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Remember last December when the crew at Just In Case We Die celebrated the holidays and National Read A New Book Month by combining both into one gift-giving effort? Well, they decided to do that same thing again (even if two of them still haven’t finished the books they were given last year).

Classic titles, obscure titles, novels by authors who have been mentioned repeatedly on the show, and one cast member tricked into reading a wholly new genre. Six new books up for discussion.

Happy holidays!

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André Brink’s A Dry White Season is a great example of the sort of novel Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca are describing when they classify a book as “essential.”

First published in 1979, this thought-provoking story recounts the journey of a white Afrikaaner as he transforms from a passive observer into an active challenger of injustice. Emphasizing the necessity of taking action against oppression, this novel explores the complicity of white privilege, moral awakening, and the personal costs associated with resistance.

Framed as a deceptively simple legal thriller, this is not a novel they will soon be forgetting.

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All three cast members of Just In Case We Die are acknowledging that their accumulation of books has gotten out of control. The to-be-read piles get increasingly more problematic. This is not a problem that appears to be remedying itself in the near future.

Consider:

1) Next month, each cast member will be given two books by their co-hosts.

2) Every month for the next year, they’ll be reading one book from the list for discussion.

3) Each of them will, more than likely, receive many books for Christmas.

4) Aaron has committed himself to reading every Salman Rushdie novel that has been published (and has, somehow convinced the others to pick authors of their own)

This list isn’t even counting the books that will catch their eye in reviews and bookstore displays!

Something clearly has to be done.

For November’s bonus, each of our literature lovers are picking three books from their ever-growing piles and making a commitment to read it. From post-modern masterworks to revolutionary science-fiction, from memoirs to recent award winners, from pulling the trigger on a dauntingly-long series to a recommendation from one of their own, these lists run the gamut and are sure to be surprising.