Wonder what the team behind Strange Land Books has been thinking about and talking about? CodEx Machina is where we spill the beans. Join Laura, Natalia, Bethany, and our guests as we discuss reading, publishing, and all things books!
The City & The City (feat. Eyesha Elahi) - Strange Land Book Club 9
On this Strange Land Book Club episode, our guest Eyesha Elahi is back to talk about China Miéville’s The City & The City. We discuss the way this novel asks the reader to bring their own experiences with them to understand what “unseeing”could mean, and we spend perhaps a little too much time interrogating the ampersand in the title.
6 Oct 2026
H.R. 7661: Censorship, Canon, and Protecting Children
Listen to the episode that will get us buried in the algorithm because Natalia, Bethany, and Laura discuss what is defined as “sexually explicit conduct” in 18 U.S.C. § 2256, part of the U.S. Code that H.R. 7661 intends to update. H.R. 7661 is a bill introduced on Feburary 24, 2026 in the House of Representatives. This bill would prohibit the use of federalfunding in schools to include “sexually oriented material” intheir curriculum, as defined by the aforementioned US Code, but now to also include “gender dysphoria or transgenderism”, thus continuing the slippery slide of disenfranchising people on tenuous moral grounds.
More importantly, the bill proposes to restrict which books are acceptable for literature education, drawing on three specific lists of books. We discuss these lists, how literature becomes canonized, and ask ourselves questions like who are the people behind these lists, and why should they setthe canon for schools in order to receive funding from the federal government?
Congressional site for the bill (also showing it’s progress in the House) https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text)
Wikipedia listing of the works in Great Books of the Western World (both 1st and 2nd edition)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World)
Classics Every Middle Schooler Should Read
https://compassclassroom.com/blog/classics-every-middle-schooler-read/ (https://compassclassroom.com/blog/classics-every-middle-schooler-read/)
Classics Every High Schooler Should Read
https://compassclassroom.com/blog/classics-every-high-schooler-should-read/ (https://compassclassroom.com/blog/classics-every-high-schooler-should-read/)
29 Sept 2026
Little Free Contentious Library - more on banned books!
“People who don’t like joy don’t like fry bread.”
Can you believe a book about a Native American child baking fry bread with her grandma is banned?
On this episode of Codex Machina, Bethany and Laura have a chat with the lovely and amazing Aileen Loy. Loy, an Atlantaartist/musician/writer/philanthropist who took it upon herself to “abduct” old and unused newspaper boxes and turn them into fancy Little Free Contentious Libraries containing books that had been banned. The project started as a response to book bans that began to spring up after Black Lives Matter – Loy wanted to highlight the fact that books about PoC characters were suddenly being banned, and wanted to also educate people on exactly what was being banned. Forexample, Good Hair by Yvonne Sewankambo, which is about alittle girl who doesn’t want to go to school because she hates her hair. Today, Loy has deposited over 55 of these boxes in 5 states: Texas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Louisiana, covering all sorts of banned books that celebrity diversity, individuality, and children’s agency. We chat with Loy about her project and banned books in general, and how important it is that people understand what kinds of books are being banned, and why.
Links:
https://c4aa.org/people/aileen-loy/ (https://c4aa.org/people/aileen-loy/)Insta: @aileenloyartist (https://www.instagram.com/aileenloyartist/?hl=en)
PEN America
https://pen.org/book-bans/book-ban-resources/ (https://pen.org/book-bans/book-ban-resources/)
https://pen.org/book-bans/pen-america-book-ban-index-data/ (https://pen.org/book-bans/pen-america-book-ban-index-data/ )
Who has been a guest on CodEX Machina
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Andrea Reyes Elizondo
Dr Jennifer Gouck
Dr Christina Neuwirth
Christina Neuwirth
Priit-Hendrik Kaldma
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
39
Social presence
0
YouTube
72
Engagement
32
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Guest appearances
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Questions about CodEX Machina
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Bethany and Laura and Natalia host the show. Published by CodEX Machina.
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