It's podcast vacation time and we are participating in silent viewing time! In this in between books week we are talking about the 1921 silent file The Kid by none other than Charlie Chaplin. This movie with both a smile and a tear follows a found family of a man and a boy who are doing their best to make it work when they don't have two pennies to rub together. It is a great time and a fun conversation, so join us to hear all our thoughts on this slapstick classic!

Other works discussed this episode:

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

The Book Series by a TERF

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

And how did we then face the odds, of man's rude slapstick, yes, and God's? By making a three part podcast series about it. We are sending off Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut with one last episode, examining the themes and relating them to the context to see if this book is still any good! Are any of the themes still relevant? Are the messages worth heeding? Is the most mediocre Vonnegut still really good? Tune in to hear our thoughts!

Other works discussed this episode:

All Fours by Miranda July

"The Last Book I Loved: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick and the Shifting of Cultural Values" by Lily Houston Smith

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

Part 2 of our series on Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut is here, which means Sydney is teaching us all about the life and times of Kurt! Kurt had an interesting and at times difficult life that shaped him into the author and humorist that we all know, and unpacking that history will put into perspective what Vonnegut called his most autobiographical book. Was he also born to a wealthy but distant family? Did the loss of a sister bring his world crashing down? Did he ever serve as the President of the United States? Listen to find out, because the answer may surprise you!

Other works discussed this episode:

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

Well it certainly took long enough, but the wait is over! We are officially covering our first book by Kurt Vonnegut and outing ourselves as... Vonnegonians? Vonnegutions? Enjoyers of Kurt Vonnegut. This is part one of our series on Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut. This part will have Sydney talking us through the plot, explaining what happens in the book, and pointing out some of the moments that will be important when it comes time to analyze the themes of the book! So join us for a nice, relaxing discussion on a wholesome book that has only a little bit of incest in it!

Other works discussed this episode:

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (and the rest of the Hunger Games series)

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

Finally, our long awaited and much requested (by Samuel) movie episode! In this interlude episode we will be discussing the 2018 adaptation (or perhaps re-imagining?) of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Starring Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon, this movie deals with the same themes as the novel of the same name, plus a little extra about the internet and surveillance! Is it better than the book? Does the plot make any sense? Is there such a thing as too many Michaels for one movie? Tune in to find out!

Other works discussed this episode:

Cowboy Carter by Beyonce

Sinners (2025)

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

It is our final episode in the Fahrenheit 451 series and we still have more to say! This classic novella has become culturally synonymous with book banning, but what does it actually have to say on the subject? After hearing the plot in Part 1 and the context in Part 2, can we understand the message this book has for the reader? Does it deserve to be heralded as a staple of classic literature? Are any of its takes relevant for the modern day, or better yet are any of them even good?? Find out all this and more in this episode, then come back next week to hear us talk about the book's 2018 movie adaptation!

Other works discussed this episode:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

We Both Laughed in Pleasure by Lou Sullivan

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!

On this episode of The Satire Fire, Sydney and Samuel continue their Fahrenheit 451 series with the history of Ray Bradbury and the context of the time when he wrote the book! Samuel talks us through a brief biography about Bradbury before going in depth about his beliefs and opinions on the world. What was his philosophy? Did he even have one? And what's up with all his weird definitions of the term "minority"? Find out all that and more this week! Haven't read Fahrenheit 451? Maybe go back and listen to Part 1 to get caught up! Then come back next week to hear our final analysis, review, and ranking of this classic book!

Other books discussed in this episode:

Weyward by Emilia Hart

The Sirens by Emilia Hart

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

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Samuel is back with a brand new book, and this one also has numbers in the title! This is the start of our series on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, an undeniable classic and cornerstone of the dystopian satire genre. But is it really all it's cracked up to be? Does it even really make any sense? In this first part Samuel will be taking us through the plot of the book and pointing out some of the parts that work and some of the parts that maybe don't. We have a lot of feelings about this book, and will have even more next week when we discuss the history of the book and Ray Bradbury himself!

Other works discussed this episode:

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Penance by Eliza Clark

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Want to support our podcast and a local bookstore? Check out our page on Bookshop.org to pick up any book we cover on the show, or our personal favorites!