I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago,

join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen, wherever you get your podcast.

I have to say, I don't really care about spoilers and books. Oh, dude, I just completely disagree.

Really? Yeah, I just, it hasn't, I think because I review so much, I mean, I try not to, like, really

destroy the experience that a reader is going to have going into a book for the first time.

But, like, sometimes you just kind of have to say, like, oh, the baby dies on page 30.

And, like, you know, that's the animating energy of the novel thereafter.

Because otherwise, it's just so difficult to talk about.

From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is the Nerdat Book Club.

It's just like a regular book club, except you don't have to talk to anyone or read the book on time,

and sometimes the author even stops by.

Our February pick is Leave the World Behind by Ruman Alam. Here's how the story goes. Amanda and Clay,

a white couple, get an Airbnb on Long Island with their two kids to enjoy some time away from the city.

One night there's a knock at the door, and it's an older black couple. Ruth and G.H.

say they own the house and that a blackout happened in this city and ask if they can stay at the

house they own. That is what the book is about, but that's also not at all what it's about. I have

kind of been enjoying describing it as a quiet apocalypse story, and I can't wait to hear

from the author himself about it. Ruman, welcome to Nuredat. Well, thank you so much for having me.

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