, Kindred, written by Octavia E. Butler. Join us as we follow the main character, Dana, as she is transported back to 1815 where she comes face-to-face with the origin story of her ancestors. Be sure to mix yourself up a cocktail/mocktail for this month’s drink pairing and listen as we discuss this talented author and powerful book.
References:
- Kindred b...
Holy cow! We can’t believe it’s been a full year since our first episode release of Liquor & Literature Podcast! To celebrate, we have a very special Anniversary Ask the Hosts Episode for our listeners to enjoy! Go behind-the-scenes and learn about our origin story and how we create the podcast. Also, learn what books, authors, food/drink pairings and movie adaptations have been our favorites so far!
References:
Who doesn’t love trivia? We sure do! And for this xtrasode we are bringing you some literature trivia! Listen along and test your knowledge on how well you know some classic works we all grew up with.
References:
Good morrow, listeners! It is our pleasure at Liquor & Literature podcast to present to you our 10th episode, The Sorrows of Young Werther! This classic romantic novel was written in 1774 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Let’s hop in our carriage and take a ride back in time to learn about the life of this proclaimed author and the book that made him a superstar of the 18th century!
References:
- The Sorrows of Young Werther by ...
Lights! Camera! Action! For this episode of Liquor & Literature, we are going back to classic Hollywood and diving into a biography, The Lady from the Black Lagoon written by Mallory O’Meara. This book tells the untold story of the woman behind the creation of The Creature of the Black Lagoon’s costume, Milicent Patrick. Is this a blockbuster of an episode? Find out and listen today!
References:
- The Lady from the Black Lagoo...
We are releasing our first Xtrasode which is a slightly different format than our normal episodes or Teenysodes. For this episode, we each picked some cookbooks to discuss as well as whip up some of the food and drink recipes from these books! Slide up to the table and listen along as we discuss some interesting cookbooks and do some taste-testing of some of the recipes we have made!
References:
For our 8th episode (and 2nd teenysode) we are diving into Greek Mythology! Take a listen as we cover a few of our favorite gods, goddesses, and monsters. You may want to mix up our drink pairing for this episode as we talk about some pretty absurd myths and legends. Oh gods, here we go!
References:
- D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
- Hecate: Witchcraft, Death & Nocturnal Magic
- Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
- The H...
For this episode of Liquor & Literature we are going back in time to Austria during WWII. Caging Skies is a noteworthy book written by Christine Leunens which gives us the unique perspective of a young boy, Johannes, who grows up in Hitler youth. Through Leunens writing, we see Johannes struggle with his morals as he witnesses first hand the destruction of Nazi rule and comes to terms with his own wrongdoing. Mix one (or two!) ...
This episode of Liquor & Literature is covering a non-fiction book written by Denise White Parkinson called Daughter of the White River. This riveting true crime story introduces readers to Helen Spence and tells her tragically short yet compelling life story. Whip yourself up a glass of our drink pairing for this episode, River Justice, and strap in for a wild ride down the White River with us!
References:
- Daughter of the Wh...
On this episode of Liquor & Literature we will be discussing The Color Purple! This classic novel made waves when it was released in 1982, even being banned in places because of its hard hitting topics. Join us as we follow Celie’s struggles and victories through life in Georgia in the early 1900’s.
References:
- The Color Purple
- 1985 and 2023 Movie Adaptations
This episode of Liquor and Literature is a little different as we are kicking off our Teenysodes! Every 4 episodes, we will release a teenysode which is the same as our normal episodes except that we focus on work that is geared towards children. For our fourth episode (and first Teenysode) we are covering Grimm’s Fairy Tales! We steered away from the more popular fairy tales that everyone knows, and found some rather peculiar tale...
In this episode of Liquor & Literature we discuss the book Addie Pray which was adapted into the Oscar winning movie, Paper Moon. Grab a Coney Island dog, sip on some Nehis and settle in as we follow spunky little Addie and her partner-in-crime Moses “Long Boy” Pray on their travels through the Depression era southern United States.
References:
- 1971 book Addie Pray
- 1973 movie adaptation, Paper Moon
- Goo...
This episode of Liquor & Literature is about Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. This bestseller was released in 2002 and focuses on a young man as he travels to the Ukraine to discover his ancestry. The unique writing of this book provides many comedic moments while also pulling at your heartstrings with some deep emotional moments. Join us as we discuss this odd, yet creative book!
References:
- 2002 book Every...
For our very first episode of Liquor & Literature we will be discussing The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. This iconic feminist book was Plath’s one and only published novel, as Sylvia unfortunately took her own life at the young age of 30. We will also be reading some of Sylvia’s poetry and journal entries while discussing tough topics like mental health and suicide awareness. Our drink pairing for this episode is a twist on the cl...
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