S08.22: Chart Topping Songs and Their Perfect Romance Novel Pairings

Notes

1. You can listen to the accompanying playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
2. You, too, may want to learn about this mahjong situation brewing in the Midwest with Barbara.
3. It’s the Olympics. Defector is covering all the news stories we want to know about, including the Curling Drama between Sweden and Canada, the ice dancers are super villains, and this Norwegian skier is an idiot.
4. Happy Black History Month! Jen did something cool at The Newberry Library. It was part of the Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon, transcribing information about the Colored Conventions. You can still participate using Zooniverse, and looking for the Douglass Day Project.
5. Sarah enjoyed learning about the Asking Dumb Questions class at Yale.
6. Tom Breihan writes a column The Number Ones at Stereogum, and Jen also enjoys a similar Slate podcast called Hit Parade.
7. Here’s the spreadsheet of February hits, and a playlist of songs we talked about today! The Macarena is a song about love triangles! Bad Romance by Lady Gaga is on this list, but we only talk about books we like.
8. The DJ book Jen couldn’t remember was Rival Radio by Kathryn Nolan.
9. The Stud Budz, WNBA players Courtney Williams & Natisha Hiedeman, did a long livestream during the 2025 All...