writing and teaching

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 20

Join us a week late for our April discussion of our March pick of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. We talk about confined women, Jane Austen Hallmark movies, cozy horror, and of course, John Paul’s obsession with one-star Goodreads reviews! 

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 19

Join us two weeks late for our February 2024 discussion of Ray Bradbury’s 1950 classic The Martian Chronicles. We talk novel-in-stories, colonialism themes, Sci-Fi vs fantasy, and of course, John Paul’s obsession with one-star reviews!

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 18

It’s January and we discuss the Newbery Medal winning book The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, a fantasy designed for Middle Grade readers. “In which we reach certain agreements about the appeal of the storyline and themes and agree to disagree about some of the writerly stylistics.” Who is this book really for? Is it actually a feminist, girl-centered text at all? Stay tuned.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 17

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

This December we discuss two Christmas-ritual themed works: Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” and E.T.A. Hoffman’s Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Deborah gives some context for the children’s lit aspects of both selections and John Paul decides we should have read Alexandre Dumas’ The Nutcracker. (He did also read Truman Capote’s “The Thanksgiving Visitor.”) 

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 16

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Join us as we discuss Terry Tempest Williams’ Erosion: Essays of Undoing (2019). November seems to be a good month to reflect and while many of the thirty or so pieces in this collection show how disturbing and chaotic the world can be, Williams reminds us that “Awareness is our prayer.” We discuss the major themes of personal and global loss in these pieces but we also understand they are working as “collages,” layered with activism, deep listening, and the restorative power of nature.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 15

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Join us this month as we read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, John Paul’s pick for our second annual October “Spooktacular” podcast. Deborah gives three reasons why the book is worthy of reading and more than three reasons why she never wants to have to read it again. John Paul discusses Marxism, Buffy, homoeroticism, and (of course) reads some one-star reviews.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 14

Join us this month as we talk about Good Night, Irene: A Novel, Luis Alberto Urrea’s fictionalized account of his mother’s WWII service with the American Red Cross. It is clear Urrea is a poet at heart and his rich descriptions help anchor the reader into Irene and Dorothy’s world and what it takes to survive events that cannot be forgotten. (And of course, John Paul reads a few one-star reviews!).

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn, and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 13

Join John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers for the July edition of “Reading Books Together,” a monthly podcast where we talk about a book we’ve read. We focus our discussion on recurring themes in the life and short fiction of Texas-born writer Katherine Anne Porter, winner of a Pulitzer, a National Book Award, a Gold Medal Award for Fiction, and five nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn, and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 12

This month we talk about Brave New World, the classic dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley. We talk about our reactions to the book’s grumpy stylistics as well as its essential ideas and spot-on premonitions. We ramble about connections to Shakespeare and Browning, John Paul reads a few “one star” Goodreads write-ups, and we sum up our own mixed reviews as we revisit this book decades after our first encounter with it from high school days.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn, and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 11

Join us this month as I interview Reading Books Together co-host, John Paul Jaramillo, about his newest novel.  Carlos Montoya, published by Twelve Winters Press, explores many of the same themes (and even characters) as John Paul’s previous works, The House of Order (Anaphora Press, 2012) and Little Mocos (Twelve Winters Press, 2017). The book is a stylistic departure in many ways from his previous writing, and we discuss that, writing process, and the family stories that must be explored through fiction.  

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

Carlos Montoya–A Novel Now Available!

Introducing the hardcover of my new novel Carlos Montoya. Available now!https://www.amazon.com/Carlos-Montoya-John-Paul-Jaramillo/dp/1733194983/ref=sr_1_1?crid=16366VP3NLVB2&keywords=carlos+montoya+a+novel+by+john+paul+jaramillo&qid=1683585679&sprefix=carlos+montoy%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-1

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 10

For Febuary’s podcast, no, wait, March’s podcast, John Paul discusses On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Deborah discusses On the Road The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac. They both discuss Toad from The Wind in the Willows and the importance of long and rambling novels. They also have some fun reading one-star reviews from Goodreads.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 9

For January’s podcast, we talk about George Eliot’s 800 page masterpiece in 19th century realism, Middlemarch. We talk about its scope, impact, and Deborah gets mad at John Paul for spoilers while he says, “Spoilers?  It was published in 1872!”  We also have some fun reading one-star reviews from Goodreads.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears