Book Club with Julia and Victoria

Julia and Victoria share the final episode of Book Club discussing the Jane Austen novel about home (and the moral bankruptcy of the upper classes) that started their friendship: Mansfield Park.
Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
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Mentioned in this Episode:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Simple Girl: The Improbable Solace of “Mansfield Park” by Anna Keesey (Los Angeles Review of Books) 

What Should I Read Next? “Episode 451 Digging into Nikki May’s delicious Mansfield Park reimagining”

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Recommendations:
Emma by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Middlemarch by George Eliot

This Motherless Land by Nikki May

Currently Obsessed:
Overcompensating (TV show)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

Good Hang with Amy Pohler

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Ted Lasso (TV show)

Content warning: this episode includes discussions of suicide and homophobia.

Julia and Victoria reminisce about their 20s comparing the novel Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park, translated by Anton Hur, and its recent TV adaptation. It involves a lot of pointing out red flags and crying about friendship.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (book)
117 Beyond the Story by BTS & Kang Myeong-seok — A Memoir or an Official Wiki?
Love in the Big City (TV show)
Love in the Big City (film)
The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta by Sang Young Park
Boys Love Boys Love (podcast)
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, English translation by Anton Hur
Anton Hur interview with Booker International Prize
True to You: A Therapist's Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself by Dr. Kathleen Smith
Film Club with Julia & Victoria
127 The Pairing by Casey McQuiston — Who Is the Elf?
V&O: Sea Change by Gina Chung — Loneliness & Adaptation

Recommendations:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
To My Star 2 (film)
The Wedding Banquet (2025 film)
Funny Girl by Nick Hornby
Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu
Sea Change by Gina Chung
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Currently Obsessed:
Taskmaster (season 19)
The Last of Us (season 2)
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Slow Horses (TV show)
Green Frog by Gina Chung
Las Culturistas (podcast)

Julia and Victoria try to find the line between history and fantasy in The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. They use their incredible communication skills to meet in the middle of their opposing opinions.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Become a Member! Shop with us onBookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria onThe StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Circe by Madeline Miller
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
“The Fires of Pompeii” - Doctor Who, Season 4, Episode 2
“In The Poppy War Series, R.F. Kuang Asks: 'What If Mao Was A Teenage Girl?'” by Alan Yu (NPR)
Victoria’s favorite reddit review of Poppy War
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Recommendations:
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Shanghai 1937 by Peter Harmson
Comfort Women by Yoshimi Yoshiaki
The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang
The Burning God by R. F. Kuang
Babel by R. F. Kuang
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Currently Obsessed:
SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver (album)
Hacks, Season 4 (TV show)
Deli Boys (TV show)
The Pitt (TV show)
True to You: A Therapist’s Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself by Dr. Kathleen Smith
Cat and Bird by Kyoko Mori

The Book Club takes a big bite of all the genres and references in Casey McQuiston’s fourth romance novel, The Pairing. Julia invents a new branch of theory entirely based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Victoria calculates her Saturn Return.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this Episode:
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
124 One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — Spec-Fic-Rom WooLaWoo (Book Club with Julia & Victoria)
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
085 Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Book Club with Julia & Victoria)
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Pushing boundaries, breaking norms, and the ADHD brain (Casey McQuiston's story) (ADHD Aha! podcast)
Casey McQuiston: Celebrating queer love and joy and navigating the future of romance (Bookends podcast)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Roman Holiday (1953)
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkein
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein
Recommendations:
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
A Room With a View (1985 film)
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Moonlight Chicken (tv series)
Only Friends (tv series)
Novels by Jasmine Guillory
I’ll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow
Currently Obsessed:
Heaven’s Official Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Love in the Big City (tv show)

Julia and Victoria marvel over the masterful point of view shifts and scream about the ending of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Victoria buys some lemonade.

Views expressed on Book Club with Julia and Victoria and bookclubwithjv.com are solely those of the hosts and not necessarily those of their employers, clients, guests, and collaborators. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that give us a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Become a Member! Shop with us on Bookshop.org! Follow the podcast on Instagram and hang out with Victoria on The StoryGraph.

Mentioned in this episode:
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - Book 1 and Season 1
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Book and Movie
Our Flag Means Death
The Divergent series by Veronica Roth
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Tamsyn Muir interview with Three Crows magazine
Recommendations:
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Babel by R. F. Kuang
The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Yellowjackets (TV show)
Currently Obsessed:
Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout