Overdue

Alle afleveringen

845 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud

  1. Ep 145 - A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole

    16 november 2015 · 1 uur 7 min

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    Every once in awhile you read a character study about a character who is uniquely unpleasant to study—such is the case with John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, a thoroughly delightful book about the thoroughly repulsive Ignatius J. Reilly. Lees meer

    Join us for a discussion of baby birthdays, Seinfeld, dialect, jelly donuts, and solo hobbies.

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  2. Ep 144 - The Last of the Wine, by Mary Renault

    9 november 2015 · 1 uur 1 min

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    Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine depicts Ancient Greece as truthfully as possible. It is historical fiction filled with war, political intrigue, pederasty and explicit homosexual love - the likes of which were rather scandalous when she published it in the 1950s. Lees meer

    Her book also spawned an episode complete with discussions of Mr(s). Doubtfire, Alexander the Fine, unread text messages, and mummy libraries.

    This week's episode is brought you to by the Greek god of web design, Squarespace.

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  3. Ep 143 - Ghost Stories and Urban Legends (Bonus episode)

    5 november 2015 · 53 min

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    To close out Spooktober, we thought it only appropriate that we gather around the digital campfire and swap some spooooooky stories. Tales told include the Legend of Bloody Mary, an email forward about spiders, The Hook, and a rather disturbing story about Soviet sleep science gone horribly wrong (no really this one's actually sort of graphic and gross). Lees meer

    We forgot the s'mores, but we didn't forget to talk about pleasing terrors, picking up mummies, haunted sandwiches, and Oklahoma ghost stories.

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  4. Ep 142 - Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë

    2 november 2015 · 1 uur 5 min

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    This week we go back to the Brontë well to read Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, the only novel she published before her untimely death at the age of 30. Lees meer

    Wuthering Heights is about romance, vengeance, catching cold, inheriting property, and the perils of attempting to marry above or below your station - all the hallmarks of a good 19th century novel, in other words. We also talk about Thanksgiving, spelling bees, and Muppet Babies - all the hallmarks of an Overdue episode, in other words.

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  5. Ep 141 - Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier

    26 oktober 2015 · 1 uur 4 min

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    Though not conventionally spooky, Daphne du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca is a perfect fit for Spooktober. It takes place at a big creepy (but beautiful) house. There's an evil maid. And the late wife of Maxim de Winter haunts every action, every line of dialogue. Rebecca's also a powerful exploration and indictment of how women can have their identity defined for them. Lees meer

    Join us for a chat about terrible husbands, Halloween costumes, plagiarism, old people, and Ace Ventura.

    This episode is brought to you in part by Dollar Shave Club and Blue Apron.

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  6. Ep 140 - The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson

    19 oktober 2015 · 1 uur 3 min

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    Spooktober rolls on this week with Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror, a “true story” from the mid 1970s about a family that buys a haunted house and then gets chased out of it. Its spookiness rating is… pretty low. Lees meer

    We talk a bit about the real-life history of 112 Ocean Avenue, pig monsters, falling off of bikes, spaghetti, and ending chapters with exclamation points.

    This week’s show is brought to you in part by the fine folks at Squarespace.

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  7. Ep 139 - Ghost Train (Choose Your Own Adventure) by Louise Munro Foley

    12 oktober 2015 · 1 uur 8 min

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    Spooktober rolls along with another Choose Your Own Adventure: Louise Munro Foley's Ghost Train. We make some dubious choices in this week's episode: spending a summer in Canada, fighting corporate greed, discussing cat literature, and getting to the bottom of who's sabotaging the orchards! Lees meer

    This week's adventure is brought to you by Blue Apron.

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  8. Ep 138 - Bunnicula, by James and Deborah Howe (w/ Kathryn VanArendonk)

    5 oktober 2015 · 58 min

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    This week is the start of Overdue’s second-annual Spooktober spookfest, a month full of scary books that will get you in the mood for Halloween! Lees meer

    Our first book, brought to us by special guest host Kathryn VanArendonk, is about James and Deborah Howe’s Bunnicula. Kathryn could never finish this one as a kid, but she braved it as an adult so she could tell you about all the weird stuff that happens in it. A cat reads books. A bunny sucks the juice out of vegetables. And oh yeah, it was written by a dog.

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  9. Ep 137 - The Martian, by Andy Weir (Bonus episode)

    1 oktober 2015 · 58 min

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    Andy Weir's The Martian is about a man who gets trapped on Mars. It's about all of the actually plausible-sounding science he uses to get himself out of one scrape after another. It's about the efforts of people back on Earth to get him home. It's about (we suppose) triumph in the face of adversity, and the innate goodness of humanity. Lees meer

    In this case, what hurts the book the most is what it isn't: it isn't a particularly interesting character study, since the wisecracking astronaut Mark Watney seems to sail over every obstacle the red planet throws at him without much physical or psychological damage. It isn't a treatise on solitude (Watney rarely seems particularly affected by his loneliness in any lasting way) or on the darker side of human nature (there are no adversaries aside from Mars itself). What's here is a breezy read that's got some entertainment value, but it doesn't have quite the impact it could have had, which is a shame.

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  10. Ep 136 - LOTR: The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien

    28 september 2015 · 1 uur 24 min

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    It is time to ascend Mount Doom and end our time in Middle-Earth with Tolkien's The Return of the King. Many goodbyes are said; scores are settled; and brains are filled with dense volumes of poetry and lore. Lees meer

    Other talking points include birthday songs and copyright law, King Charlie Brown, the breaking of oaths, and High Fantasy football.

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  11. Ep 135 - LOTR: The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien

    21 september 2015 · 1 uur 19 min

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    This week we continue the Lord of the Rings saga with The Two Towers, a book that moves beyond Fellowship’s table-setting and dives right into the action. We spend time talking about why this book is more satisfying than the first as a standalone volume, and why the first book serves better as the first book of three than as its own story. Lees meer

    We also spend quite a bit of this episode talking about the mixed listener reaction to the Fellowship episode, about the way Tolkien treats “mythical” creatures within his own mythical world, and a little about just why Sam Gamgee is the best.

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  12. Ep 134 - LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

    14 september 2015 · 1 uur 27 min

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    Join us for the second installment in our four-part journey down to Mordor with J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings series. Craig's sister Jillian remains in the fellowship for a Family Size episode on The Fellowship of the Ring. Lees meer

    Talking points include elven paradises, stranger danger, bath time songs, and the difference between dipping and bouncing.

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  13. Ep 133 - Go Set a Watchman (Live from Philadelphia)

    7 september 2015 · 53 min

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    Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic of American literature, and for good reason. The follow-up-slash-first-draft, Go Set a Watchman, doesn't have the same impact, but it's a fascinating look at how books change during the editing process.
    This show was recorded live in Philadelphia, PA. Thanks to everyone who came out!
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  14. Ep 132 - 1984, by George Orwell (Bonus Episode)

    1 september 2015 · 1 uur 5 min

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    There's a reason why words like "Orwellian" and "thoughtcrime" have stuck in the public consciousness for more than 65 years, and that reason is George Orwell's 1984. Lees meer

    A denser, more complex read than Orwell's also-famous Animal Farm, 1984 is a story about systemic government oppression and the dark side of humanity. We lighten up the proceedings a bit with talk about not one but TWO Hank Williams Jr. songs, the wonders of modern technology, and criticism of criticism of criticism.

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  15. Ep 131 - The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

    31 augustus 2015 · 1 uur 15 min

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    This is the first entry in our four-part journey down the J.R.R. Tolkien rabbit hole that so many of you wanted us to journey down. Andrew and Craig have both already read The Hobbit, the shorter, lighter prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so Craig's sister Jillian joins us for the ride.
    Join us for a talk about Tolkien, bedazzled dragons, and one weird trick that giant spiders will HATE.
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  16. Ep 130 - All The King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren

    24 augustus 2015 · 1 uur 2 min

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    Robert Penn Warren's 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the King's Men has been called "uneven as a corduroy road," "sloppy," and "one of American literature's definitive political novels." That all seems accurate when you consider that it's a 600-page melange of detective work, City Hall intrigue, and philosophizing about the fallibility of man. Lees meer

    Join us this week for a discussion of headgums and selling out, movie-burping, New Criticism, meat axes, Huey Long, and the bummer that is American politics.

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  17. Ep 129 - The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey (w/ Lauren Spohrer)

    17 augustus 2015 · 55 min

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    Not all mystery novels are about stolen jewels, secret passageways, and shifty butlers. Sometimes, they're just about a man in a hospital bed who becomes obsessed with Richard III. Joining us this week is special guest Lauren Spohrer of the true crime podcast Criminal, who takes us through Josephine Tey's renowned mystery The Daughter of Time. Lees meer

    Other talking points include how winners write history, the dos and don'ts of detective work, the Society of Richard III, and a Very Private Person.

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  18. Ep 128 - Then We Came To The End, by Joshua Ferris

    10 augustus 2015 · 1 uur

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    If you've ever worked in an office, at least a passage or two in Joshua Ferris' Then We Came To The End is going to resonate with you. Few books so accurately capture the extremely important, unimportant minutiae of office life.
    Join us for our office ruminations, some fall follies, and some email-related observations. It's just as fun as it sounds!
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  19. Ep 127 - Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton

    3 augustus 2015 · 1 uur 9 min

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    One of Edith Wharton's few stories set outside the realm of the American upper class, Ethan Frome is a story about a Massachusetts farmer trying to live out his heart-dreams. Lees meer

    Join us for a discussion of his totally-not-okay heart dreams, Andrew's cat Newman, ghosts, makeup, Seinfeld, and pickle dishes.

    (That list makes it sound like we didn't talk about the book, but we totally did. We promise.)

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  20. Ep 126 - My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George

    30 juli 2015 · 57 min

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    We go out in the wilderness for this month's bonus episode, living off the land and making friends with animals and playing homemade flutes with our new bestest buddy Bando. Lees meer

    We also talk about our secrets, the ways an adult should respond when presented with a 12-year-old who appears to be homeless, and a whole lot more.

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  21. Ep 125 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume (w/ Margaret H. Willison)

    27 juli 2015 · 53 min

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    Coming-of-age novels are a dime a dozen, but Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is one of the best known. It's such a significant work that we invited our pal Margaret H. Willison back to help us through it—she is, obviously, an expert on all things Margaret. Lees meer

    This week we talk about our changing bodies, running for no reason, and some truly horrifying bra shopping experiences. Enjoy!

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  22. Ep 124 - Wit, by Margaret Edson

    20 juli 2015 · 1 uur 9 min

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    Margaret Edson's rewarding play Wit (sometimes spelled W;t) is not light, boulevard comedy fare. Inspired by Edson's time in a Washington, D.C. research hospital, the play tackles death from a number of angles including cancer treatments and 17th-century poetry. But what makes it such an enduring entry into the modern canon is how Edson handles these subjects with surprising humor and, well, wit. (Sorry.) Lees meer

    Discussion points include legacy, favorite teachers from our childhood, and what we lose as we fight to stay alive.

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  23. Ep 123 - Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis

    13 juli 2015 · 1 uur 3 min

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    Most people familiar with C.S. Lewis' work will have come to him via the Chronicles of Narnia, a series of fantasy books that's defined for better or worse by its heavy-handed Biblical allegory. Lees meer

    Till We Have Faces, Lewis' last novel, certainly deals with some of the same themes. But it's also a retelling of the classic Cupid and Psyche myth that originally appeared in Apuleius' The Golden Ass in the late 2nd century.

    Join us as we talk about the myth retold, Lewis' Christian roots, and what happens when Heaven and Hell host the Olympics.

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  24. Ep 122 - To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

    6 juli 2015 · 54 min

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    Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is a modernist classic. Rich in lyrical prose and unrelenting streams of conciousness, Lighthouse set a standard for peering into characters' heads and hearts and relaying the contents back to the reader. It also closely mirrors portions of Woolf's life - particularly her summers in St. Ives and the devastating loss of her mother at a young age. Discussion points this week include bag shoes, second helpings of soup, and the difficulties of conveying via podcast this book's lasting appeal. Lees meer

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  25. Ep 121 - Space Vampire (Choose Your Own Adventure) by Edward Packard

    30 juni 2015 · 1 uur 10 min

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    YOU: An intrepid spaceboy, graduating at the top of your class at Space Academy. Lees meer

    YOUR MISSION: Find and destroy the evil space vampire at any cost!

    Our fourth Choose Your Own Adventure outing takes us into deep space and beyond—join us as we hijack advanced spacecraft, evade arrest, and drift through the vast inky void of space. Will we catch that nefarious SPACE VAMPIRE? There's only one way to find out!

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  26. Ep 120 - A Boy and His Dog, by Harlan Ellison

    30 juni 2015 · 1 uur

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    Harlan Ellison is a man whose reputation precedes him. His long and storied career as a sci-fi and speculative fiction writer is peppered with curmudgeonly diatribes and public incidents, many as interesting as the best of the thousand or so stories he churned out across books, television and film. Lees meer

    His classic story A Boy and His Dog takes quite a dim view of a post-WW3 apocalypse, so buckle up for another week spent discussing the depth's of humanity's depravity. In an attempt to lighten the mood, we also talk about dog literacy and allow Andrew's cat Newman to make a cameo.

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  27. Ep 119 - Across a Hundred Mountains, by Reyna Grande

    22 juni 2015 · 1 uur 6 min

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    What would you do for a better life? Where would you go? Who would you leave behind? And what does "better" mean, anyway? Lees meer

    Reyna Grande poses these questions with great poise and power in her debut novel, Across a Hundred Mountains. This week, we talk border crossings, panda bears, Chicana feminism, and the ingenuity of Days of Our Lives.

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  28. Ep 118 - Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy

    17 juni 2015 · 1 uur

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    Cormac McCarthy is a writer in the vein of Hemingway or Faulkner, a person whose prose you can spot from a mile away. That can be a good or a bad thing, as we discuss in our show on his 1985 book Blood Meridian.Join us for a discussion of scalping, war, and the special Internet that only Cormac McCarthy knows about. Lees meer

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  29. Ep 117 - Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

    8 juni 2015 · 59 min

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    What better way to discuss Diana Gabaldon's genre-straddling, time-traveling historical fiction novel Outlander than by confining ourselves to the same room? Live (not really) from Craig's kitchen, we're happy to bring you an episode chockablock with bad Scottish accents, interdimensional romance, and plenty of Highland sex tips. Lees meer

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  30. Ep 116 - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë

    1 juni 2015 · 1 uur 1 min

    Afspelen
    Hey, jabronis! This week we finally read our first Brontë book, thanks to one of our Patreon supporters! Lees meer

    Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is considered to be "one of the first sustained feminist books," and though many of the sensibilities of early-to-mid-19th-century England are present here, we see the typical marriage and courtship rituals through a darker lens.

    Contemporary readers were scandalized by the things this book depicted, including but not limited to (1) a woman leaving a man and (2) a man being a loutish alcoholic and cheating on his wife. Join us for a discussion of all that plus some tips on safe high-fiving.

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  31. Ep 115 - Everything and Nothing, by Jorge Luis Borges

    26 mei 2015 · 58 min

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    Craig tackles Jorge Luis Borges this week, and what results is a pile of conversations about fake novels and encyclopedias, WIkipedia hoaxes, the way that reviews work, and thoughts on which fast food franchises make the best (and worst) road trips. Lees meer

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  32. Ep 114 - Mr. Popper's Penguins and The Borrowers (Bonus Episode)

    20 mei 2015 · 57 min

    Afspelen
    This is our first monthly bonus episode, brought to you by our supporters on Patreon! If you want these shows one week earlier than everyone else, visit patreon.com/overduepod for details. Lees meer

    It's Children's Book Week again, and just like last year we're using it as an excuse to read things that Lil' Craig and Lil' Andrew never got around to reading. Craig reads Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater, a story of a negligent husband and father who lets penguins into his house. Andrew read The Borrowers, the tale of teeny tiny people who swipe things they don't think you'll miss when you aren't looking. Kids' books can take you to some weird places.

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  33. Ep 113 - Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay (w/ Katherine Fritz)

    18 mei 2015 · 1 uur 7 min

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    Why do we let the messy implications of our beliefs keep us from shouting them the rooftops? Lees meer

    Why is it difficult for a movement like feminism to be both strong and inclusive?

    Why don't chickens feature more prominently in the Nativity?

    Friend of the show Katherine Fritz joins us this week to answer these questions and discuss Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist. This 2014 bestseller features selected essays from throughout Gay's career, which includes pieces on The Help, the Internet outrage cycle, and the need for more diverse voices.

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  34. Ep 112 - How Not To Write A Novel, by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman

    11 mei 2015 · 1 uur 5 min

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    At this point we've read a lot of novels, but we haven't tried to write our own just yet. Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman's 2008 anti-guidebook How Not To Write A Novel has shown us a lot of the stuff we should try to avoid if we ever decide to put pen to paper. Lees meer

    We also devote a substantial chunk of this week's episode to listener mail from our Looking for Alaska episode, specifically responses to our questions about why people read young adult fiction well into regular adulthood.

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  35. Ep 111 - Sabriel, by Garth Nix (w/ Giaco Furino)

    4 mei 2015 · 1 uur 1 min

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    Garth Nix may sound like the name of a country music superstar, but he's actually just the humble, award-winning author behind several fantasy series. This week's book, Sabriel, debuted in 1995 as the first entry in Nix's Old Kingdom series, and the novel remains notable for its lead character, its unique take on magic, and the small (for a fantasy novel) cast of characters. Lees meer

    Special guest Giaco Furino returns to the show this week, sharing with Andrew and Craig his thoughts on the Redundancy of Michael Crichton, magical vo-tech school, and talking bananas.

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  36. Ep 110 - Looking for Alaska, by John Green

    27 april 2015 · 1 uur 8 min

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    John Green's Looking for Alaska is another young adult coming-of-age novel in a long tradition of young adult coming-of-age novels. A young man goes away to school and becomes close with a small group of friends. They smoke, they drink, they have sexual experiences, they lose, they mourn. Lees meer

    It's nothing that hasn't been done, but Green's light tone and deeper thematic questions make Alaska worth reading whether you're still a young adult or not. Join us for more thoughts on this book, as well as the great Central Air Conditioning vs. Dishwasher debate of 2015.

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  37. Ep 109 - The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum

    20 april 2015 · 1 uur 8 min

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    Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door is not for the faint of heart. The story is based on the grisly murder of Sylvia Likens by her de facto guardian in the 1960s. What preceded her death is too reprehensible to print here, but Ketchum dives headlong into the awful, determined to suss out the causes (and bounds) of human evil. Lees meer

    Suffice to say, this makes for a difficult discussion on-air, and we spend nearly half the show trying not to talk about the rougher aspects of the book. So please join us for a discussion of phishing, safewords from the future, childhood games, and the parts of The Girl Next Door that made Craig feel terrible.

    Caveat lictor: This episode contains explicit language and discussion of graphic material.

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  38. Ep 108 - Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (w/ Margaret H. Willison)

    13 april 2015 · 1 uur 3 min

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    One of the reasons we read is because books can give us perspective—good ones can fully transport us to times and places where we've never been and, in some cases, could never go. That's the case with Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, stories she wrote about her childhood on the American frontier. Lees meer

    These books aren't without their problems (there are fairly significant questions about authorship and racism is sort of everywhere), but they're worth reading because of how completely they immerse you in the lives of their protagonists. Join us and special guest Margaret H. Willison as we talk about one of the best-known titles in the series.

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  39. Ep 107 - A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

    7 april 2015 · 54 min

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    Ernest Hemingway is celebrated for the economy of his prose. Lees meer

    This week we read A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

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  40. Ep 106 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig

    31 maart 2015 · 1 uur 8 min

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    Rejected a world record 121 times before finally finding a publisher and going on to sell millions of copies, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of the most widely read philosophy texts of the 20th-century. Lees meer

    Robert Pirsig's semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional account of a motorcycle road trip with his son covers a lot of ground. America's psyche in the fifties and sixties; our fascination with and fear of modern technology; the age-old quest to unify the world around us: Pirsig crams it all onto one motorcycle ridden by one man. It should then be no surprise that we get a little lost in this one. So please bear with us as we fail to ask for directions and are forced to stop and check the fuel gauge/pistons/tappets/[insert motorcycle part here] more than a few times along the way.

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  41. Ep 105 - The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell

    24 maart 2015 · 1 uur 9 min

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    We're back to sci-fi this week, but we take a break from the politics-heavy universe of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow instead uses science fiction to discuss anthropology, colonialism, and theology. There's some genuinely funny and warm stuff in this book, but there's a shadow hanging over the proceedings from the outset: eight people set out to explore the first known alien planet inhabited by sentient life, but only one comes back, and he's much worse for the wear. Lees meer

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  42. Ep 104 - 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, by John Ford

    16 maart 2015 · 59 min

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    John Ford's 1620s revenge drama 'Tis Pity She's A Whore has everything: friars, murder, bawdy jokes, bawdy suitors, incest -- incest?! What's that doing there?, you might say. And such has been the reaction from nigh on four centuries of critics and audiences confused by how romantically (and tragically) Ford depicted a brother and sister's love. Lees meer

    Never ones to stay wholly on topic, we also discuss March holidays, snow melancholy, and hitting up celebrities for college tuition.

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  43. Ep 103 - Foundation, by Isaac Asimov

    9 maart 2015 · 56 min

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    Celebrated science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote a lot in the 20th century: short stories, screenplays, books on pop science, books on hard science, essays on Shakespeare, essays on history and physics -- name a medium, he dabbled in it. Lees meer

    But among all of Asimov's bibliography, the Foundation stands apart. This trilogy (later a quintet and then a septet) examined hard sci-fi issues like societal evolution and the collapse of civilizations on a galactic scale. And it all began with the stories Asimov originally collected as Foundation.

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  44. Ep 102 - Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

    2 maart 2015 · 58 min

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    Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the most widely-read books in American literature. It's so entrenched in the modern canon that it's hard to believe Hurston fell into obscurity later in her career. Lees meer

    But thanks to writer Alice Walker, Hurston's work was revived in the 1970s, and with good reason. Their Eyes is a fascinating portrait of a black woman's life at the dawn of the 20th century.

    Also discussed this week: spectacular entrances, the bees and the trees, and plans for dying authors.

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  45. Ep 101 - The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick

    24 februari 2015 · 1 uur 4 min

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    Our odometer has rolled over, but the show's the same: this week we take you through the alternate history presented by Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. Lees meer

    The basic question: what would happen if the Axis powers had won World War II? The sub-questions: what is real? Is it our reality, or the reality in this book, or the reality in the book in this book? We tackle those questions, our caffeine deficiencies, and more!

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  46. Ep 100 - Fifty Shades Darker, by E.L. James

    17 februari 2015 · 1 uur 21 min

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    100 episodes! That means we've read and talked about 100 books, which isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things but it sure feels like a lot for our little podcast. Lees meer

    For our last milestone episode, we read EL James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Now that we've done another 50 shows (and since the major motion picture is in theaters now), we've gone back to the sexy, sexy well to read Fifty Shades Darker.

    Our frustrations with the original book are joined by some new complaints, and just like last time you can find some nearly-compelling threads amid the wreckage if you try hard enough. We also talk a little about the actual BDSM community, and how poorly Christian Grey would fit in among real-life practitioners. One of our listeners provided us with some links, which we've included below for added reading.

    Added reading:

    "Feminists can be kinky too" from Femmeuary: https://femmeuary.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/feminists-can-be-kinky-too/

    "The two mantras of BDSM" from The Kink Factory: http://thekinkyfactory.com/bdsm-for-beginners/ssc-rack/

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  47. Ep 099 - Six Characters in Search of an Author, by Luigi Pirandello

    9 februari 2015 · 1 uur 1 min

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    Luigi Pirandello's most notable contribution to the Western canon is a play about six characters come to life, intruding on a theater rehearsal in search of - get this - an author. Lees meer

    Please join us as we grapple with the metaphysical implications of Six Characters in Search of An Author, recycle Seinfeld jokes, compose a musical extempore, and take a lesson from Craig's acting class.

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  48. Ep 098: Secret of the Ninja (Choose Your Own Adventure)

    2 februari 2015 · 1 uur 11 min

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    We dip back into the Choose Your Own Adventure well this week to read Jay Leibold's Secret of the Ninja, a harrowing tale about dojo and time travel and enchanted swords. Or something.So jump on in the passenger seat! Come for the adventures, stay for the ridiculous voices.
    $5.99
    Lees meer

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  49. Ep 097 - Batman: The Long Halloween, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

    27 januari 2015 · 55 min

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    Set in the early years of Bruce Wayne's Batmanhood, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman: The Long Halloween chronicles a murderous year in Gotham City. The mysterious Holiday killer is instigating and exacerbating an all-out mob war, and the criminals controlling Batman's town unleash a rogue's gallery of costumed "freaks" in response. Lees meer

    This week we talk about the best ways to dive into a superhero's back catalog, the relationship between Greek myths and comic books, failed elevator pitches with Mr. Bob Podcast, and Daddy's dictaphone.

    Caveat lictor: The Long Halloween's legacy includes a major reveal of the Holiday killer's identity, which factors heavily into the latter part of our discussion.

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  50. Ep 096 - Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

    19 januari 2015 · 1 uur 2 min

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    It's not October anymore, but we've gone back to the spooky story well this week to read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Unlike The Martian Chronicles, the Bradbury book we read back in Episode 28, Wicked is a single coherent story, and it's about what happens when a mysterious and vaguely menacing carnival rolls into town. Lees meer

    Join us for a discussion of aging, father-son relationships, Boy Meets World, and why Andrew has sworn off making fun of people who tweet about sports.

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