Book Club: 'Members Only'

Nerdette Recaps With Peter Sagal

WBEZ

Tv & Film, Books, Self, Improvement, Pop, Tv, Wbez, Culture, Technology, Society & Culture, Nerds, Nerd, Nerdette

4.6 • 924 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2020

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to the Nerdette Book Club! Each month, we read a book and chat about it with a rotating group of panelists. This month’s pick is Sameer Pandya’s debut novel Members Only.

It takes place over the course of one very intense week in the life of Raj, a middle-aged Indian-American anthropology professor. When he’s asked to help his tennis club interview potential new members, he’s thrilled by the opportunity to help diversify his tennis partners. But he makes a huge gaffe in front of a Black family, and the rest of his week gets worse from there.

Listen along as Nerdette host Greta Johnsen discusses the book with Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World, and author Alisha Rai, whose Modern Love series is part of an upswell in romance novels with strong female characters and feminist sensibilities.

And then get ready for next month’s pick: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still
0:06.1	watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,
0:12.7	soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,
0:18.0	Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.
0:25.7	Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.
0:28.3	Listen wherever you get your podcast.
0:37.2	From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson and you are listening to the Nerdette Book Club. It's just like a
0:38.3	normal book club except you don't have to share your snacks. This month, we are talking about Samir
0:43.8	Pandya's members only. There's a spoiler-free interview with Samir in the feed. So if you haven't
0:49.3	read the book yet and you are a spoiler-averse human, that episode is a great place to start. If you haven't read the book
0:56.4	and you're like, I love spoilers. They're the best. Then you are totally in the right place because
1:01.1	we are going to unpack it all. I am so excited about our guests this month. Here to talk about
1:08.4	the book, we have Jade Chang, author of the delightful
1:11.9	Life's Gone Wrongs. Let's Hit the Road novel The Wings v. The World. Hey, Jade. Hi. Thanks for
1:17.4	having me. I wish I'd thought to bring snacks, though. I should have told you to bring snacks. Next time,
1:22.6	next time. We also have Alicia Rye, who writes romance novels with substance. Most recently, The Right Swipe and Girl Gone Viral.
1:29.6	Alicia, hey.
1:30.7	Hey, how's it going?
1:31.7	Thank you so much for me as well.
1:33.3	Oh, my gosh.
1:34.0	I am so excited to have both of you.
1:35.4	You're some of my favorites.
	...

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