Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Bring Your Own...Childhood Fave | S1Ep12
283 Plays2 years ago
This week we’re throwing it back to the late 2000s and early 2010s by talking about our favorite books from our youth! Kendra tries to explain the ludicrous plot of the Pretty Little Liars franchise, Brandi reveals that she may have been bullied over her Hunger Games obsession in middle school, and Kayla comes out of retirement as the number one Divergent fan on Tumblr. We also discuss some of the books that got us into reading, the golden era of book to screen adaptations, and which other books we’d love to see hit the big screen!
Major Spoilers for:
- Pretty Little Liars (books and tv show)
- The Hunger Games trilogy
- The Divergent Series
For more BYO, follow us on instagram: @bringyourownpod
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Childhood Favorites
00:00:08
Speaker
Am I supposed to say it back? Last time I said it and then you guys started to say it back and then I interrupted so I waited. Wait no for next time now. Okay, yeah. Welcome to Voring Your Own, a catch-all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandi. I'm Kendra. And I'm Kayla. And today... I did not! You did!
00:00:38
Speaker
No, you did. Are you kidding me? You had a way longer pause than I did. Brandy? Brandy, who had the longer pause? I'll roll back the tapes. I don't know. OK.
00:00:52
Speaker
um today we all brought our own childhood favorites uh childhood loosely right like middle eight middle grade younger ish um faves and we're so excited to talk about those but before we do what do you guys read in when you guys drink in although i don't have anything exciting for drinking tonight i just have water uh
00:01:18
Speaker
Yes, love that.
Current Reads and Drinks
00:01:20
Speaker
And then for reading, I'm only listening to a book right now. I'm not currently physically reading anything. But I probably will be starting something in the next couple days. But I'm currently listening to Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams. I listened to When in Rome last month or the month before and I didn't like
00:01:40
Speaker
love it. It was just okay to me, but this one kind of intrigued me. But I'm really enjoying it so far. It's super cute. It's very like Hallmark romancy, but I'm enjoying it. I'm having a great time. It's kind of like bad boy, good girl, and he's like teaching her how to date, basically. So it's cute. I love it.
00:02:03
Speaker
I am currently drinking a, I don't know, I'm in the karate. Shatner. Yes, exactly. And I am
00:02:14
Speaker
reading, I'm still reading a lot of the same stuff I was reading last week, so I'm still reading Crimson River and I'm still reading Hookshot by Candy Bryant. And the reason I'm taking it a little bit longer with those ones is because I just started Cat Singleton's new book that comes out on May 11th called Rewrite Our Story.
00:02:36
Speaker
I'm excited. She sent me that one which was very kind of her and I was really excited to read it. I'm reading that one. It's like a brother's best friend in small town. Like she moved away from her small town and never looked back and kind of vibes and she's returning because her best friend's mom just passed away and her best friend's big brother and her have some unresolved tension and stuff. So I'm having fun so far. Oh it's wait it's her best friend's older brother that she has a thing with? Yeah.
00:03:05
Speaker
Oh, so it's not like her brother's best friend's brother. Okay. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, like, and this isn't a spoiler because we learned it really early on, but like her mom died when she was really young.
00:03:19
Speaker
And she tried to run to her best friend's house, but like the night of, cause it was like very traumatic obviously. And so then she was like 10 and the big brother was like 13 and like there and comforted her and whatever while she was crying. So it's kind of like this like, she's returning because their mom just passed away. So like now it's like role reversal as adults and stuff. So it's very sweet so far. I'm excited to see how it goes. Let's see. I am drinking a new can wine. It's not house wine. It's a pop and fizz sparkling.
00:03:49
Speaker
House Rosé Bubbles. Really cute pink can. It's been a long week here. Yeah, I got it at Total Wine yesterday. They sell them in four packs now. I felt like an old man going to go buy beer. Like you're carrying the claw hand. Have a great weekend, guys. Let's see. I am listening to a book called The Rewind. Who is it? Let me see who it's written by.
00:04:19
Speaker
I'm doing it on audio. I got it on Libby because I was just like browsing to see like what was available. It's by Allison Wynn Scotch. I've never read anything by them but it's narrated by Julia Weyland and the guy's last name was like McLeod or something. It's really good. It's about, it's set in 1999 and it follows these two college exes. They like broke up the day of their graduation. You don't know why. You just know they had this like knockout fight.
00:04:44
Speaker
Fast forward 10 years, and they were both invited to their friend's wedding. But then the night of the rehearsal, they got super, they're assuming drunk or either drugged, and they wake up the next morning, the day of the wedding, with wedding rings on and in each other's beds, and they are trying to figure out how they got here because they have no record.
00:05:05
Speaker
of the night. And so it's them working backwards while also unpacking a lot of their past. And it's fantastic. That sounds like a movie. I like it. No, it plays out like a movie. And the Melman character is so flustered to where he starts yelling a lot.
00:05:28
Speaker
it's like like not angry yelling like funny yelling like um reminds me like how jay i'm not jacob what's his name edward from jane and edward how he always just yelled in that book like it's just so chaotic um they have nothing in common in terms of like personality or anything but like the yelling is what they do have in common and yeah it's really good i realized that julia wayland works best for me when she's reading books in third person
00:05:52
Speaker
like because this book is written in third person and she's like I think this might be one of my favorite performances of hers she's just killing it yeah yeah I remember seeing that one a while ago in Barnes and I was like oh it looks interesting and then I never picked it up but I do remember seeing it so yeah depending upon how it goes for you I think I think I will end up recommending this to you it's really short too I'm already almost like 50% in and I only started like last night
00:06:20
Speaker
And I feel like I haven't been listening that much, so yeah. And then I also started The Neighbor Favor. I got 20-ish pages in. Yeah, it's cute so far. Oh, I've heard great things about that. It's probably gonna be my next physical radio. Yeah, it's- what do you- there's a type of romance, like term- well, not romance term specifically, like a-
00:06:38
Speaker
It's when they write in letters to each other. Yeah, it's like it's like a Piscatory of something like that. Yes Guys, it's like it's like we could have said that that work is made up and I'll be like, yeah
00:06:54
Speaker
It has that element in the story where they're like sending emails back and forth and I haven't gotten too far in yet but I think based on the back they will eventually like meet in real life but not know that they were sending emails to each other and yeah it's not bad so far. I read it's written by Christina Forest and I read one of her YA titles like two or three years ago and I really like that one so I trust her for her adult work too. Cool yeah I don't oh it was Ashley who just read that one recently and said that she loved it so.
00:07:22
Speaker
It's been on my radar. I'm excited to see what you think when you finish it. It is epistolary. The term, everybody who doesn't know, the term epistolary novel refers to works of fiction that are written in the form of letters or other documents. So if there's like letters in it, then I guess it could be, it's an epistolary novel. Crazy. I guess yours truly could be considered
00:07:51
Speaker
Because it has the elements. Yeah. Did you finish Scandalized? I did finish Scandalized. Did you like it? I loved it. I ate it up so much. Scandalized, I just finished it yesterday. I did it on audio. I got it on Libby. It's written by Ivy Owens, which is the additional pen name to, I want to say Lauren, from Christina Lauren.
00:08:14
Speaker
Oh, no way. Yeah. No clue. Yeah, it's her. It was just such a smutty good time. Like, it's a celebrity romance. He's famous. She's not but they knew each other as kids. So it's not like completely like, you know, Yeah, and they have like this like really hot one night stand and they end up like meeting each other again in LA and it just goes from there. And she's also she's a journalist, the
00:08:44
Speaker
girl. And she's trying to break a story. And the guy happens to be involved in the story too. And it was just, it was fun. I got it gave me exactly what I needed. And I thought it was really good on audio. It reminds me, you know, people are like, Oh, this book feels like fan fiction. And usually we say that like, they mean that as like,
00:09:08
Speaker
a day dig. Yeah. When I say that this book read like fanfiction, I mean that and like the highest compliment like it gave me the same feeling I would get when I would stay up at like, you know, pass my bedtime on my iPod touch just like
00:09:22
Speaker
It was like, it was just so like, fun. I was just gonna say you like unlocked memories for me of scrolling. Yeah, touch. That's crazy. I forgot those even existed. Yeah, I used to God mine went with me everywhere. But if you want to if you want something fun, smutty, and like not that long either. And a good audiobook scandalized by Ivy Owens, it might be on Kindle Unlimited. I'm not sure but I think I've seen it on there. Or maybe it was on there previously. Yeah, but it's a
00:09:51
Speaker
It was good, and the Millman character is Korean. So, yeah. Amazing.
Childhood Reading Experiences
00:09:58
Speaker
I thought it would be cool for this episode if we just kind of talked about, since these are our childhood favorites, like, that means we were all readers as children. Yeah, so like how we, like how we became a reader, did we read a lot as kids? Like, what were some of the childhood favorites that maybe we're not going to talk about as our personal picks, but like we saw around. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:18
Speaker
I okay, so I've always been like a really big reader. I was this sounds so like, oh my god, I was so nerdy, you guys. I was like the type of person that like, I would rush to finish my schoolwork so that I could pull out my book in class and read, you know, so that like,
00:10:38
Speaker
I would have time to do that during the school day. I would do that I was really big at first anyway into like the Nancy Drew those yellow hardcover books. I don't know. I was really big into those but my as far as like childhood like really like elementary
00:10:55
Speaker
school, my book journey was defined by a series of unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket, which is so funny. It's so funny because looking back, I still have, first of all, I still have all those books, they're sitting on my shelf right now, I still have all of them. And looking back, those books are so dark.
00:11:18
Speaker
for his children. So many people are just dying left and right. Bro, those books are dark. And when the TV show came out, I think I was I might have been just finishing college or something when the TV show came out on Netflix. And I really I was like eating it. I loved that TV show because I thought it was so much better than the movie. But that was like my really big thing was a series of unfortunate events. Yeah, that's those are like my big ones, I think from from like
00:11:46
Speaker
childhood talking, not the ones I'm going to talk about today. Did your family read a lot growing up? I think I was definitely the biggest reader in my family. I don't know about my parents or anything. I have no idea, but I just always loved that kind of thing. It's always been a part of my life.
00:12:07
Speaker
My family was huge into reading when I was younger. My parents were just constantly reading. My dad was really into historical novels. My mom was really into mysteries. I have such a bit of memories of the little clips that they would clip to the back of their hardback books and read in their bed at night. My brother hated reading.
00:12:30
Speaker
And I was like, I was so, so on it for a long time, but then I remember in like third or fourth grade, I found this series called The Three Investigators, which I don't remember a whole ton about, but I do remember it was, I think it was Three Brothers.
00:12:43
Speaker
And they were like kids solving crimes and I was just like so into the mystery element of that. So then I just became addicted to those and they were written in the 60s, the 60s through the 80s. But I was reading them in like the early aughts and just like devouring them. And then I stayed a really solid reader for a really long time after that.
00:13:06
Speaker
until like high school is kind of when I fell off when I had a lot more like school stuff to read. Yeah but my household had a rule that was like you could stay up as late as you wanted if you were reading. So like we couldn't stay up playing video games or watching TV but if we want to stay up reading we totally could but then my parents had to change that rule for me because I would my mom would come in at like 1 a.m. and I would still be reading as like an elementary schooler so they had to change that.
00:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. I was really, I was never like a, what's the word I'm looking for? Like socially reading. It's not like I was reading and like discussing books with my friends. Like not even, like it wasn't like a friendship thing. It was just kind of like, I don't know. What do you do when you can't drive yourself anywhere or have any agency over your own body at that age, right? So like, that was just, yeah, how I pass the time. Yeah, for me, like my mom, like really instilled like reading in us until we were really young.
00:13:59
Speaker
at a really young age for like all of my siblings. And I think it's because like my brother had like some sort of like, I don't know if he was dyslexic. He had some form of a learning disability. And so she got it in her head that like, and because of that, like they tried to like really hold him back. And like, so she had to take on a lot of his like, teaching and stuff at home. And because of that, she was like, my kids are gonna read. And you know how,
00:14:25
Speaker
people will like I'll see TikToks and like things on Twitter and people are like, I never had money for this classic book fair. I don't care what it was. My mom always made sure that we had money for that. Like, I could always walk into that book fair and like get something because like she just like, would just buy us whatever books we wanted. I got like a lot of hand me down books. So I started off with like, Dick and Jane, my mom found which is like a very old series, I think from like the 60s to it used to be white. And then they made like, they and
00:14:54
Speaker
introduce black characters later on. So my mom made sure I had like these really nice like special editions of them. I'm pretty sure if I go back to our house, like I can find them. Yeah. So it was that my sister was really into goosebumps. So I got all her hand me down goosebumps books. And my favorite ones were the ones where he made you like choose the adventure. So yeah, go to this page if you want to do this. Yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker
I can't remember the titles to Goosebumps, but I can always remember like the covers, right? Like I remember one with like a really cool roller coaster on it. And I can't tell you what that was about or the title, but I remember I loved it a lot. And then like Magic Treehouse in Junieby Jones. I loved Magic Treehouse. So fun. Those like I lived with. And then when I was in like elementary school, like further along, like maybe third or fourth grade, maybe even
00:15:44
Speaker
fourth or fifth, I don't know, but that's when Diary of a Wimpy Kid had just came out. And so I started binging those. Did y'all ever read Captain Underpants? I didn't read that one, but I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I think that was just too old for us. Sorry, we're the old ones here. So youthful and glowing.
00:16:05
Speaker
But yeah, Captain Underpants was like, so much fun. When you said Scholastic before that reminded me of those books that I was like, teacher from the black lagoon. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That Yeah, that unlocked something in me.
00:16:17
Speaker
Oh, I really loved I was a huge fan of Kate DiChimicallo. I'm assuming that's how you say her last name. I've never known how to pronounce it as long as I've been a fan of hers. But she wrote like Because of Winn Dixie, Tiger Rising. And then my favorite book of hers is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It's like this beautiful book with like stunning illustrations. And it like teaches you like, you know, if you love something, let it go. And if it's meant to be able to come back.
00:16:41
Speaker
it's not this china bunny and it goes on this like whirlwind adventure and that book has always stuck with me um but yeah i was like a huge fan of hers and we would just always go to like libraries growing up and like i was always checking out a book but like you said brandy like i was never like actively like how we do now like where i'm texting like all my thoughts and like talking about it
00:17:00
Speaker
granted communication like has changed since then but I don't know back then when I was a kid like reading really was like just for like me and like my escape and it was never something that like we bragged about right like it was just something it was just something that like we did in our free time and then like you get older and then reading I think for some people was like a form of punishment which is so crazy like your teacher would be like be quiet silent reading time now
00:17:23
Speaker
And I'm like, why was that punishment?
Influence of Adaptations and Favorite Teen Series
00:17:26
Speaker
No wonder kids hate reading. You mentioned the scholastic book there. And I was the kid that my mom would never let me get anything from there, which was so interesting because my mom was a teacher, but never.
00:17:37
Speaker
And I have this vivid memory of when the book fair was going on, and for some reason I went through a really interesting phase in my life where I was obsessed with Michelle Kwon, the figure skater. I don't really know why. My sister had a framed photo of her. Okay, yeah, so I'm not the only one. But they had this Michelle Kwon book at the book fair, and I begged my mom.
00:18:01
Speaker
Can I please get this book? It was just like pictures of her and like about her life. And like, I'm not I was never a figure skater. I don't care about figure skating, but I love her. I don't know why. And I was like, so I was like crying that she would not let me get this book. And I was like, please. She's like, you don't need this book about Michelle Kwan. I was like, please. Anyway, never got that book, mom. Yeah, I it's it's wild, like,
00:18:29
Speaker
how much my students hate reading, you guys. It's crazy. I teach middle school and they just hate it. It makes me sad because I'm always like, what kind of movies do you like? And then I'm like, okay, well, if you like those kind of movies, find a book like that. But like I said, I didn't fall off of reading until high school. I think
00:18:55
Speaker
But actually, I know exactly what happened. I started dating this like really pretentious douchebag in high school who was reading like David Foster Wallace as like a freshman. Yeah, I was like a freshman in high school. And I like lacked so much self worth at that age that I was like, Oh, yeah, me too. And I was like trying to read Infinite Chest as like a college junior or a high school junior. And of course, just having a fucking miserable time. And I was like, maybe I hate reading.
00:19:20
Speaker
No. Guys just some material and like I've been thinking a lot about how we were just like we're young at the right time right because that's when the book to movie adaptation like exploded and the fact that like Percy Jackson was like new when I was a kid like I remember when we forgot about Percy Jackson oh yeah that was I read Percy Jackson it was mandatory reading in sixth grade pre-ap English for me uh the first one and then I went binge read the other
00:19:47
Speaker
three that were out and then the fifth one came out and I have a first edition of it and I'm like that's what like imagine if that teacher made me read anything else I don't know if reading would have stuck with me like beyond a certain age because I got to read something cool and then something that I could like go into the theaters and see that was like so amazing like did y'all ever read Judy Bloom growing up too she was another big author for me yeah I think so familiar well she just had she wrote like are you there God it's me Margaret
00:20:14
Speaker
And it's all about like this girl discovering sort of like her body for the first time Like through puberty and it just got its adaptation I don't know if it's like the first but it just got like a really good adaptation for the first time And that's out right now and I really want to go see it and everyone says it's like amazing and I'm like imagine if like When that movie was that book first came out like back in like I think it's like the 70s or 80s If like the little girls could have like gone to the theater and seen it like it would have been so cool. So Yeah
00:20:44
Speaker
Well, we each brought our own series from our, I guess it's mostly like going to be like our teen years, probably it's not like our childhood. Early teens, yeah. Yeah, we can each like talk about like when we read these books. But who would like to go first today? Who do we think has like the oldest series here? Probably yours, Kendra.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. Mine is 2011. Mockingjay came out in 2014 or 2010, I mean. Pretty Little Liars was published. Oh my gosh, you're right. I have the oldest one, 2006. So that's my pig. I brought the Pretty Little Liars books. I was obsessed with them, even though I didn't finish the series because it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
00:21:37
Speaker
How many books are there? I don't even know because I've not read these ones. I've only watched the show. There are 16 books and two companion novels and I think I read 12 or 13 of them. Yeah, it is a big, elaborate story. So Pretty Large is written by her name Sarah Shepherd. Everyone knows it for the TV show, of course. I think that's actually when I got into the books too. It was either like a year before
00:22:05
Speaker
the show came out or like maybe a few months and i i was at that age this was probably like late elementary school early middle school and i was at that age where like sex was just so fun to me in any way i wasn't having it but like in any way that i could like talk about it or like see it and see other people talk about it i was gonna eat it up and so pretty little liars was it was teenagers like having sex and like dealing with like boy trauma and like murder and like
00:22:34
Speaker
family stuff. And there was a lesbian, I was like, Oh, gee, like, I don't like how you're like, boy drama, murder. Like, teen stuff. Yeah, so it's a ridiculous series, like, true, like, but it's so entertaining. I think that's what makes a really good, like,
00:22:58
Speaker
book series for like middle schoolers, high schoolers, is that no matter how ridiculous it is, as long as it's like kind of romance heavy and a little bit ridiculous, you'll have us. We don't care because like really sit down with Twilight. Have you seen the videos of people dissecting the timeline in Twilight and how everything happens within like a year?
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah, yep. Yeah, I'm like, what? But me in fifth grade- And he's gone for half of it. Yeah, me in fifth grade reading Breaking Dawn, I was like, this is the best love story I've ever read. Yeah, this is the best thing. No one loves me like ever. I'm never gonna be loved at all. Now I'm like, what was I on? So Pretty Liars was like, was like that for me. And also like, aesthetically, those books were really eye catching because each cover had, it would be like a solid color, like pink, yellow, blue, and
00:23:46
Speaker
each book would have a different liar on it so one of the girls would like in a Barbie doll like shaped and then they would have a real life model sometimes. Oh I think it was some of them were Barbies on some of the covers and then some were real life people they've been a lot of pretty little liars covers over the years so I'm probably
00:24:08
Speaker
confusing some of them. But I own all of my books that I bought. Yeah, they used to be on my shelves. I think if you like scroll back on my tik tok, you'll see like them in some videos. But now I put them all under my bed because I was running out of room and something had to give but I didn't want to get rid of them because like they're really nice. They're such nice books and they're short and they were like really easy to consume. I was who was my favorite liar?
00:24:34
Speaker
i think i really loved hannah because she was a girl that was like going through a lot of like body image issues and she's like still like very badass and confident at least confident presenting and i loved emily too because in the books she's bisexual which a lot of people don't i think realize because yeah in the books emily and what is her girlfriend's name that she gets with mia so emily and mia are a thing in the books
00:25:04
Speaker
But then they break up. And that was my biggest thing with the show is that y'all would keep talking about and y'all and when I say y'all, I mean, like the fans of the show with the cult fans. They're like, Oh, well, like this person is still around. And they're like, messing things up. And I'm like, that person is dead and gone. Yeah, I was shocked to learn how different the show was from books. And I think some things obviously the show probably did better. But
00:25:32
Speaker
From my understanding, I and I didn't never really watch the show. I think I probably have seen like one or two episodes because I was so far up the books ass. Whoa, that's crazy. So in the in the books like Emily dated Maya for however long they break up and then she gets with this guy and they have a really like nice romance and then she gets pregnant. And she hides her pregnancy from her parents. She gives the baby away for adoption. And then there's some crazy
00:26:02
Speaker
Like I'm talking batshit crazy storyline with like the baby and the adoption and like the family that she gave it to. It was all over the place. And yeah, all the girls were like with different people from the show too. Alison though was still Alison. Like she was crazy. The twin plot line was also still a thing. Did Aria have a relationship with her teacher?
00:26:25
Speaker
yeah Ezra but he I think I want to say he like dips pretty early on in the series like it's not you know super like in the books I think Sarah Shepard did a much better job of
00:26:35
Speaker
making you the reader aware that like this is not okay. Whereas in the show they were like. I was moving for them in this show. I know me too. When I was in school. And you're like what is going on? I'm just like genuinely shocked that what was it on ABC Family? ABC Family allowed that relationship to play out the way it did the same time they were airing shows like Secret Life of the American Teenager. They would also air reruns of like Seventh Heaven
00:27:01
Speaker
which are I think created by the same people, by the way, which explains a lot about the shows. Yeah. And so it's just weird to me that they allowed that relationship to play out the way it did. I have watched the new Pretty Little Liars, which is like not based on the books whatsoever, which is like a completely new concept, new girls, new town. It's done by the same guy who does Riverdale, which, you know, makes me a little worrisome, but it's on HBO Max. Is that cancelled now? Oh, no. Gossip Girl got cancelled. Gossip Girl got cancelled, thank God.
00:27:31
Speaker
um that's another series i never read growing up i didn't watch the show though until high school neither but the new show like is very it's a lot creepier a lot more like horror based and i think it's gonna do really well um from what i have seen because i really enjoyed the first season like if you're gonna make something campy you gotta really lean into it like and from like the early days too and i think that's what this adaptation does really really well but yeah they're pretty large books like
00:28:01
Speaker
every time one came out, I would go to Borders. Do you guys remember Borders? Yes. I would go to Borders, buy it, read it, and then I'd have to wait for the next one to come out. But the fact that like this one woman was writing like she wrote 16 books plus two companion novels in one series about girls who just got caught up in like murder and drama like that to me is crazy. And you can tell she she I would
00:28:30
Speaker
I had a tap out. Once these girls were on a cruise ship, and people were still dying, I was like, Oh my god, how are these girls not locked up? Like, it makes no sense. Like, how old were they at that point? I want to say I forget because I forget they like make it out of high school.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna ask if like do you ever see them like when you were reading were they ever in college at one point? I remember because they were like what 15 when the book Yeah, super young. I remember like Emily went to some college-based program but that's cuz like her parents like push her like so much to do everything and also like the Physical looks of the girls in the books are just so different one up for some of them. They're really I think spot-on like
00:29:22
Speaker
Aria was played by Lucy Hale, right? I think that was a pretty good choice. But Hannah was meant to have brown hair and her cover model I thought was like gorgeous and be like a little thicker than what at the time I think Ashley Benson was. But I'm glad they kept in the storyline of her. I mean, I don't know how well it played out. But from what I know, they did keep in the storyline of her, like really struggling with her body and like disordered eating, right? Or am I getting that wrong?
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was still part of the storyline. But like you said, I don't know how well it was done. Yeah, I was more like a glow up situation like in the flashback. She was the fat friend and now she's so hot. I want to say that's kind of like how it is in the books. But obviously you get so much more nuance and like her mental Yeah, because you're in her head, right? Yeah. And the books are written in third person. But each chapter takes place from like a different girl's point of view.
00:30:19
Speaker
And then Emily was supposed to have blonde hair. Yeah, blonde hair was a swimmer. And doesn't the show end with her and Allison together?
00:30:34
Speaker
yeah you had to tap out you were like i think i think i tapped out at like season three or four me too the only a that i really well the only two a's that i really remember from the books were mona because that is true but i want to say she dies in the in the books like once like shortly after she got found out she dies or something happens to her again it's been a long time since i've read these and then alison or her twin what was her twin's name courtney um
00:31:01
Speaker
I hope there's like a Pretty Little Liars expert listening who's like no that's wrong at least when it comes to the show that's wrong that's right but have you seen Mike's mic do yes yes I was gonna say that it's so fun there's this TikToker his ad is Mike's mic and he's a YouTuber oh yeah well I think he created his YouTube channel just to do these
00:31:24
Speaker
Oh, really? He had a YouTube channel before that. Oh, okay. Well, he did like two insane deep dives. Like, I'm not kidding you, like a three hour deep dive into all the connections, like plot breakdowns of Pretty Little Liars. And it was so funny. He did a Glee one too, which was ridiculous. I think he's doing Gossip Girl too. Oh God, I'll have to like tune in for that one. But yeah, Pretty Little Liars, it was a really fun time. I don't know if I would enjoy them.
00:31:52
Speaker
I was just gonna ask if you'd ever reread. No, because do they hold up. And I think a lot of it was like I was saying earlier, like I was just so kind of under the age limit, I think of what those books were intended for when I started. And a lot of that subject matter was just like so new to me. So it was like my first time taking it in. But now that I have experienced
00:32:13
Speaker
like just a plethora of media, especially books within the YA genre that probably handles a lot of the subject matter in those books like a lot better. And that is like more diverse and inclusive. I don't think I would like them. Am I going to keep them forever though? Yeah, my goal one day I'm going to move into a really nice apartment.
00:32:33
Speaker
and I'm gonna get really tall shelves and I'm gonna have like all of them on display like it's gonna be so nice cuz they're beautiful stunning covers I'll make sure when this episode comes out to like put them on our Instagram like they're just so nice and colorful and like simplistic and that's what I really love please people take notes if you are contemplating a cover right now for your own book the Pillow Liars ones are really solid I just looked them up they are really nice
00:33:00
Speaker
Cause like you just looking at those covers, you just know those girls are like hiding something. Yeah. There's something suspicious. Yeah. What's going on? Who was your, okay. Who was your personal favorite, like ship from that series? From the books or? Yeah, from the books. We can all be, I guess we can each go around. Cause Brandy, you and I only watch the show, but Kendra, for you, who was yours as the book reader?
00:33:25
Speaker
um i remember i don't know his name but hannah had some boyfriend it's not because i know in the show she's with that guy caleb or whatever that that's done and dusted in the books um oh no i don't know if his name was caleb in the books i want to say it was or he like he just wasn't like they just blew him up way past like what he was meant to be but she she ends up getting a really good boyfriend that i really loved in the books but i'm forgetting his name and i don't know if they ended up um if they ended up together and then
00:33:55
Speaker
Who was Arya with? I think I really liked who Arya was with in the books too, post Ezra. But again, I'm blanking on any of their names. But I think it was more so invested in just like, I mean, these were just really messy girls through and through. So I did love the ships of it all, but I think I was- Who's your favorite liar? I think I was definitely a Hannah girl. Hannah. That's right. I'm sorry you said that, Arya. Oh yeah, like Hannah and then probably Emily.
00:34:25
Speaker
were my favorites. Who did I hate? Spencer? Oh, I like actually I think I ended up liking all of them now that I think about it. I always forget about Spencer. Spencer was also supposed to be blonde. Weird. Yeah, you can't even like imagine it right with actors. Yeah. As a show watcher, I
00:34:48
Speaker
admittedly was an Aria and Ezra Gurley, but I also really liked Caleb and Hannah. I remember really liking them in the early seasons. Brandy's like, ew, gross. I just remember thinking she was so much hotter than him. It was like crazy. She was. His long greasy hair. Yeah. I really, I really liked them. And I'm trying to remember who else. There was another person that Spencer wasn't Toby. It was somebody else in the show. Talk about somebody who is so much hotter.
00:35:17
Speaker
Oh, yeah. But ugly. Yeah, I agree. I don't remember who it was. But anyway, um, and then like my favorite liar was probably Aria. Mine too. That's also because I loved Lucy Hale. Yeah, same. I was obsessed with Ezra and Aria, probably until like college.
00:35:38
Speaker
I look up and see how it ended and there's just so much information on this Wikipedia. I swear every six months or so I'll try and figure out how that fucking show ended and nobody can give me a straight answer. Oh, okay. So Spencer had a boyfriend in the books named Wren. So it was Spencer. Wasn't Wren the British guy in the show?
00:36:04
Speaker
I thought Ren was her big sister's ex fiance. Maybe. I swear he was. I think that was also a PowerPoint in the books. Now, maybe guys maybe she had a couple guys. We should just read them for. Dude, we would fly through them. We could probably read them all like a couple weeks, maybe even like on audio to Aria gets with someone named Noel, or like it had been meant this as their relationship had been mended.
00:36:31
Speaker
I think Brandi, you and I might have both been right because his name is Ren Kingston. If that's not a British name, I don't know what is. And he was a doctor and he was also once engaged to her sister. So I think he was the British guy who was engaged to her sister in the show. And then the book ends, which is the series ends, I guess, without Alison in jail. And apparently Emily was gonna unalive herself.
00:37:00
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah. Again, I stopped when they were on the cruise. I stopped on the cruise. I don't know anything about this. Oh, my gosh. Honestly, Crocs is the person who updated this Wikipedia page because this isn't even like a fandom wiki. This is like Wikipedia. The Wikipedia page. That is so funny. Oh, my gosh. Got a secret. Can you keep this one?
Obsession with The Hunger Games
00:37:32
Speaker
I think mine is the next in the publication order and I brought The Hunger Games. I was tossing around a few other books that I thought about bringing, but like of the books that had the biggest impact on my middle school years,
00:37:50
Speaker
It's just no contest. I've talked about this a little bit previously on other episodes, but I was just painfully obsessed with the Hunger Games series. It's a classic. I don't remember.
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think they were just kind of blowing up when we were in middle school. And I think that's how I read it because I know I remember I read them before the movies came out. And I, yeah, I don't know. I was just like so obsessed. So I read the first one was
00:38:27
Speaker
immediately sucked in and had to read the second one. I remember checking my school library and it was something like a seven week wait. So I begged my mom to take me to Barnes and Noble.
00:38:38
Speaker
And she took me and she let me buy both of them so I could own them both. And I just reread them, reread them, reread them, reread them. And I would like, I had the pages in my diary where I would just like write all my favorite quotes. And then I would use those as my bookmark. And I, my mom took me on release day, which is I remember this so specifically two days before my 15th birthday was when Mockingjay came out and my mom took me that day. Yeah. Part one and part two. The book.
00:39:05
Speaker
oh the book oh yeah yeah yeah so she took me to get it with how obsessed you are with the hunger or you well you were um i'm still so shocked you never got into fan fiction because like i thought you were right there like i didn't you guys i swear to god i don't even think i knew fan fiction existed i'm not i don't think like i know i didn't know fan fiction existed i think otherwise i would have been all over that shit
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah cuz like the fact that you were writing down your favorite quotes and like were you ever on tumblr with the books at all? No I never was on tumblr. I think that's why I like it just like spiraled you guys I like would buy blank t-shirts and I would make Hunger Games shirts.
00:39:50
Speaker
With like fabric paint, I would sit by myself in my basement and like paint shirts with like, I had one that had the Mockingjay symbol on it. I had another one that just had all my favorite clothes all across the back. I wouldn't wear them in public. I would wear them like pajamas in school. No, no, no. Brandi, this is a safe space where you bullied as a kid.
00:40:08
Speaker
No, okay. I was never bullied because they were so popular when we were in middle school, like everybody was obsessed. But like, I was like, next level. I know I talked about this on our audiobook episode, but I bought the audiobooks of them and I would fall asleep listening to them.
00:40:27
Speaker
I know everything about the lore. Every once in a while I'll stumble upon a TikTok that's talking about Hunger Games lore and I'm hoping I'll learn something new and I just never do. I can tell you all about Hamish's games, I can tell you about Snow's games, I can tell you about the 25th quarter quell, I can tell you about the 50th, I can tell you everything about all the
00:40:49
Speaker
like districts like I was obsessed um which I'm shocked I haven't read the battle of songbird or whatever it's called yeah yeah I haven't read it because I thought it was bad um I have seen the trailer I probably will watch the movie I wonder if this is one of those things where the studio was like hey Susan or will you write it
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's that way we can produce it. Because you know, Nicholas Sparks has done that too. Like, that's how we got, what's that book called? The Last Song because they wanted a movie with Miley Cyrus and they wanted to be behind it. Yeah, so he was like, okay, I'll write the book. I love this book. When you were talking to Randy, I got my coffees. All first editions, by the way, these are never
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard solutions in my house too. I never finished Mockingjay. It's not new around here. But I still have a bookmark from when I dog-eared. Like where you left off. Yeah, paid six years. That's crazy that you never finished it. Although to be honest, Mockingjay wasn't the least favorite. I think that's a universally knowledge fact.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, I remember, because I read these before the movies came out and I read them, I read at least the first two or the first one before anything was even casted. And so I've always been a Peter Gurley, like from the jump I was a Peter Gurley. And I remember when I cast him, I forgot his name. What's his name? Josh Hutchinson. I was like gaslighting myself into thinking he was hot. I was like, yeah, definitely. That's totally what Peter looks like.
00:42:25
Speaker
I was like, he's like the original girl. He's one. We really did. And he's like the original short king. He's so short. He is. Oh my god, that basketball video of him dancing on top of that right now. I'm like, no! Ake, ake, ake. His basketball shorts come down to his ankles. Yeah. I remember. On his ankles. Oh my god.
00:42:48
Speaker
It's bad. And him blonde was just fucking horrid. He's lucky he's a good actor. He got away with it. But, um, I, okay, this isn't like, uh, okay. I have crazy long hair in middle school. Um, and I always wore it in a braid. Did you have the caddis braid? Not the caddis braid, not the side braid. I used to braid it down my back, but then after I read The Hunger Gaves, I started going on my side and everyone's like,
00:43:14
Speaker
Brandi's like Jennifer Lawrence. I was like, oh my god, that wasn't even planned at all. I used to do the kindness braid all the time after I read those books. Oh my god, Jennifer Lawrence is my fucking idol after I read these books too. Because that's in middle school, of course, like this, you know, the quirky girl thing back when it was still cool in like, yeah, in 2011, when everybody was obsessed with her, or like, probably a little bit later that I don't know. But yeah, when she would like trip on red carpets and be like, oh my god, I love pizza, I would be like,
00:43:42
Speaker
Girl, me too. She's just like us. And then of course I fell into that trap that everybody does of like the misogyny that comes after a funny girl makes it in Hollywood. It's like everybody's like, oh, she's fucking worse and she's cringy and whatever. There's a lot to unpack there, but I was so obsessed and I went to the midnight premiere of the movies. I have a picture of me going to the midnight premiere of Mop and Jay. It was very exciting.
00:44:09
Speaker
You know, I have this like little bin. It's in like our basement in a box somewhere, but I would keep this bin. It used to be all stuff that I would put on a bulletin board, just like memorabilia. And I still have the movie ticket from when I first
00:44:25
Speaker
I saw the first Hunger Games. I still have that. I still have that ticket. I went to go see it with my sisters. I didn't go to the midnight premiere but I got to go see it. I saw it like 11 a.m on opening day or something like that. I love that. Oh it was so fun. Oh you guys um how did you like the Catching Fire movie and why was it the greatest movie of all time? Well I catch because okay one of these books it might have been the Hunger Games itself. Maybe I just had like really good English teachers growing up but Hunger Games was required reading.
00:44:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was required. Well, nevermind. I went to a private school, a private Christian school. So nevermind. That makes sense. It was like, I think it was like seventh grade. It was required reading for us. And then the first movie I think was on the cusp of coming out, maybe like a few months or like a month or so.
00:45:16
Speaker
And I read Catching Fire shortly after, thought that was like the best book. I was like, why do people even like the first book? Like the first book was good, but like, this was art, you know? And then I saw the movie and I was like, damn, that was like really good. And I never saw Mockingjay, any of the Mockingjays. They're not very good. Who was your favorite character?
00:45:38
Speaker
in the series. Mine was Finnick O'Dare. I was a Finnick gourley through and through and I don't want to talk about what happens to him. That was the first time like I threw Mockingjay across the room so much when I was reading that book. I remember I read, because like I said this came out two days before my birthday, I read the end of that book on my fucking birthday.
00:46:04
Speaker
Like yeah, so like Finnick dying, finding out Annie was pregnant and Finnick wasn't gonna be there. Prem dying, like all of that. I read all of that on my fucking birthday. I remember being like, ugh. Yeah, I think probably my favorite character was Katniss. Like I was just really obsessed with her and PETA, both of them. Kendra, somebody who's never read or watched Mockingjay. Be careful with your words, go ahead.
00:46:32
Speaker
Oh my god. Gell was my favorite. Gell and Katniss were my favorite. And like, guys, I'm just so sorry because when I think of fucking PETA, okay, I will give credit where credit is due because our friend- Red boy, leave him alone. Okay, because here's the thing. PETA for a long time, on Spongebob, how they have like Weenie Hut Jr.
00:46:57
Speaker
And that's how I just abused him and associated with him for so long. But then our friend Trang had this viral tweet recently that was like, it was so kind of Peter to be like, but if it wasn't for the baby or like whatever he does to like help save them.
00:47:10
Speaker
And I was like, okay, again, you ate that one little thing, that one little thing, but he was always such a loser to me. And maybe it's because I fell into the trap that like a lot of girls fall into with, or not girls, but like people fall into with Twilight and that they loved Jacob because Jacob was hotter and not because he was considered a better choice.
00:47:29
Speaker
that was me with Gail. Like, I just, I just needed to be in that casting room. Like, I need to know why Josh Hutchinson and like, yeah, he was a good actor. And he was kind of big at the time, because I know he was doing like other stuff. But like, are you gonna put him and Liam Hemsworth next to like that? Like, it was unfair. Like, and that's like, I think I probably would have watched the movies first, I probably would have been a girl girl. But like, book PETA
00:47:55
Speaker
is so good. He's so good. I think, I think, okay, here's, here's the thing, you guys, I have a confession on me. I, I mean, in the end, I was Katniss and Fida. Yeah, you weren't. Okay, girl, I know you were. No, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. Okay, listening.
00:48:12
Speaker
But listen, there's just something about the friends to leverage aspect that when I was. That's what I'm saying. I was like. You cannot say he did not love her. He loved her and she loves him. I fully I think I think when I was when I was reading the books for the first time, I really didn't like it. It was different from how I felt about Twilight, where I was pretty firmly Team Jacob when I was reading those books. When I was reading The Hunger Games, I was like toss up. Like I honestly felt like I could go for either.
00:48:41
Speaker
But in the end, I wanted her to be with PETA because I was like, bro, fuck you. Okay, so what he bombed her sister like, okay. He didn't bomb her, he bombed her sister. Yeah, like, come on now. The beginning of Catching Fire, like they had their moments, of course, like, but like,
00:49:03
Speaker
I think just like the biggest thing is that he just wasn't there. Like, how was I supposed to love him when he wasn't there? Like, all his big heart. It's not his fault. Why am I defending him? Let me stop. Let me stop. You guys didn't hear it? If he was really in love with her, why didn't he volunteer to go in and protect her? Oh wait, she was, he was 18. He was already an adult. Yeah, and maybe he was a good thing, girl. Yeah.
00:49:25
Speaker
But you know that video of Vanessa Hudgens when COVID first hit and she was like, I'm gonna die. That was Gail. Prim was gonna die either way, either in the games or out of them. She got to live a little bit longer. Oh my God. That's so fucked up. Oh my God. Oh God. You know what though? I'm about to say something controversial. Again, okay. Prim? Okay, okay, no. Annoying.
00:49:54
Speaker
Well, she went back for the cat. Girl, stop. She was gonna die. She was gonna get crushed by that door. That's what I'm saying. Like, it wasn't Gail's fault or was it Prim's fault? Me saying this was someone who still has not read Mockingjay. You don't even know what scene I'm talking about, Kendra. That happened in Mockingjay. Nope. She was gonna get crushed by that door and then she risked everybody else's life. They went to go, they had to go back for her because she wanted to go get that stupid cat and then
00:50:20
Speaker
You know what? Okay. Fran is supposed to represent all the good and purity in the world. I know. Like, I hope that, like, things could be good. I mean, who am I to say that, like, if that were to be me and Kylo and Casper were in there, I would go back after them. Oh, we know Casper is not making it. Oh my god. Casper would make it because he's smaller. Kylo might not. Do you like the covers of The Hunger Games? Yes. Yeah. See, we had this discussion on Instagram live the other day. Like, you hate the covers I love.
00:50:48
Speaker
um okay i was just asking because i know i talked a lot about the pretty little liars covers so i just want to know okay okay i thought you were about to tear into these i was like no no okay i would like you guys okay no i know i already talked about this but like in class in middle school i had this one page i drew every fucking character i'm not over exaggerating probably a hundred characters
00:51:11
Speaker
on this piece of paper that I just like kept in my folder. Like anytime I was bored, I'd pull it out. Any character I could think of. They were little stick figures, but they all had like one identifying feature that like some of the part like Katniss obviously was holding a bow and like Peeta was holding like a cake or something. Yeah. Like, oh, it was a little baguette. It was a little fucking baguette. Yeah. Yeah. Like so like they were all had like identifying features. Oh my God.
00:51:33
Speaker
and like down to like side characters that were mentioned once like I wish I still had this honestly I probably do at my parents house I'm gonna dig through my shit next time I'm home like I like yeah so I would draw the covers a lot like I would draw the symbols and shit maybe I was bullied in middle school I just didn't know
00:51:51
Speaker
You were just purposefully ignorant. Yeah, like sounds great. But yeah, I was, I was so obsessed. And I know we talked about this, again, we already talked about this on the audiobook episode, but I went back to try and re-listen to the audiobooks. And the old, like the women sounds so old, I can't believe they re-recorded them, I might have to buy the new ones. Because I like now talking about them, like I want to reread. Yeah, I last year,
00:52:18
Speaker
when they put all the movies, I can't remember if it was Hulu or Netflix, but I rewatched all of them. I knew so. I should probably do it. And I don't own, I own maybe five DVDs. Catching Fire is one of those DVDs. So good. Yeah. Do you guys know who blurbed the back of these books? Any guesses before I read the names? Is it JK Rowling? No. Okay. Stephanie Meyer. Yes. Stephanie Meyer.
00:52:47
Speaker
She blurbed both Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Stephen King also blurbed both books. No shit. Oh wait. Those were on the first editions? But it says Stephen King Entertainment Weekly next to it, so maybe it's a different Stephen King. Yeah, these are on the first editions. And then John Green also blurbed Catching Fire. Yeah, he said, brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced, engrossing.
00:53:17
Speaker
He's not wrong. Yeah. I mean, his, I mean, that was like back when like the papers were such a bigger deal. Like I'm sure he was writing reviews in the New York times and stuff. Um, and his books were blowing up then too. Like, Oh my God. Like that was an era. The fall of our stars had me in such a chokehold. Truly you guys, we did kind of grow up. We kind of did grow up in like the best era of YA books.
Love for Divergent Series
00:53:43
Speaker
Yeah, Dystopian YA especially, like around our middle school and Kendra's late elementary school time was so, so good. Actually, toddler years. This is like, watch, please clap for the segue I'm about to do because Daniel, my boyfriend's parents are both librarians at the University of Michigan. So they would go to a bunch of library conferences and Daniel got an ARC of the first ever divergent book
00:54:13
Speaker
Kayla's gonna like come and rob you. Do you still have the first edition? His parents have... Why doesn't he keep that artifact, crisis artifact? His parents are obviously you would assume by them both being librarians that they're big into reading. Their basement is just full of books. So it's probably down there. He could probably sell it and get a lot of money to Kayla.
00:54:42
Speaker
We'll look, we'll look. My birthday is in October. All right, so yeah, I have the Divergent series and I cannot stress enough how much this series took over my life. I guess it's basically, I mean, I was also a really big Hunger Games girlie, but I guess Brandy's, Hunger Games is to Brandy what Divergent is to me. And I first read this series in 2012. The first book came out in 2011, but I read it in 2012, which was my senior year of high school.
00:55:12
Speaker
And the last book came out. That's crazy. That is fascinating from middle school. Yeah, I started college in 2013. Sorry, I started my senior year in 2012, graduated 2013, started college the same year. I was 17 years old.
00:55:31
Speaker
when I started college. Yeah the the last book in the series came out in 2013 so I read the book when it came out but like okay I have my little divergent collection sitting here with me obviously you guys can't see it but I will go through what I have because it's a lot of fun I used to have way more than this but I did get rid of a few things so first I have obviously just the first one divergent and then I also have the movie cover with Shailene Woodley on it
00:56:01
Speaker
And then I have, obviously, Insurgent. And then I have Allegiant, which is a signed copy that I got. Oh, yeah. Wait, you won that one, right? I won it, like, on a Twitter thing. Like, when the first movie came out, it was, like, ET, I think it was Entertainment Weekly, posted a tweet that was, like, Divergent fans, here's a piece of trivia. And if you answer first, then you will win a signed copy of Allegiant. So I got that. And then I have Four, which is, like, a novella about the character Four.
00:56:30
Speaker
How big is that novella? It's very small. It's pretty small. It's a collection of short stories. Yeah. Actually, wait, that's that's not true. The font is huge. The font is really big in these books. But yeah, it was a collection of short stories called Four. Then I have the official illustrated movie companion. As you can see, it's I have those for Twilight. Yeah. Yeah. And then I have the I don't know what this is. Inside Divergent, the initiates world.
00:57:00
Speaker
I don't know what it is. And then I used to collect those, like, you know, like when movies would come out, they would have like the big cover story on like EW or like TV Guiders. I used to collect all those. I don't have them anymore. Unfortunately, but I used to have all those. Can I just remember that photo shoot for like Vogue or something that the Twilight cast did where they're like in that fucking field? Yeah. Yeah. That photo shoot changed my life. We witness history.
00:57:31
Speaker
Anytime that like movies did that kind of photo shoot where it's like them out of character outfits. Oh my god. Yeah. Shailene Woodley and Theo James did some of those and I was like, dying. Okay, but anyway, so divergent. I'm not like gonna say the plot really, because I feel like most people know what it is or have at least seen them. Have you guys at least seen the movie? Yes, I've seen. Okay. Honestly, Brandy,
00:57:57
Speaker
First one, oh, it's great. The other ones. No, second one, not that bad. The other ones. Okay, well, yeah. As a like a mega fan, I'll tell you what I think. Yes, my bad, Queen, my bad. No, no, no, that's amazing. Because my opinion is really the only one that matters here. Yeah, of course. Do you even know what they're about, Brandy? Do you even like know what they are? Oh my God. Okay, so. I DNF'd it.
00:58:25
Speaker
In middle school though. I was chasing the Maze Runner high. Okay. Oh, Maze Runner was another series I always wanted to read but never did. Honestly. So disappointing. Well, anyway.
00:58:46
Speaker
I'll just give me a blur. So it's about Tris Pryor. And it's this it's like a post apocalyptic world as you know, most dystopian novels in the early 2010s, late 2000s. And they're the society is now divided into five factions. Oh, and it takes place in Chicago. This is post apocalyptic. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. And there's five factions. And you are in
00:59:13
Speaker
one of the five factions. There is Amity, who are like the kind, friendly people. They're like the farmers. And then there is Abnegation, who are the selfless people. They like don't look in mirrors. They like dress kind of drabby. They're the government, because they're the selfless people. And then there is Candor, which are like the honest people. They're the judges. There's the Ariadite, who are the really smart people. They are the like scientists.
00:59:37
Speaker
And then there's the Dauntless, who are the brave and bold, and they're like the soldiers, basically. I feel like I remember that. There were so many Facebook quizzes to find out which one he liked. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. Hey, Brandi, your current celebrity crush is in the first movie. Tony? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He plays Tris' dad. Yeah. And he looks so cool. Brandi, you have to watch it. Oh my god. You have to watch that movie. Anyway, OK. OK.
01:00:05
Speaker
But yes, when we are when I started twirling my hair. When kids turn 16, they take this like test that tells them which faction they belong in. And then there's like this ceremony where you pick your new faction.
01:00:26
Speaker
Anyway, Trish is born into abnegation and she takes this test, but she gets the result of divergent, which means you don't belong to any of them. She is not like other girls. She was definitely that ugly like other girls. She really was.
01:00:47
Speaker
She really was. Um, but she picks the Dauntless faction, which is like to go home. That feels irresponsible to let them pick 16 year old. Yeah. Yeah. And like when you pick your faction, you don't get to change and you never get to see your family again. If they're not in the same faction, like it's very, it's very kind of insane when it don't think about it too much. It doesn't make sense if you think about it too much. Okay. So anyway, she picks Dauntless and you know, they are like the,
01:01:15
Speaker
crazy kids they like do all the they like do like actual parkour and like jump on trains and stuff like that i feel like i remember that from the trailer yeah anyway so this series took over my life um and
01:01:30
Speaker
this when I was like thinking back to this series I started like rereading a couple just like random chapters before this recording and this also reminded me of where I was in my life when I was reading these books and I was heavily heavily on tumblr during these days and so it made me go back to my tumblr which is currently still up and active like you can find my tumblr
01:01:54
Speaker
And I'm not telling you what it is. I'm never going to tell you what it is. I thought it was like Tris... Oh wait, what was your last name before? Tris Prior. No, it was Tris Joy. I bet that was. Or Jolly. There we go. Tris Jolly. No, but my username, I have like multiple different URLs, but my current one, the one that's up, is related to Divergent. And I will tell you, it is a very coveted name. I got very lucky with the one that I have.
01:02:24
Speaker
I'm never telling you what it is. But I would like, not only did I like have Tumblr and Reblog stuff, I made stuff. Like I would make GIF sets and I would make GIFs. I would make stuff all the time. Why won't you share it? I made all kinds of edits. Like I- I have begged for so long, Brandy. Like I have- I'll like-
01:02:42
Speaker
I'll give you my Myspace. We'll see. I'll maybe share screenshots of what I made, but I'm never going to tell you what it was. Anyway, because what's embarrassing about them is your Tumblr tags, is the tags that you put on your posts, because it's just you fangirling. Wait, what was their ship name?
01:02:59
Speaker
I can look it up. Fortress. Fortress changed and altered the trajectory of my life. I'm not joking you. Like that was the ultimate ship for me.
01:03:17
Speaker
Back then, I thought that they were like Veronica Roth, the author. I thought that she wrote the masterclass and tension when I was younger. I was dying. Because she came into this new faction of hers, Dauntless. And she was like this new girl. And she had to learn how to fight. And she had to learn how to do all these things. There's like this knife-throwing scene that I was like, oh my god, filming at the mouth hat. And then. James is so hot, like he was.
01:03:46
Speaker
I did. Thank you. And like there's a scene there's a scene in the in the book where he like shows her his tattoos that he's got and it's like covers his whole back. Guys, I, I didn't even tell you. And it was really sexual and I was like, wow.
01:04:03
Speaker
Yeah. In the movie, that's when they have their first kiss. In the book, they don't have their first kiss, then they have it actually a little bit earlier. You are such an expert. I love seeing this side of you. You guys don't understand. You guys, I'm not lying. Brady was like, I know all the lore. That was me. Before the movie came out, I watched every single interview that had Theo James and Shailene Woodley in it. I watched every single thing. I fell in love with Theo James.
01:04:33
Speaker
Tobias Eaton, who is four, his real name is Tobias, was, I think, really the first male main character that I like, fell so deeply in love with. Like, I'm trying to remember, like, in other books that I'd read, I liked a lot of the male main characters, but this one really, like, really got to me. He's also like, he's like a very, like, tough boy. And okay, I'm going to tell you guys something. His name is Four, because he only has four fears.
01:05:01
Speaker
in the books, so that's his nickname. Brady, stop laughing. Brady, I'm really gonna need you to stop laughing. See what I'm saying, you guys? They're hot. They're hot. For listeners who can't see, for listeners who can't see, Kendra just showed us a beautiful gif of their kissing scene from the first movie. It was amazing. Where was that casting agent when The Hunger Games was being cast? Josh Hudson.
01:05:29
Speaker
Anyways, Theo James is so fucking hot. Have you watched my lotus, Kayla? I haven't, but I really need to. But 4, aka Tobias, was like a massive... I liked him way more than I liked Triss. And he was also like very much like a tortured boy. Like he had a really bad relationship with his father who was abusive to him growing up. And so it was like, you know... Every man. Every man character in the early 2000s. I was like, oh my god, I need to protect him. I love him so much. Anyway, I'm going to skip to...
01:05:59
Speaker
the very last book, which when it first came out, I, well, okay, some big spoiler for those that don't know, but I feel like I'm allowed to say this, this book came out almost a decade ago. Yeah, no. Tris dies in Allegiant. Yeah. She kills off, Veronica Roth literally kills off her female main character. Okay. And
01:06:24
Speaker
No, she's dead. It's not that type of world. Once you die, you die. Yup. She's dead. No, she got shot. And she is killed. Anyway, I have a mental breakdown. Listen, when that book came out, I gaslit myself so hard into thinking, no, you guys, it was a weekly gunfight. Like, I was like...
01:06:49
Speaker
I remember that she got red. What is she doing now? Okay. No, listen, you guys. Oh, and they also before she dies, like maybe a few chapters is when Tris and four first have sex for the first time. And then she literally dies. Punished. How many? What's the timeline in these books? Like how long do all these like what's you know what? I actually don't remember that.
01:07:16
Speaker
I'm like, is it like a year in between the plot? Like, does this all happen in like three months? No. I actually don't remember. But like they like talk about having sex in the first book and then and the third book they do it's like one of her fears is intimacy and then that's how she overcomes it. Anyway, she dies in the third book.
01:07:43
Speaker
And I gaslit myself so hard into thinking that I liked the book. I was like, no, you guys, it was the right choice for the story. You guys, it made sense. You guys, obviously looking back now, I'm like, all right. I was just clearly in denial. But you know what's even crazier, you guys? You know what is even crazier is a couple of years after Allegiant came out, Veronica Roth decides to put forward a epilogue or a short story that takes place a couple of years after Allegiant.
01:08:12
Speaker
is four with somebody else. Four is with her best friend. I didn't know that. He ends up with Christina. Was that Zoe Kravitz's character? That is Zoe Kravitz's character. He ends up with Christina, you guys. The betrayal that I felt when I found that out. And they're like happy in love. And I never read it. I didn't read it. I refuse to read it. But that's what happens. It's only like a 20-page short story.
01:08:43
Speaker
But imagine being a YA author with that devoted of a fan base, that massive of a platform. And you're like, I just know she was sitting there being like, I have to serve this story, you guys. The story comes first. Wasn't Veronica Roth like, we learned about her in college. She was really young when she had all these success. She was very young. She was super young when all these books took off. We learned about her because
01:09:12
Speaker
my professor, I think knew someone, like knew her because we were all she went to school in Chicago as well. So she was like a really big deal in that writer scene because like she blew up at such a young age. She's only 34. Yeah, so right now. Yeah, I think she was like in college, I think when these books were coming out. Yeah, first, so she's 34. Now that means she would have been 2122.
01:09:35
Speaker
when the first book came out. Theo James is older than her. Theo James is old. Theo James is only 38. Well, okay, but he looks the same. He looks the exact same as what he would be. Does he? Is that with or without makeup?
01:09:51
Speaker
you think he's ugly? No, like I'm saying that he looked the same. Like I think he's a kid now. He's a daddy. Tris dies at like chapter 50 or something in Allegiant. And then there's six full chapters with four just mourning her presence. And it
01:10:10
Speaker
It's just devastating. I really tried not to think about it but like I remember there's this this quote in my Kindle versions because I do have all the Kindle versions I had at Kindle back then I mean I do now but like it's funny because
01:10:25
Speaker
they're still there and all my highlights are still in the books which i think is kind of fun so i was going back through those and i highlighted this quote that i was like oh yeah when i was first reading it i was like oh my god yeah that's so beautiful i totally love this and i mean it is a really beautiful quote but looking back i just like want to throw my phone across the room and he's like this is from forest perspective
01:10:46
Speaker
And he's like, there are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known or everyone you have ever loved for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. This is the sort of bravery I must have now. He's saying that as he's mourning Trish's death.
01:11:12
Speaker
And I'm just like, I- And then he fucks her best friend. Next, Mira trash. I can't talk about it. Imagine, you know, Triss is just like watching that happen from the afterlife. And she's like, I'm going to haunt these bitches until they're lost. He probably, he probably like says her name during sex. Like, I would be so good. Why would you do that as an author? Put her with the best friend? I don't believe that. I really don't acknowledge
01:11:42
Speaker
the last half of Allegiant. You know what's even worse is that before she goes and dies, she finds out that her brother Caleb is like a traitor. And basically she has to like go shut off this serum that's about to like, you know, go into the world or whatever.
01:12:10
Speaker
And Caleb's like, let me do it. You know, I, he's only doing it because he feels bad about betraying her. Not because he loves her. Interest is like, no, you're only doing it because you feel bad and I don't want you to do that. So I'm going to go do it. And then, then she dies doing it. So it's just really great. It's really a fun time.
01:12:29
Speaker
So much fun. I despise Ansel Elgort now. I can never watch The Fault in Our Stars again. That used to be one of my comfort films, you guys, and I can't watch it.
Discussion on YA Adaptations and Casting
01:12:40
Speaker
But I will say back then, it was really interesting to see the Shailene Woodley triangle that was happening across films because she was in The Fault in Our Stars with Ansel Elgort. They played lovers, but then in Divergent, they played siblings. And then her and
01:12:55
Speaker
uh miles teller and divergent were like kind of enemies they were kind of hot i actually kind of they had like their chemistry is just so good and then in the spectacular now they were lovers which is one of my favorite movies so good i want them to like be in something together again because it's just you guys think he's cute am i alone in that he's fine he's fine crickets for a long time i don't think he's
01:13:21
Speaker
Ugly. I don't know if hot- I don't know if hot's the word I would use. I think it's like seeing him in character I think helps a lot because like seeing him in whiplash and like him just like playing those drums like yeah. The mustache works for me. I didn't even see that movie. I didn't see it either but I saw Lost Men. I saw the promo yeah it was good. Yeah I love it.
01:13:43
Speaker
Kayla, do you like the divergent covers? I mean, they're fine. They're nostalgic. Oh, they redone the covers, actually, since I don't have the new ones. Yeah, they did. They redid them. I actually kind of, they're kind of cute. They're just like little illustrations. But yeah, now, I mean, like,
01:13:58
Speaker
It's just like, I can't, I can't say that I don't like these because like, I mean, I can, but yeah, when I was growing up, these were like everything. And as far as the movies go, first one is good. I mean, if I were to watch it now, maybe I'd be like, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But when I first watched the movie, when it came out, I was pretty happy with it. Second movie,
01:14:26
Speaker
was nothing like the book. And the third movie was just pure trash. And then they never finished the series. So it wasn't it got moved to it was gonna be like on TV, right?
01:14:37
Speaker
yeah and then all the actors were like no no i'm not doing that and so then they just never finished it so i never had to watch i just never uh got to watch trish die on the screen which is fine fine i mean the third movie was terrible anyway so just whatever you know how everything's getting like rebooted like they're redoing everything like twilight harry potter which i don't understand why they're redoing that um if i wonder if divergent will also get
01:15:06
Speaker
picked up again because i wonder like i feel like the fanbase was big enough they could probably do it right i don't want them to because i theo j now i just can't picture anybody else but theo being for that's why i feel like twilight i'm like how are you all gonna recast edward when edward is still alive and well thriving
01:15:22
Speaker
Have you seen all of those TikToks of people being like, you know that Robert Pattinson is just celebrating what somebody else is going to be doing. He can finally just put this behind him. It'll make him look better because whoever will do it, even if the guy gives an amazing performance, no one is ever going to buy him as Edward because it's Robert Pattinson. It's just going to make him even more of a household name. I love him so much.
01:15:50
Speaker
I had a mental breakdown when I found out that he and Suki Waterhouse were dating.
01:15:58
Speaker
It unlocked just like the 13 year old that's buried deep inside myself. And I was like, I was like, just drop it also. They're so hot together. I just like, have you seen the video of them at the Met Gala that's going around when they're like, Oh God. And they're like giggling at each other. That fucking song that she wrote about just how in love they are and how happy she is. I'm like, but see, that's my problem. I love Robert Pattinson. I love everything about him. And then I go and listen to FKA twigs.
01:16:26
Speaker
And I'm like, Robert, why didn't you stand up for her? Why didn't you just say that? Did she not do it for you, Robert? Like, come on. When all I do is for you. She tore that man to shreds. But like, in such a respectful way. Like, I feel like she didn't even like... Yeah. Oh, God.
01:16:49
Speaker
Um, I still have these pictures up on my personal Instagram, but this picture is from February 12th, 2014. I took a picture of the target shelves that have the divergent. And then I also posted this picture.
01:17:05
Speaker
Um, in March when the movie came out when a friend and I went to go see it. That's so cute. You're sweepy bangs. Oh, yeah, my bangs. Oh, I had the same thing. Those are very in. Did you ever pin them straight back? Oh, yeah, all the time with a barrette. Yeah. I saw the movie three times in theaters. I think one of the first times me and my friend Madison like ever hung out before we were like,
01:17:34
Speaker
what we are now we're just in like the same friend group we went to go see i think it was like the second divergent film we went to this place called alamo dropped house which is like i don't know if they're anywhere outside of okay so um it's like this movie theater where you can like sit and eat and they'll bring food to you um and that was a big deal for us to like go get food because i think we were like you know just got licenses
01:17:59
Speaker
And I just love driving around the city and like had debit cards. We saw that film together. So I need to remind her of that. She probably doesn't even remember. You need to watch it. I mean, you should. Does it stand up today? Maybe you'd be like, this is kind of cringe. But back then, it was so good there. See, I can like vividly picture. I also have the soundtrack still on my phone. Oh, my God. But I.
01:18:27
Speaker
Ellie Golding was the main singer. Oh, those songs were so good from her. Yeah. I do love that. And when they first kiss the song that plays by Ellie is Dead in the Water and beating hard. We need this again. We need like really good YA adaptations with strong soundtracks. And, you know, unfortunately right now the writer strike is happening right now in Hollywood. We support. Yes, we definitely support their demands.
01:18:57
Speaker
Hopefully another episode airs. I don't see that happening though because the studios are being so unreasonable. But when the WGA prevails and they get everything that they deserve, I hope that a lot of these adaptations come to life. Is there a YA or book in general right now that you're like, I need to see this adapted? It could be YA or not. That you think would give you the same feeling you got with
01:19:25
Speaker
the books that we just discussed, like that obsession. Specifically adaptation you're talking, like a specific movie. Yeah, like a book that you would want, like a book that you would want to see adapted that you think would get the same love. Well, you guys are gonna really, this isn't a YA book. Is it a, it's not a YA book. No, it doesn't have to be YA. You can just be a book and talk about it. Okay. Well, the reason that I love, and I talked about this on the last episode, that I love fourth wing so much, well not the reason, but one of the reasons why I really enjoyed that book so much is it gave me the same
01:19:55
Speaker
feeling that I remember having when reading these books. And there were lots of similarities. I love a good training montage. I love that kind of stuff. And there's a knife throwing scene, just like in this book, and she's training and getting stronger and learning how to fight and stuff like that. I love that kind of stuff. Is it cliche? Yeah, I don't care. I love it. And so that one I think would be super fun to see, because it also seems like one that is doable, that could translate well to the screen.
01:20:25
Speaker
I think Sophie Lark's brutal birthright series HBO dark gritty sexy fun Kingmaker I feel like would be a little bit of a stretch because it's like you have to buy into the premise I like throughout this boarding school which I don't know if that will translate as well but like brutal birthright was just so gritty I felt like I was watching a crime TV show and I just like it would be iconic
01:20:54
Speaker
and would garner a lot of hands, right? Aw, he's so good. What about you, Brandi?
01:21:00
Speaker
I feel like I can never shut up about the series, but the Greenbone saga by Fonda Lee, I just think would do so well for the same reasons you were saying. The whole series takes place in this big, grungy, gritty city. The city itself isn't grungy, but the aesthetic is so grungy, you know what I mean? And the magic system in that series is so interwoven into the realistic aspects of the book that I can just see so perfectly. Because it's like 60s gangsters vibes.
01:21:30
Speaker
Shootouts, but also magic is like playing a role in it and like not everybody has magic. So yeah, it's just so I can it played out like a movie in my head So I just think it would adapt so so well and I want HBO to do it Going through a little bit of a they have like HBO discovery now and their new streaming service is gonna be called max So a mess like why are you gonna drop the iconic HBO?
01:21:59
Speaker
for the word max no one's gonna recognize max or anything a bay max from Disney and then just go get a Disney plus subscription like anyways yeah this is so much fun reminiscing with you guys yeah
01:22:19
Speaker
I was scared like I wasn't gonna have a lot to say about stuff that I had read so long ago but like the minute you start talking about it just unlocks so much. Yeah it all comes back. Do you guys have a specific memory of like where you were when you were reading these books like for me with Pretty Little Liars I would read them like I just remember like being in my room or like sitting on top we used to live in a two-story house growing up and I would just sit at the top of the stairs and like
01:22:43
Speaker
lay flat on my stomach. Oh, I can just like picture a little Kendra. Yeah. And I have also a very vivid memory of me doing that with the last Percy Jackson book. And I think like I was waiting for my mom to like take us somewhere. And I would just like kill time and like sit at the top of the stairs laying down and just read. So I don't know that I do for not for me. I just remember I feel like I read these in such a blur. And then I also read read them all the time. Because like I said, I had my Kindle. And so I would just reread and highlight everything.
01:23:13
Speaker
It wasn't a big re-reader. Once I was done with the Pretty Little Irish book, I'd put it away.
Evolving Book Tastes and Rereading Habits
01:23:19
Speaker
I wasn't a big reader. This is the only series that I really reread, obviously. Kind of same. I reread Twilight a lot, and I reread The Hunger Games a lot in middle school. But I can picture exactly the setup of my room to where my bed was in my room at the time that I was reading these. Because I remember I was always sleeping on the left side of my bed, and I had my bedside lamp on. And I would read them every night before I would go to bed. So I do remember exactly where I was. You guys are so cute. Look at us now.
01:23:48
Speaker
now we read like about girls getting railed and yeah pegging and yeah i will say i think you knew my my taste from childhood have probably and stayed the same as adulthood like i don't really been trying to fantasy that much i love a good contemporary story i don't pretty large was like mystery though and i don't read a lot of mystery thriller type books like i'm more strictly on the romance which is interesting so i should probably give more
01:24:15
Speaker
Thrillers of Mysteries, a chance I might like them, but I need them to have as much like of a romance subplot as Thrillers. Yeah. I feel like my tastes pretty much, I mean, other than I do read a lot more contemporary than I used to, because I pretty much read dystopian, which I think translates into fantasy now. I don't really think there's a lot of dystopian going on anymore, or if there is, I don't know about it. But I think that if you probably read a lot of dystopian when you were younger, you might
01:24:46
Speaker
probably now I'll be a fantasy goalie. Romantasy, especially. Romantasy, especially. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I usually have to have some romance in my books. And there was plenty of it in Divergence. Yeah, I think because I would be reading, I read a lot of mystery, thriller, apocalyptic stuff like that. But my favorite parts of those books were usually the romance, like the really small romance subplots that exist. So it makes sense to me now that I love romance, but I also still love fantasy.
01:25:16
Speaker
Yeah. Well, this is a fun. We'll see y'all next time. Tell us your favorite books from when you were younger. Like what unlocks these memories? Is it the same ones as us? Is it different? Tell us all about it on our Instagram. You can DM us. Check out our post about this episode. We are at Bring Your Own Pod. All right. See y'all next time. Good job, everybody. Yeah. Love you. Bye.