Hi, we're Mariana, Emma and Brandi! This is your book club with a twist, and we are your happy hour girlfriends. Each month we’ll announce a new book and discuss a few chapters each week, while sipping on a curated cocktail. Check out our Instagram @AreTheseBooksDrunk to find out what our first book and cocktail pairing are, so that you can read along and sip along with us, 'cause it's always happy hour here! New episodes every Thursday.
Episodes
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
56 - Welcome back for another happy hour chatting away about The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson while sipping away on a Chicago Cocktail. We discuss the unfair treatment of women and moments in our lives when we've felt the sting of being treated differently because of our gender. In talking about the momentous meeting of the great minds, we talk about moments in our lives when we felt we were on the precipice of something great. And we puzzle over... what the heck is in a Women's Building?!
Deep Dive Recommendation: The Men Who Built America
Pages Discussed: 100-197 (Vanishing Point - The Cold-Blooded Fact)
Next Week: 198-298 (Acquiring Minnie - Claustrophobia)
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records & Nico Staf
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
55 - Come on in and join us for our first happy hour chatting about The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and our first happy hour without our dear Mariana who is officially on a maternity break. We drown our sorrows with a Behind Blue Eyes as we chat about the blue eyes of our two protagonists: Daniel H. Burnham, the ambitious visionary behind the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and H.H. Holmes, the devilish yet charming young doctor who simultaneously stalks Chicago for prey. We chat about our culture's fixation with murder and serial killers, architecture and favorite buildings, and the customized room we'd want in our homes a la Holmes' creepy customized basement.
Pages Discussed: 1-99 (Aboard the Olympic - The Landscape of Regret)
Next Week: 100-197 (Vanishing Point - The Cold-Blooded Fact)
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records & Nico Staf
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
54 - Join us for happy hour with very special guest Patricia Engel, author of Infinite Country! In Patricia's honor, we drink an Aguardiente Sour and a Piña Sour for soon-to-be-mama Mariana. We talk about the Colombian myths woven throughout the story and how Patricia's parents kept her Colombian culture alive despite her having grown up in New Jersey. We ask about her parent's immigration story and whether that was a jumping off point for this book. And our fabulous listener Irene wanted to know...what was behind the narrator shift towards the end of the book?
Patricia's Recommended Donation Resources: Raices Texas & Proyecto Union
Pages Discussed: All of 'em!
Next Week: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Pgs. 1-99 (To the end of the chapter entitled "The Landscape of Regret")
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions & Text Me Records
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove, Brandi Bravo & Special Guest Patricia Engel
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
53 - Welcome to our last happy hour chatting about The Midnight Library by Matt Haig! This week we're sipping on the Corpse Reviver #2 and an Alive Elixir for Mama Mariana. We chat about what is true for us right now in this moment in honor of Nora's I AM ALIVE statement, dive into the many sayings about time and how we relate, and Brandi recommends a piece of music featuring real whale sounds: And God Created Great Whales. And for the first time ever - we rate this book! Is it drunk after all? Listen and find out!
Deep Dive Suggestion: Fantastic Fungi
Pages Discussed: All of 'em!
Next Week: Bonus episode w/ author Patricia Engel of Infinite Country
Sept. 9th: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Pgs. 1-99 (To the end of chapter entitled "The Landscape of Regret")
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records & Nico Staf
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
52 - Get back over here for another happy hour chatting about The Midnight Library by Matt Haig! This week we're sipping on a (not furry) Schrodinger's Cat and a yummy Peaches and Cream for Mama Mariana. We talk about the idea that life only gives us what we can handle. In talking about the many lives of Nora Seed, we talk about the many lives we'd like to live and bucket list items we wanna check off in this life, and we play a fun little game guessing the lives we DIDN'T see Nora live. We also get a fascinating Deep Dive recommendation from our wonderful listener Evicka: NPR's Hidden Brain Podcast | Rewinding and Rewriting: The Alternate Universes In Our Heads.
Pages Discussed: 144-216 (End of chapter "The Many Lives of Nora Seed)
Next Week: We finish the book!
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Nico Staf & An Jone
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Aug 12, 2021
Thursday Aug 12, 2021
51 - Welcome back for cocktails and Part 2 of our chat on The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This week we're sipping on a Polar Bear, and a cute lil Teddy Bear for Mama Mariana. We talk about depression, as it seems to be a big struggle of Nora's. We chat about our personal definitions of success, relationships with dads, and....we get very (very!) silly about the Olympics.
Pages Discussed: 71-143 (End of chapter "Expectation")
Next Week: 144-216 (End of chapter "The Many Lives of Nora Seed)
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Nico Staf, Carmen Maria & Edu Espinal
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Aug 05, 2021
Thursday Aug 05, 2021
50 - Welcome back for our 50th episode (woot! woot!) and our first happy hour chatting about The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This week we're sipping on an appropriately green Death in the Afternoon, and an appropriately titled Birth in the Afternoon for our soon-to-be-mommy Mariana. We chat about regrets we wish we could go back and undo, alternate lives we'd like to explore if we got access to our own Midnight Libraries, and which day in particular we'd go back and relive if we could.
Pages Discussed: 1-70
Next Week: 71-143
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Nico Staf, Carmen Maria & Edu Espinal
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
49 - Join us for a bonus happy hour discussing Taylor Jenkins Reid's short story Evidence of the Affair while we sip away on a Love Letter...and an adorable non-alcoholic Pen Pal for Mami Mariana. We talk about the expectations that come with getting married, whether or not we've ever cheated, and we come up with some fun alternate endings: the final letter we would each tack on to the end of the story.
Chapters Discussed: All of 'em!
Next Week: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Pgs. 1-70)
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Nico Staf, Carmen Maria & Edu Espinal
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Jul 22, 2021
Thursday Jul 22, 2021
48 - Join us for one last happy hour chatting about Infinite Country by Patricia Engel while sipping on special guest host AnaMaria Correa Cardenas' (AKA Mariana's mom) favorite drink: a Tequila Reposado Neat. We get the skinny on AnaMaria's move to the United States from Colombia and her epic love story with husband Juan. We chat about apology letters we've thought about sending, moments when our parents let us go, whether we've ever thought about packing it all up and moving to a new place, and our new Deep Dive segment gives us a recommendation for a deeper look into Mauro's harrowing trek by foot across the border.
Chapters Discussed: All of 'em!
Next Week: Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri & AnaMaria Correa Cardenas
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Nico Staf, Carmen Maria & Edu Espinal
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
47 - It's time for another happy hour with your Book Club BFFs! This week we keep going with Infinite Country by Patricia Engel while sipping on yet another incredibly refreshing Bartender Riccardo Original: A Karina Kiwi. (Sub Ritual Zero Proof's Tequila for a yummy mocktail version!) We dig deep into generational traumas that may have impacted each of our families, where we each consider "home" to be, and the mantras and stories we tell ourselves in the present to make sense of the past or to help shape our futures.
Chapters Discussed: 16-24
Next Week: All of 'em!
Join us again for Happy Hour next Thursday, and follow us on Insta @AreTheseBooksDrunk for updates on our next episode & cocktail pairing so that you can read along and sip along with us!
Episode Credits
- Special Appearance: Riccardo Roggeri
- Music: Jimmy Fontanez, Media Right Productions, Text Me Records, Carmen Maria & Edu Espinal
- Logo and Art: Chad Hudson
- Hosts: Mariana Cardenas, Emma Orelove & Brandi Bravo