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.

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