Hey everyone, welcome to the bookpile, a podcast about the best of books and the worst of books.

Merry Christmas.

And if you're hearing it later, then I'll just say, hey, doesn't it seem like Christmas is coming fast this year?

Sort of an evergreen statement that applies to about eight months out of each year.

Anyway, today's episode is a reissue of an episode that Dave and I did last year,

2022, on a Christmas Carol.

It's like I'm the ghost of Christmas past haunting you with a podcast.

If you haven't heard this one yet, you should.

It's a lot of fun.

And if you already have,

and this time around,

make it an eggnog drinking game

and take a swig every time

that Dave barely laughs at a great joke of mine.

I know I often tease him about it,

but this might be his quintessential whisper laugh episode.

It's like he's saying bah humbug to all my punchlines.

In the history of this podcast, I think I've been the most disappointed in his lack of reaction to my ad-libbed Forrest Gump joke quote in this episode.

And just so we're even, I can also make fun of myself on this one because, you know,

every once in a while I will re-record a line or two of mine in post,

like when I'm editing after a recording session with Dave,

especially if I've like slurred a word or something.

...