Marlon and Jake Read Dead People
Alle afleveringen
45 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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The Literary Hall of Shame
8 september 2026 · 36 min
In our last episode of the season, Marlon and Jake take on the worst books by the best authors—or at least, authors they usually love. They discuss why a journalist’s instincts can be both a gift and a curse when writing fiction, the importance of a great editor, writers who seem more interested in ideas than people, and novels that try so hard to be current they end up aging badly. Tune in for a conversation about literary misfires and wasted genius. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper
The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches
In the Hand of Dante by Nick Tosches
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
My Son’s Story by Nadine Gordimer
Quicksand by Nella Larsen
The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins
The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Whirlwind by James Clavell
Gai-Jin by James Clavell
The Breast by Philip Roth
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
Humboldt’s Gift by Saul Bellow
Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow
A Small Town in Germany by John le Carré
The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré
A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Until August by Gabriel García Márquez
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
India: A Wounded Civilization…
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English Teachers, Look Away
1 september 2026 · 44 min
Marlon and Jake discuss the books they’d banish from school reading lists—not ban but give a well-earned time out. They consider why the Bible shouldn’t make the cut, why mythology deserves to expand beyond the Greeks and Romans, and what kinds of books actually resonate with high school readers. Plus: why being a great book doesn’t necessarily make something a great book to teach—and whether length should matter. Lees meer
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Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
“Who Am I This Time?” by Kurt Vonnegut
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges
“The Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
You Can’t Take It with You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Look Back in Anger by John Osb…
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In Defense of Gratuitous Violence
25 augustus 2026 · 39 min
Marlon and Jake take on violence in fiction: what makes it effective, what makes it gratuitous, and whether “gratuitous violence” is even a useful distinction. Tune in as they discuss the difference between violence on the page and on screen and why extended cruelty can be harder to stomach than violence itself. Lees meer
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Lord of the Flies by William Golding
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
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The Most Important Character Isn’t a Character
18 augustus 2026 · 48 min
Marlon and Jake explore the power of setting in novels—and why the best stories feel like they couldn’t have happened anywhere else. They discuss settings that become characters in their own right, fictional worlds they’d love (or absolutely hate) to inhabit, and books that made unexpected places fascinating. Plus: why a modern-day Captain Nemo might just be a tech bro. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
Amerika by Franz Kafka
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ing…
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This Got More Personal Than We Expected
11 augustus 2026 · 37 min
Marlon and Jake explore the books that have helped define who they are, choosing four that capture different parts of their personalities and lives. They unpack how reading can shape our understanding of identity, community, and growing up—and change the way we see ourselves and each other. Tune in as they reflect on books they encountered at exactly the right (or wrong) time and the stories that made the world around them feel a little bigger. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer
Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer
The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
The Aspern Papers by Henry James
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
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Why Does Great Literature Have Such Bad Sex?
4 augustus 2026 · 36 min
Marlon and Jake dive into one of literature's trickiest subjects: sex. Why do some writers capture intimacy with honesty while others veer into the unintentionally hilarious? Along the way, they discuss why writing about sex is really writing about people, the differences between American and French attitudes toward sexuality in fiction, ghost stories as a vehicle for taboo desires, and the delicate balance between telling the truth and keeping readers engaged. Tune in for a conversation about why the best writing on sex is rarely just about sex. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
“The Diamond Mine” by Nadine Gordimer
The Late Bourgeois World by Nadine Gordimer
Death of Venice by Thomas Mann
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet
Maurice by E. M. Forster
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Ernesto by Umberto Saba
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
London Fields by Martin Amis
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown
G. by John Berger
Flashman series
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Jaws by Peter Benchley
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Writers We'll Never Read Again (Sorry, Faulkner)
28 juli 2026 · 40 min
Marlon and Jake tackle the writers they have no interest in revisiting, asking when it's worth giving a beloved (or notorious) author another chance and when it's perfectly fine to walk away for good. Tune in as they debate literary canon, books that simply aren't for them, the difference between a difficult author and a difficult book, and why sometimes the most honest review is, "Nobody needs to go back to that" Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
The Executioner series by Don Pendleton
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Airport by Arthur Hailey
Wheels by Arthur Hailey
The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
Shōgun by James Clavell
Tai-Pan by James Clavell
King Rat by James Clavell
Whirlwind by James Clavell
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
Light in August by William Faulkner
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Pylon by William Faulkner
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
Answered Prayers by Truman Capote
“Where Is the Voice Coming from?” by Eudora Welty
The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Return of a Native by Thomas Hardy
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing
Children of Violence series by Doris Lessing
Pentimento by Lillian Hellman
Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman
An Unfinished Woman by Lillian Hellman
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara
Butterfield 8 by John O’Hara
A Rage to Live by John O’Hara
Sophie’s Choi…
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Is Jane Eyre Okay?
21 juli 2026 · 36 min
Marlon and Jake explore why we're so eager to revisit the worlds of our favorite stories, asking whether great characters are better left where their authors left them—or if there's value in imagining what came before or after. Tune in as they unpack the appeal of sequels, the pitfalls of origin stories, and why some fictional worlds are more powerful when they remain a mystery. Lees meer
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A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
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Calling Bullshit on Dystopias
14 juli 2026 · 43 min
Marlon and Jake dive into the world of dystopian fiction, unpacking what truly makes a dystopia—and whether some of the genre’s biggest ideas hold up under closer scrutiny. Along the way, they discuss why some dystopias feel more believable than others, how our understanding of these stories changes over time, and the real-world parallels that make them resonate long after the final page. Tune in as they explore how history, power, and human nature shape the worlds we imagine. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
1984 by George Orwell
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Pilgermann by Russell Hoban
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Pincher Martin by William Golding
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
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Clearing the Cobwebs
7 juli 2026 · 38 min
Welcome back for a new season! Marlon and Jake catch up on what they’ve been reading, writing, and working on, including Marlon’s new novel, and explore the books they return to when it’s time to create. They discuss the stories that inspire rather than intimidate, the surprising value of giving up on a book, and the writers they revisit to clear the cobwebs from their minds. Tune in to hear how reading shapes their creative process, from finding the right voice to discovering what makes great dialogue. Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.
“A Trifle from Life” by Anton Chekhov
Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
“Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway
The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne
War Music by Christopher Logue
The Odyssey by Homer
The Oresteia by Aeschylus
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Ernesto by Umberto Saba
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
New Hampshire by Robert Frost
In Parenthesis by David Jones
Civil War by Lucan
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The Beach Read
2 mei 2023 · 40 min
In the final episode of the season, Marlon and Jake weigh in on their favorite vacation reads, including the ones they started but never finished. Tune in to find out which classic novels Jake took to the beach and which ones Marlon says should have been thrown in the ocean. Lees meer
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The Goodbye Look by Ross McDonald
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Chances by Jackie Collins
The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Pronto by Elmore Leonard
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur, Jr.
Persuasion by Jane Austen
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The Campus Novel
25 april 2023 · 38 min
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times—it was school. In this episode, Marlon and Jake discuss books where school is the setting or going to school is central to the plot. They debate which authors got school right and which got school wrong, what makes an inspiring teacher, and what the closed universe of a schoolyard or college campus can feel like. Tune in to hear Marlon and Jake reminisce over their own college experiences and what they were like as students. Lees meer
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Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
The Crime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Look back in Anger by John Osborne
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner
Love Story by Erich Segal
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Stoner by John Williams
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams
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City Settings
18 april 2023 · 46 min
In this episode, Marlon and Jake talk about cities in books. Books set in memorable cities, books set in cities you're glad you've never been to and books where the city itself is nearly a character. They talk about the specificity of London of the 19th century British novel, the New York novel, entirely fictional cities in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and don’t miss Marlon’s personal experience with Bloomsday in Dublin! Lees meer
Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletterUlysses by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L’Engle
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Characters Behaving Badly
11 april 2023 · 55 min
In this episode, Marlon and Jake talk about the bad characters we’re not meant to like but do and the good characters we’re meant to like but annoy us. From Dracula to Daisy Buchanan to Oliver Twist and Bambi, the good-to-evil spectrum is vast and no character is safe from commentary. Tune in to find out which classic villain the duo unanimously hate, and which villain gives Marlon the chills and scares Jake to this day. Lees meer
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The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
The Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser
Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
King Solomon’s Mines by Sir H. Rider Haggard
Raiders of the Lost Arc by Campbell Black
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Good Morning Midnight by Jean Rhys
Bambi by Felix Salten
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Emma by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
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Poetry FOMO
4 april 2023 · 41 min
This episode, Marlon and Jake discuss a new subject for the podcast: poetry! From epic poems to sonnets to the Romantics poets to contemporary (dead) poets. They ponder over why people don’t read poetry as much as prose and recite, on the spot, lines of poetry that are forever engrained in their memories. Lees meer
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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
War Music by Christopher Logue
The Gift Outright by Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
W.H. Auden
T.S. Eliot
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Wordsworth
Rupert Brooke
John Dunn
The Spanish Needle by Claude McKay
The Iliad by Homer
The Aeneid by Virgil
Omeros by Derek Walcott
The Arrivants by Kamau Brathwaite
Riddyn Ravings (The Mad Woman's Poem) by Jean “Binta” Breeze
Anne Sexton
Dr. Maya Angelou
The Tyger by William Blake
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Gwendolyn Brooks
June Jordan
Audre Lorde
Toni Morrison
Ogden Nash
Dorothy Parker
Tales From Ovid by Ted Hughes
Inferno from Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
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Books Assigned in School
28 maart 2023 · 44 min
Books assigned in school evoke strong feelings. You either love em’ or you hate em.’ In this episode, Marlon and Jake discuss the books they wished they were assigned in school and the ones they suffered through. Accompanying the books taught in school, there are, of course, the teachers who taught them. A teacher can make or break a book read in school. As a literature teacher (as well as Booker prize winning author), Marlon acknowledges there are some novels assigned in school that you have to work to understand that are really good, but sometimes those novels are not good and if it weren’t for being assigned in school, we wouldn’t still be reading it. Lees meer
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Republic by Plato
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Washington Square by Henry James
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Aspern Papers byHenry James
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Daisy Miller by Henry James
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bondsman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts
Guerillas by VS Naipaul
Miguel Street by VS Naipaul
A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul
A House for Mr. Biswas by VS Naipaul
Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Shogun by James Clavell
Tia-pan by James Clavell
King Rat by James Clavell
Whirlwind by James Clavell
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
King Lear by Wi…
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Judging a Book
21 maart 2023 · 45 min
In this episode, Marlon and Jake weigh in on a question as old as books themselves—can you judge a book by its cover? Spoiler alert: the answer is yes! They discuss good books with bad covers and bad books with good covers, cover art trends (*cough* the woman facing away), books that were recommended to them, and books they read because of peer pressure. Tune in to hear Marlon and Jake opine the myriad ways we judge books. Lees meer
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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
The Latecomers by Anita Brookner
The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex: But Were Afraid to Ask by Dr. David R. Reuben
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Ancient Evening by Norman Mailer
Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Ballad of a Sad Café by Carson McCullers
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Hound of the Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Jamacia Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
Don’t Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Dune by Frank Herbert
Stoner by John Williams
One is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins
Chances by Jackie Collins
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner
Butterfield 8 by John O’Hara
A Rage to Live by John O’Hara
Grendel by John Gardner
Mickelsson’s Ghosts by John Gardner
October Light by John Gardner
Freddy’s Book by John Gardner
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From TBR to Recently Read
14 maart 2023 · 44 min
Marlon and Jake are back! And they’re catching up on the dead authors they’ve read since they last spoke—some of which they praise, others they don’t. From comparing Nella Larson’s Passing to the Netflix film, to discussing unsettling stories that linger with you, they cover a lot of literary ground. They also weigh in on longstanding debates like whether they read the book or watch the movie adaption first and the difference between horror and terror. Tune in for the witty book banter you know and love. Lees meer
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The Letters of Thom Gunn by Thom Gunn
Passing by Nella Larsen
A View From a Hill by Montague Roads James
The Turn of The Screw by Henry James
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Jesus’s Son by Denis Johnson
Airships by Barry Hannah
Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac
Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
Hell House by Richard Matheson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
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Season Three Announcement
7 maart 2023 · 1 min
In just one week, Marlon and Jake return with an epic new season discussing the non-living luminaries they love, hate, and will never agree on. Get ready for even more hot takes, hilarious debates, and incisive commentary on dead poets, judging books by their covers, exactly what kind of student Marlon was in college, and which classic novel Jake spoiled the ending for a colleague—among other literary gems. Lees meer
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Appetizer 2: Powerful Female Characters
25 februari 2022 · 41 min
Marlon & Jake are back to discuss the most indelible and powerful female characters—those written by dead female authors and those written by dead male authors. From Sula Peace to the Wife of Bath, Scout Finch to Janie Crawford—these two gentleman celebrate some of literature’s most ferocious, complicated, guileless, unrepentant and commanding women. Lees meer
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Double Indemnity by James Cain
There Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Dubliners by James Joyce
Kindred Octavia Butler
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
Sula by Toni Morrison
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Appetizer 1: Unreliable Narrators
18 februari 2022 · 45 min
Marlon & Jake are back to discuss the narrators they love but can't trust. From the delusional to the uninformed, the sociopathic to the sympathetic, they explore the characters that charm as much as they trick, begging the question: is there such a thing as a reliable narrator? So tune in to hear if Jake has warmed to Great Expectations (spoiler alert: he hasn’t) and so much more! Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Stern
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
"Charles" by Shirley Jackson (in The Lottery and Other Stories collection)
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Appetizers for everyone!
18 februari 2022 · 4 min
We didn't ghost you, dear listeners. Marlon had a novel to finish, which Jake had to edit. But the good news is it's officially out in the world, and so before Marlon—the very living author—takes off on his whirlwind book tour, he and Jake are back together for a brief (but delicious) reunion of discussing what they love most: DEAD AUTHORS. We'll be back for season three later this spring, but until then, stayed tuned for an amuse bouche, a canapé, an appetizer—take your pick!—to the glorious meal on the horizon. Lees meer
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Dead Authors Through History
1 september 2021 · 59 min
Prepare for what might be Marlon & Jake’s most controversial hot takes yet, as they travel back through the last four hundred years to decide which dead authors from each century stand the test of time and which can be left to gather dust on the shelf. Where do they fall on Paradise Lost? Who triumphs in the battle of the poets v. novelists of the 18th century? How much has the 1930s Hollywood studio system shaped classic stories? Which of them stans Huckleberry Finn, and who thinks it might be overrated? Marlon & Jake answer these questions and more as they discuss the timeless work of the freaky, the rebellious and the groundbreaking. From Mary Shelley to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Paul Laurence Dunbar to Daphne du Maurier—with a healthy dose of Alexander Pope-dissing—tune in to find out where you stand with their picks. Lees meer
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah Bilgrami
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Provoked Wife by John Vanbrugh
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mathilda by Mary Shelley
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Complete Poems of William Blake
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Nana by Émile Zola
Germinal by Émile Zola
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Forest of A Thousand Daemons by D.O. Fagunwa
Cane by Jean Toomer
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gab…
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Books to Gift
25 augustus 2021 · 48 min
This week Marlon & Jake discuss the books by dead authors they give as gifts and the very important decision-making that goes into that selection. Whether it’s for a younger, skeptical or pretentious reader, they share the unintentionally comedic and surprisingly engaging books they choose to bestow upon their loved ones. Lees meer
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
Tai-Pan by James Clavell
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe
The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The History of Jamaica by Edward Long
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
One Thousand and One Nights
The Death of King Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
Oreo by Fran Ross
The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake by Breece D’J Pancake
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
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Our Favorite Characters
18 augustus 2021 · 46 min
This week Marlon & Jake discuss memorable characters from books by dead authors—who they love, who they despise and everything in between. What exactly makes a character great? Who would they invite to their literary dinner party and why? From Elmore Leonard’s Raylan to Louisa May Alcott’s Jo March, Lady Macbeth to Auntie Mame—tune in to hear which fictional personalities would get a seat at the table, who would be banished forever, and who Marlon and Jake would simply ignore. Lees meer
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Pronto by Elmore Leonard
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sula by Toni Morrison
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
The Parker novels by Richard Stark
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré
The Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
King Lear by William Shakespeare
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Stua…
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Literary Grudge Match
11 augustus 2021 · 45 min
Marlon and Jake take on literary giants in a grudge match for the ages. This time it's Charles Dickens vs. Anthony Trollope and Louisa May Alcott vs. Laura Ingalls Wilder in a no-holds-barred royal rumble. The two of them pull no punches, whether they're talking about racism or Edith Wharton's snobbery, colonialism or Hugh Grant's hair. So get ready to cheer on your favorite dead author and literary warrior as Marlon and Jake go mano a mano in a street fight you've definitely never come across before. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino -
Books We Wish We had Written
4 augustus 2021 · 57 min
Literary speculation abounds as Marlon and Jake reveal which books they wish they had written and which they think would have been better if they’d been written by someone completely different. Listen in as they explore the questions you never knew you needed answers to. Would The Confessions of Nat Turner have been better if Zora Neale Hurston had written it? Who could have written a funnier Ulysses? Were members of the Bloomsbury Group actually total bores? And perhaps most important: Does Marlon’s mom still have his Tom Jones fan-fiction and if so, how much is Jake willing to pay for it? Tune in for all this and more, including a lively discussion about plays that are as enjoyable to read as they are to see on stage. (And spoiler: Jake is not a fan of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.) Lees meer
Select title discussed:
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Dubliners by James Joyce
Tai-Pan by James Clavell
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
Airships by Barry Hannah
Joseph Andrews by Henry fielding
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
Shōgun by James Clavell
Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
Terrorist by John Updike
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Ulysses by James Joyce
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The M…
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Gateway Books
28 juli 2021 · 50 min
Marlon and Jake share their "gateway" books by dead authors, the first books they read that that turned them on—or off—the rest of an author's work. From John Steinbeck to Dorothy Parker, Umberto Eco to Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand to Carson McCullers, Marlon and Jake don't hold back in discussing the imprints, footprints, and thumbprints these books left on them. They also ponder the long-lasting consequences of the high school lit class, whether a gateway book can be assigned, and the enduring power of dullness in a novel, no matter the century. Listen for this and more, including what Marlon and Jake think of The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara, edited by one Toni Morrison. Lees meer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
Sula by Toni Morrison
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez
Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker
The collected poetry of Dorothy Parker
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
In the hand of Dante by Nicholas Tosches
Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer
Harlot’s Ghost by Norman Mailer
An Am…
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Best Last Books
21 juli 2021 · 45 min
In this episode Marlon and Jake ponder the tricky question of the last books by authors who’ve … um … left this mortal coil. Which last books are actually worth reading? (Not many, it turns out.) From Roberto Bolaño to Penelope Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath to Eudora Welty, Marlon and Jake discuss how an author's last book compares to their previous ones, how success and age changed how and what they wrote, and the wistfulness that comes when some last books are actually good and you wonder what the authors might have written next, if, you know, they hadn't died. Tune in for this and more, including Marlon and Jake’s surprising thoughts on James Thurber's humorous memoir, My Life and Hard Times. Lees meer
Select titles discussed:
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Passage to India by E. M. Forster
Something Happened by Joseph Heller
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie by Jean Rhys
One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty
The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
“Where is the Voice Coming From?” by Eudora Welty
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
Typee by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara
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Our Second Favorite Books by Dead Authors
14 juli 2021 · 45 min
We've heard them rave about their favorites and rant about their least favorites, but Marlon and Jake reveal in this episode their second favorite books by dead authors: the books they love that are the runners-up to the #1 spots in their hearts. From Amos Tutuola to Gabriel García Márquez to John le Carré and more, Marlon and Jake explore why one's favorite book by an author might not always be their best book, what separates an intellectual vs. an emotional response to a book, and the importance of being a promiscuous reader. (That’s right, promiscuous.) And what is the next book by a dead author Marlon and Jake will be reading together for the first time? Tune in to find out! Lees meer
Select Titles Discussed:
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Darkness Visible by William Golding
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Shardik by Richard Adams
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Shōgun by James Clavell
Airport by Arthur Hailey
The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carré
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré
The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carré
Smiley’s People by John le Carré
A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sula by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Blood on the Forge by William Attaway
My Life and Hard Times by Jame…
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Good Books By Terrible People
7 juli 2021 · 41 min
Marlon & Jake weigh in on the age-old “artist versus art” debate, as they examine good books by problematic dead authors, as well as the bad and sometimes problematic books by great dead authors. From Flannery O’Conner to Roald Dahl, Vladimir Nabokov to the surprisingly challenging Charles Dickens, Marlon & Jake explore the thorny questions surrounding the books worth fighting for and the ones worth fighting over. How exactly do we define terrible books? Is there a statute of limitations on being offensive? Can we enjoy a book at the same time that we recognize its failures? Do people and ideas ever evolve beyond books? And what does it mean to have the freedom to choose what to read? Tune in for a provocative, nuanced conversation that might just make you rethink, revisit, or totally let go when it comes to your own reading of dead authors. Lees meer
Selected works discussed
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Bear and His Daughter by Robert Stone
The Breast by Philip Roth
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
And the writing of:
Charles Dickens
Knut Hamsun
Jack London
HP Lovecraft
William S. Burroughs
Norman Mailer
Enid Blyton
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Short Novels and Novellas
30 juni 2021 · 48 min
Marlon and Jake talk short books they love, syllabus staples to skip (Hemingway die-hards, consider yourselves warned), and their first-ever real-time joint read, Blood on the Forge by William Attaway. What does Marlon consider the closest thing to a perfect novel? Tune in to find out! Lees meer
Sula by Toni Morrison
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Aspern Papers by Henry James
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Passing by Nella Larsen
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
1984 by George Orwell
Blood on the Forge by William Attaway
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We’re Baaaaack!
23 juni 2021 · 41 min
Marlon and Jake reunite to discuss the books that got them through the pandemic, classics they wish they had written, and whether Lord of the Flies needs a sequel. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Maurice by E.M. Forster
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Blood on the Forge by William Attaway
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Season Two Trailer
14 juni 2021 · 1 min
Marlon and Jake are back with a sizzling new season of the dead authors they love, hate, and will never agree on. Get ready for even more heated (and hilarious) debates, unexpected insights, and—of course—brutal honesty. Dead authors never felt so cool. Lees meer
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Season Two Teaser
27 mei 2021 · 1 min
Marlon and Jake are back this summer for a second season
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Goodbye for Now, but We'll Be Back!
17 maart 2020 · 9 min
As Marlon and Jake wrap up Season 1 of Reading Dead People, they take a moment to reflect on what they've learned and what dead books and authors they want to discuss when they return for season two. So Marlon and Jake will be on a hiatus--they have some reading to do!--but fear not, they will be back soon to discuss the good, the bad and the everything in between. Until then, go read some dead people!! Lees meer
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Questions, Questions
9 maart 2020 · 46 min
This week Marlon and Jake answer some of the questions that listeners have asked. What dead author or book did they initially hate but have come around to love? What is the best book by the worst dead author? And who is the most annoying character by a dead author? (Spoiler alert: Heathcliff. Obviously.) Along the way Jake confesses a lack of enthusiasm for William Faulkner and, yes, Virginia Woolf, while Marlon bemoans the insufferably boring Thomas Hardy and makes a plug for the poetic darkness of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Their shared hatred of A Tale of Two Cities is back and stronger than ever. Will Jake re-read Absalom, Absalom!? Will Marlon let go of his Edith Wharton grudge? Should we take relationship advice from Jane Austen? Was D.H. Lawrence the 20th Century’s bridesmaid but never its bride? Has the “Great Pirate Novel” been written? Tune in to learn the answers to these essential questions and so much more! Lees meer
Select titles discussed in this episode:
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
Emma by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Harvey by Mary Chase
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
QB VII by Leon Uris
Airport by Arthur Hailey
The White Witch of Rosehall by Herbert G. de Lisser
The Black Sun by Lance Horner
Richard III by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Pericles by William Shakespeare
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Cymbeli…
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Trashy Novels To Die For
2 maart 2020 · 38 min
This week Marlon and Jake dive into one of life’s great guilty pleasures: the trashy novel. Do such books provide intellectual stimulation or lessons on morality? Of course not. Nevertheless, Marlon and Jake extol the virtues of these irresistibly low-brow novels that they can’t get enough of, in the process asking: What makes a novel trashy and what makes it literary? If a book holds up a mirror to society, can it qualify as trash? What are the differences between trashy novels for women and trashy novels for men? From Peyton Place to Valley of the Dolls to the Falconhurst novels, Marlon and Jake get real about the wonderfully salacious plots, the ridiculously named characters, the gay subtexts, the surprising pathos, and all the sex. SO. MUCH. SEX. So literary snobs, be warned. For the rest of us, tune in to celebrate dead authors who have given us the gift of a shamelessly good read. Lees meer
Select titles discussed in this episode:
The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins
The Falconhurst Series by Lance Horner, Kyle Onstott, and Ashley
Carter
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Shogun by James Clavell
The Executioner Series by Don Pendleton
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Bad Seed by William March
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
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Movies Made From Books by Dead People
24 februari 2020 · 41 min
Marlon and Jake put on their Hollywood sunglasses as they discuss the films adapted from books by dead people. What makes a good movie adaptation? What translates from the page to the screen and what most definitely does not? Jake admits that The Exorcist is the most shocking novel and movie he’s ever encountered, and Marlon celebrates the unparalleled brilliance of Die Hard—which yes, was adapted from a novel, and which yes, Marlon has actually read. Jake (yet again) offends Marlon with his disdain for all things Hobbit and Marlon points to Angela’s Ashes as an example of the phenomenon of the “well-made bad movie.” From the atrocious attempts to bring The Great Gatsby to the big screen to the unfortunate existence of Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral, Marlon and Jake explore great books that were made into less-than-great films as well as bad books that made excellent movies. How did the messiness of Mario Puzo’s storytelling and prose make the perfection that is The Godfather films? How did an angry-animal thriller like Jaws become a horror movie classic? From The Princess Bride to A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon and Jake debate what goes into a terrific – and a lousy – film adaptation. So grab your popcorn and Jujubes and settle back for one wild cinematic ride. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
The Grifters by Jim Thompson
The Hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien
Jaws by Peter Benchley
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Nothing Lasts Forever by R…
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Memoir and Autobiography
17 februari 2020 · 36 min
This week Marlon and Jake delve into the very real lives of very dead writers. From Gore Vidal to Frank McCourt, Ulysses S. Grant to Gabriel García Márquez, they discuss how memory compares to history and whether the trustworthiness of a memoir really matters if the book is a compelling read. Their discussion about WASPy realism leads them to debate whether John Cheever or John Updike is the better writer, and Marlon poses the scandalous question of whether Jane Austen lacked passion (gasp!). Whether they’re talking about philandering playwrights or humorous newspaper columnists, Marlon and Jake prove that truth really can be stranger than fiction. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
Personal Memoirs by Ulysses Grant
Palimpsest by Gore Vidal
The Night of the Gun by David Carr
Act One by Moss Hart
Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez
Rabbit Series (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit
At Rest) by John Updike
The Maples Stories by John Updike
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries by Erma Bombeck
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Myths, Legends and Fables
10 februari 2020 · 44 min
This week Marlon and Jake go back in time-way, way back-and revisit the myths and legends that have terrified and tantalized us for centuries. Gods and monsters. The powerful and the petty. The shape-shifting and the rampantly naked. From ancient Greece and Africa to Jamaica and Ireland, Marlon and Jake explore the world's myths and legends-how they persist and how we absorb, sanitize and subvert them. Whether it's Jason and the Golden Fleece, the trickster Anansi, or the non-consenting kiss in Sleeping Beauty, Marlon and Jake get real about fairy tales and folklore. And for all Black Leopard, Red Wolf fans, tune in to learn more about which of these traditions influenced Marlon's epic fantasy and how he's turning the wicked witch trope on its head in the trilogy's next novel! Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
The Greek Myths
The Labors of Hercules
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Daedelus and Icarus
Bullfinch's Mythology
African Myths of Origin
Anansi the Spider
Apep and Ra
Black Heart Man
Rolling Calf
Sukuyan
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
Snow White
Rapunzel
Sleeping Beauty
Hansel and Gretel
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Little Mermaid
The Little Match Girl
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by William Butler Yeats
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Epic Fantasy
3 februari 2020 · 42 min
This week Marlon and Jake venture into fantasy: the imagined worlds of dead writers—from quests and dragons to magic carpets and pregnant kings. As they dive into the works of the giants of traditional fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they discuss the influence both writers had on Marlon's own fantasy epic, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which was inspired by the epic traditions of Africa and writers like D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola. They debate how reading fantasy as a child differs from reading it as an adult, wonder why there aren't more female characters, and lament how fantasy is still mostly read by boys and men. From The Hobbit to Ursula K. Le Guin, the two have some very real takes on the make-believe. So tune in. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
The Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola
Forest of a Thousand Daemons by D.O. Fagunwa
The Lake Goddess by Flora Nwapa
The Sagas of the Icelanders
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dune by Frank Herbert
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
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Dead Authors for a Desert Island
27 januari 2020 · 46 min
Marlon and Jake are back-this time to discuss which dead author they'd take with them to a desert island to reread over and over again-as well as which ones they'd happily leave lost at sea. From the Jamaica of Wide Sargasso Sea to the lonely New England of Shirley Jackson, Marlon and Jake get fired up over the books they vehemently love and the ones they equally hate. Marlon explores his complicated love for James Clavell and the underappreciated wisdom of Pride & Prejudice's Charlotte Lucas, while Jake (unsuccessfully) attempts to convince Marlon that Agatha Christie is, in fact, not overrated. One thing they actually agree on?? That would be their passionate disdain for Wuthering Heights-and it's not pretty-so Emily Bronte lovers, consider yourself warned! Lees meer
Included Titles:
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson
Shogun by James Clavell
Tai-Pan by James Clavell
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
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Literary Grudge Match
27 januari 2020 · 43 min
Marlon and Jake kick off the first episode by taking on some literary giants in a grudge match for the ages. This time it's Charles Dickens vs. Anthony Trollope and Louisa May Alcott vs. Laura Ingalls Wilder in a no-holds-barred royal rumble. The two of them pull no punches, whether they're talking about racism or Edith Wharton's snobbery, colonialism or Hugh Grant's hair. So get ready to cheer on your favorite dead author and literary warrior as Marlon and Jake go mano a mano in a street fight you've definitely never come across before. Lees meer
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
The Palliser Novels by Anthony Trollope
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
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Marlon and Jake Read Dead People Trailer
18 december 2019 · 1 min
Marlon and Jake Read Dead People is a podcast hosted by the Man Booker Prize-winning and internationally bestselling author Marlon James and his editor, Jake Morrissey, Executive Editor at Riverhead Books. Lees meer
In each episode, Marlon and Jake talk about authors—specifically dead authors. Authors they like. Authors they hate. Great books, terrible books, and books they love that you’d never expect them to. As a writer and an editor, Marlon and Jake have read thousands of books between them, and they’re not shy in expressing their opinions about them. Sometimes they’ll agree, sometimes they won’t, but, in every episode, they’ll tell you what they think—uncensored and with no holds barred. (That’s why the authors have to be dead.) So listen along to hear about the spectacularly good, the hilariously bad, and the brutally honest.