Podcast
Four Books a Fortnight
Hosted by Hannah Harlow and Sam Pfeifle · EN
Hannah Harlow and Sam Pfeifle, siblings and co-owners of the Book Shop of Beverly Farms, read four books every two weeks and tell you what they think! And we rate every single book with a sound effect. See which books get an explosion (this book is the bomb!) and which get a whoopie cushion (we would never!). Have a book you want our thoughts on? Hit us up at info@bookshopofbeverlyfarms.com.
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
EP15: Ruffling Feathers and Flying High
2w ago00:45:19Tap to summarizeThis episode we've got a lot of things on our minds! We open with a preamble that involves a little navel-gazing, which we hope you'll indulge. We know we are not always 100% on point, but that's sort of the point! Trust us that it's germane to the books we've read these past two weeks, including the absolute truth manifesto that Mac Barnett has released (see if you can figure out the sound effect Hannah chose here on first listen). Plus, we've got a few writers who absolutely CRANK, to different effects, including Dave Eggers, who delivers in a huge, huge way with his newest. We love him and this is maybe his best (or just one Sam likes the most? Does "best" ever mean anything different than that?). This fortnight, we read: "Make Believe," by Mac Barnett "Operation Bounce House," by Matt Dinniman "Seek the Traitor's Son," by Veronica Roth "Contrapposto," by Dave Eggers
Transcribe →EP14: Poetry for Your Next Road Trip
4w ago00:38:57Tap to summarizeThis episode we come to you live from the Newburyport Literary Festival, which is a truly kick-ass event. But, don't worry: It's still just us talking about four books! They just happen to come from authors speaking at the Fest — including two poets! Hey, it only took us 14 episodes to get a couple books of poetry on this thing. But we've got a couple of great novels, too — People are dying in John Irving ways! And winning awards in John Irving ways! — so we're not too far outside our norms. And you may notice that we're slightly more prepared than normal. This fortnight, we read: "Good Monster," by Diannelly Antigua "The Road to Tender Hearts," by Annie Hartnett "The Diaspora Sonnets," by Oliver de la Paz "The Award," by Matthew Pearl What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP13: Love Letters & Bad Guys
Apr 2300:41:57Tap to summarizeFolks, it's just all bangers this week, with four books we really enjoyed, all brand-new and ready to be given to your mom. We've got a love letter to Earth, a love letter to bad guys, a love letter to Brooklyn, and a love letter to Monica Lewinsky. And we loved the books. That doesn't happen all that often. The big revelation is that Hannah hasn't read Emily St. John Mandel; and, yes, we know that "Cloud Cuckoo Land" was not written by David Mitchell. We just went with it and assumed you understood that we were jumping right to "Cloud Atlas." This fortnight, we read: "Homebound," by Portia Elan "Villain," by Natalie Zina Walschots "Last Night in Brooklyn," by Xochitl Gonzales "Dear Monica Lewinsky," by Julia Langbein What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP12: Making Choices, Good and Bad
Apr 900:33:23Tap to summarizeWe open this week with a book that might not be for Sam, who is not a middle-aged woman, it turns out. Hannah is, but didn't really like it either. However, Hannah did love the trad-wife tale that is "Yesteryear," where 1855 isn't all it's cracked up to be. And Sam liked the new TC Boyle just as much — is there a better writer of people who make bad decisions. But then things finish up with a belly-flop. Oh well. Maybe Hannah should have read "Butter," instead. Also, there is a Sarah J. Maas discussion in this episode for no good reason. This fortnight, we read: "American Fantasy," by Emma Straub "Yesteryear," by Caro Claire Burke "No Way Home," by TC Boyle "Hooked," by Asako Yuzuki What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP11: Castles, Space, and Cigarettes ... no Slippers
Mar 2600:30:21Tap to summarizeIf you're going to do a retelling of Cinderella, you gotta include some slippers, right? Apparently not! Liberties have been taken. And that's just the start of an episode that takes you from Shakespeare's England to the International Space Station — with a quick stop at Joan Didion's NYC apartment for a smoke. Man, can she write. We have some thoughts on what makes her so good and why some of that energy is missing nowadays. Somehow, it hangs together better than you might think. This fortnight, we read: "Lady Tremaine," by Rachel Hochhauser "Hamnet," by Maggie O'Farrell "Blue Nights," by Joan Didion "Orbital," by Samantha Harvey What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out! Also, don't miss our treatise on not leaving reviews and make sure you follow the instructions.
Transcribe →EP10: Oh Chute! Everything's Falling
Mar 1200:33:38Tap to summarizeHow do you know we're not just trying to sell books with this pod? Well, we fire up with a Carolyn Chute novel that's ... out of print. That's some business savvy! But Sam claims she's the Faulkner of the north (an important Mainer!) and you should really find a copy if you can. And, not to worry, the rest of these books are widely available. We've trotted out the Alarm Clock sound effect again, too, which means one of these books is seriously important. This fortnight, we read: "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts," by Carolyn Chute "The Fountain," by Casey Scieszka "Leviathan Falls," by James SA Corey "London Falling," by Patrick Radden Keefe What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP9: The French and French Lick
Feb 2600:35:08Tap to summarizeThis episode includes, among other things, "the most French thing editor Chris could find on the Internet." Can you guess which book that might be for? If not, you better listen, because we've got four very different books, despite two of them being written by women named Rebecca. Maybe we should do an episode in the future where all the books are written by someone with the same first name! Or one where all of them are set in Ipswich, MA! Put a pin in that. Anyway, this fortnight, we read: "Murder Bimbo," by Rebecca Novack "The Memory of Babel," by Christelle Dabos "Family Drama," by Rebecca Fallon "Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird," by Keith O'Brien What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out! Oh, and if you're listening to this before March 10, 2026, you should come to the Beverly Farms Library and hear us chat with Keith O'Brien!
Transcribe →EP: Getting Bloody Smashing Machines
Feb 1200:41:25Tap to summarizeDo we sometimes read books because they have a hot-pink cover? We do. But we're glad we did! Kathy Acker is a crazy badass and her cult classic gets us started on a white-hot episode full of machine smashing and sea scraping. This is about as wide-ranging as an episode gets. This fortnight, we read: "Blood and Guts in High School," by Kathy Acker "The Infamous Gilberts," by Angela Tomaski "Against the Machine," by Paul Kingsnorth "Seascraper," by Benjamin Wood What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP7: No More Daemons
Jan 2900:36:05Tap to summarizeFiring up with some craft talk, we quickly dive into the final installment in Philip Pullman's Golden Compass universe, which is, well, sad. For lots of reasons. But also incredibly powerful and full of love. Oh, and we've got a couple less weighty things, too, including a comic book and time travel novel with some "funny torture." Oh, and some "Heated Rivalry" chit-chat. This fortnight, we read: "A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction," by Elizabeth McCracken "The Book of Dust: The Rose Field," by Philip Pullman "George Falls Through Time," by Ryan Collett "Physics for Cats," by Tom Gauld What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →EP6: Do you think that's funny?
Jan 1500:36:04Tap to summarizeWe've got some great variety this week, from a Japanese novel exploring the nature of comedy to literary fiction set in Bristol, England, that explores the boredom of being a housewife in a really beautiful way. Also, big kudos to Sam for banging out a 700-page brick in two weeks and to Hannah for reading a book about, like, British royalty, that she rated with a vacuum cleaner's whine. This fortnight, we read: "Spark," by Naoki Matayoshi "The Land in Winter," by Andrew Miller "The Will of the Many," by James Islington "The Heir Apparent," by Rebecca Armitage What sound effects did we give each of these books? You'll just have to listen and find out!
Transcribe →