MashReads Podcast: 'The Girls' is what happens when teen angst meets a '60s commune

Emma Cline knows that being a teen is hard.

"A teenager's brain is an oppressive place to spend a lot of time," she said.

This week on the MashReads Podcast we chat with Cline about her debut novel, The Girls. The book follows Evie, a teen in the '60s, during the summer when she finds herself pulled into a Manson-like commune. Join us as we talk about cults and communes, the complicated nature of friendship and whether The Girls gets the challenges of being a teen right.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Emma is reading The Great Fires, a book of poems by Jack Gilbert.

• Peter recommends taking time and just appreciating the fall. "I feel like fall is so lovely in all the ways that poets always talk about."

• Sophie recommends Zootopia. "It's a very layered movie!"

• Proma recommends the pilots for Pitch and Insecure. She also recommends the Twitter account Birds Rights Activists. "If you need to laugh, go subscribe to that Twitter account now."

• MJ recommends 'An interview with the only woman Elon Musk follows on Twitter,' a hilarious interview with GQ's Caity Weaver after Elon Musk followed her on Twitter.

Next week on the podcast, we're reading Underground Airlines by Ben Winters.

Also, if you are looking for something new to read, check out our official MashReads October book club selection: Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. Whitehead will be chatting with MashReads IRL on Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m. ET, at MashableHQ in New York City. RSVP here if you'd like to attend our bookclub discussion. 

And if you're looking for more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.