Cracked Spines
Crack open a good book with two wise-cracking besties. Sarah and Cyrus are two queer English majors who use their degrees to commit crimes against literature.
Support us on Patreon for bonus episodes and merch! https://www.patreon.com/crackedspinespodcast
Episodes
158 episodes
Cleaning (With The Help of Books)
Want to know a secret? Cleaning sucks. Want to know an even bigger secret? There are books that are supposed to help you deal with how much cleaning sucks! This week, Cyrus and Sarah dive into a few different nonfiction books about how to keep ...
Writers Talking About Writing Books About Writing
This week we're talking about the ultimate topic writers love to talk about: writing. God, writers love talking about writing. Cyrus takes a break from cranking out their novel to issue death threats and discuss their evolving take on imposter ...
Heated Rivalry (ft. A Proprietary Nootropic Mushroom Blend Inspired By Psychodelics)
Hello, everyone, welcome to this episode posted exactly on time where Sarah and Cyrus discuss the romance series of the moment, The Gay Hockey One That Now Has a TV Show. But first, 13 minutes of bullshit. We really make you wait for it. And we...
Taboo Romance and Captive Prince
Dark romance should be DARKER!!! But where is the line? This week we approach that age-old question through the lens of Captive Prince, a 2016 novel by C.S. Pacat, especially in comparison to the dark/taboo romance more popular today. We talk a...
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
It's a book! An actual book! Can you believe it? This week, Sarah and Cyrus read 'There Is No Antimemetics Division" by qntm, a novel that was originally a web serial about the SCP foundation, but has since found a home with its serial numbers ...
THE PILE: Dissecting Our TBR Lists
This week Cyrus and Sarah each bring their book stacks to the table to discuss what they are planning to read this year. They get immediately sidetracked into an argument about how many books you should have in your "to read" pile, how many boo...
2025 ROUND UP: The Milk Chronicles
At long last, the moment we've all been waiting for: Cyrus has finally obtained their white whale du jour, two specimens of the world's tallest chicken. Also it's the end of the year! Here is the big breakdown of all the books we read, en...
What To Read When You Aren't Reading
Hello, gang, time for the annual oopsie episode where we acknowledge the sins of our past (not uploading podcast episodes) and lay out our plans to change in the future (start three more podcast?). We catch up on life then eventually discuss TH...
Animorphs Part 8: You Can't Keep Inventing Gods!
Hello friends, it's that special time of year - Animorphs time! And also Wasteland Weekend, but you don't care about that, you care about Cyrus and Sarah dunking on these traumatized teens! This week, books 38-42 are up for discussion, and they...
Heaven Official's Blessing (Part 3 and 4)
This week, Cyrus and Sarah are back in the danmei mines, this time with books three and four of Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu and if you thought the last two books were complicated and convoluted, get ready for more c...
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
This week, Cyrus and Sarah dig into Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin, a horror novel that asks what if Invasion of the Body Snatchers was set at a conversion camp, and wouldn't that just be so super fucked up? Also on the tabl...
Heaven Official's Blessing (Volumes 1 and 2)
Welcome to our first episode covering the Heaven Official's Blessing series by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu! And also the Saw franchise. A media match made in heaven that definitely makes complete sense to pair in one episode, because isn't Xie Lian's lif...
Chicken Book Extravaganza feat. Our Actual Chickens
Greetings listeners, here it is - the chicken episode, featuring our five beautiful daughters. This week, Cyrus and Sarah dig into some books about chickens: their personalities, their care and keeping, and how to turn your beautiful backyard i...
Animorphs Part 7: Put Him In The Horse Plinko
Cyrus and Sarah are back at it again in the Animorphs mines, this time covering books thirty-three through thirty-seven, and things are getting....well, kind of mid, to be honest. Except for the torture. The torture is great. Dive in to hear ou...
Barbarian Beds: The Origin of the Chair in China by C.P. Fitzgerald (and other books on Chinese history)
This week on Cracked Spines, Cyrus and Sarah dive into Sarah's latest obsession with Chinese history, cracking open several books by...mostly white authors in the 60's-80's. Okay, so it may not be an scholastically accurate or ethical deep dive...
Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz
Say "I do" to checking out this weeks episode on Marriage, A History by Stephanie Coontz! See, I did a wedding pun, this description writing stuff is easy. Cyrus and Sarah tackle nonfiction this episode, and have a rollicking discussion about m...
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
It's finally happening - Cyrus and Sarah have finally read The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson! Turns out they loved it, but isn't that always the way with books you've been putting off? Baru Cormorant is a twisty turny hard fantasy no...
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Did you know it's really hard to write jokes about books with central themes of racism? Cyrus and Sarah find this out while covering Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, an epic historical fiction novel about the the 20th century Korean experience of Japan...
Sunrise on the Reaping/The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Are we in the cultural zeitgeist yet? This week, Cyrus and Sarah cover Sunrise on the Reaping AND The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, the two latest Hunger Games novels, both of which are prequels to the ori...
READING DEATH PACT THUNDERDOME ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN
RESULTS ARE IN, FOLKS. In the past month, Sarah and Cyrus made a bet to see who could read the most books out of their combined TBR piles. Sarah is a super fast reader with one day a week to functionally dedicate to churning through books; Cyru...
Animorphs Part 6: The Bright, Clear Line
Back at it again in the Animorphs mines. This time, we're reading books 28 through 32, a group that contains vitally important plot, thoughtful and moving character moments, and also whatever is happening in book 28. Cyrus professes their undyi...
TBR Pile Death Pact
Okay, maybe it's not a death pact. More of a "financially ruinous" pact for Cyrus specifically. But with the stakes on the table, they're more than willing to dive in. And with how annoying Cyrus is in this episode, Sarah is happy to crush them...
Animorphs Part 5: The Weekend is Cancelled
This week on Cracked Spines, we are discussing Animorphs books 23 through 27, a chunk that includes one of the best books of the series so far and also Cassie lying to strangers about androids while inside a Spencer's Gifts. The series contains...
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Our favorite horror writer is back at it again! This week we read Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, a truly harrowing mixture of pregnancy horror, social horror, and eels. In this episode, as you can probably imagine, we tal...
Sarah's Bummer of an Extended Vacation: The 2025 Oregon Healthcare Strike
Hey, everyone! Sarah is one of the thousands of unionized healthcare workers on strike in Oregon. At their last job, Cyrus saw how hard a company will work to destroy a union. Let's do some labor chatting.This is a different episode than...