Emily found Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad to be a missed opportunity, especially when compared to Madeline Miller’s Circe, while Michael was delighted by Yukiko Motoya’s unsettling and strange short stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder. They talk about the characters on the margins of great stories, what book to bring to the hospital, adaptating the classics, and what to do with novellas. Emily’s new baby (hooray!) makes a brief cameo.