Just In Case We Die

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It is February 2026. This means that this is the first episode of the fourth season. It also means that Rebecca has a pre-arranged prior commitment and cannot join the cast for their bonus discussion.

While the cat’s away . . .

This seemed like a perfect opportunity to bring Rodney’s friend Joe Tavano, former sci-fi podcaster and self-avowed expert on all things J. R. R. Tolkien, in for a discussion about two books that Rodney and Aaron knew that Rebecca would vehemently veto. Those books are The Hobbit and all three volu...

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The final episode of the third season features one of the world’s most successful writers. The author of novels, short story collections, works of nonfiction, children’s books, and comics, Margaret Atwood has been topping bestseller lists and wowing prize jury judges for more than six decades. Few Canadian writers have enjoyed the success that she has made seem easy.

This discussion is an interesting one. Aaron is already a fan of Margaret Atwood. Neither Rodney or Rebecca have read her before. All three enjoyed this novel, but all of them...

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If there is one thing that everyone here at Just In Case We Die can agree on, it’s this: Haruki Murakami is one of the greatest contemporary storytellers. Japan’s best-selling novelist, Haruki Murakami has made an international name for himself with thought-provoking, meaningful narratives that explore loneliness and the nature of love within the warm, surreal embrace of magical realism. He is the author of fifteen novels, five story collections, and five works of varied non-fiction– and that’s just a catalog of the work that has been translated into English!

Thi...

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This month’s book up for discussion involves one of the strangest novels to ever be featured on Just In Case We Die. It’s a crass, vulgar, and irreverent  commentary on American media wrapped up in a misguided and confounding allegory written by an Australian author who somehow managed to beat Booker Prize-stalwart Margaret Atwood for Britain’s most distinguished literary prize.

Confusion aside, this is a really good novel that made the cast laugh, think, and shake their baffled heads. How did this novel manage to woo the judge panel o...

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Remember last December when the crew at Just In Case We Die celebrated the holidays and National Read A New Book Month by combining both into one gift-giving effort? Well, they decided to do that same thing again (even if two of them still haven’t finished the books they were given last year).

Classic titles, obscure titles, novels by authors who have been mentioned repeatedly on the show, and one cast member tricked into reading a wholly new genre. Six new books up for discussion.

Happy holidays!

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André Brink’s A Dry White Season is a great example of the sort of novel Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca are describing when they classify a book as “essential.”

First published in 1979, this thought-provoking story recounts the journey of a white Afrikaaner as he transforms from a passive observer into an active challenger of injustice. Emphasizing the necessity of taking action against oppression, this novel explores the complicity of white privilege, moral awakening, and the personal costs associated with resistance.

Framed as a deceptively simple legal thriller, this is not a n...

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All three cast members of Just In Case We Die are acknowledging that their accumulation of books has gotten out of control. The to-be-read piles get increasingly more problematic. This is not a problem that appears to be remedying itself in the near future.

Consider:

1) Next month, each cast member will be given two books by their co-hosts.

2) Every month for the next year, they’ll be reading one book from the list for discussion.

3) Each of them will, more than likely, receive many books fo...

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It's Aaron's turn to handpick a book from the list, and he selected Italo Calvino's 1979 post-modern masterpiece. This novel is one that he has admired for more than a quarter century. In fact, he's been trying to foist it on Rebecca seemingly ad nauseum since 2001.

The real reason he picked it, though, is because he wants Rodney to gain a greater appreciation of post-modernism, and there are college courses that consider If On A Winter's Night A Traveler a core text for academic study. Rebecca and Aaron have placed a friendly...

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When it turned out that maybe Aaron and Rodney might be able to convince Rebecca that not all science-fiction was a waste of her time, Aaron recommended Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. It was a gamble, to be sure, because this is a Science Fiction novel (note the capital S and F). Space exploration? Alien race first contact? Scientific calamity that might bring on the apocalypse? Check, check, and check.

Guess what? It took two years and a well-crafted trailer for the upcoming film adaptation, but Rebecca has finally read it...

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Pär Lagerkvist, the recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Literature, was not a writer that had ever been in the to-be-read piles of any of this podcast’s participants. All three of them, though, were affected by this novel’s message. This short 1950 novel takes a character briefly mentioned in the Holy Bible, expounds on his story, and prompts a discussion that starts with one opinion and ends with a change in perspective. How can such a slight little volume have such a profound effect on people who don’t consider themselves religio...

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All three members of the cast are in different locations this month, so our bonus discussion might seem a little lackluster.

There are, though, three excellent reasons to give this one a listen:

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It would stand to reason that a writer that has led an interesting life could write an interesting novel.

Unless you’re E. M. Forster.

If you’re him, you would lead an interesting life and then write a real clunker about despicable people doing deplorable things. You might posit that you’ve written a work filled to the brim with themes that your prose would never adequately explore.

None of which will matter when you eventually write A Passage To India.

Yeah, we didn’t care f...

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What happens when we die? Do we exist in an ethereal plane that cannot be perceived by human conscience? Are we forced to spend eternity as the background characters in another person's dreams? Do we have to exist eternally seeing ourselves from the perspectives of those who knew us when we were alive? Will we get to meet Mary Shelley?

All of these possibilities-- and quite a few more-- are posited in neuroscientist David Eagleman's delightful (and short) book of stories. Rodney discovered this book as part of another discussion club...

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In 1967, Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn edited his new novel down from 96 chapters to 87 chapters in the hopes that a censored version would be more palatable to Soviet publishers. It was not.

In 1968, he was able to successfully get the novel published in Europe. It was, however, the shortened 87-chapter version.

In 1978, the full unedited version was finally published in Russia. A full English translation would not land in America until 2009.

In 2025, seeing that In The First Circle was a lengthy Russian novel about military prisons in WWII...

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In Champaign, Illinois– the city that serves as the home base for this podcast– there is a man named Mike Trippiedi. He is an award-winning filmmaker, an accomplished stage actor and director, and the author of three novels. He also happens to be someone that Aaron has known for most of his life.

Mike’s new novel is called Abraham Lincoln’s Traveling Medicine Show. It’s a very entertaining revision of the assassination of our nation’s 16th President, as well as the ensuing aftermath. Aaron really enjoyed this novel and wanted t...

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It's June! This means that we discuss a book hand-selected from the list by Rebecca.

The last time she did this, she selected The Book of Illusions, a novel she had never read that was written by a novelist she admires. She took a wholly different approach this time: couple the desire to read a writer she had never experienced before with the realization that we almost never read books by women. The end result was Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. Considered one of the classic "Los Angeles novels"...

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It’s summertime!

That means beautiful weather, afternoons at the pool, and maybe some time to relax and catch up on our ever-growing TBR piles. It also means, however, that things are going to get chaotic around here– prepping for trips to Alaska, summer camp with the kids, schoolwork, jobs. Before the three of us get bogged down in real life, we decided to throw ourselves a backyard patio BBQ . . . and invite some of our favorite writers.

Each of us invited three writers to the shindig– one living, one dead, and on...

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The first movie released in the DVD format was the 1996 disaster film Twister.

Bullfrogs never sleep.

The nation of China is credited with the invention of ice cream.

Africa is the only continent with land in all four hemispheres.

Queen guitarist Brian May holds a PhD in astrophysics.

Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca are going to remember these five random bits of trivia before they ever remember anything about The Expedition of Humphry Clinker.

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Remember last year when we decided to celebrate National Short Story Month by discussing six short stories hand-selected by the cast? Well, we had so much fun last year that we decided to do it again!

This year, Rodney actually chooses a short story instead of a novella, Rebecca reveals an interesting way to select material for our show, and Aaron must endure insulting words about one of his favorite writers. Also– and probably most importantly– Aaron and Rodney are once again vindicated when Rebecca is impressed by one of their favo...

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So what happened was this . . . At the end of the episode on “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo, the random number generator gave us #355. The book corresponding to this number was “Emma” by Jane Austen. Rebecca ixnayed that itshay quicker than quick, but she then had to use the random number generator to pick a tome from her veto list. The redraw gave us A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers’ powerful 2000 memoir about caring for his younger brother after the death of his parents.

This book is hard to categorize. The Pulitz...

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Did you know that there is a library in Oslo doing quite possibly the coolest literary event that we have ever read about? Too bad none of us will be alive to experience it!

It's National Library Week, and the cast here at Just In Case We Die are celebrating with some reminiscing about our favorite memories of the library. They talk about Aaron's mother and what she is doing for the library in a small town with a population of 500 people. We discuss some fun facts about libraries, librarians, and...

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A nameless narrator commits a murder. As a result, he must traverse an absurdist landscape of two-dimensional buildings, bumbling police officers, and philosophical meanderings about bicycles. What percentage of one man can become a bicycle before he ceases to be more man than bicycle? 

Born in 1911, Irish novelist and playwright Brian O'Nolan made a name for himself in the metafiction movement of the 1940s under the pseudonym of Flann O'Brien. The Third Policeman, a novel that never found a publisher until after the author's death in 1966, is truly one of the s...

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On Saturday, February 22, 2025, Rodney and Aaron spent a rather brisk winter day wandering around the town of Rockford for an annual event called The Independent Bookstore Crawl. It's like a bar crawl with books. There was also comics, though. And vinyl. There was lunch at a local burger joint. We bought battered paperbacks of Robert Heinlein, fantasy novels written by a Rockford native, and a lot of coffee. They met a very interesting woman who seemed to live and breathe charity for her community. They talked with strangers about their favorite writers from...

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Victor Hugo's epic novel of the French revolution is inarguably a classic. Originally published in 1862, it has endured and rightfully been considered one of the greatest novels of all time. It's long, though-- clocking in at 1,662 pages in one version we found-- and tangential, which causes a good amount of trouble for Aaron. Rodney and Rebecca are quick to defend Les Miserables, however, and will go to any lengths to prove him wrong, even if Rebecca has to break his brain.

Can Aaron get through this episode without bursting into song...

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This week’s episode is a milestone for us, as it is the first episode of our third season. Our very first episode premiered in February of 2023. Here we are– two full years later– with a larger cast, more monthly content, and a decent-sized dent in our list of 1,316 novels. Fun fact: we are actually only 1.6% of the way through the curated list. At our current rate of one novel per month, we should be finished with the list in just over 107 years. Only 105 years left to go!

Our bonus episode this m...

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T. C. Boyle has written nineteen novels. He is the celebrated author of more than 150 short stories. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award and been shortlisted for the National Book Award. He is Aaron's favorite living novelist, and has been since 1998.

In "Drop City", Boyle does what he does best-- biting satire, sympathetic villains, remarkable sense of place-- in a saga about a 1970s hippie commune picking up their California roots and heading north to Alaska. Will Rodney and Rebecca enjoy this book as much as Aaron does? 

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Some of the greatest movies ever made started out as novels. A vast majority of contemporary stage plays started their life as a book. Written prose have proven to be a wellspring of inspiration for television shows. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo's 1862 epic masterpiece and our selection for discussion in February, by itself has been fodder for comic books, stage plays, television miniseries, feature films, and animated cartoons.

This month, our bonus discussion centers around adaptations. We discuss some of our favorites. We discuss how an adaptation, good or bad, can change...

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The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Klaus? No one here has ever heard of it. No one here has ever even heard of the author. This book was approached with a high degree of trepidation.

As it would turn out, this novel was one of the more thought-provoking works to ever be explored on this podcast. By turns amusing and disturbing, Hugo Klaus’s meandering and emotional examination of a childhood spent in Nazi-occupied Belgium is just as confounding as it is enjoyable– all fodder for an in-depth discussion.

This...

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It's Christmas time!

But it's also National Read A New Book Month!

Which do we celebrate? It seems strange to make a big deal out of reading new books since the majority of novels the random number generator assigns are new to at least one member of the cast. "New books" are, basically, what they do here every month. 

Rodney was inspired to combine Christmas and National Read A New Book Month into one very unique gift exchange. Each member of the cast came to the table w...

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The book for November provides a great opportunity for listeners to engage with the cast. They are urging someone out there to read this book and then email them to explain why they believe that this book should be on a list of books that are essential novels to read before we die. 

Remembering Babylon, the Booker Prize-winning novel by Australian "master" David Malouf, is, ultimately, nothing more than a book that the cast of Just In Case We Die read because they had to. Be warned if you are a f...

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The bonus material this month has its genesis in the book discussion from last month. You may recall that Rodney and Rebecca were less than pleased with the ending of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, citing it as abrupt and implausible. Does the ending ruin an otherwise great book?

This month, the discussion centers around the art of the ending. Are there really great books ruined by a terrible final chapter? Are some endings too abrupt? What writers, for the cast of Just In Case We Die...

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This novel-- Mark Haddon's emotional depiction of a teenager with Asperger's Syndrome-- meant a lot to Aaron when he first read it back in 2007. He selected it for his choice off of the list because he thought that Rebecca would have a personal attachment to it and he wanted Rodney to appreciate a post-modern novel that wasn't as complicated as The Recognitions. The end result of this experiment to cater to everyone's tastes? One of the best books they've read so far sullied by a flat and lifeless ending.

Can a...

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It’s October!

All three cast members of Just In Case We Die are in agreement that autumn is the best time of the year. It’s not just because of the cool temperatures or the pumpkin spice. It’s not just because of the beautiful changes in scenery as the leaves and foliage change color before winter. Fall is also their favorite season of the year because that’s the best time to break out the dusty books of scary stories!

This month, the bonus discussion centers around horror...

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The temptation to accurately depict the general consensus on this (apparently) "essential" "novel" by leaving this space wordless and blank is almost overwhelming. That would be poor form, though. This is a website and it must have content. 

Novels should have content, too, though.

We're talking to you, Colette!

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For the bonus material this month, the crew at Just In Case We Die takes a deep dive into the life and works of beloved children's author Roald Dahl. Listeners may know him as the mastermind behind such classic works as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. Would they also realize that he also penned a good amount of racy work for adults? Do listeners know that he was also a decorated fighter pilot, one of the forefathers of the pro-vaccination movement, and the inventor of medical equipment...

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In 1898, William Heinemann published H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds in novel form for the very first time. In the 126 years that have passed since, this novel has never been out of print. It has been adapted into movies, television shows, radio productions, comic books, and musicals. It has also been the base inspiration for multitudes of other well-known science-fiction projects. Is The War of the Worlds the most famous science-fiction novel of all time? Does this novel actually fit into the genre? Why is H. G. Wells a wizard?

...

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The final day of August has been declared as We Love Memoirs Day. The gang here at Just In Case We Die has no idea how that holiday should be celebrated, but it did give them a good topic for this month’s bonus episode.

This month, the discussion centers around memoirs. What is a memoir? What makes for a good one? Are there specific memoirs that might be recommended? What happens when Oprah Winfrey discovers that your memoir is actually a bunch of crap that you made up for fame? Sa...

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Rodney: Meh.
Rebecca: Blech.
Aaron: OHMIGERD! OHMIGERD!

Yeah. That pretty well sums up the direction this week’s discussion goes.

In 1997, Peter Carey, perhaps Australia’s most important contemporary novelist, presented a pastiche of Charles Dickens with this enigmatic examination of inspiration. The cast of Just In Case We Die has never been more divided.

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This month, the crew here at Just In Case We Die took an opportunity to discuss a genre that doesn’t normally come up on a podcast that discusses fine works of literature: “trashy” summer beach reads. You know, the books that only take you a couple of days to read and are utterly forgettable? The books you might not admit to loving in conversation with your college literature professor friends?

This month’s discussion is a lively one, with time devoted to childhood favorites, the differences between two of the bestsell...

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This month’s selection was hand-picked from the curated list by Rebecca. She selected this novel because she is an ardent admirer of this author’s work and this work was one that she had not personally read. Her selection– The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster– proved to be an excellent choice. Not only did everyone involved here at Just In Case We Die really enjoy this book, but it is the first selection in our uploading history to have garnered feedback from our audience before the discussion episode dropped.

What mak...