So many books and so little time—it’s a challenge to choose what to read next! It helps to remember that so-called “reading mortality” is a fact of life—you’ll never get to them all, but you can curate your own to-read list that speaks to you. Plus, the sneaky story behind the expression slip someone a mickey, and a new word for walking your dog: let’s go on a sniffari! And: favorite first lines of books, Bohemian, a brain teaser about song titles, how to pronounce aioli, jo-jo potatoes, a cool million, and lots more.
This episode first aired March, 29 2025.
What Makes A Great Book Opening Line?
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984 (Bookshop|Amazon), E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (Bookshop|Amazon) and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (Bookshop|Amazon). As writer Alice McDermott observes in her essay collection What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction (Bookshop|Amazon), the most compelling first lines convey a sense of authority and the idea that you can relax into a story told with confidence and verve.
Slip Someone a Mickey
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving them of their valuables. Drugs known as Mickey Finn powder usually caused extreme drowsiness or caused vomiting.
Bohemian, a Word Fittingly Traced through Literature, Theater, and Intertwined Cultures
How did the term Bohemian come to be associated with literary and artistic nonconformists who live outside mainstream society? In the early 19th century, the French term La bohème was applied to the Romani people, also known as the Roma, a traditionally itinerant people who originated in Northern India, and who arrived in France via Bohemia, now part of the modern Czech Republic. The 1851 book Scènes de la vie de bohème or Scenes of Bohemian Life (Bookshop|Amazon) romanticized the life of an impoverished seamstress and her artist friends, and inspired Giacomo Puccini’s opera La bohème, which in turn helped inspire the modern musical RENT and its show-stopping number La vie bohème.
No Business Telling
How could you stop reading after a novel that begins like this? I had this story from one who had no business to tell me, or to any other. That’s the first line of Tarzan of the Apes (Bookshop|Amazon) by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Get the Chop Word Game
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been pondering those old digital displays on car dashboards that sometimes cut off part of the name of the song playing on the radio. For example, what song would really be playing if the truncated title was “Brother, Can You Spar,” which sounds like friendly guys in a boxing gym?
How Do Dictionaries Settle on a Preferred Pronunciation?
Rich, an audiobook narrator from Tucson, Arizona, wonders how lexicographers decide which pronunciations are preferred. He specifically wonders about pronouncing the word aioli.
Jo-Jo Potatoes, Those Fried Delights You Miss if You Know Them
Patrick in Muncie, Indiana, is fond of jojo potatoes, those delicious deep-fried, seasoned wedges also known as Jo-Jos, and wonders how they got that name. Fortunately, researcher Barry Popik has the scoop.
Why Money is Sometimes “Cool”
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way back then? When used to describe large quantities of money, cool emphasizes that this impressive number totals at least that amount.
It Was the Best of Wines, It Was the Worst of Wines
Stellar first sentences from Bianca Bosker’s Cork Dork (Bookshop|Amazon) about her quest to become a sommelier and from A Tale of Two Cities (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens.
The Best Way to Choose Your Next Book
Given the fact of reading mortality—-the awareness that it’s physically impossible to read all the books we’d like to—what’s the best way to choose your next book? Maryanne Wolf wrestles with modern challenges to doing so in Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (Bookshop|Amazon).
At Ramona, They’re Walking the Nose
While reading Dean Koontz’s book The House at the End of the World (Bookshop|Amazon), a listener in Ramona, California, encountered the perfect word for the walks he takes with his dog. He now refers to such an excursion as a sniffari.
Will You? Won’t You? Can’t I Coax You?
Suzanne in Tucson, Arizona, says her mother used to say the following to her quickly: Will you? Won’t you? Can’t I coax you? Aw, c’mon! You said you would! You think you might? You promised me! Won’t your mama let ya, huh? There have been many versions of this saying through the years, including the 1968 song “What a Bringdown” by Cream. A similar version was popularized by Anthony Trollope in his book Doctor Thorne (Bookshop|Amazon):
Oh, oh! Mary; do you love me? Don’t you love me? Won’t you love me? Say you will. Oh, Mary, dearest Mary, will you? won’t you? Do you? Don’t you? Come now, you have a right to give a fellow an answer.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Books Mentioned in the Episode
| 1984 by George Orwell (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction by Alice McDermott (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Scènes de la vie de bohème or Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Bookshop|Amazon) |
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| New World | Woody Shaw | Blackstone Legacy | Contemporary Records |
| Behind The Blue Curtains | El Michels Affair | Sounding Out The City | Truth & Soul |
| New World (con’t) | Woody Shaw | Blackstone Legacy | Contemporary Records |
| Creation | El Michels Affair | Sounding Out The City | Truth & Soul |
| Effi | Max Roach | Members, Don’t Git Weary | Real Gone Music |
| The Other Side | Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | Step Down | Colemine Records |
