Dose of Books

Jae and Celeste

Dose of Books with Jae & Celeste is a cosy book podcast for readers who love honest reviews, lively banter, and finding their next great read.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: Hard to Swallow, Harder to Forget (Ep.11 with special guest Jamie)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 Our first ever guest, Celeste's brother Jamie, joins us for Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, a brutal western about a teenage runaway, a gang of scalp hunters and the unforgettable Judge Holden. ⚠️ Jamie had some trouble with his audio setup, so his sound quality drops a little from the synopsis segment. Thanks for bearing with us! ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro (00:09:51) Synopsis (00:25:41) Discussion (00:50:42) Analysis and theories (01:12:53) DOSAGE rating (01:17:30) More discussion (01:26:05) Fan casting (01:32:53) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ This episode has no separate spoiler section. From the synopsis onward, we cover the book from beginning to end. We'd suggest reading it before you listen, but the ending isn't the kind of twist that will ruin the book for you. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyThe Road by Cormac McCarthyNo Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthySaltblood by Francesca De ToresEarthlings by Sayaka MurataI Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan EllisonCursed Bunny by Bora Chung 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: Hard to Swallow, Harder to Forget (Ep.11 with special guest Jamie)
  2. Sep 18

    Last Days by Adam Nevill: The Cult Horror Gateway Drug (Ep.10)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 A broke documentary maker is paid a fortune to film the paranormal legend of the Temple of the Last Days, a cult that ended in a massacre in the Arizona desert in 1975. As he interviews the survivors across London, France and Arizona, the shoot starts recording things that shouldn't be there, and the horror follows him home. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro (00:07:20) First impressions (00:17:15) Spoiler-free discussion (00:34:41) SPOILER ZONE - the plot (00:51:18) SPOILER ZONE - the discussion (01:07:57) DOSAGE rating (01:13:02) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for Last Days by Adam Nevill run [34:41]–[1:07:57]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "DOSAGE rating" chapter above to hear our ratings. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyLast Days by Adam NevillEndless Night by Richard LaymonTender Is the Flesh by Agustina BazterricaEarthlings by Sayaka MurataI'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    Last Days by Adam Nevill: The Cult Horror Gateway Drug (Ep.10)
  3. Sep 11 ·  Bonus

    Jae's Top 5 Fantasy Books/Series of All Time (Special Ep)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 Celeste has been unwell this week and this week is a Special Episode where Jae talks about his favourite genre: Fantasy! ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:10) Honourable mention - Harry Potter (00:04:01) Top 5 - The Stormlight Archive (00:07:09) Top 4 - Piranesi (00:10:38) Top 3 - Mistborn trilogy (00:14:35) Top 2 - The Realm of the Elderlings (00:19:29) Top 1 - The Name of the Wind (00:24:27) Outro 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Harry Potter series by J. K. RowlingThe Stormlight Archive series by Brandon SandersonPiranesi by Susanna ClarkeMistborn series by Brandon SandersonThe Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin HobbThe Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    Jae's Top 5 Fantasy Books/Series of All Time (Special Ep)
  4. Sep 4

    The Divorce by Freida McFadden: Does It Live Up to The Housemaid? (Ep.9)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 Naomi Roth's husband changes the locks, empties their accounts, and moves in a woman twenty years younger. Naomi starts watching her — and doesn't stop when she should. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro (00:10:41) Happy Father's Day (00:17:57) Spoiler zone - the plot (00:38:47) Spoiler zone - the discussion (01:07:01) DOSAGE rating (01:09:19) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for The Divorce by Freida McFadden run [17:57]–[1:07:01]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "DOSAGE rating" chapter above to hear our ratings. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​The Divorce by Freida McFaddenThe Housemaid series by Freida McFaddenEarthlings by Sayaka MurataNever Lie by Freida McFaddenBlood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyHouse of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    The Divorce by Freida McFadden: Does It Live Up to The Housemaid? (Ep.9)
  5. Aug 28

    Earthlings by Sayaka Murata: It Gets Weirder and Weirder (Ep.8)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 Natsuki is eleven and believes she's a magician from the planet Popinpobopia. Her cousin Yuu believes he's an alien. It sounds like a story about childhood magic — and then it isn't. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:03:13) Content warning & first impression (00:09:50) Spoiler-free discussion (00:19:41) Spoiler discussion (00:57:12) Spoiler-free again (01:04:20) DOSAGE rating (01:13:02) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for Earthlings by Sayaka Murata run [19:41]–[57:12]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "Spoiler-free again" chapter above to rejoin us. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Earthlings by Sayaka MurataGolden Son by Pierce BrownThe Great Hunt by Robert JordanConvenience Store Woman by Sayaka MurataTender Is the Flesh by Agustina BazterricaLoner by Teddy WayneThe Divorce by Freida McFaddenThe Housemaid by Freida McFadden 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    Earthlings by Sayaka Murata: It Gets Weirder and Weirder (Ep.8)
  6. Aug 21

    Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica: When Euphemism Becomes Anaesthetic (Ep.7)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 We read Agustina Bazterrica's Tender Is the Flesh, a dystopia where animal meat becomes toxic and society quietly reorganises around eating people instead. This one's about euphemism, complicity, and how fast the unthinkable becomes routine. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:06:02) About the author (00:11:39) Content warning & spoiler-free discussion (00:40:17) Spoiler discussion (01:07:19) Spoiler-free again & DOSAGE rating (01:16:26) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━Spoilers for Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica run [40:17]–[1:07:19]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "Spoiler-free again" chapter above to rejoin us. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica​Someone Came Knocking by Anne Hilton-Bruce​Earthlings by Sayaka Murata 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

    Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica: When Euphemism Becomes Anaesthetic (Ep.7)
  7. Aug 14

    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: The Book, The Movie, and the Science (Ep.6)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 This week's dose is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: a man wakes with amnesia on a one-way mission to Tau Ceti, discovers an organism is consuming the sun, and has decades at most to find out why one star is somehow immune. It's an extinction-level premise that turns out to be one of the warmest, funniest books either of us has read. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:21:48) About the author (00:26:49) Spoiler-free discussion (00:39:00) Spoiler discussion (01:27:26) DOSAGE rating & outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ A NOTE ON SPOILERS: Project Hail Mary keeps a major character offstage for the first third of the book, and their arrival is a genuine surprise. The film's trailer gave it away well before release, so we treat it as public — but if you've avoided the marketing and haven't read it yet, be aware we discuss this character throughout, even from [1:27:26] onwards. Read first if you can. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir​The Martian by Andy Weir​Elantris by Brandon Sanderson​Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica​The Vegetarian by Han Kang​The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠⁠​And Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

  8. Aug 7

    Endless Night by Richard Laymon: A Lethal Dose of Splatterpunk (Ep.5)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 This week we're taking on Endless Night by Richard Laymon: a fast, savage splatterpunk novel about a teenage girl surviving a massacre and being hunted across one endless night — and it's my (Jae's) very first taste of the genre! ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:12:05) About the author & trend in horror novels (00:20:56) Spoiler-free discussion (00:48:08) eBooks vs. physical books (00:58:35) Spoiler discussion (01:31:01) Spoiler-free again & DOSAGE rating (01:39:20) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for Endless Night by Richard Laymon run [58:35]–[1:13:01]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "Spoiler-free again" chapter above to rejoin us. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Endless Night by Richard LaymonThe Cellar by Richard LaymonThe Woods Are Dark by Richard LaymonElantris by Brandon SandersonMistborn series by Brandon SandersonIT by Stephen KingTender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica​Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher TrianaProject Hail Mary by Andy Weir 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode and preview Shorts on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doseofbookswithjc​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

  9. Jul 31

    The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith: Generic Label, Brand-Name Author (Ep.4)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 This week's dose is The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith's London detective novel following battered war-veteran PI Cormoran Strike as he reinvestigates a supermodel's death that everyone else has written off as suicide — and this whole episode is spoiler-free. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:17:57) About Robert Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling) (00:31:57) The Cuckoo's Calling discussion (01:13:25) Brief Harry Potter discussion (01:18:35) DOSAGE rating (01:20:13) Outro 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith​Endless Night by Richard Laymon​The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden​The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu​The Martian by Andy Weir​Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir​Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer​Neuromancer by William Gibson​I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison​Hyperion by Dan Simmons​Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card​Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling​A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin​Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb​Loner by Teddy Wayne 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

  10. Jul 17

    Loner by Teddy Wayne: A Delightfully Cringey Descent (Ep.3)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 A deep-dive review of Teddy Wayne's Loner, following a lonely Harvard freshman whose fixation on a classmate slowly pulls him somewhere darker, as Jae and Celeste unpack the novel's uncomfortable payoff and what it reveals about loneliness, entitlement, and perspective. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Intro & reading updates (00:17:02) Spoiler-free discussion (00:30:29) Spoiler discussion starts (01:13:06) Spoiler-free again & DOSAGE rating (01:18:45) Outro ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for Loner by Teddy Wayne run [30:29]–[1:13:06]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "Spoiler-free again" chapter above to rejoin us. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​Loner by Teddy Wayne​Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana​Last Days by Adam Nevill​The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers​Endless Night by Richard Laymon​Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine​Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey​Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda​Golden Son by Pierce Brown​The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin​The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith​You series by Caroline Kepnes 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks⁠⁠​Also on Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dose-of-books/id6787073960⁠​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

  11. Jul 3

    Welcome to Dose of Books — meet the hosts + We'll Prescribe You A Cat (Ep. 1)

    Two book-loving friends. A stack of books. Welcome to Dose of Books. 💊 In our debut episode, we introduce ourselves, share what kind of readers we are, run a quick Q&A, and dig into our first book discussion. ⏱️ CHAPTERS (tap to jump) (00:00:00) Welcome & meet your hosts (00:03:06) Getting to know us — Q&A (00:33:20) Book chat: We'll Prescribe You a Cat (00:49:54) Spoiler discussion starts (01:01:48) Spoiler-free again — final thoughts ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ SPOILER SECTION ⚠️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Spoilers for "We'll Prescribe You a Cat" by Syou Ishida run [49:54]–[1:01:48]. Skipping ahead? Tap the "Spoiler-free again" chapter above to rejoin us. 📚 BOOKS MENTIONED For anyone who wants to follow up on the reads that came up: ​A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles​Loner by Teddy Wayne​Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung​Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer​Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling​Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson​Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica​Saltblood by Francesca De Tores​You series by Caroline Kepnes ✏️ ERRATA / CORRECTIONS A few things we want to set straight from this episode: ​Around [04:54] mark I said "A Man in Moscow" but it is actually "A Gentleman in Moscow". Too many book titles to keep track of at the moment. -J 💊 A FEW NOTES FROM YOUR (BRAND NEW) HOSTS This is our very first episode, and we're completely new to recording, editing, and publishing. If you catch a rough edge or a small mistake, please bear with us — we're learning as we go and we'll only get better from here! We also recorded during some severe weather, which knocked one (or both!) of us offline a few times. A couple of moments may sound a little choppy where we had to reconnect. Thanks for your patience. ⛈️ 🎧 FIND US & CONNECT ​Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DoseofBooks​Also on Apple Podcasts: TBD​Enjoyed it? Subscribe and follow so you never miss a dose​We'd love your feedback — any constructive criticism is welcome​Email us anytime: doseofbookswithjc@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening — see you in the next dose! 💊

About

Dose of Books with Jae & Celeste is a cosy book podcast for readers who love honest reviews, lively banter, and finding their next great read.