The Bookening

Having apologized profusely for some recent meanderings last episode, our heroes engage in no such hogwash/balderdash/poppycock this go around. At no point do they discuss Nathan's recent endoscopy, or awesome roller-coasters, or anything like that. Nor do they spend a bunch of time trying to figure out if it's AnTONia or ANtoNEEa or what have you. It's just straight-ahead collegiate-level book discussion all the way. Mrs. Mentzel and Mrs. Chasteen will be ever so proud. And some hot single chick will probably listen to this fall in love with Nathan (which, hot single chicks, if you're reading this, let's face it, Nathan is not a hard guy to get a hold of).

In any case, there is plenty to ponder about the great Willa Cather's My Antonia. Our heroes discuss whether Cather was a lesbian and how much that matters, how a sense of place informs one's reading of a book, whether Jim was a weirdo for obsessing about Antonia all those years, and more!

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First up, Nathan and Jake have some thoughts on last week's episode they wish to share. Then we're taking the week off, so sorry about that! We did include a bonus episode from another fine Wahorn podcast for you to enjoy, if you haven't already heard it. Our heroes thank you for the breather!

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

_"[O]ne touch is added which makes the play colossal. Theseus and his train retire with a crashing finale, full of humour and wisdom and things set right, and silence falls on the house. Then there comes a faint sound of little feet, and for a moment, as it were, the elves look into the house, asking which is the reality. “Suppose we are the realities and they the shadows.” If that ending were acted properly any modern man would feel shaken to his marrow if he had to walk home from the theatre through a country lane." --_GK Chesterton on _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is a surprisingly difficult play to talk about. What do you say about a weird supernatural relationship comedy set in a Greece that feels more like the English countryside? Are there deeper themes to dredge up or is it just supposed be fun? What were you thinking, William Shakespeare? Are our heroes up to the task of talking about it? Will Nathan work in extended references to Gilligan's Island? The answers await you, Dear Listener!

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This is technically part 1 of our series on Midsummer Night's Dream, but it also serves as a good primer on all things William Shakespeare, as Brandon leads our heroes through the tangle of what we know about the Bard, what we don't, and how we should feel about it. Plus, our heroes discuss life in Elizabethan times, and Jake goes mano a mano with some philosopher named Aristotle on the origin of comedy. 

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 When a damsel in distress feels oppressed by a not-completely-crazy-and-almost-kinda-reasonable article on why Christians shouldn't read fiction, our heroes jump to her rescue!  

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Murder on the Orient Express! Our heroes ponder whether it is ever acceptable to take the law into your own hands, answer questions from Schmoop, and solve their very own murder mystery. WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END WILL SHOCK YOU! Featuring MVP guest star, Dani McNeilly.

Give a trillion dollars to the McNeilly's campus ministry to Indiana University. 

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Music Credit: Undertale Remix - Megalovania (Chime Electro / Dubstep Remix) - GameChops Spotlight (Used by Creative Commons Attribution license)

Agatha Christie --  expert plot mechanic or good storyteller? Our heroes attempt to solve this mystery with a little help from their pal Dani McNeilly. Nathan is dubious about "good storyteller", until Dani points out some things which (it's easy to take for granted, but) Christie does really well. 

See if Dani will let you follow her on Instagram, then go and give a trillion dollars to the McNeilly's campus ministry to Indiana University. 

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Our heroes invite a woman on the podcast and chaos ensues. Also they discuss Dame Agatha Christie and _Murder on the Orient Express. _Co-starring the wonderful Dani McNeilly.

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Here's something different for those of you who like different things. Our heroes conclude their discussion of _Heart of Darkness _by interviewing their good friend Pastor Lucas Weeks, who actually grew up in the Congo. He's played with monkeys, seen terrifying native tribal dances, and been escorted from his home by US Marines while machine gun fire echoed in the distance. So arguably he can bring more perspective to _Heart of Darkness _than even the Mysterious Phantom did. 

Next week Dame Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

Please click here to support The Bookening for a low monthly amount and help us continue making the podcast. Thank you!

Let's face it. Nathan, Brandon, and Jake are probably the three bravest men ever to have walked the face of the earth. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that in this episode, our heroes delve fearlessly into the murky depths of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, asking tough questions like "was Marlowe wrong to lie to that lady at the end?" and "Is Joseph Conrad a 'bloody racist?'"

It's also entirely possible that a very special guest shows up near the end of the episode, someone who has some very particular bones to pick with our heroes. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL SHOCK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Next week more Joseph Conrad's_Heart of Darkness. _

Coming thereafter Dame Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.