Season 3, Episode 31: Deliciously Evil - The Best Fictional Villains
The Currently Reading Podcast
Meredith Schwartz
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 March 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:
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Bookish Moments: getting book mail and reading with a kiddo
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Current Reads: the COVID fairy and a book so in my wheelhouse I can't believe it exists
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Deep Dive: what makes a good villain in a book and which ones are the very best
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Book Presses: middle grade and one more amazing villain
As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!
New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans!
*Please note that all book titles linked below are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*
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Bookish Moments:
1:46 - A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer
2:06 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
3:23 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
3:57 - The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Current Reads:
4:59 - Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (Kaytee)
7:45 - Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell (Meredith)
10:49 - Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard (Kaytee)
16:23 - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May (Meredith)
21:35 - This Is My America by Kim Johnson (Kaytee)
21:43 - Dear Martin by Nic Stone
21:45 - Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
23:18 - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
24:42 - A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight (Meredith)
25:18 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live w/Kimberly McCreight
25:59 - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
26:00 - The Holdout by Graham Moore
Deep Dive - The Best and Worst Fictional Villans:
29:51 - Dexter in Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
31:05 - The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker
32:14 - The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
32:57 - Moriarty in The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
33:50 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
33:56 - A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
34:50 - Wicked by Gregory Maguire
35:39 - Lost Boy by Christina Henry
36:18 - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
36:20 - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
36:24 - The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
36:58 - Heartless by Marissa Meyer
37:00 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
37:16 - All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella's Stepmother by Danielle Teller
37:52 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (Umbridge's first appearance)
38:58 - Matilda by Roald Dahl
39:42 - Hannibal Lector in Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
40:04 - You by Caroline Kepnes
40:40 - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
41:06 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Books We Want to Press Into Your Hands:
42:05 - Bookend Homeschoolers podcast, especially episode 14
42:17 - Ghost by Jason Reynolds (Kaytee)
43:45 - East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Meredith)
Connect With Us:
Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram
Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram
Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram
Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram
@currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram
currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com
Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading Podcast. We are bookish best friends who |
| 0:15.3 | spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently and as you know |
| 0:19.4 | we won't shy away from having strong opinions so get ready. |
| 0:23.9 | We are light on the chit chat, having on the book talk and our descriptions will always |
| 0:27.4 | be spoiler free. We'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll |
| 0:31.7 | press books into your hands. I'm Meredith Munde Schwartz, a mom of four and full-time CEO, |
| 0:37.2 | Living in Austin, Texas, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I love a good villain in my novels. |
| 0:43.4 | And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four, living in New Mexico, and I'll read all the fantasy |
| 0:48.4 | novels I want. Thank you very much. This is episode number 31 of season three and we're so glad |
| 0:53.7 | you're here. It sounds like we're going to have some big bookish opinions in this episode. |
| 0:57.9 | I think we might, from our right-sized interest. Yeah, no, that's going to be good. All right, |
| 1:03.0 | so I'll let you know at the top of the show that our deep dive this week is about the best |
| 1:09.2 | fictional villains. Who are they? What makes a great villain? Do we like a villain? Do we not? |
| 1:17.2 | Do we kind of wish that they didn't exist because they're yucky and we don't want to think about it. |
| 1:20.9 | I'll let you guess how I feel about this later on in the show, but first let's get to our bookish |
| 1:27.5 | moments of the week. Katie, what have you got? My bookish moment this week, Meredith, came from you. |
| 1:33.2 | I got the mail yesterday and I got a book-shaped package from my Meredith and I don't think there's |
| 1:39.4 | anything that can come in the mail that makes me happier than a package shaped like a book. |
| 1:44.8 | Oh, seriously? Right? Absolutely, yes. So I opened a vow so bold and deadly yesterday and then |
| 1:50.8 | I immediately sat down on the couch and I was like, everybody go away, don't bother me. |
| 1:55.6 | I don't need any of you right now. It has a map in the front and this is part of a book train |
| 1:59.9 | from Kate Marshall to you, to me, to any number of bookish friends that want to read this third |
... |
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