We're back in the realm of YA with MATCHED by Ally Condie! We talk horse girls, classic tropes, and eminently reasonable teens, and Bridget flabberghasts Caitlin to an unprecedented level.

12 - MATCHED

It's time to dig into READY PLAYER ONE! We discuss gatekeeping, fighting with Ernest, and Wade deeply missing the point. Bridget brings additional literature from the Cline canon to the table, and Caitlin loses her mind.

11 - READY PLAYER ONE

YOU READY TO GET WEIRD? This week, your devoted hosts grapple with the bizarre and wonderful Finnish book THE CORE OF THE SUN by Johanna Sinisalo. Will this be the most contentious Sweetie ever crowned? How much do you know about the history and language of Finland? What's the worst thing a dude's ever said to you? It's time to get SPICY.

10 - THE CORE OF THE SUN

It’s time for H.G. WELLS’ THE TIME MACHINE, and with this Very Special Episode, we have gently lost the plot. Join us as we create our dream cast for a Time Machine film, learn new vocabulary from the olden times, and draw out the recondite name origins of the biggest boy band in recent memory from this literary classic.

9 - THE TIME MACHINE

We’re back in the land of teens with Scott Westerfeld’s UGLIES! Wicked stunts, crazy pranks, compulsory surgery, and brain lesions. What’s not to love? Also, explore the world of classic high school doodle habits, experience Bridget’s DEEPLY upsetting in-depth knowledge of the world of surgical media, and hear what Caitlin would sound like as a teetotaler mouse. Jiminy!

8 - UGLIES

An unexpected run-in with a short story instead of a novel has produced our most film-centric episode yet! Embrace the early 2000s in all their high-contrast, blue-tinted filmic glory as we supplement Phillip K. Dick's THE MINORITY REPORT with Tom Cruise's performance in the film of the (roughly) same name. Puke batons! Performative Catholicism! The ravenous kisses of elderly botanists! It's got the hot cinematic accoutrement you crave. Also, what does Vicki Lawrence look like, again? It's Could Be Worse!

7 - MINORITY REPORT

Hello, and welcome to the episode with the most heinous introduction I hope we ever do. Who's your new dad? What's inside your dog? Do they LIKE it? Let's never speak of this again! We'll talk about this week's book instead - Suzanne Young's teen suicide dystopian, THE PROGRAM, or How Not To Relate To Teens! We talk about how our teachers related to us, high school experiences of lascivious scenes in classroom films, and some classic lit crit about THE MANY WAYS THIS BOOK REALLY COULDA DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

6 - THE PROGRAM

Woah baby, a late one! Technical difficulties lead us to a summer camp world of literary analysis, replete with crackling fire and raucous cricket chorus. Join us as we revel in the incredible world of Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, berate this beloved author far too much, and take a strong stance on AI: Artificial Intelligence, Secondhand Lions, and Opus the Penguin, in the sweetest lil’ media daisy chain you’ve ever heard recorded.

5 - SHADES OF GREY

Deck the halls with human folly! It’s a very merry krangle from Bridget and Caitlin! In celebration of Bridget’s return to the greatest land on earth, Washington State, we go on a special bonus journey of wine, marzipan, and human despair with a comparative study of the graphic novel Snowpiercer and its movie adaptation. Caitlin’s fairytale outlook, Bridget’s insatiable bloodlust, and a general understanding that babies taste best. Escape the overstimulation of your holiday party and get swept away in a winter nightmarescape.

BONUS EPISODE: SNOWPIERCER

This week, we're chewing into M.T. Anderson’s Feed, in perhaps our most harrowing future yet because WE ARE SO CLOSE TO LIVING IT. Foregoing personal updates in favor of exploring and rectifying Caitlin’s total lack of understanding about video games and Bridget’s affection for Spyro, we then delve deep into the meat of Anderson’s richly developed world. Only we almost immediately get distracted by other books we’ve read and tales of schoolday horrors from yesteryear. This one is a forest of tangents, guys, but I promise we cover the best of the book under that ol’ canopy. Plus, a more robust definition of our weekly sweetie and a deep dive into integrated tech in the research section. Join us, won’t you?   Research Resources: https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/385792677/our-computers-ourselves https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna816886 https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/meet-the-tech-company-that-wants-to-make-you-even-more-addicted-to-your-phone/ https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive

4 - FEED

This one is a doozy, kiddos. Bridget is queen of the jell-o shot, Caitlin might be a little manic this week, and we are met with wave after wave of the old ultraviolence from Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. Explore with us the dual lives of this old tome, the discomfort of its particulars, notable moments in the history of aversion therapy, too much talk of Russell Brand, and a million dollar idea that we will protect with our very lives.

3 - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Talk of theater teens, new avenues for eggs, Bridget’s love for Ikea comes to the fore, Caitlin battles her way back from a week of ennui, and we think harder about Stephanie Meyer’s The Host than perhaps any humans ever have or were meant to??? This results in gender anger, odes to snack bars, Little Debbie’s treat rankings - really a whole diversion where we should’ve just gotten a lil snicky snack - the danger of/necessity for polyamory in a world of bodysnatchers, parasites aplenty, and who’s a good boy.

2 - THE HOST

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Could Be Worse, where we read and dissect dystopian books and literature of every caliber for deeper meaning and good goofs. Meet Bridget and Caitlin, learn of their allergies and narrow scrapes with book-related crime, and buckle in for a breakdown of Fahrenheit 451, the sheer conviction and length of which will leave you gasping at the hubris of it all.

Could Be Worse

Could Be Worse

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