Help! We're trapped inside this podcast and we can't get out! Just kidding, that didn't happen to us. It happened to our friend. Or did it...? This week, the squad attempts to untangle the complexities of Catriona Ward's latest novel, Looking Glass Sound. We spend a good chunk of the podcast nailing down the plot, but we also find time to discuss the merits of stories within stories, watery books, and, obviously, gay stuff. If you feel like you can explain any of this better than we did, please drop us a line at thesquad@booksquadgoals.com, and if you're not all Christmased out, check out Emily's 12 Days of Christmas Movies series on the blog! Stay tuned for our upcoming othersode on our favorite things of 2023 (1/9), and read Biography of X by Catherine Lacey to prep for our next bookpisode (1/23) which will also feature an interview with Emily Austin, author of Interesting Facts About Space. Happy (???) New Year!

TOC
:30 - Unhinged milk conversation
3:55 - Actual welcome & intro question
9:49 - Dog advice
11:30 - Goodreads summary (featuring a mistake)
14:25 - Remembering what happened in this book
16:55 - Establishing basic plot points
27:26 - When things start to spiral
36:40 - The “present” of the book
47:30 - Witchcraft?
51:02 - Stories within stories - do these work?
56:00 - Catriona Ward’s other books that we’re obsessed with
1:01:08 - Gay stuff!
1:06:30 - The setting and wet books
1:10:50 - Character specifics and humor
1:14:21 - Emily’s ONE critique
1:19:00 - Ratings
1:26:45 - Listener feedback
1:33:10 - What Emily wrote for the blog
1:40:00 - What’s next on the pod