This month, first-ever patron guest host Asma walks us through Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, a story about upper-class people of marriageable age in 19th century New York City. It's not the harshest criticism that Wharton ever wrote about the upper crust (that would be The House of Mirth, published earlier), but the book still isn't overly kind to these people and their rigid hierarchies. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/p...
Dec 31, 2015•57 min
What exactly IS a Cormoran Strike? Did J.K. Rowling's publisher leak her pen name to make big big bucks? To answer these questions and more, we invited on friend of the show Margaret H. Willison to talk The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling.) Other mysteries solved include the origins of Godbucks, the power of Reddit detectives, and how much Andrew likes Bones. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-s...
Dec 28, 2015•58 min
Welcome to the wild world of movie novelizations! This week, we read Todd Strasser's (mostly) faithful novelization of the hit 1990 family comedy Home Alone. Join us for an occasionally musical discussion of Krampus, taking ideas from the page to the screen and back again, the realities of being hit in the head with an iron, and the Wet Bandits' branding issues. This week's home defense tutorial is brought to you by the fine folks at Squarespace. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy a...
Dec 21, 2015•1 hr 2 min
We're back to finish the fight - this week we take on the third and final book in EL James' Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. It's not that a book about a BDSM relationship (complete with graphic sex scenes) can't be good, it's just that THESE books are intensely frustrating. The repetitive prose and awkward sex end up back in our crosshairs, but this time around we pay especial attention to Ana and Christian and just how frustrating they are as characters. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...
Dec 14, 2015•1 hr 18 min
This week we're going around the world -- in 80 days, no less! Well, actually, Andrew read Jules Verne's classic globetrotting adventure Around the World in Eighty Days, but we still TALK about a lot of places even if we don't go there. Other travel tips include cultural broad strokes. fast food pranks, and scientific romance. This week's transcontinental journey is brought to you by the good folks at Squarespace. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at h...
Dec 07, 2015•1 hr 2 min
Our belated bonus episode for November tackles Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, a seminal work of Nigerian literature and a look at the bad things that can happen when cultures clash. Join us for a treatise on present wrapping, discussions of colonialism and yams, and a tiny, disturbing sneak peek into our next 50 Shades of Grey talk. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Dec 04, 2015•59 min
War...war never changes. But it does get more and more absurd the deeper you dive into Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Join us for a discussion of potato tips, alternate podcast titles, double binds and logic traps, and the celebrity resemblance of one Major Major Major Major. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nov 30, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Flannery O'Connor was a master of the Southern Gothic short story. Her characters are vivid, her turns of phrase equal parts memorable and chilling. These stories make you laugh, make you cringe, and sometimes make you wish you could forget how they end. This week we chat about two or three collected O'Connor stories, including the renowned A Good Man is Hard to Find. Other topics include desktop deodorant, the science of smooching, the good old days, and the ultimate fate of the baby from Never...
Nov 23, 2015•1 hr 3 min
Every once in awhile you read a character study about a character who is uniquely unpleasant to study—such is the case with John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, a thoroughly delightful book about the thoroughly repulsive Ignatius J. Reilly. Join us for a discussion of baby birthdays, Seinfeld, dialect, jelly donuts, and solo hobbies. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Nov 16, 2015•1 hr 7 min
Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine depicts Ancient Greece as truthfully as possible. It is historical fiction filled with war, political intrigue, pederasty and explicit homosexual love - the likes of which were rather scandalous when she published it in the 1950s. Her book also spawned an episode complete with discussions of Mr(s). Doubtfire, Alexander the Fine, unread text messages, and mummy libraries. This week's episode is brought you to by the Greek god of web design, Squarespace. See Pri...
Nov 09, 2015•1 hr 4 min
To close out Spooktober, we thought it only appropriate that we gather around the digital campfire and swap some spooooooky stories. Tales told include the Legend of Bloody Mary, an email forward about spiders, The Hook, and a rather disturbing story about Soviet sleep science gone horribly wrong (no really this one's actually sort of graphic and gross). We forgot the s'mores, but we didn't forget to talk about pleasing terrors, picking up mummies, haunted sandwiches, and Oklahoma ghost stories....
Nov 05, 2015•54 min
This week we go back to the Brontë well to read Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, the only novel she published before her untimely death at the age of 30. Wuthering Heights is about romance, vengeance, catching cold, inheriting property, and the perils of attempting to marry above or below your station - all the hallmarks of a good 19th century novel, in other words. We also talk about Thanksgiving, spelling bees, and Muppet Babies - all the hallmarks of an Overdue episode, in other words. See P...
Nov 02, 2015•1 hr 5 min
Though not conventionally spooky, Daphne du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca is a perfect fit for Spooktober. It takes place at a big creepy (but beautiful) house. There's an evil maid. And the late wife of Maxim de Winter haunts every action, every line of dialogue. Rebecca's also a powerful exploration and indictment of how women can have their identity defined for them. Join us for a chat about terrible husbands, Halloween costumes, plagiarism, old people, and Ace Ventura. This episode is brou...
Oct 26, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Spooktober rolls on this week with Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror, a “true story” from the mid 1970s about a family that buys a haunted house and then gets chased out of it. Its spookiness rating is… pretty low. We talk a bit about the real-life history of 112 Ocean Avenue, pig monsters, falling off of bikes, spaghetti, and ending chapters with exclamation points. This week’s show is brought to you in part by the fine folks at Squarespace. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and C...
Oct 19, 2015•1 hr 3 min
Spooktober rolls along with another Choose Your Own Adventure: Louise Munro Foley's Ghost Train. We make some dubious choices in this week's episode: spending a summer in Canada, fighting corporate greed, discussing cat literature, and getting to the bottom of who's sabotaging the orchards! This week's adventure is brought to you by Blue Apron. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Oct 12, 2015•1 hr 8 min
This week is the start of Overdue’s second-annual Spooktober spookfest, a month full of scary books that will get you in the mood for Halloween! Our first book, brought to us by special guest host Kathryn VanArendonk, is about James and Deborah Howe’s Bunnicula. Kathryn could never finish this one as a kid, but she braved it as an adult so she could tell you about all the weird stuff that happens in it. A cat reads books. A bunny sucks the juice out of vegetables. And oh yeah, it was written by ...
Oct 05, 2015•58 min
Andy Weir's The Martian is about a man who gets trapped on Mars. It's about all of the actually plausible-sounding science he uses to get himself out of one scrape after another. It's about the efforts of people back on Earth to get him home. It's about (we suppose) triumph in the face of adversity, and the innate goodness of humanity. In this case, what hurts the book the most is what it isn't: it isn't a particularly interesting character study, since the wisecracking astronaut Mark Watney see...
Oct 01, 2015•58 min
It is time to ascend Mount Doom and end our time in Middle-Earth with Tolkien's The Return of the King. Many goodbyes are said; scores are settled; and brains are filled with dense volumes of poetry and lore. Other talking points include birthday songs and copyright law, King Charlie Brown, the breaking of oaths, and High Fantasy football. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Sep 28, 2015•1 hr 24 min
This week we continue the Lord of the Rings saga with The Two Towers, a book that moves beyond Fellowship’s table-setting and dives right into the action. We spend time talking about why this book is more satisfying than the first as a standalone volume, and why the first book serves better as the first book of three than as its own story. We also spend quite a bit of this episode talking about the mixed listener reaction to the Fellowship episode, about the way Tolkien treats “mythical” creatur...
Sep 21, 2015•1 hr 19 min
Join us for the second installment in our four-part journey down to Mordor with J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings series. Craig's sister Jillian remains in the fellowship for a Family Size episode on The Fellowship of the Ring. Talking points include elven paradises, stranger danger, bath time songs, and the difference between dipping and bouncing. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Sep 14, 2015•1 hr 27 min
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic of American literature, and for good reason. The follow-up-slash-first-draft, Go Set a Watchman, doesn't have the same impact, but it's a fascinating look at how books change during the editing process. This show was recorded live in Philadelphia, PA. Thanks to everyone who came out! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sep 07, 2015•53 min
There's a reason why words like "Orwellian" and "thoughtcrime" have stuck in the public consciousness for more than 65 years, and that reason is George Orwell's 1984. A denser, more complex read than Orwell's also-famous Animal Farm, 1984 is a story about systemic government oppression and the dark side of humanity. We lighten up the proceedings a bit with talk about not one but TWO Hank Williams Jr. songs, the wonders of modern technology, and criticism of criticism of criticism. See Privacy Po...
Sep 01, 2015•1 hr 5 min
This is the first entry in our four-part journey down the J.R.R. Tolkien rabbit hole that so many of you wanted us to journey down. Andrew and Craig have both already read The Hobbit, the shorter, lighter prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so Craig's sister Jillian joins us for the ride. Join us for a talk about Tolkien, bedazzled dragons, and one weird trick that giant spiders will HATE. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr...
Aug 31, 2015•1 hr 15 min
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 ...
Aug 24, 2015•1 hr 2 min
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 Per...
Aug 17, 2015•55 min
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! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Aug 10, 2015•59 min
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.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://ar...
Aug 03, 2015•1 hr 8 min
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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Jul 30, 2015•57 min
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! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com...
Jul 27, 2015•53 min
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 fro...
Jul 20, 2015•1 hr 9 min
