I want, I want, I want… to read Henderson the Rain King
Saul Bellow’s comic, yet philosophical novel Henderson the Rain King is Jay’s most lovable novel this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Henderson’s mid-life cri...
3 Feb 42min
That Epic Book By That One New Jersey Guy
Jay’s lovable novel this episode is AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth, in which the hero, Seymour “Swede” Levov, struggles to understand his life in late 20th century America, and how the 1960s still ...
27 Jan 49min
Postmodern Suspense in The Crying of Lot 49
Jay makes his case that The Crying of Lot 49 is the most lovable of Thomas Pynchon’s novels as he dives into the plot of the 1966 conspiracy-theory, suspenseful novel. (It’s also Pynchon’s shortest no...
20 Jan 42min
The Black Comedy of A Clockwork Orange
This week, Jay’s pick is the 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, which focuses on a violent teen subculture and a dystopian society’s attempt at reformation. Chaos Reader updates her pr...
13 Jan 44min
Tess of the D’Urbervilles: Hardy’s Take on 19th Century Values
Jay’s entry this week to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Thomas Hardy’s 1892 novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and it raises issues 21st century readers are still gra...
6 Jan 48min
A Novel without a Hero? Vanity Fair!
This week’s entry on Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is William Makepeace Thackeray’s VANITY FAIR, often considered the Victorian domestic novel that kicked off this ...
30 Dec 202546min
A Wacky-Sounding Book Can Be Great in the Hands of the Right Writer
Jay chose Anthony Doerr’s CLOUD CUCKOO LAND for this episode’s lovable novel. While the plot sounded a bit wackadoodle to Stacey, Doerr’s deft ability to link the book’s different narratives to a com...
23 Dec 202548min
Exploring Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel GULLIVER’S TRAVELS is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and Stacey admits she had a very narrow view of what the boo...
16 Dec 202552min
