Sophomore Lit

Sophomore Lit episodes:

• 04.22.2024

  158: A Perfect Day for Bananafish

  Podcasters: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let’s Find Out! Jason Snell talks about marine life in J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948)....

  
• 04.05.2024

  157: The Veldt

  Lions and tigers and bea— you know what, just lions. Jordan Morris is here to discuss Ray Bradbury’s story “the Veldt” (1950)....

  
• 03.15.2024

  156: Heart of Darkness

  The Podcast! The Podcast! John Holt discusses the ill-fated cruise that is Joseph Conrad’s novelette Heart of Darkness (1899)....

  
• 02.01.2024

  155: Tom Sawyer

  Though his mind is not for rent, it still is the subject of this episode. Jacob Haller discusses Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer (1876)....

  
• 01.10.2024

  154: Wide Sargasso Sea

  Actually, I need this sea in an extra wide. Caroline Fulford discusses postcolonialism and recurring fires in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)....

  
• 12.24.2023

  153: The Burglar's Christmas

  The Burgermeister Meisterburger has nothing on this burglar! My wife Marina joins me for our annual Christmas episode. This time we discuss Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas” (1896)....

  
• 12.07.2023

  152: The Prince in Waiting

  The waiting is the hardest part. Ross Cleaver and James Randall discuss the apocalypse, palace intrigue, and the charm of 80’s BBC television in this episode about John Christopher’s The Prince in Waiting (1970)....

  
• 11.22.2023

  151: Thanksgiving Special: Poor Richard's Almanack

  Fish and visitors stink in three days, but podcasts are evergreen! Dan and Rob return for the annual Thanksgiving nonsense with Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758)....

  
• 11.10.2023

  150: Valley of the Dolls

  Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Chucky—they’re all here. That’s what this book is about, right? Erin Gambrill discusses Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (1966)....

  
• 10.11.2023

  149: On the Beach

  Why just sit around waiting for the end of the world when you can hear a podcast about it? Jelani Sims discusses Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957)....

  
• 09.07.2023

  148: History of the Peloponnesian War

  Kids today love Thucydides, right? Anyone? Daniel Daughhetee returns to discuss this late fifth century BCE chronicle of Athens v. Sparta....

  
• 08.07.2023

  147: James Thurber

  It’s a naive literary podcast without any breeding, but I think you’ll be amused by its presumption. Dan Cassino discusses James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat” (1942) and The 13 Clocks (1950)....

  
• 07.18.2023

  146: Through the Looking-Glass

  If you’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast, why not listen to this podcast before lunch? Phil Gonzales discusses Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)....

  
• 07.03.2023

  145: The Grapes of Wrath

  After eight years of the podcast I finally do the inevitable. Shelly Brisbin discusses John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939)....

  
• 06.10.2023

  144: Howl's Moving Castle

  Howl likes to move it, move it. Audrey Lazaro and Dan McCoy are on to discuss Diana Wynne Jones’s book Howl’s Moving Castle (1986)....

  
• 05.12.2023

  143: Long Day's Journey Into Night

  I don’t care how long this day’s journey has been, so help me I will turn this car around if you kids don’t stop. Kris Markel discusses Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night(written 1941, published 1956)....

  
• 04.18.2023

  142: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

  Jean, Jean, the roses are red and all of the leaves have gone green, so Glenn Fleishman and John are discussing Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)....

  
• 04.03.2023

  141: Carrie's War

  Ross Cleaver discusses Carrie’s War (what is it good for?), Nina Bawdwin’s 1973 children’s book about evacuations, skulls, and grumpy Welshmen....

  
• 03.20.2023

  140: The Snows of Kilimanjaro

  Grab a whisky and soda and put your leg up. My dad and I discuss Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936). Bonus content: a visit to the Hemingway Home in Key West!...

  
• 03.02.2023

  139: Beloved

  Jelani Sims returns to discuss the literal and metaphorical ghosts of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved (1987)....

  
• 01.20.2023

  138: Great Expectations

  I have good feelings about this one! Zach Powers returns to discuss desparate criminals and mysterious benefactors in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861)....

  
• 12.24.2022

  137: A Christmas Carol

  There are many podcasts from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited. John and Marina discuss Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843)....

  
• 12.07.2022

  136: Stuart Little

  This is one weird mouse book. Phil Gonzales and John discuss E. B. White’s Stuart Little(1945)....

  
• 11.24.2022

  135: Thanksgiving Special: The Wreck of the Hesperus

  It’s Thanksgiving, so of course Rob, John, and Dan drink and discuss “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1842)....

  
• 11.13.2022

  134: Macbeth

  Probably best not to listen to this episode while you’re in a theatre. Shannon Campe and John discuss Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1605-ish)....

  
• 10.06.2022

  133: The Picture of Dorian Gray

  The podcasts that the world calls immoral are podcasts that show the world its own shame. Tamar Avishai and John discuss Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1831)....

  
• 09.25.2022

  132: The Canterbury Tales

  Those smale foweles maken melodye got nothin’ on us: Kathy Campbell and John discuss Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400)....

  
• 08.28.2022

  131: Beowulf

  The original Farewell to Arms. Nathan Alderman discusses Beowulf (c. 1000)....

  
• 07.29.2022

  130: Epic of Gilgamesh

  Gilgamesh, a king, at Uruk. It’s not just a Star Trek meme. Gregory Fried talks ritual sex, heavenly bulls, and sneaky snakes in the Epic of Gilgamesh....

  
• 06.24.2022

  129: The Metamorphosis

  Gregor’s mother warned him about days like this. Jason Snell discusses Franz Kafka’s inescapable novella, The Metamorphosis (1915)....

  
• 05.17.2022

  128: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street

  Audrey Lazaro discusses Mellville’s 1853 story, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of the top three bits of scrivener fiction ever....

  
• 04.15.2022

  127: The Egypt Game

  No, I won’t make a Bangles joke. Erin Gambrill discusses Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967)....

  
• 03.28.2022

  126: Bambi, a Life in the Woods

  Bambi’s not so cute in this gritty new reboot. Glenn Fleishman discusses Felix Salten’s 1923 parable about what goes on in the woods. Also we talk a lot about copyright....

  
• 03.01.2022

  125: At the Mountains of Madness

  Climb ev’ry mountain—except these mountains, they’re nuts. Phil Gonzales discusses H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” written in 1931 and published in 1936....

  
• 02.04.2022

  124: Under Milk Wood

  To begin at the beginning: David Loehr is back in the slow, black, crowblack, podcast-bobbing sea to discuss Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (1954)....

  
• 01.01.2022

  123: The Bell Jar

  New Year’s is a time for optimism, but instead Christy Admiraal discusses Sylvia Plath’s 1963 roman à clef, the Bell Jar. Also, John totally gets the dates wrong for this book’s complicated publishing history....

  
• 12.24.2021

  122: Christmas Special: Gift of the Magi

  But I sold my Zune to buy you this podcast! Marina and John discuss hair, watches, and O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”...

  
• 11.25.2021

  121: Thanksgiving Special: Burma-Shave

  It’s turkey time / once again / Dan and Rob / dive right in / we discuss / Buma-Shave!...

  
• 11.16.2021

  120: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

  Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a podcast, for example, where Bill O’Donnell discusses Jerome K. Jerome’s very silly Three Men in a Boat (1889)....

  
• 10.11.2021

  119: Peter Pan

  Grab on to your happy thought and join Shannon Campe in discussing James Barrie’s complicated children’s novel Peter Pan (1911), originally called Peter and Wendy....

  
• 09.09.2021

  118: Spoon River Anthology

  Spoon River…wider than a mile. Okay, now that we have that out of our way, join Lisa Schmeiser as we discuss Edgar Lee Master’s poetic collection *Spoon River Anthology *(1915)....

  
• 08.19.2021

  117: The Dispossessed

  Anarchy in the U. K. (LeGuin)! David Woken talks a lot of politics and a little story as we discuss The Dispossessed (1974)....

  
• 07.26.2021

  116: Kerouac and Ginsberg

  Gena Radcliffe and John don’t blab any drab gab—they chatter hep patter about Jack Kerouac’s “October in the Railroad Earth” (1957) and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” (1954-55)....

  
• 07.03.2021

  115: Flowers for Algernon

  I no I wil be smart won day. Until thin I will diskus Daniel Keyes’s epistolary novel Flowers for Algernon (1966) with Jason Snell....

  
• 06.23.2021

  114: Dracula

  Please invite in Jelani Lee and Matt Skuta to discuss Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). We can’t start until you do....

  
• 05.21.2021

  113: Hans Christian Andersen

  Let’s all hunker around this match and discuss some of the tales by Hans Christian Andersen. David Loehr returns....

  
• 04.30.2021

  112: George Orwell Essays

  It’s phraseology and pachyderms, as Daniel Daughetee discusses Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and “Shooting an Elephant” (1936)....

  
• 03.31.2021

  111: Our Town

  Enjoy every, every minute of Phil and John discussing Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (1938)....

  
• 03.08.2021

  110: Persuasion

  Maybe you should consider listening to this episode, in which Sammi C. discusses Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1817). Actually, we must insist....

  
• 12.25.2020

  109: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

  Marina McCoy returns to discuss faith, fairies, and newspapers in Francis Pharcellus Church’s “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” (1897)....