The Worst Bestsellers

Writer Kait and librarian Renata read bestselling books in an attempt to understand their appeal and, barring that, to become the Crow and Servo of the book world. New episodes every other Monday. Visit WorstBestsellers.com for our readers advisory booklists and other fun stuff.


All Episodes

Episode 248 – The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Hot Evelyn Summer comes to a bewildering conclusion with The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. We were joined by writer and standup comedian Laura Merli (@passiveabrasive)...

Episode 247 – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Don’t cry because Flashback Summer is over; smile because Hot Evelyn Summer is beginning! Returning bisexual icon Margaret H. Willison (1/3 of Two Bossy Dames, don’t check the math)...

Episode 246 – Stacey and the Bad Girls

Hold on to your sock wine, because we’re ending this year’s Flashback Summer with a real rager! We were joined by Courtney Summers, author of I’m The Girl and...

Episode 245 – Alanna: The First Adventure

By popular demand, we took Flashback Summer to the land of Tortall. Rebecca Kim Wells, author of Briar Girls and other great queer fantasy books, joined us to discuss...

Episode 244 – Stonewords

We were digging through some boxes in our totally not-haunted attic and found Stonewords by Pam Conrad. It seemed like a chill Flashback Summer vibe, so we had our...

Episode 243 – No Coins Please

Flashback summer, eh? Ann Foster of Vulgar History joined us to read No Coins, Please, an early work by the venerable Canadian author Gordon Korman. Listen to this episode...

Episode 242 – The Discovery

It’s Morphin’ Time! We’re kicking off Flashback Summer Animal Style. We returned to the world of the Animorphs by reading the three books in the iconic David Saga–The Discovery...

Episode 241 – Open Book

We continue Celebrity Memoir May with another wronged woman of the early 00s, Ms. Jessica Simpson. Annie Cardi, author of Red, joined us in righteous indignation on behalf of...

Episode 240 – Troublemaker

  Unlike Scientology, Celebrity Memoir May is inescapable. Known Suppressive Person, librarian, and author Angie Manfredi (@MissKubelik) joined us to discuss Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini.

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