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Overdue

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Overdue is a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. Join Andrew and Craig each week as they tackle a new title from their backlog. Classic literature, obscure plays, goofy childen’s books: they'll read it all, one overdue book at a time.


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Episodes

Ep 494 - The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner

It's time to solve the mystery of the Boxcar Children! (Or is it The Box-Car Children?) Warner's novel about a quartet of self-sufficient kiddos underwent a major revision 20 years after its debut AND it spawned dozens of mystery-focused sequels despite there not really being a mystery in the original. Tune in to hear about our own secret hideouts and to learn about Andrew's favorite new website for author research. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystu...

Sep 20, 20211 hr 7 min

Ep 493 - Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

Craig and Andrew said they would record the podcast themselves. This very modern episode about a very modern novel discusses Woolf's signature writing style, the regrets of a postwar British people, and when (or where) you might find yourself Thinking Big. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my...

Sep 13, 202155 min

Ep 492 - Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer

Ada Palmer's Too Like the Lightning is mostly concerned with big historical questions like "what if nationality had nothing to do with geography" and "what if a boy could make toys come to life," but it also deals with things like "what if noticing gender were a fetish" and "what if all the world's leaders were secretly slamming each other." Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art1...

Sep 06, 20211 hr 8 min

Ep 491 - Space Jam, by Nancy E. Krulik (Bonus Episode)

Everybody get up it's time to read now. We got a podcast goin' now. Welcome to the Space Jam! Join us as we talk about a storybook edition of the 1996 cartoon basketball commercial Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Sep 03, 20211 hr 12 min

Ep 490 - East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

After 488 episodes, we finally return to ol' Johnny Steinbeck. East of Eden mixes autobiography, pastoral fiction, and Biblical allegory -- a cocktail that has dismayed critics and excited audiences for decades. We dig into what works in this sprawling story and what might leave some readers wanting more. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Aug 30, 20211 hr 10 min

Ep 489 - The Public Burning, by Robert Coover

This book is a work of "faction" (that's "fact" plus "fiction") about Richard Nixon's interactions with the physical manifestation(s) of Uncle Sam in the run-up to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. So, uh, a weird one. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Aug 23, 20211 hr 6 min

Ep 488 - Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng

There are small flames all over the place! Well, specifically all over a family's house in Shaker Heights, OH in the late 1990s. Ng's bestselling sophomore effort dives into two different but intertwined families whose lives are flip-turned-upside-down by a conflagration of personal mysteries, teenage desires, and a tense adoption case. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not...

Aug 16, 20211 hr 4 min

Ep 487 - Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

Everyone! There's been a MURDER! And the person who committed it is still listening to THIS VERY PODCAST!! While we try to figure this out you should definitely listen to us talk about Hercule Poirot, the unassuming-ish detective who is here to discover your deepest darkest secrets and chew bubblegum and is all out of bubblegum. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my...

Aug 09, 20211 hr 3 min

Ep 486 - Moonglow, by Kristen Callihan (w/ Heaving Bosoms)

Join us for a trip back to Sherlock Holmes Times, as Melody and Erin from the Heaving Bosoms podcast help us talk about Kristen Callihan's Moonglow. The second book in the Darkest London series, Moonglow brings the romance and the supernatural lore in a way that keeps all four of us talking. You can find more from our new friends at the Heaving Bosoms podcast here . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at ht...

Aug 02, 20212 hr 6 min

Jagged Little Mill, a Don Quixote miniseries - Episodes 5 & 6

Enjoy another episode of our newest show-within-a-show! We're reading Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes a few chapters at a time. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption. These episodes cover Chapters 28-42. In Episode 5, Don Quixote rejoins the party. and everyone decides to shack up in the only inn/castle in all of Spain. Secondary characters step into the spotlight with their own stori...

Jul 30, 20211 hr 37 min

Ep 485 - Heap House (The Iremonger Trilogy #1), by Edward Carey

In this kid goth Victorian house, objects talk...but only to the people who can listen! Find out what happens to Clod Iremonger and Lucy Pennant in this creepy-yet-kid-friendly novel about a bunch of people who live near (and develop a symbiotic relationship with) trash. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jul 26, 20211 hr 3 min

Ep 484 - The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits is a multi-generational, lightly-magical-realism-y Chilean novel that eventually ends up being about Piochet's military coup, but it's also about the importance of studying events over a long span of time to come to a deeper understanding of why things happen the way they do. Something we could all stand to do more of, honestly. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.c...

Jul 19, 20211 hr 8 min

Ep 483 - Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh

This sensational punk novel from 1993 got attention because it depicts a LOT: drug use, sex, and all sorts of deviance in late 20th-century Edinburgh. You may even be familiar with the film adaptation starring a young Obi-Wan Kenobi! We also discuss Welsh's connections to (and opinions of) local government, the joy of the beautiful game, and why Craig's cultural references stop in the mid 2000s. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and C...

Jul 12, 20211 hr 7 min

Ep 482 - Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1), by Tamsyn Muir (Bonus Episode)

We've got lesbian necromancers! We've got spooky mansion murder mysteries! We've got MEMES! What else could you need in your space fantasy? How about a lively chat debating the pronunciation of "Doge"? Find out more about our bonus episode recordings at patreon.com/overduepod . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jul 09, 20211 hr 9 min

Ep 481 - Impostor Syndrome, by Kathy Wang

It's beach season! And that means it's time for beach reads (whatever that means). We discuss the loose meaning of this genre-slash-marketing-term-slash-state-of-mind, plus a very recent book about a Russian spy who has made it to the top of a fictional (but all-too-recognizable) American tech company. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jul 05, 20211 hr

Ep 480 - The Hours, by Michael Cunningham

The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours is a late 20th-century homage to and interrogration of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway . One woman writes it, one woman reads it, and one woman lives it. Now you can listen to us talk about it! Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jun 28, 20211 hr 4 min

Ep 479 - Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin

If you want to read a book where a well-adjusted character responds well to questions about their own sexuality, Giovanni's Room ain't it! But its depiction of one character's internal conflict is still compelling and relevant decades after its release. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jun 21, 202158 min

Ep 478 - The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Celebrated author and essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates entered the world of fiction in 2019 with The Water Dancer . A combination of his appreciation for superheroes and his years spent researching the Antebellum South, it's a book that tries to marry critique of American history with supernatural adventure. It also argues pretty hard for the power of remembrance. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art...

Jun 14, 20211 hr 5 min

Ep 477 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

If you've ever read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and thought to yourself "this book is an interesting read except for the part at the end where Tom Sawyer shows up" then buddy I have a book podcast for you (it's this one). Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Jun 07, 20211 hr 11 min

Ep 476 - Moon Quest (Choose Your Own Adventure), by Anson Montgomery

This week we choose our own lunar adventure! Join us as we learn some moon facts, climb on moon rocks, and make some choices about whether or not to meet Moon Separatists. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

May 31, 20211 hr 18 min

Ep 475 - Nancy Drew #1 - The Secret of the Old Clock, by Carolyn Keene

Carolyn Keene wasn't a real person, and we suspect that the Secret of the Old Clock might not actually meet the technical definition of a "mystery"? But dang if that plucky Nancy Drew and her confident stride aren't fun to talk about anyway. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

May 24, 20211 hr 3 min

Jagged Little Mill, a Don Quixote miniseries - Episodes 3 & 4

Enjoy another episode of our newest show-within-a-show! We're reading Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes a few chapters at a time. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption. These episodes cover Chapters 15-27. In Episode 3, Don Quixote, the Knight of the Sorrowful Face, and his companion Sancho Panza - after getting their butts kicked up and down the Spanish countryside - bicker about the n...

May 21, 20211 hr 32 min

Ep 474 - Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers

It's disorienting to read the tenth book in a longrunning detective fiction series without reading any of the books that came before, but Gaudy Night is noteworthy because its heroine Harriet Vane is a precursor to many many women found in today's mystery novels. Just come prepared for the romantic parts and the parts about English high society that all make it take longer to figure out who did the crimes. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

May 17, 20211 hr 2 min

Ep 473 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer, a 19th-century amalgam of Zack Morris and Dennis the Menace, has much to teach us about the joys of boyhood and adventure in the pre-Civil War United States. Twain, by extension, has plenty to teach us about racial stereotypes and how they can bog down even the most charming of adventure stories. Check out our previous Mark Twain episode on The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy...

May 10, 20211 hr 5 min

Ep 472 - Lost Cat, by Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton (Bonus Episode)

April's bonus episode uses Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton’s illustrated sort-of-memoir Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology as a springboard to talk about being a Cat Person, loss, pandemic brain, and the fact that more books for adults should be illustrated. Find out more about our bonus episode recordings at patreon.com/overduepod . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at ht...

May 07, 20211 hr 9 min

Ep 471 - Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren

What is Pippi Longstocking? A precocious nine-year-old child with a healthy disregard for The System? A Terminator? An elder god who dabbles in mortal affairs, eternally developing tests for us and finding us wanting? The answer might be "all of the above. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

May 03, 20211 hr 8 min

Ep 470 - The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht

Téa Obreht's award-winning debut novel is about a doctor in a war-torn Balkan country, piecing together her grandfather's life one story at a time. Is it a magical realism? Is it mostly about animals? Is it surprisingly resonant with our Current Societal Moment™? Find out the answers to these questions and more on this week's episode. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-s...

Apr 26, 20211 hr 4 min

Ep 469 - Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

Join us as we journey down a dark corridor to a parallel world where we are friends and host a book podcast together but our eyes are shiny black buttons and we give you a vaguely uneasy feeling when we invite you to listen to us... forever. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Apr 19, 202159 min

Feed Drop: The History of Literature - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

This isn't an episode of Overdue, it's a Feed Drop! We wanted to share with you an episode of The History of Literature, a podcast about great stories and why we love them. To use host Jacke Wilson's words, the show "takes a fresh look at some of the most compelling examples of creative genius the world has ever known." It's brought to you by the folks at the Podglomerate. You can find more info on The History of Literature here . And don't worry, there'll still be a regularly scheduled episode ...

Apr 15, 20211 hr 2 min

Ep 468 - The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary

Clearly it is time we covered Beverly Cleary! In addition to her numerous books starring Ramona Quimby, the late titan of children's fiction penned several novels about a mouse named Ralph who rides a motorcycle. Not quite sure what else you need to know, to be honest. There's a kid named Keith. He and Ralph become friends. Also, we solve the energy crisis thanks to Ralph's motorcycle. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California ...

Apr 12, 202156 min
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