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Hey CR Subscribers, let’s talk about Tolstoy! In this month’s short story hour, we’re here to discuss the Russian legend’s “Master and Man,” a story of a blizzard-bound landowner, a peasant, and their journey into a snowy winter night. We explore how Tolstoy makes a clear moral and spiritual purpose dramatically compelling through concrete detail, shift…

Welcome back. This week we’re on to part two of Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety, focusing on Charity's fear of suffering and how that drives her instant to control, Sally's courage and compassion even in the face of suffering, and the characters’ competing interpretations of Piero della Francesca's Resurrection. Plus: A poem by Wendell Berry and Stegner’s humanist project and the characters who embody it. Happy listening!

Welcome back to our ongoing discussion of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. This week we explore the book’s references to Locke, Kant, Plato, and Spinoza and how they illuminate the book’s approach. We also get into how Moby Dick stages the limits of knowledge, contrasting Ahab’s destructive drive to conquer mystery with Ishmael’s uneasy efforts to describe …

Hello Close Readers,

You’ve seen the list of books to be discussed on the flagship show in 2027, but thus far the titles for our subscriber content have been merely rumors, hearsay. Well not anymore. It’s time for the big reveal. The confirmation. It’s time to make your dreams (or biggest fears?) come true.

Here’s the plan for 2027 . . .

Every other week we share an episode that covers a novel too long to cover on the regular show and next year the plan is to discuss two oft-requested tomes. We’ll start in January with Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, a modern classic that is, as it turns out, having a bit of a moment. We had such a good time discussing this book at our 2026 retreat that we figured we’d jump right back in. Plus, it will make a good follow-up to Moby Dick, unlike (we think) the book we’ll discuss after that: Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov. We have a lot to say about both of these novels—as do you, I suspect—so I can’t wait to get started. Each of these series will feature roughly 10-12 episodes.

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As usual, we’ll read a mystery novel each month. The 2027 list includes an early John LeCarre novel (which was a murder mystery featuring the character that would make him famous), the first of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe books, the debut of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret, a classic Christie, a great Sayers, my favorite Lorac, and a couple of lesser-known-but-still-classic titles that will be fun to dig into. Plus, we’ll be reading two well-regarded books by modern masters for the first time in this series. Anthony Horowitz and PD James will be fun to compare the OGs we’ve come to know and love.

Here’s the schedule:

January: A Murder of Quality (John LeCarre)
February: Death Has Deep Roots (Michael Gilbert)
March: Fer-de-Lance (Rex Stout)
April: Crook O’ Lune (E.C.R. Lorac)
May: The Magpie Murders (Anthony Horowitz)
June: The ABC Murders (Agatha Christie)
July: Fear Stalks the Village (Ethel White)
August: Green for Danger (Christianna Brand)
September: Death in Holy Orders (P.D. James)
October: Pietr the Latvian (Georges Simenon)
November: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Dorothy Sayers)
December: Death in Ambush (Susan Gilruth)

As suggested on the Great Winnowing episode, we’ll be conducting a deep dive into the Harry Potter series, too. Here’s how the schedule will look:

January: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
February: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
March: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
April: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, first half
May: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, second half
June: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, first half
July: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, second half
August: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, first half
September: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, second half
October: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, first half
November: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, second half
December: Audience Q&A Extravaganza

This series will replace the short story episodes we made in 2026. It’ll be family friendly, so listen with your kids if you like.

I hope you’ll join in for all of these episodes. Happy reading!

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Welcome back to our series on Wallace Stegner’s novel of friendship, marriage, and the intellectual life. This week we discuss Charity’s motivations, the novel’s shifting focus from marital tension to Sally’s illness, and the four friends’ temperaments. Plus, we consider how compassion, restraint, and the limits of idealism shape the characters’ relationships. Happy listening!

Hey Close Readers, it’s time for our October mystery! Join is as we discuss Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel The Big Sleep, weighing its hard-boiled atmosphere and famously tangled plot against its stylized narration. We explore whether Philip Marlowe’s sense of the world makes the novel’s fever-dream quality purposeful. Plus we dig into why the book’s atm…

Welcome back to our discussions on Wallace Stegner’s lovely novel. This week we explore Charity’s upbringing, Sid’s contradictions, and what makes their relationship compelling and complicated. Plus we examine how the novel portrays the complicated marriage of Charity and Sid, whose generosity and virtues can also become sources of control and conflict. We also contrast the couple’s competing visions of a good life with Larry and Sally’s quieter dynamic, while considering how narration, ambition, and personal blind spots shape what readers believe. Happy listening!

Welcome to our October short story hour! We’re discussing one of Edgar Allan Poe’s best short stories, which means we’re digging into high level craft with a dose of psychological horror. Among the topics of investigation are:

• The story’s unreliable narrator

• Symbolism of the eye and the heart

• Themes of madness and guilt

• Poe’s craftsmanship and story struct…

In this episode, we explore the enduring themes of friendship, virtue, and the search for home in Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety. Our discussion delves into how the novel's subtlety and depth resonate across different stages of life, revealing universal truths about human relationships. Topics include:

• The Personal and Literary Significance of the Novel

• Themes of Friendship, Virtue, and Safety (and Cicero)

• Stegner’s Literary Style and Understated Writing

• The Significance of the Dinner Party Scene

• and much more!

Happy reading!

Welcome back! In this episode, we explore the intricate layers of Melville's novel, focusing on its digressions, metaphors, and the profound psychological and philosophical themes, all of which seem to revolt against the novel’s natural form. Join us as we contemplate the book's structure, symbolism, and the deep questions it raises about human nature a…