Wipersnappers and Fireworks | Relaxed Reflections Before Sleep

In Lawns, Whippersnappers, and Fireworks, Oh My!, Marco and Amanda ease into a gently meandering conversation that begins with yard work and drifts into sparkling memories. The rhythmic whir of lawnmowers and the curious term “whippersnapper” set a playful tone before the discussion glides toward childhood recollections of sparklers and memorable fireworks displays. What starts as talk of trimming grass slowly blossoms into reflections on summer nights, neighbourhood sounds, and the quiet anticipation before a sky lights up.
As always, this calming podcast unfolds at an unhurried pace, offering a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. The topics remain light and familiar, making this episode perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up. There’s no booming finale here — just steady voices, soft humour, and warm seasonal memories to guide you gently toward rest.

​Whipersnappers and Fireworks
(Original airdate: July 3m 2024)

The Insomnia Project is the best podcast when your tooth is sore

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation about the ordinary, mundane Things in life. Thank you for joining us. I'm, your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:  I'm right beside him, Amanda Barker.

Marco:  And we're on the squeaky table today.

Amanda:  Yeah, there it is.

Marco:  There it is. A little bit of squeak. You might hear some, vroom, vrooms, vroom, vrooms in the background because we're up north. But we are back on the air. We haven't been on for a couple of weeks.

Amanda:  Listen, we've been riding the waves of life these last few weeks. I was a little bit sick by a little bit. Quite a bit sick last weekend. But that has come and gone, thankfully. And, yeah, there's a few reasons. But, we're happy to be back here with you. Yeah.

Marco:  And if you're feeling under the weather, just know that we're here for you. With many episodes that you can check out in our catalog of the Insomnia Project. Thank you for joining us.

Amanda:  If you need a calm listen for your tum tum or your. Or your nose nose or your headache

Marco:  or whatever, or sore foot, sore tooth, you name it.

Amanda:  Sore tooth. We're the sore tooth. The best podcast when your tooth is sore. Sore.

Marco:  The Sore Tooth podcast, if you will.


I wanted to talk about cutting grass. Cutting grass is relaxing, right

so I wanted to talk about cutting grass. Cutting grass. Because I had to come.

Amanda:  That's not a euphemism.

Marco:  No, I don't know what that.

Amanda:  I don't know what the euphemism would be for cutting. Cutting grass.

Marco:  So I know that mow another person's grass means to pick up their. Their partner, their spouse, or their boyfriend or girlfriend. Yeah, we used to say, I'm not

Amanda:  gonna mow another person's lawn. Not grass.

Marco:  Okay, lawn grass, same thing.

Amanda:  I don't know. People have different lawns. my uncle used to say, m. Grass for weed. I think people back in the 70s used to say that.

Marco:  Yes. Yes.

Amanda:  Oh, that's a nice eye roll.

Marco:  Well, I mean, I don't know if our listeners want to hear that.

Amanda:  Well, they're probably thinking that because everyone had an uncle in the 70s that smoked some grass.

Marco:  Okay. Well, I was actually mowing the lawn. Cutting grass.

Amanda:  Tell us.

Marco:  So, I have a particular way that I like to cut the grass.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  And that is much like when I vacuum, I like to have really straight, nice lines back and forth. So for me, that's pretty important. So I like to really be on it. But the. The grass here is quite, uneven, so it becomes tricky, and there's all kinds of twigs and branches I have to pick up Before. And sometimes I run over them with a lawnmower and it makes a terrible sound and it's not great for the lawnmower, so I try to be diligent with that. It's not easy to cut the grass here.

Amanda:  No, it isn't. Do you like a lawn that looks stripy? Like, you can tell it was just cut and you can see the stripes where the. Yeah, I prefer lawn mower went.

Marco:  Yeah, I prefer that.

Amanda:  Really?

Marco:  Yeah, I like that kind of look because it. I just know that it's even. And so I try to do that. Like, I won't necessarily do the entire length of the lawn that needs to be cut. I might do it in chunks.

Marco:  But I. I prefer that striped look.

Amanda:  Wow, interesting. Now, did you enjoy that as a chore growing up?

Marco:  Not really, no.

Amanda:  Did you have to do it?

Marco:  I did. I did mow the lawn when I was a kid, but I used to hate using the Whippersnapper and we.

Amanda:  Can you tell me more about that? Because I'm not sure if I know what a Whippersnapper is.

Marco:  a weed whacker.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  I think a Whippersnapper is a different. There was an older gentleman that used to call it a whippersnapper who used to cut the grass in this area. And so he would say, I, use my whipper snapper. And so it made me laugh. And so I started to call it a whipper snapper as well.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  Anyway, so this Whippersnapper was pretty amazing because it's on a battery and it's very light.

Amanda:  The one you grew up with?

Marco:  No, no, the one I grew up with was weighed more than me. It was like bench pressing every time I had to use it. So this one here is light as a feather. And because it's stiff as a board. It was. It wasn't stiff as a board, but it was light and easy to use and quite fun because I've never used a whippersnapper quite like this before. And I could go into all the little nooks and crannies that I needed to get to, so.

Amanda:  And you snap the whip.

Marco:  I snapped that whip and I cut those weeds down. And you know, it was really great, I have to say.

Amanda:  Do you find it relaxing?

Marco:  Oh, that's a good question. I don't know if I find it. You know what? I enjoy looking at it once it's done. And let me tell you, the weeds were high up here. So before I even mowed the lawn, I went with the whippersnapper. All across the lawn to trim it down a bit. And then I mowed the lawn. Yeah. It was a lot of work. Fortunately, it was a cool day. It wasn't so hot. The sun wasn't out, so it was actually quite temperate to do that. And that's the best time for me, to be, mowing the grass.


Did you ever have to mow grass? Yeah. I hated mowing. No matter what I did, it was never a good enough job

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  Did you ever have to mow grass?

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  Oh, you did a lot.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  That's why I Don't tell me about your mowing the grass experience.

Amanda:  I hated mowing. No matter what I did, it was never a good enough job.


Did you have a tractor when you moved to Canada from Massachusetts

Marco:  Did you have a tractor when we moved to Canada?

Amanda:  We did.

Marco:  Okay. That's what I thought, because you had a lot of land, right?

Amanda:  Yeah. But in Massachusetts, we. We had a yard, that was not dissimilar to what we have here.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And, that was a push mower, for sure. so that's the one that I used to get tasked with in Canada. We had a ride one, but my dad seemed to do that. I don't actually remember. I don't think I ever once got on that. As soon as I could get out of mowing the lawn, I made sure I did. I would take on other chores. If it was between mowing the lawn and doing pretty much anything else. I would do the. Anything else. I'm not sure why. I don't like.

Marco:  That's fireworks. In case you're wondering what the rat tat tat behind us is, that's fireworks. Because it is Canada Day weekend. So, people. Yeah. Today's Canada Day. So I don't know why right now, when the.

Amanda:  Why people are celebrating their Canadian heritage.

Marco:  Can't see anything at this moment.

Amanda:  No. I don't know why it's. I know it's brightly and sunny out there, so I don't know why you fire off fireworks in the sun.

Marco:  But where's the best place you've ever seen fireworks?

Amanda:  Boston.

Marco:  Oh, really?

Amanda:  Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Marco:  Oh, tell me about it.

Amanda:  Yeah. Or was it Boston? I'm trying to remember. No, it was Plymouth.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  right in the bay there. Oh, they're fantastic. They are obviously a big display of American, patriotism.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  And I remember we had. I went with my voice teacher, lived there, who was friends with my mom, and so we went to see her and all her friends, and she had this friend, this woman who got really into Fourth of July.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And she would dress. She dressed as the Statue of Liberty. She painted her face. She had the torch. She put on a head Thing.

Marco:  And not in a parade, not in an ironic way, just to go to the fireworks.

Amanda:  She dressed okay to go to the fireworks. And it was like Maureen's crazy friend. I don't remember who this woman was. And she was like, all right, is everybody ready? And then we walked down to the bay.

Marco:  Was your mother not embarrassed to be around?

Amanda:  No, she was excited.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And, because my mom liked the fireworks and we went down and I just remember what a wonderful and fun time it was. And I was of an age where it left an impression. But beyond that, I had a summer where I lived in Monaco.

Marco:  Oh.

Amanda:  And the fireworks in Monaco were incredible.

Marco:  Really?

Amanda:  Yeah. And I, I think I've talked about them on this program before. but I'll say it again because it's been a. It's been a minute, as the kids say.

Marco:  I don't think they say that anymore.

Amanda:  Someone says it. People in Los Angeles seem to say it a lot. They also say, I'm not mad at that a lot.

Marco:  Oh, when they like something.

Amanda:  Yeah, I hear it on TV a lot. I'm not mad at that. Like, when did we start saying that anyway?

Marco:  Monaco.

Amanda:  All I could think of was Whipper snapper.

Marco:  That's where my brain is. Listen, that'd be a great name for a firework. The Whip. Now we're gonna lay up the Whippersnapper.

Amanda:  but anyway, yeah, Monaco would. They did one of those things where they'd have a festival of fireworks. And every. I think it was Tuesday night they would. Or Wednesday night they'd have fireworks every. And because it's a small bay where they would light them, all the car alarms would go off.

Marco:  Oh, wow.

Amanda:  Yeah.


Both of these firework displays were set to music

So you'd get sort of a sideshow of all the car alarms going off. and they were incredible. And both, both of these firework displays were set to music. So to me, it's really incredible when you can time the fireworks to the music. So those are mine.

Marco:  I've never been the biggest fan of fireworks. They've never done anything for me. But you and I were in Disney World once.

Marco:  And we stayed behind. I think we had a pass that allowed us to stay later or something. And so we were like, we're going to watch the grand fireworks. And this particular firework display, they also had things floating like little, what would you call them? Like floats? Like.

Amanda:  So the one you're talking about now is Epcot Center. The, the fireworks at Epcot Fireworks. Those are, those are very specific fireworks.

Marco:  So fireworks at Epcot Center. I Say, Disney World for all of them?

Amanda:  Well, because we've seen them in the Magic Kingdom, too. That's why I wanted to be clear on what fireworks you were talking about.

Marco:  And this one here, they would have these, like, animated floats in the water floating by.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  And the thing I remember was one of the floats didn't operate.

Amanda:  Oh, really?

Marco:  Remember, it was stuck. It was frozen. So it wasn't moving in a mechanical way. It was just like. We're just, like, watching. I'm like, well, it's supposed to do something. And then someone from who worked there was like, yeah, this one's not working right now.

Amanda:  Yeah, I do remember that. They're a little bit of a letdown.

Marco:  yeah. But the fireworks themselves were very impressive because they were like, you know, the beautiful ones that shimmer as they float down those.

Amanda:  The best fireworks you've ever seen?

Marco:  I think so, yeah.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  Or I should say, do you remember Toronto had this thing that was sponsored by, if you can believe it, cigarette companies, and it was called the Festival of Lights?

Amanda:  I think I do, because the company I work for sponsored it. The year that cigarette companies were no longer able to sponsor it, then the company I worked for sponsored it, and I was their mascot. So I went to the press conference saying that we were the new sponsor.

Marco:  And do you remember what it was called? Was it called Festival of Lights?

Amanda:  I think so. It was Festival Fest. I think it was the light. I think it was Festival of Lights.

Marco:  Let's just assume it was called Festival of Lights. And what they would do is they would light up. Sure. They would. They would have different countries compete, and they would put on this firework display, and they would also have it lit to music. So they would pipe in music, and every country would have, like, music from. From their land and. Or from their composers and songwriters and whatnot. And it was fantastic to see because the fireworks were lit to the music and would go off at certain moments in the music. And, you know, there's those, you know, Battle of 1812 type overtures and stuff. I don't think that's what it's called. But, you know, those. Those overtures that are really dramatic and the fireworks would go.

Amanda:  But absolutely, I say, I'm looking it up now, and it just wants to tell me. Sorry, it just wants to tell me about cigarettes.

Marco:  Okay. we do not recommend smoking cigarettes or smoking them around fireworks.

Amanda:  but that's what they did in Monaco as well. It was the same thing. And so when I moved to Toronto, I went down to the fireworks Because I knew about them because we were sponsoring them. So I knew it was a big deal to go down and see them again once a week, every week. Right?

Marco:  Yeah. The fireworks. For me, here's why I don't love fireworks. After a while it's the same thing

Amanda:  if they're not well done.

Marco:  But even so, it's like, okay, crack a green one, crack a red one.

Amanda:  Okay, okay.

Marco:  You know, a silvery one. And then it's the same thing over and over again. I Don't like the noise either.

Amanda:  Of fireworks.

Marco:  Yeah, it can be kind of loud.

Amanda:  I believe that fireworks are best and should be kept only to people who are licensed to put on a display like the ones you and I are talking about. What I don't love are average people who think fireworks are a great plan for their backyard. Well, as long not a fan.

Marco:  Well, listen, if they're careful and they do it properly, that's fair. But I'm still not a fan of it. I think fireworks should be seen and not heard. But, back to my Whippersnapping.

Amanda:  Yeah, I don't know how we got it.


Whippersnapper would be a great name for a firework

Whippersnapper would be a great name for a firework. Did we say that?

Marco:  Yeah, we did say that. Okay. Amanda's attention span. Amanda was at the beach all day.

Amanda:  I was. I have beach brain right now.

Marco:  So.

Amanda:  I was also thinking it would be a great name for a dachshund Whippersnapper. Oh yeah, that would be right. Hey, Whippersnapper.

Marco:  Not so much. Not so great for a nickname for a.

Amanda:  Wait, did you say dash hound or dachshund?

Marco:  So I say sausage dog. No, I say. I say dachshund, I think.

Amanda:  But it's dachshund. Right?

Marco:  Is how you pronounce M. I guess it's German.

Amanda:  but viper snipper.

Marco:  The funny thing about Whippersnapper is you don't have to pick up after the whipper snapper. But with the lawnmower. I had the lawnmower bag in and it got full quick. And so I had to take the bag of cut lawn grass clippings, if you will, and put them in a, What do you call those bags that you.

Amanda:  A yard waste bag.

Marco:  Yard waste bag.

Amanda:  Don't you. With the lawn, doesn't it leave like a trail of grass cuttings and you have to rake it? That was the part I hated.

Marco:  Not if you have the bag attached. It goes into the bag, but the

Amanda:  bag fills up and you have to

Marco:  empty the bag and it's heavy and Sometimes grass is a little bit moist and so it makes it even heavier. So I did all that. I whipper, snappered, cut the grass and now it looks fantastic. Yeah, and picking up those branches was not fun.

Amanda:  I can't imagine.


I was nominated to take the three children down to the beach this weekend

Marco:  So tell me what your beach day was like.

Amanda:  Well, was it with a lot of snappery? but I was nominated to be the one to take the three children down to the beach. so it was our niece Mia, her good friend Adele, who's a year younger. So Mia is, Well, we don't need to get into this. But anyway, the preacher young, they're, they're, they're not quite teens, so they're in that age. And then our, our nine year old nephew. so it was two shrieking girls and one pretty crafty nine year old.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  they don't like the beach closest to here because it's all rocks and they don't travel light. These kids. They, they want a wagon filled with things.

Marco:  Now the rocks are soft rocks and they're only on the beach, not in the water once you get in a certain point.

Amanda:  What does soft rocks mean? They definitely feel hard on a foot.

Marco:  Sorry. Smooth rocks. They're not like.

Amanda:  I was like, what's a soft rock?

Marco:  Sorry, Soft rock.

Amanda:  Ignatius rock. I, mean, they're hard enough when you're stepping on them.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  so they didn't want to go on the rocky beach. They wanted a sandy beach. So they're like, there's this trail, the Silver Birch trail. And I was like, that's far, guys. But I was like, this wasn't my beach plan, it was yours. So you tell me where you want to go. I am but your servant, children. So they had this plan to go the Silver Birch. And to be fair, adele, the, 11 year old decided she was going to pull the wagon. She's a very sturdy 11 year old and she was ready to pull it. So she pulled the wagon and pulled it all the way down to the beach. And then I finally said, give it to me, let me do it. So I did it and I found a place next to some people that were having a lovely time and blasting some music, which I don't always love, but I kind of felt it today. Sure. And I was like, oh, bonus, we get soundtrack. It was very busy.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  Very busy because it was really cold this weekend and today it wasn't. It was nice. So everybody was there. so it's quite crowded. But I was between music, music, 30 somethings. So music hipsters and then a bunch of maybe 60 somethings.

Marco:  Okay. So there was a great cross section

Amanda:  of pages and I thought these are good people to sit next to to on either side. So the kids had boogie boards.

Marco:  Oh, okay.

Amanda:  the girls did. So they wanted to go on the boogie board. So I let them do their thing. It's a very shallow beach and it can be shallow for a long time. So it can look like kids are going very far out. But I told them the rule was you have to be able to touch the bottom.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  That was my rule.

Marco:  That's a good rule.

Amanda:  Yeah. And of course they'd be like, I'm on my tippy tipping goes. I'm like, fine, that's fine. But you have to be able to touch the bottom only because you have sort of three levels of swimming with these kids.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  but once the girls had the boogie boards, I wasn't as concerned because they, I knew they had a flotation device that was connected to their wrist.

Marco:  And where were you?

Amanda:  I was with a nine year old in the water. Yes. He wanted to go as deep as he could and I said, okay, that's fine, you lead the way. Which I don't think he gets told that a lot. So he was like, okay. And then it got a little bit daunting for him and cold. So then he would grab my. When he, when he got a little scared, he grabbed my hand. Okay. And then he kind of grabbed both of his hands on mine and then kicked his. Used his arm strength to like pull himself up and he was laughing. so we went pretty far. And then he decided he wanted to build some sand castles. And that's suited me just fine because I have this book that I'm reading.


Do you enjoy reading on the beach? Yeah, who doesn't

So.

Marco:  Do you enjoy reading on the beach?

Amanda:  Yeah, who doesn't? It's the best. Reading on the beach is the best.

Marco:  If you were to pick your three ideal places to read, one would be

Amanda:  the beach, one would be a hammock, and one would be anywhere I can lounge with a fan blowing on me.

Marco:  Oh really?

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  So you could, you could do two of those. You could do hammock on the beach.

Marco:  Or hammock with a fan.

Amanda:  That's true.

Marco:  Which of those two would you, would

Amanda:  you pick or beach with a fan?

Marco:  Could you do beach? Oh, I guess you could do like,

Amanda:  I mean the wind, the, the gentle breezes are the fan really fair. So you could probably do all three if you wanted to. which do I. What were you gonna ask me?

Marco:  Which of Those options. Would you prefer beach on a Hammock or Hammock with. With a fan?

Amanda:  I don't. I like them all.


You're reading a ridiculous book right now. Tell us about it

Okay, so I'm reading a ridiculous book right now.

Marco:  Tell us about it.

Amanda:  Should I say the name of it?

Marco:  Of course. Our listeners love to know what you're reading.

Amanda:  I say it's ridiculous because I don't mean to disparage, A, the writer or B, any of the people who are fans of this writer, of which I think there are many. I actually don't remember the name of the writer, but the book is called the Selection, and it's sort of Hunger Games meets the Bachelor meets Bridgerton.

Marco:  Okay. Now, when you first started reading it, you weren't so impressed.

Amanda:  You were like, no, it's a young adult fiction, so I'm not. I am neither young nor really an adult. Am I allowed to laugh at that?

Marco:  Sure. But I mean, how did this book get selected for you?

Amanda:  So the selection was selected by Laura, who's in my book club, who said that she wasn't reading anymore. And everyone in my book club kind of. It became a thing where people weren't reading the books. They picked the books, and then they wouldn't read them or one person would or whatever. That's, fine by me. It doesn't matter to me. I'll always read them.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  So. And I like having a book club because I am going to read things that I would never, ever pick up. And this book is definitely an example of that.

Marco:  And you've read things that our listeners have suggested, suggested, too.

Amanda:  Absolutely. And incorporated them actually into that book club.

Marco:  Oh, I didn't realize that.

Amanda:  Yeah. For example, Remarkably Bright Creatures was my book, last year. And that was. That was my book club pick. And that was straight from.

Marco:  And did your book club like that book?

Amanda:  They loved it.

Marco:  Oh, great.

Amanda:  Yeah. great.


So Amanda was reading this book, the Selection. What made the flip for this young adult book for you

Marco:  So Amanda was reading this book, the Selection. I don't know who the author is.

Amanda:  Also, the. The COVID makes me embarrassed because I look like an idiot reading this. It's just not. I. I don't even watch the Bachelor. So it's just like. And I don't judge anyone who does.

Marco:  Right.

Amanda:  Any kind of guilty pleasure. But it's like, I don't know.

Marco:  Describe the COVID It's a young girl

Amanda:  in a gown looking mysterious. I mean, it looks ridiculous.

Marco:  So Amanda's reading this book, and I would check in with her, and she wasn't enjoying it. Wasn't enjoying it. Then there was a tipping point. And you're like, I'm really enjoying Now

Amanda:  I can't wait to get back to it. So there you go.

Marco:  What made the flip for this young adult book for you?

Amanda:  They've done the selection part. Now she has to go and compete for the prince's love. Like, that's what this is. Okay. Yeah.

Marco:  Who do you hope she gets?

Amanda:  Well, there's only one. The Bachelor. So it's like the prince is the bachelor princess.

Marco:  The Bachelor. And you have all these people.

Amanda:  Hunger Games because she has to go for her family to compete because her family doesn't have any m. Food. So basically what happened was Laura, in my book club, she. She had said to her husband, I'm just not reading and I want to make it my New Year's resolution to read. And he said, I don't think you're reading because I don't think you like any of the books that your book club is selection. You know, because we're doing. We tend to do a lot of, heady books, award winning books.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  and that, you know, if I. If something has won an award, I'm more likely to read it. If something is, you know, from an established author, I'm more likely to read it. And so he, looked up all the things she likes. Oh, and said, what? M. You know, my wife likes Bridgerton, the Hunger Games, the Bachelor, the Bachelor, and God knows what else. And came up with this series of books and said, this is recommended. You should like these. And he bought it for her.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And then she read it. And then another girl, and she loved it. And so she's like, this is my book. Read it or don't. But this is what I. Because I want to read for pleasure.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  Again. And so then another girl who wasn't at that book club meeting said, hey, Laura, do you want to explain your selection to me? Because I wasn't there for that. And I. I'm dying to know why you picked that book.

Marco:  That's just a transcend driving by, just in case you're wondering.

Amanda:  And so Laura's like, I know, I'm sorry. To which Jean said, oh, no, I've read it cover to cover. I loved it. So here's, that it's become like a guilty pleasure book. So. And now I'm really enjoying it. I mean, I would have never in a million years have bought it. I would have never picked it. Even out of a free library, I wouldn't have picked it.

Marco:  That's the beauty of books.

Amanda:  Right? But it's a book club book, so I made myself read it and Now I'm completely invested.

Marco:  Do you remember the name of the author? In case anybody.

Amanda:  I have it over there, I can go get it or I can look it up on my Goodreads.

Marco:  I will say this. I don't know if we've mentioned this on the podcast before, but a good friend of ours was having a very special birthday and she had said that now that her kids are grown, she wants to go back into reading books because she didn't. There was a time period where she used to read quite a bit and then she stopped reading and she's like, this year I'm going to make it my mission to read books. And so we asked her, we said, what type of books do you like? And our good friend, her name is Nadine, said she likes, mystery books and Agatha Christie type books. Or what's that guy, James Patterson? Is it him or is it the

Amanda:  other Patterson and John Grisham?

Marco:  John Grisham types of books. So Amanda and I, they were having this big birthday. We went to a used bookstore and we bought her in that genre, 12 books of various authors, various years that took place and we gift wrapped each one and wrote a month on it. And then on her birthday we gave her the stack of books, one per month in the genre.

Marco:  That she enjoys. And she doesn't know what the books are. She just opens up the month and reads the book from that month.


The Year of Magical Thinking has 80,000 reviews on Goodreads

Amanda:  Okay. So the author of the selection and then it says in brackets the selection number one. So I think the name of the series is the selection. And this is the first book of the series, is Kira Cass, that's who the, the author. And it has, it has four stars out of five on Goodreads, which is not easy to do, friends.

Marco:  So really?

Amanda:  Yeah, that means a lot of. And a lot of people. Oh my goodness, it is 80,000 reviews on Goodreads. So like people are reading this book.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  I mean, and I'm one of those people and I'm not, I mean I, I'm not ashamed. It's just not. Wouldn't have been my norm, that's for sure.

Marco:  I remember I picked up Joan Didion's book A. M. Year of Magical Thinking.

Amanda:  The Year of Magical Thinking. Yeah.

Marco:  And I thought it was a self help kind of book, an encouragement book. I don't know, I thought it was that and it's not. It's actually quite a sad book. But it was so wonderfully written and yes, once again, it's not a. If you were to tell me what the book was about. Prior to me picking it up, I probably wouldn't have read it. But I picked it up and I read it, and I so enjoyed it, that. That I want to read more of her books, actually.


Amanda wants to read all 75 Agatha Christie novels

But now, and I'm going to end on this, Amanda, I, and our listeners know that I love a library. I want to read Agatha Christie's book books in the order in which they were published.

Amanda:  How many books is that?

Marco:  I think she wrote 22.

Amanda:  Oh, that's it.

Marco:  Oh, maybe more. But I want. I don't know if I'll enjoy them, and maybe I'll only read one, but, you know, Agatha Christie is always named and, you know, people love her, and all these movies are being made and the Mouse Trap this and Death in Venice that. Right. And I'm kind of like, I want to read these books and see if I'll enjoy the books. And most of them, or a lot of them, I believe, have been made into movies. So I want to read the book and then see the movie. I watched that one that was filmed with Kenneth Branagh playing Poirot or Poirot, and, I thought it was a little bit. Meh. I don't know. He didn't do it for me. That particular.

Amanda:  What was that Murder?

Marco:  on the Orient Express. We saw it at the movies, I think. Yeah.

Amanda:  So. So are you ready? She's written 75 novels. Okay. Including 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.

Marco:  Well, good.

Amanda:  I should. Are you gonna read all 75?

Marco:  I'm gonna. I'm. I'm not gonna write it in stone, but I will endeavor to read. Or I'm gonna read the first one and I'll see how I feel. I'm. I'm the type of person, unlike Amanda. Amanda, if she committed to this, would read all.

Amanda:  I would read all 75. If it. I would have to find the ones out of print. I would go crazy, and I would do it, but I would make myself crazy doing it.

Marco:  Unlike me, who could read three chapters and say, I'm done, and never go back.

Amanda:  you could have the lofty goal and then go, that's all I needed.

Marco:  It's true. That's how we're different. Anyways, that's also where we're gonna leave you today. So I hope you're dreaming with whippersnappers in the background and the soft sounds of fireworks at this point. Until next time, we hope you enjoyed this episode of the Insomnia Project. Please tell a friend to listen if you think they would enjoy this podcast or give us a five star review. Wherever you listen to this podcast until next time, we hope you were able to listen and sleep.