Tell me about a Complicated Man. Mishima's breakthrough coming-of-age novel about sexuality in late Imperial Japan has a powerful narrative voice and prose style. But the legacy of his work and his political goals has led to him being a bit of an "enigma" (as one listener referred to him) -- to put it lightly. 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 Pri...
Jun 13, 2022•59 min
The Scarlet Letter is often included as part of a high school reading curriculum because it's good at teaching people about symbolism, and it's good at teaching people about symbolism because it uses a half-dozen symbols roughly 700 times apiece. 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-info ....
Jun 06, 2022•58 min
What if thirty years of history took place JUST beyond the doors of your hotel? And what if you weren't allowed to leave that hotel? And, get this, the hotel is in Moscow. The beloved bestseller A Gentleman in Moscow fills its historical fiction with charming characters that you want to root for. But can we (or should we) figure out what it's trying to say? Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Welcome to our newest show-within-a-show! In case you can't tell by the name, we're reading a selection of eight spooktacular books from R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption. In Episode 1, we do some table-setting on the series, Stine, and Scholastic books -- then we dive into the first entry in this long-running series of kids' horror books: Welcome to Dead House. In Episode 2, we try ...
May 27, 2022•2 hr 54 min
Whether you're a fan of Netflix's Bridgerton series or you just want an Austen novel with more modern language and more explicit sex scenes, the first novel in Julia Quinn's series about the Bridgerton family has something for you. Just, uh, watch out for the nonconsensual sexual encounter!! Oops!! 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 ...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Who wants to celebrate April with some modernist poetry??? This month, we allude to many of the allusions in T.S. Eliot's landmark poem. Thank you to the Patreon supporters who joined us as we navigated this tricksy poem. Find out how to join us for bonus recordings at patreon.com/overduepod. 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 htt...
May 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min
August Wilson wrote a whole bunch of plays, all of which contain dialogue and take place at certain points in history. He's most notable for his Pittsburgh aka Century Cycle, so we decided to talk about one of the standouts: Fences. 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-info ....
May 16, 2022•1 hr 2 min
The first of four books in the Circle of Magic series, Sandry's Book feels a bit less self-contained than first-books-in-a-series normally do. You'll meet likable and well-drawn characters, but be prepared to finish the series if you want a more satisfying story. 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-...
May 09, 2022•53 min
The inspiration for the hit trilogy of DreamWorks films is rather different than you might expect. It's still about a boy named Hiccup and his dragon Toothless, but the original has more burping, farting, and Dragonese than the films dared to show -- which is odd because those are the guys what made Shrek. 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...
May 02, 2022•57 min
The thrilling conclusion to the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest continues most of the plot threads introduced in the previous book. If you thought that The Girl Who Played With Fire was lacking in secondary and tertiary characters, boy have we got good news for you! 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 http...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 15 min
This award-winning novel by a real writer's writer has elicited a broad range of responses, with some folks praising the prose and structure and others bouncing off its characters and style. But maybe that range of reactions was inevitable given the way Trust Exercise explores the slipperiness of memory and narrative. 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 Califo...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Is The Winter's Tale a tragicomedy? A dramedy? A romance? A problem play? Who knows! But we can say for certain it's a play about a king who gets jealous and makes bad decisions. Also a bear eats someone. 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-info ....
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Truly great butlers are work-focused automata, occupied only on maintaining and increasing the reputation of their employer. But what if there were more to life than that? This week, we follow one butler as he comes to exactly that realization. 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-info ....
Apr 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Enjoy the FINAL EPISODE of our latest show-within-a-show! We read Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes a few chapters at a time. Some Patreon supporters got these episodes monthly, but every two months we combined them for general consumption. These episodes cover Chapters 48-74 of Part Two aka The End of the Story. In Episode 13, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza bid goodbye to the Duke and Duchess of Prankdom...for now. In Episode 14, we bid goodbye to Don Quixote and ...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 29 min
It's time to go back to school, where professional scientists Melody and Erin from the Heaving Bosoms podcast can help us talk about Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis. This STEAMy romantic comedy is one heck of a romp, and we have a heck of a time recounting it. Caveat lictor: This episode is marked explicit because this book includes adult material! You can find more from our new friends at the Heaving Bosoms podcast here . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue ...
Mar 28, 2022•2 hr 58 min
This week, Glory Edim of Well-Read Black Girl fame joins us to talk about Deesha Philyaw's inaugural short story collection. We also chat with Glory about her work with WRBG and some of her favorite interviews. You can find more from Glory and Well-Read Black Girl at their website or on their podcast . 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 Not...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 4 min
My podcast is a fish. Faulkner's 1930 modernist "tour de force" (his words) takes one family's journey to bury its matriarch and splinters it into over a dozen increasingly-disjointed perspectives. The book's structure and characters are memorable but boy howdy are they difficult. 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.c...
Mar 14, 2022•55 min
The State of our Podcast is strong! We just have a few announcements to make that wouldn't fit onto a regular episode. In this special edition podcast update, we drop the details on our next longread project GOOSEBUMS, discuss some tweaks to our Patreon project, and thank you all for making the show the success that it is! To find out more about our Patreon changes, head on over to this post. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...
Mar 11, 2022•20 min
This week we talk about the 1985-1995 comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by way of the 1992 collection The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes. The strip is totally inseparable from a discussion of its medium and the merchandising-averse guy who made it. 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-info ....
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Join us in the Everglades as Florida Boy rummages through the bayou in search of adventure! Will we make it out alive? Will we win the war? Tune in to find out! Thank you to the Patreon supporters who joined us as we made these adventurous choices. Find out how to join us for bonus recordings at patreon.com/overduepod. 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 Calif...
Mar 05, 2022•1 hr 22 min
This mystery novel featuring Perveen Mistry (get it?) is also an engrossing work of historical fiction. We learn about different religious and family structures in 1920s Bombay, and we also learn about how the story's split timeline impacts the narrative. Also, Cyrus sucks. Boo Cyrus. 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://art...
Feb 28, 2022•52 min
We bring our weirdest and most chaotic vibes to our conversation about Black Buck and the forces that inform it, whether that's a bad thing or not is sort of up to you! 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-info ....
Feb 21, 2022•56 min
Roll of thunder, hear our podcast! We're talking about Taylor's Newbery-winning novel about the Logan family working to survive in the Jim Crow South. Also, Andrew makes a joke about The Sims to try and liven things up. 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-info ....
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr
In response to the McMinn County, TN's unanimous decision to ban Art Spiegelman's Maus from its 8th-grade curriculum last month, we've both re-read the book to encourage a conversation about its continued importance and (sadly) relevance. Also, did you know that Art Spiegelman helped make Garbage Pail Kids? We've made donations to HIAS Pennsylvania and The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia this week. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.c...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 17 min
We're sharing a special preview of the new podcast, Well-Read Black Girl from Pushkin Industries. Well-Read Black Girl is the literary kickback you never knew you needed. Glory Edim, author and founder of the Well-Read Black Girl community, sits in deep, honest and close conversation with authors like Tarana Burke, Anita Hill, Gabrielle Union, Elizabeth Acevedo and more. You’ll also meet book club members, literacy advocates, and Black booksellers to hear what they’re reading and what it means t...
Feb 03, 2022•7 min
Clare Bell's novel about prehistoric big cats with language, culture, and fire is also a pretty engrossing adventure about being cast out from your home and discovering the world around you. Time to join the clan of the Red Tongue! 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-info ....
Jan 31, 2022•53 min
Enjoy another episode of our latest 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 27-47 of Part Two. In Episode 11, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza meet a Duke and Duchess familiar with Quixote's adventures. LARPing and pranks ensue. In Episode 12, the Duke and Duchess conti...
Jan 29, 2022•1 hr 15 min
The former hosts of Appointment Television join us this week to talk about Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, the book version of the TV show Peacock's Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. This book makes that show and all other Dan Brown books seem actually kinda better by comparison? Follow Kathryn VanArendonk on Twitter. Follow Margaret H. Willison on Twitter . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at htt...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Yaa Gyasi's debut novel tracks the lasting impacts of the slave trade across multiple generations and continents, through the eyes of two half-sisters and their descendants. 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-info ....
Jan 17, 2022•59 min
Where did his animal-talking abilities come from? Why is he worshipped by animals all over the world? Why does this book talk about money so much? And why did so few of us read Dr. Dolittle in grade school? This week, we tried to answer these questions (and more) with Alli from the SSR Podcast , a great show you should check out! You can also listen to our previous SSR Podcast collab: Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots with the Bailey School Kids. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis . Adve...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 5 min
