This week we chat with Jonathan Edward Durham, a very popular Instagrammer who calls himself a generalized anxiety wunderkind and speaks with wit about what it’s like to live in 2026. Carrie had been following him for awhile when she learned he had published a book called Winterset Hollow, which she read in 2024. The novel is about friends who set off on a pilgrimage to the estate of an author who wrote a beloved childhood story, but when they arrive, they find that the animals from the story aren’t as sweet and dear as they thought. The childhood dream of being immersed in the story becomes a nightmare.
For our book recommendation segment of the show, we are talking witches. It is Halloween season after all and witches always lend themselves to some good spooky reading. But you can also enjoy a witchy read that isn’t scary at all. We have a fun mix.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham
2- Invasive Species by Ellery Adams
3- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
4- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
5- The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus
6- Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
7- Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
8- Five by Ilona Bannister
9- A Five Star Read by Fellow Book Lover Erin W. - Tressing Motions at the End of Mistakes: Poems by Imane Boukaila
10- Cackle by Rachel Harrison
11- The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo
12- The Witch's Guide to Magical Inn-keeping by Sangu Mandanna
13- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
13- The Highland Witch by Susan Fletcher
14- Weyward by Emilia Hart
15- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
16- The Fertile Earth and the Ordered Cosmos by M. Elizabeth Weiser
17- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
18- Hive Mind by Alison Gunn
Media Mentioned in This Episode
1- Widow's Bay (Apple +, 2026)
2- East of Eden (Netflix, 2026)
3- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
4- Historic Whitehall Bookclub - https://www.historicwhitehall.org/whitehall-book-club
5- Lonesome Dove (1989)