The Grey NATO – 370 – TGN Book Club 5¶
Published on Thu, 26 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis¶
In this episode of The Grey NATO, Jason and James catch up on recent life events before diving into their fifth book club. Jason shares the surprising news that their cat Smitty unexpectedly gave birth to stillborn kittens, leading to plans for immediate spaying. He also discusses his acceptance into the Land Rover Defender Trophy North American selection round in British Columbia, expressing excitement about this adventure opportunity. James recaps his trip to Geneva for a photo shoot and previews upcoming travel to New York City for the new monthly Hodinkee happy hour events at Watches of Switzerland.
The main focus of the episode is their book club recommendations. Jason suggests two compelling reads: "Say Nothing" by Patrick Radden Keefe, a meticulously researched nonfiction account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland centered on a mysterious disappearance, and "North Woods" by Daniel Mason, an ambitious novel following a single house in New England across centuries through various inhabitants. James recommends "Chain Gang All-Stars" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, a near-future dystopian novel exploring a prison system merged with gladiatorial entertainment, and "The Getaway" by Jim Thompson, a 1958 crime thriller that focuses on how a bank heist affects the relationships of those involved, with particular praise for its stunning final chapter.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 370, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host, James Stacy. James, we can add uh books to our superlatives at the top of the show this week. Uh we're doing a book club. How are you doing? Books |
| James Stacy | . Yeah, good. I think uh the longer we do uh looking back at some of the the previous book clubs that we've done, I was in in less of a reading mode in my life. I've I've really kind of amped that up in the last year or so. I blame uh Jack Carr to a certain extent as I had to buzz through all of his great uh great stories a little while ago. Um but yeah, I I always look forward to book club and we we don't do them that often because I think you're kind of really asking a lot of people to like this'll be four books and I think for some people that's about what they read in a year. Yeah, right. Yeah. Uh or more. I I definitely know people who don't read four books in a year. And for me, I you know, I would ideally you'd do that in a couple of months, maybe a little less if if you're really into the book or if it's not that long. Yeah. Um but yeah we we don't do these a ton, but I do get excited about 'em because, you know, if if we do 'em once a year, I've probably read a couple books I really enjoy per year. Yeah. Um so we can definitely get to that list. Yeah. Uh but yeah, speaking of the general calendar for the year, don't forget the Vancouver and Montreal timepiece shows are coming up and tickets are available. Vancouver is the weekend of Saturday, April 25th, and Montreal is the weekend of Saturday, May 30th. I will be at the Vancouver show. We're doing a party the Saturday evening with Marathon at Roldorf and Co. We will have an RSVP available to the Slack members and and then uh on uh eventually to uh a a broader episode of uh of the show coming up. But those plans are in place. So if you've got uh things going on Saturday evening, this should be sort of the last I think probably the later last stop of the night uh sort of thing over at Rolldorf Co. basically a repeat of last year, which is a great time. Very much looking forward to it. But you can find out more if you're looking for tickets at timepeace show.com. And uh as ever, we uh appreciate being able to partner with them as uh you know a chance to go to the show and maybe record some episodes and do a fun party with marathon and that sort of thing |
| Jason Heaton | . Yeah, Jason Hutton sounds like he's uh he's a busy guy. I mean he's geez with back to back months and then uh Toronto is he's uh he sounds like he's ready to take over all the provinces in Canada with a time piece show at some point. It's a big season. Yeah, right |
| James Stacy | . For sure. All right. Well uh beyond the upcoming time piece shows, and of course we're G |
| Jason Heaton | eez, it's been a very eventful week here. Um yeah, where do I start with the yeah, cat update? Uh certainly. So uh last week I announced uh Smitty's name, and not long after, just a few days after we recorded that episode, uh I picked up Christy from the airport. She'd been out in California and uh flew home. Got home from the airport, came in the back door, and uh Smitty was uh licking blood off of her back leg and we got a got a bit uh worried of as you as you would, and uh called the emergency vet, drove down, this was at about ten o'clock at night. The vet took a look at her as we were filling out the intake form, came immediately back out and said, Your cat is having kittens. Oh my goodness. So they said, perfectly normal, cats know what to do. You can take her home. She'll take care of it. Put her in a warm, dark place, check on her every hour or so. She'll she'll deal with it. So we we bring her back home, did what they said, set up a little box in a warm place by a radiator, um, and checked on her. And um I guess you could say fortunately, I I would say n unfortunately, but but in our case fortunately, um she gave birth to two stillborn kittens or or premature uh fetuses uh by the by the look of them. As as Chris Sol wrote me when I told him about it, um, nature is metal. She um she ate both of them. They were just kind of this tiny bit of afterbirth, basically, and uh consumed them and went on with with life. She was purring and playing by the next morning. And And we were sort of thankful that that she didn't have a litter of six kittens that we would have had to deal dealt with since we'd basically just became new parents of a kitten in the past three weeks. So that for one thing that answers the question whether she was spayed or not, which we will be doing promptly, um so we don't run into this again. But uh yeah, it was a it was a very eventful I guess you could say twelve hours. I mean it was it was pretty it was a pretty shocking wild |
| James Stacy | uh thing to happen. Yeah, you're really entering like a uh a pet intense phase of your life here. You know, you very nearly just quadrupled in in like weeks your number of pets. Yeah, yeah. It was I guess nature |
| Jason Heaton | nature had another plan. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. So that was the excitement. I think that was on boy, must have been last Monday or Tuesday night. Yeah. It was after we recorded. So um yeah, that was last week. And then, you know, before that we had this big snowstorm. Um, and then yesterday two days ago it was 80 degrees. I mean, it was like I was out in shorts. Um, you know, people were lying at the beach um with the lake still frozen over nearby. It was just it's a wild time here. And uh I had kind of a an interesting, kind of quirky weekend. They um there's an annual what they call the urban sap tap project here in in Minneapolis. Oh yeah, I saw this on your Instagram. Yeah, it's kind of co co-led by the the Parks Commission and and then a private um group of enthusiasts that does this every year. You know, when as a Canadian, I'm sure you're aware of this, um and proud of it, presumably given that the maple leaf is on your flag. Um the maple trees start to run sap uh when the days are above freezing and the nights are below. And so the Urban Sap Tap project is trying to get people in Minneapolis, if they have maple trees, to tap them. You know, you just drill a hole, put a a tube in into a bucket and uh collect the sap and then um they do this big boil at a nearby park on a Saturday in March and so this was this past Saturday and I I volunteered to help out keeping the the wood stove stoked and and boiling some sap and it reduces down to to maple syrup. And there was a sauna set up. Um wasn't ideal for a sauna because it was eighty degrees. Um so there weren't many takers for that. But uh they had a pancake feed and they had a live band and it was just a a really good time. So it was uh it was great. Um I'd love to maybe I'll I'll get my act together next year and announce it a little sooner um earlier in March on on TGN and try to get some some local folks out there and and have some fun because it was a it was a really good time and the the pancakes were good and it was a just a good way to spend a a Saturday morning. |
| James Stacy | Hard to beat a pancake and maple syrup. It just is it is what it is. I'm I'm maybe not the guy that wants maple chicken wings or maple cookies or maple glazed squash or whatever, but uh I do like it on on pancakes or a waffle. I do I i it's a great treat even if you don't have uh an insane uh sweet tooth. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and it's amazing too, you know, it's the ratio of sap out of the tree to syrup is fifty to one, like gallons, if you look at it that way. So it's it's just a incredibly labor intensive process to boil all that sap down. But it's uh it's what makes maple syrup for one thing very expensive, but also pretty special. So um yeah, it was a it was it was very cool. Yeah, neat to be part of that. And then I've got some big news. I I've you know I've a while back I I had um kind of thrown my hat in the ring to be a competitor in the Defender Trophy, which is Land Rover's kind of updated version of of the old cigarette advertising camel trophy from the nineteen eighties and nineties. Um submitted a video and filled out the application, um, along with many other people, and never got a response. I never never heard if I got it or not. And our good buddy Brock Stevens, who's been a guest on TGN show Brock, fellow Land Rover and diving enthusiast, uh, Brock uh did get the call quite early on. I think he was he had submitted his stuff like within the first week of it opening up, um, back in December or January. And uh I had kind of just thought, oh well, I'm I didn't make the cut. Well, I got a call last week and turns out I've I've been accepted. So I'm I'm I'm gonna be taking part in the in the North American selection round for um they select two Americans and two Canadians from these uh these three sessions that are ha taking place in British Columbia in mid April and uh the the the top four people I guess then from there move on to the f the international finals, which will be in somewhere in Africa in October. So um you know I, I I'm excited. I I you know, I couldn't say no. I mean it's just it's kind of a I not quite a dream come true because I, you know, I never really even this wasn't even on my radar up until they announced it just a few months back. But uh, you know how, can you say no? I I just regret not doing this. And I think it'd be a lot of fun. So I've got some, you know, fortunately fitness training's been going well, but but there's some skills training, orienteering, and um high lift jack operation. I actually have a high lift jack, so I should dust that off and refresh my memory on how to use that and winching and um that sort of stuff. So uh yeah, it's exciting. I'll I'll have more updates uh as as the time comes and of course afterwards I'll give the full lowdown in in l in late April, the show after I come back. But uh yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. It's uh it should be great. It should be fun and |
| James Stacy | I'm I'm super excited for you. This is a a great turn of of news. I I read your story on the on uh on your sub sack about you know not getting selected and uh I like that either they changed their mind or were just kind of slow on the on the callback. So this is |
| Jason Heaton | great though. Right. It should be a proper adventure too. Yeah, it should be. And I I'm I'm excited that I've I've kind of gleaned where they're doing it and kind of what the format is. I watched they've they've already done the Japan trials and there's a video on YouTube um kind of showing some highlights from some intel nice from the Japan trials on the types of activities. I think it'll be a little bit different. But uh yeah, so exciting stuff there. Yeah, it was a pretty pretty event. Yeah, exactly, right. Uh and and on your end you're just you're in your every other week mode of travel here. Um just got back from Geneva and it's like Geneva, New York. Geneva, New |
| James Stacy | York. Yep. Yeah, it was uh it was a quick trip to Geneva for uh shoot, um photos of which you'll see sometime in April, but it went well. Happy on happy on that front. Great success with the Godox IT-32. We spoke about on a previous episode. I now have two of them. And the trigger and the Leica trigger came in. So everything's working really well with that system. I was blown away because we shot or I shot um yeah, the better part of like probably 700 some odd frames uh in a day. Wow. And I think the I think the flashes were down, you know, the battery has three lines and it was down one line. So theoretically two thirds, maybe maybe it's more like a half. Um, who knows how they're doing that math. But I didn't expect them to last all the way through. I had brought a fairly large battery and some cables, thinking I could run them on USB power. And I didn't have to. So small, easy to use, really straightforward. The trigger seems to be good. For the Rico, I picked up a Nikon phase trigger, Nikon layout trigger, uh which works just fine. It was like $15 for the X5N. And then my X5L showed up uh the day I got back from uh from Switzerland. Um but I would have used the X3L anyways, because you can control each flash separately with the little screen, which is quite nice. Um anyways, it's probably enough flash talk. Uh Geneva went really well. It was nice to be out there. It was nice to be like in a relatively warmer climate. It was like you know fifteen, sixteen Celsius out there, which was uh a a bit of a delight for a couple of days. Yeah. And then uh later tomorrow in about twenty four hours, I'm gonna head to uh New York City for a few days of meetings and some video shoots. And then we have this event at the Watches of Switzerland Soho store. Uh it's the new hodinky happy hour. It is the last Thursday of every month, 4 30 to 6 30 p.m. We've picked out a killer selection of beer. We've got pizza from upside in Soho. Uh should be really good. Should be a great hangout. I know there's a handful of folks on uh the TGN Slack that uh seem to be uh pl planning to come out, which I'm really pumped about. And yeah, it's something we're gonna grow and then hopefully take on the road, uh, depending on where we have editors elsewhere in the States. Yeah. Because Watson Switzerland has lots of stores. Yeah. Um so I I just like doing hangouts. And this way I only have to pay for pizza and beer, which you know, from a TGN standpoint, we know how to cost that pretty easily. Uh, so I'm able to transfer some technology and some learnings back towards Hodin Key, which I'm thrilled about. So hopefully we get to see you there. And if not, we'll catch you there at a later date in uh in the next few months. But yeah, that's all I've got going on. We're zipping back and forth, everything we're developing to all like all of my hours right now are um setting up for all of the the pre-production work for watches and wonders. So all the all the watches that come in under embargo, uh all the pre-writing, all the planning for reels and and the rest of this. And then I'm still cranking out. We're on to the third pre-production or editing, first phase editing for the these tutor videos from that tour I did of their supply chain, which I'm pretty pumped about. So it looks like it's going to be a three video series. Um, cases, bracelets, movements, dials, that sort of thing. Uh which should come out to probably just after Watches and Wonders. Um, at this point, because you know, before it's just gonna get drowned out by the you know 80 stories that come out that week. So yeah, looking forward to that very much. Uh I've got a couple really good talking watches in the works. Yeah. You gotta appreciate uh all all of the fun stuff that that you get to do to make it busy. So yeah, boy, you're gonna you're gonna |
| Jason Heaton | be ready to sit in a dark room and come May for |
| James Stacy | like a week. Yeah, May May might have to slow down. Looks like uh, you know, we've got obviously the the Vancouver show is a little bit of a almost like a holiday for me to a certain extent. Just walk around, take pictures, watches, not really work. Yeah. Get to see some buddies and and and do the party with marathon. And then after that, uh yeah, I might might need to consider uh some vacation. Haven haven't been off since um since September, I guess w the end of the summer there when my son was born. So yeah. It's been uh been a busy phase. But uh lots of good stuff on the horizon and definitely looking forward to uh seeing how these hangouts work in uh in New York. So Yeah, well there's a watch us of Switzerland here in uh Minneapolis. So if you ever want to come out here and |
| Jason Heaton | do so. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Wonder |
| James Stacy | if they've got a cool basement. We'll find out. I don't think so. I think it's in the Mall of America. Well, we might be able to do it in the mall. Yeah. Yeah, right. Mall hangout. That's not very us, but uh it could work nonetheless. Yeah. Yeah. How about uh how about a little wrist check and then we jump into some books |
| Jason Heaton | ? Yeah, definitely. I uh wrote to our buddy Don Cochrane from Vertex uh last week and said Shout out Don. You know, he's uh he's on a roll lately. I mean that uh that sort of desert edition uh M thirty six is just such a cool watch. And um, you know, I've got an M100, a bronze, and um I I just I keep always going back to their website and looking at the MP45, which is the mono pusher chronograph that I feel doesn't really get talked about a lot. You know, I mean we've both got Aquali and divers and love them. I just think Vertex makes such a great watch. Anyway, um Don sent me an MP forty five. So um it it came a few days ago um to check out. It's one of the kind of their press press review versions. Um, and he said, you know, just keep it, hold on to it for a while and and see what you think. And um boy, I just I keep swapping straps on it. It's the hand wound version. So the the MP forty five M, I believe they call it it. It's the manual mined one. It is just such a gorgeous watch. It's it's 40 millimeters um in diameter. I I not off the top of my head, I'm not sure of the the thickness, but it's maybe 12 millimeters, so it's not not too much of a cheeseburger. And uh and it's just got that great those great 3D loom. Um it's a dual register chronograph with a mono pusher, um display case back with a SW510 uh hand wound movement in it, nicely finished. It's uh it's a great piece. I mean, I I think you and I were exchanging messages a few days ago, and I Vertex is really really up there in my top, you know, three or four favorite brands. I mean they they just don't make a bad watch. I mean he he Don really has a design thing going. I mean he's got some great history to to pull from, but uh you know the quality's always been great, the packaging, customer service, the straps, um, just just really, really great stuff and |
| James Stacy | I'm really enjoying wearing this. I think I've talked a lot in the past about the M sixty, the Aqualine, the diver, uh, which I got from you and I really like. I think it's probably among my favorite steel dive watches, uh, definitely around its price point, but that I have in in my collection. I really enjoy it. Uh wears really well, feels distinct. Kind of kind of for me, like I I feel like I've transitioned a lot of my the sort of way I felt about Braymont. Yes. Um when it was still under the English brothers. I've kind of passed that to Vertex. It has that smaller, cottage-y, very British-y appeal to it, and and the designs seem kind of rooted in something that I can I I have a footing in personally. Yeah. Uh yeah. So I'm I'm not surprised that you're enjoying the MP45. Hopefully that uh the next time we see each other, maybe you've still got that with you and I can take a look. But I mean the M36 remains on the list. I've said it a few times on the show. Uh I think it's a great looking watch. Finally got to see one in person um at our uh Thanksgiving hangout. Frank had his and uh just a good thing. And yeah, the the aqua lion's been great. Oh it's definitely gonna be one of my go-tos for |
| Jason Heaton | the summer. Yeah. I I just like how compact their lineup is too. It's like, you know, they've got a a field watch, dive watch, and a chronograph, um, in a few different sizes and colors and things, but like they're just it's it's a really tight collection and just really well made stuff. So yeah, congrats on that. For sure. And you've got something classic on, nothing couldn't be more different than what I'm wear |
| James Stacy | ing. Yeah, fairly different. But hey, it's still a good steel sports watch or sports adjacent watch. Uh I'm I was wearing I I threw it on the other day and I I didn't even I'll be honest, I didn't even set the table. Uh but I've been wearing it for a couple of days with the wrong date. Uh and that's my Rolex DHS, my 1601 with the linen dial, the kind of silver linen dial. Uh it just wears so nicely. Uh and the, you know, you look down and it's kind of like uh I don't know, it's it it there's a like weird nostalgia to just seeing a date just an older one yeah even if it's not my nostalgia I like it a lot it wears really well it's definitely comfortable if I you know yesterday we were going out to see some family and I was in a big chunky sweater and it just kind of works for that vibe. Yeah. And yeah, it's been it's been a great watch. I picked it up when I became editor-in-chief for Hodenki. It was sort of the celebration watch for that. I got it from James at Analog Shift. And I've been wearing it a ton. I just, you know, linen dials really speak to me, especially the sort of like silver tone. Uh, the nice bright bezel is really nice, and it's on a uh nice jangly bracelet. So it it makes me happy, even if it's you know, not as maybe core to my uh my normal as uh uh vertex or even uh uh you know my explorer two or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. That's great. I'm good. Glad you're still uh glad you're still enjoying that and pulling it out every now and then that that watch deserves to be worn. That's a great one. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | All right. Well let's jump into some book club. So on the off chance that this is your first ever book club, welcome. This is the fifth outing. We started back in May of twenty twenty one as part of the isolation tapes. We were not doing as much uh during the uh sort of second era of the pandemic there in uh the spring of twenty twenty-one and we were reading more. So in the show notes, you can go back and check uh volumes one, two, three, and four out if you want to find other books to read. But the format's very straightforward. For this episode, Jason and I are each going to suggest two books that we've read not so long ago or in the in the recent past and that we really enjoyed. So pretty straightforward. Uh Jason can probably kick his off with one of my favorite nonfiction authors. Uh so Jason, do you want to go first |
| Jason Heaton | ? Yeah, sure. Um yeah, and since you mentioned it, um I will kick it off with uh a a great nonfiction p uh book that I just read um that was actually turned into a a television series um about you know pretty interesting era in history kind of a dark era um the troubles in northern Ireland this is uh Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Um Radden Keefe, uh interesting guy. He's uh kind of been kind of an investigative journalist. He's written a a couple of books, and he actually was the guy behind the podcast Wind of Change, which I'd recently also listened to um about the the CIA's use of the Scorpion's song Wind of Change to um kind of uh alter some public opinion in in East Germany um during the Cold War. Um that's a bit of an aside. But Say Nothing is is just a tremendous book about um specifically about a very particular case during the troubles in Northern Ireland. This was when um the IRA, the IL Irish Republican Army was kind of waging war against the the British to to gain independence for Northern Ireland and kind of reunite it with the Republic of Ireland. And there was a an abduction and a disappearance of a woman, a mother of, I believe it was like 10 kids, and it kind of remained a mystery for decades. No one was quite sure where she went or who abducted her, who killed her. And that's kind of sets the framework for this entire book and um you know give gives the whole background of you know the the leadership of the IRA, how they conducted their operations, um, the British response, um, really, really well done, incredibly detailed research. I I I I came away from this book just marveling at what it would have taken to sift through the archives and do the interviews and the travel and the reading that would have gone into the making of this book. And it was it was written and released in, I believe, 2021. This is a book that I he you know, I'm sure he was working on during the pandemic. Um I I always think about that time and I think like you know, you talked about the the isolation tapes and kinda how we were doing more reading. I think just a lot of people were just digging in and doing big projects that they'd kind of set aside that required just a lot of solo head down time. And uh this must have been one of those because um it's just it's just tremendous. And to kind of look at both sides of that conflict that went on for so long um and really got kicked into to kind of the high gear, if you will, in the early seventies, with just a lot of bombings and assassinations and disappearances and violence in Belfast and Northern Ireland. And you kind of come away from this story with a very conflicted view of whose side do you take? Like who who are you sympathizing with when it comes to this? And I I'm sure there are some strong opinions from some of our listeners, maybe people who grew up in the in the UK or in Northern Ireland or Ireland. And it's it's just tough. I mean, the the there were atrocities on both sides, um, obviously a lot of bloodshed and violence. But uh in any case, th this book kind of goes right down the middle. There really isn't much um you know kind of uh uh opinions about, you know, which side to take on this one, he he kind of just goes straight down the middle and just does this tremendous amount of research and it really was really a great I mean, I knew something about the troubles and I'd read and seen movies and things about it, but uh this kind of gave a really great thorough background on it and maybe want to kind of dig in a little further and and read if read some more and watch some movies and things. So um yeah say nothing. Patrick Radden Keith. Really good stuff. Have you |
| James Stacy | read this one? Uh I've read an excerpt and then added it to my Kindle list and then just haven't bought it. But I I read the sample that you can get the a chapter or two. Yeah. Yeah. It's absolutely fantastic. This is uh Patrick's second time on the uh on the book club as he did uh a book that I really enjoyed and mentioned in uh I think book club three called Rogues Two True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. It's awesome. Yeah, right. He's just such a good writer. I don't think it matters what he's writing about. Yeah. Um, that level of research, that level of uh consideration, that ability to remain, like you said, kind of far enough away from it to not have uh uh ethical or moral statement is uh is something that I I I just think he does a really good job of of trying to paint both sides of an argument while remaining relatively indistinct on his own. Yeah. Um and uh yeah his his books are great. I I don't think you I don't think you I don't think there's a bad one. Yeah. Um for me he's he's in there with like I I know that if I see uh Malcolm Gladwell, I'll probably find it interesting and enjoyable. Yeah. And the same thing, like if I see Gladwell's on a podcast that I like, or if I see that Rodden Keefe is on a podcast I like, I'm going to be interested. Annie Jacobson, after we talked recently about um nuclear war, a scenario, has also been added to that list. Just these really talented uh writers that do uh that do that all that hard work to make sure that the story comes together correctly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's awesome. Yeah, I'll have to pick up the book you read. Right. It's fun. And it's nice because that one that one's like, you know, it's a compendium of multiple articles. Yeah. So it's not just one story. Yeah. So you can pick it up and read a couple and then that sort of thing. Yeah. Good one. Say nothing. All right. Yeah. Put I'd uh a a good reminder to to move that one up the ranks on the Kindle. Yeah. All right. What's your first? My first one this week is uh a book I spoke about back uh as early as I went back through the show notes, as early as episode two eighty-one, which must have been back when I was reading this. Yeah. It's called Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Queme Aje Brenya. Oh yeah. And I absolutely adore adore this book. So that I don't ramble uncontrollably for way too much time. I will just read a synopsis I found online. Uh in a near future United States, the prison system has merged with entertainment through the criminal action penal entertainment program, where incarcerated individuals called Lynx fight to the death in televised gladiatorial matches for a chance at freedom after surviving three years in the system. Wow. This novel follows Loretta Thurwar and Hamara Hurricane Stack Stacker to black women and lovers who are the reigning stars of the Angola Hammond chain, known as the Chain Gang All-Stars? Thurwar, nearing her freedom, grapples with the emotional weight of leaving her fellow links behind, while the system corporate, while the system's corporate owners, the game masters manipulate the rules and narratives for profit and control. So it's it's I would say it's like a very adult take on like um uh the hunger games, yeah, in some ways. Yeah. Um only with with this sort of gladiator, these are prisoners. So you get into their past and and a consideration of whether or not they even deserve their freedom. And of course if this abject violence has created anything valuable, uh they and it's not just from their perspective, it's from some of the audience level perspective. It's a really interesting, well-written, exciting sort of thriller um that really touches on various elements of critique of the the prison system and also the the idea of entertainment, the idea of you know violence as entertainment, all these sorts of things. I really, really enjoyed this book. It's from 2023. Um, I believe it won I was a finalist. Sorry, it was a finalist for the twenty twenty thationalree N Book Award for fiction. So no slouch. And uh it it reads really well. It's quite a fast read, I found at least, and it was kind of unlike anything I've read in the past. You know, there's thematic elements to things like Lord of the Flies and there's a lot of um I think parallels drawn to like war literature as well at the same time. Uh yeah. I I enjoyed this a lot. I've recommended it before, but now this gave me a chance to put it proper into uh into a book club. Yeah |
| Jason Heaton | , yeah. I do remember when you talked about this one. That's uh that sounds really good. I I I I I love that um sort of near future dystopian sort of take on things and and um yeah it's uh that sounds like a good |
| James Stacy | one. I'll have to add that one to my list. That's great. Yeah, and I mean uh as much as I may not be a huge sci-fi fan when it comes to like TV and movies, when it's done a certain way, like more Blade Runner than Star Wars, for example, I get more into it. Yeah. And I think you can see some of that in some of the past books that I've suggested, even going back to Book Club 2. I suggested Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chang. Oh yeah. And anything you could read by Ted Chang's incredible. He's the guy that, you know, the his be storycame the movie Arrival. Um, and that's a great story, but his books are full of really, really intelligent considerations, kind of black mirror adjacent in some ways, yeah, in terms of tone. Um, but yeah, the I I definitely I can get behind the future sci-fi dystopian stuff if it's done a certain way for sure. Cool. Good one. Yeah, I'm glad you revisited this because I remember you mentioning it. Yeah |
| Jason Heaton | . Yeah. And what have you got for your second? I don't know this one. Yeah. Second one, wild sprawling novel called North Woods by a very talented writer named Daniel Mason. Um this was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Um and uh just a just a an amazing book called Northwoods by Daniel Mason. And it's it uses uh if you kind of read the the back of the book or hear a blurb about it, you might be like, okay, this sounds kind of weird, but it's it I'll just read a bit of A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries. When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants, an English soldier destined for glory, a pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, a crime reporter, a lovelorn painter, I'm paraphrasing at this point, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle. I mean it's it's just it has this bit of I don't know if I'm using the term correctly, but magical realism, um it goes across history and what's really fascinating about it is fantasy. Yeah. Each era and person or people that come through this property, this home, which is a very loose kind of the house, the house itself and the property are kind of a vehicle for which by which um Mason uses to kind of describe what's going on in history and these people's stories. So it's less about the place and more about the the things that happened there. And he the way he weaves in some of the linguistic oddities of for instance this soldier um who kind of m is there at the beginning, um who's who's British and and that we're talking like revolutionary War period. So the the language used he i is from that era and it's a little bit difficult to read. It kind of challenges you a little bit. And then as you move through history, right up until you know basically modern modern era, um the language changes and and the chapters are in different formats. Some might be a journal entry, some might be a newspaper story, some might be, you know, first person. And it's all woven together in this incredible tale that feels kind of timeless and old-fashioned. It just kind of really pulled me in. And I've I've talked about this book with some other people, and I know of one person who just really disliked it and had to put it down and just didn't care for it. Um and and then a a few others who just love it. And it it's been featured in, you know, uh Christy uh had this as as part of her book club and I think that's why we were reading it together. Um, was kind of she was working her way through it. But uh yeah, it's uh it's it's pretty amazing. And um I just I can't recommend it enough. I mean, give it a try. I I can't say everybody's gonna love it, but it's uh it it it's really an example of again, like Rad and Keefe with Say Nothing, like this book must have taken some serious research and effort. And I'm just I'm so impressed and humbled by a writer that that can just put together a book like this. |
| James Stacy | It was really, really amazing. Yeah, I don't think I've ever read a synopsis of a book quite like this. This this sounds fascinating. Yeah. Um I I like the ones where you get multiple timelines that kind of connect together. Yeah. Uh Emily St. John Mandel does this really well. Sea of Tranquility could easily be on uh uh you know a a book club in the future. That one gives you a few different timelines that all kind of converge at a place, uh which is quite interesting. Oh yeah. Um thousands of years apart in temporal quality. But yeah, no, this looks uh this looks fascinating. Definitely added to the list. And yeah, but Goodreads Choice Award is not uh not to be under underappreciated. Yeah. Looks like a good one for sure. I don't know. Have you re |
| Jason Heaton | ad other Daniel Mason? I haven't. I after I read this, I picked up another one of his uh the the name escapes me, but I I started it and I I think I read it a little too soon after reading this because a lot of language and kind of techniques overlapped and it felt a little repetitive at that point. Um maybe I'll try again later because I think he's very talented, of course. Um, but this one just really |
| James Stacy | stood out. Good stuff. Well that's uh that's your two. Uh you we've got some nonfiction and some fiction in there, two very different books, but uh both seem very highly regarded. For my second of the day and final, we're looking at a book that I I think I spoke with just just when I was reading it in the last what month or so, and this is The Getaway by Jim Thompson. It's a nineteen fifty eight crime novel that follows Carter, Doc McCoy, a highly skilled criminal recently released from prison as he plans a final bank robbery with his wife Carol, a former librarian who's become his partner in crime? The heist goes smoothly, uh, but chaos erupts when their volatile accomplice, Rudy Piehead Torrento, attempts a double cross, leading to a series of betrayals, murders, and a relentless pursuit by law enforcement and Torento himself. And that really only gets you about halfway into the book. Wow. I found out about this from Anthony Jesslinuk's book club. He recommended it. It's not a very long read. It's been turned into two movies. I believe I've definitely seen I've seen the later one, but I haven't I if if I've seen the original movie with um Steve McQueen, it's been it was so long ago that I might be conflating elements of it with other Steve McQueen films. That said, I don't think either of the movies matter to me now that I've read the book. Yeah. And that's because of the final chapter. Uh, which both of the movies avoid because it's so difficult. Oh. I've never read anything quite like this. I've now bought two or three other uh Thompsons to check it out. He's known as the Dime Store Dostoevsky. Huh. Uh this book is full of really complicated relationship nuance, very careful use of language, um, incredible storytelling that leaves all of these vague elements of like who can you trust versus who can you like reliable narrator or not? Does this person really know this other person well enough to predict what they might be doing in these really scary sort of tense scenarios. Yeah. And then you get into the sort of runaway, getaway scenario that just kind of keeps getting worse and scarier. I I don't have it in Jason, you being a diver, I assume you don't have it either. I'm not especially claustrophobic. Yeah. But there is a a piece of this book that had me like almost sweating. Like my heart rate was up. It's something else. This is a really good book. And and I just there's no way for me to prepare you for the last chapter. Wow. Wow. Uh of it. I highly recommend it. I absolutely adored it. It's I'll like I'll reread it this summer. I think I could probably do it in a day. Wow. Wow. If I had a quiet enough day. It's uh you just absolutely tear through it. The uh genre, as I think I've said in in past um in past episodes, the genre is called groin kick. Oh my guess is there is probably a whole well no there is this whole genre like I just mentioned, but there's probably uh so many contemporaries to this type of novel, but this feels like the one that has that like Tarantino touch to it. Yeah. Yeah. Where as you read it, the the consideration of language is so careful. Like I said, the relationships, the vagaries of trust in like I I feel like a lot of crime novels, and you know, you read a lot of them, they're about the crime, and then maybe the fallout of the crime. And this is almost like about the what the crime does to the relationships of the people involved in the crime. Yeah. Huh. And it has this uh it has this sort of um eternal consideration as well. It's uh I really, really |
| Jason Heaton | enjoyed this book. Huh. Sounds great. Nineteen fifty eight. I mean I I think, you know, so often I end up reading books from the past ten years and I just neglect stuff from the middle part of the twentieth century, which is a a great era for writing in general. Um and that's uh yeah, that's great. I love the cover art too. |
| James Stacy | It looks uh looks really good. Yeah, I like I said, I I like this enough to have gone and just kind of blanket bought anything else that seemed to be listed in his other top ones, but I don't know I don't know for certain if there's anything that's regarded as highly as as the getaway. Huh. And yeah, as far as the movies go, uh I I don't have a strong feeling about either one. You know, you you can go Steve McQueen if that's more your vibe, or I I said Bros it a minute ago, it's Alec Baldwin. The um I the first one is a Sam Peckin Pah, so like it's a it's definitely a quality film and that sort of thing. Um, but the the generalized sort of outcome for me is just read the book. It's it's a |
| Jason Heaton | wesome. Yeah. All right. Well there we have it. Uh book clubume Vol Five. Uh once again, uh some good quality picks that I'm gonna add to my list. Uh you had The Getaway by Jim Thompson and Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame, Ajay Brenya. Yep. And you had Say Anything by the fantastic |
| James Stacy | Patrick Rodden Keefe. Say nothing. Sorry. Oh. Say anything with John Cusack. Say anything. Totally different thing. Uh and you had Say Nothing from the ever-talented Patrick Rodden Keefe and North Woods by Daniel Mason, which has definitely piqued my curiosity. Uh so yeah, a successful book club, uh, four uh solid new books. And then we have a collection probably twelve plus uh going back um through the uh the previous four outings. So with that, how about uh a little bit of final notes and we'll put a bow on it for a nice tight show for this week. Ye |
| Jason Heaton | ah, for sure. Um well as a as if I needed more uh dad hats or any sort of cap for that matter. Um, I just couldn't resist picking up the 200 meter dad hat from our good buddy Anthony Lane, Tony, Slack member, designer extraordinaire. He helped us design the California firefighting uh charity shirt that we did last summer. Um Tony's a really talented uh watch enthusiast and and designer, of course. That's that's what he does for for work. And he released this line of of dad hats. It's a it's a cotton twill um really high quality, nice um you know build cap. Uh I picked up the one that he calls the snowflake, it's a dark blue with the 200 meters equals six hundred sixty feet uh script on r on it. I I like this cap. I like the color of it, but it's also it's one of those nods. It's I hate to do the if you know you know, but it's it's just not so on the nose. I'm not much for like wearing full-on watch adjacent merchandise or stuff that has like names and things on it or brands. So this is just sure quirky enough that you know you might get some quizzical looks and some questions from people, but uh it's it's just really neat. It's in the exact script that you used to get on old submariner dials. Um and and Tony's just done a great job on this. He's selling it on his uh ill the illustrated watch dot com shop. We'll put a link in the show notes uh for a very reasonable thirty seven dollars. So I paid for it with my own money. He didn't send this to me. Um well he did send it to me, but after I paid. Um and I've been wearing it ever since. It's a great cap. So check it out. Yeah. Good job, Tony |
| James Stacy | . That's awesome. Yeah. Looks awesome. Uh I I love the idea and the reference. The hat also looks great. I love a blue hat. Good, good idea there. Yeah. And uh shout out Tony. Always a pleasure to see him uh succeed and put out great new stuff. Yeah. Talented designer and and illustrator. All right, and mine this week is actually a YouTube video. I've been enjoying this guy uh Maurice moves on YouTube for the last little while. I dug into it just before I went to Japan a little while ago because he had all these videos. He's a a Canadian guy from Toronto. Um and he has all these videos about how to travel specifically for given areas, like how he does. So he seems to spend upwards of six months a year kind of traveling abroad, often in Southeast Asia. So I watched a few of his um kind of gear and EDC bag considerations for Japan, his favorite stationery stores and this sort of thing. My daughters enjoy that kind of stuff as well. And then just recently, this past weekend, he put out a uh video about uh traveling to the it's called I Traveled to the Best City on Earth for Everyday Carrie. And so it's about spending twenty-four hours in Taipei in Taiwan, um, and kind of buying locally from cool shops there to build out like an EDC kit for the area. Yeah. And some of it's even custom to like certain ways that people live there and that that would be different than say Toronto. Uh I really enjoyed this video. Uh, you know, he does a lot of sort of yeah, travel gear, logistics. The episodes are really fun, they're really well shot. Uh, and he seems to have like an insider's knowledge for some of these areas that he's going to. Like I said, the the Tokyo ones are really fun. So yeah, I I highly recommend it. And especially if you're gonna be traveling there, but even if you just want to dig in from like a EDC sort of and that's everyday carry, uh, for those of you who don't it's it's about like little bags and cases and stationery and pens and pocket knives and stuff like that. Yeah. This looks |
| Jason Heaton | great. Yeah. I I I see uh I see some some merino wool uh clothing in here which I think is uh obviously a very sensible thing for for travel for versatile um and some other kind of cool stuff that that rings a bell to Night Eyes, I see in there, uh things that you've talked about too. So yeah, I'll check it out. Gotta love night eyes, right? Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I think I think we are a unofficial, unsponsored somehow, you know, influencer for night eyes. I do really like their products. I have them on all of my all of my bags. I have their little S beaners and such. But yeah, uh good stuff with Maurice Moves, uh, his YouTube channel, and I'll I'll include the link to that video specifically. And then yeah, the Illustrated Watch and a Killer uh Snowflake inspired hat. I like it a lot. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and this is an unofficial final note, but I'll throw out there that season two of Ill Advised with Bill Nye podcast has just dropped uh the second season. There's a first episode out. So yeah, if anyone's looking for more Bill Nye uh fun |
| James Stacy | stuff there, so check that out. All right, we'll put that in the show notes as well. As always, thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode or even consider supporting the show directly, which could get you into the TGN Slack or even a new TG and Signato, maybe even both if you want, please visit thegreynato.com. Music Throat is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. And |
| Jason Heaton | we leave you with this quote from Oscar Wilde, who said, It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. |