MashReads Podcast: John Darnielle tells us not to trust 'Universal Harvester.' That's the point.

About midway through his new book Universal Harvester, John Darnielle, lead singer of indie band The Mountain Goats and author of the critically acclaimed novel Wolf In White Van, drops a little nugget of wisdom: "Everybody leaves a little something behind."

This may seem simple and mundane, but it is this core truth that animates Darnielle's haunting and unforgettable new novel.

Universal Harvester follows Jeremy, a video store clerk in Nevada, Iowa, who notices that curious, shocking and sometimes violent scenes are being recorded on top of the store's tapes. When Jeremy and a few other employees at the store begin to investigate the tapes, they realize that the scenes were recorded just outside of their town, leading them down a dark and disturbing mystery that was hiding right in front of them all along.

Packed with unsettling twists and turns, Universal Harvester explores we all leave, intentional or not, ghosts once we are gone.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss John Darnielle's new novel Universal Harvester with John Darnielle himself!

And as always we close the show with recommendations:

• Peter recommends Wolf In White Van, John Darnielle's first novel. He also recommends Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "It is a masterpiece of dialogue. It's just a masterpiece of subtext dialogue. It is a play of subtweets."

• Aliza recommends Adam Silvera's novel More Happy Than Not. "I highly recommend that book. It's very deep and sad and beautiful and wonderful." Aliza also recommends Crazy Ex Girlfriend on the CW. "Everyone should watch that show."

• MJ recommends the podcast Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race. "I unfortunately found out that it was canceled by Panoply, who was producing it, but there's a whole archive of episodes that you should listen to...It's just really smart, and thoughtful." He specifically recommends their episode "Will You Be My Black Friend."

We hope you'll join us next week as we read and discuss Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. And if you're looking for a book to sink your teeth into, we recommend History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera, which is this month's official MashReads book club book.

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