Ep 130 - All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren

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.

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

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

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.

You can find out more about Criminal at thisiscriminal.com or by following Lauren on Twitter.

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Ep 128 - Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris

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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Ep 127 - Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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Ep 124 - Wit, by Margaret Edson

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.) 

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

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

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.

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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Ep 122 -To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

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. 

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

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

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!