Ross Cleaver returns to talk owls, plates, and Welsh mythology in Alan Garner’s The Owl Service (1967). John McCoy with Ross Cleaver Show Notes & Links Owl Service dinner plate The titular service plate with its owl flowers. Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podca…

This episode has many omissions, and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate. Jacob Haller tries to make sense of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979). John McCoy with Jacob Haller Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to po…

What’s more cultivated and genteel than classical theater? David Loehr discusses Aristophanes’s Lysistrata (411 B.C.E.) John McCoy with David J. Loehr Show Notes & Links Lysistrata Jones Trailer for the 2011 Broadway musical Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podca…

Because twenty would be too few and twenty-two would be ridiculous. Shaenon K. Garrity discusses William Pène du Bois’s The Twenty-One Balloons (1947). John McCoy with Shaenon K. Garrity Referenced Works The Twenty-One Balloons Show Notes & Links Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get…

Rain Main meets Air Bud. Dan McCoy discusses stims and happy endings and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). John McCoy with Dan McCoy Show Notes & Links Dan McCoy's Special Interests My brother’s newsletter mentioned in the episode. Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becomin…

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a bunch of monks sitting around copying stuff. Jelani Sims returns to discuss Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959). John McCoy with Jelani Sims Referenced Works A Canticle for Leibowitz Show Notes & Links A Canticle for Leibowitz The Internet Archive has all episodes of the …

Stick some stamps on the top of our heads. Deborah Stanish discusses Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.” (1941) John McCoy with Deborah Stanish Referenced Works Why I Live at the P.O. Show Notes & Links Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episode…

The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between. Moisés Chiullán discusses Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth (1961). [We’ve re-issued this episode to correct an audio problem.] John McCoy with Moisés Chiullán Referenced Works The Phantom Tollbooth Show Notes & Links The Phantom Tollbooth (1970) Trailer …

Podcasters: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let’s Find Out! Jason Snell talks about marine life in J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948). John McCoy with Jason Snell Referenced Works A Perfect Day for Bananafish Show Notes & Links Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Me…

Lions and tigers and bea— you know what, just lions. Jordan Morris is here to discuss Ray Bradbury’s story “the Veldt” (1950). John McCoy with Jordan Morris Show Notes & Links "The Veldt" radio drama From the 1983 NPR Playhouse series Bradbury 13. "The Veldt" Track by Combustible Edison from the album I, Swinger (1994). Support this show and other …

The Podcast! The Podcast! John Holt discusses the ill-fated cruise that is Joseph Conrad’s novelette Heart of Darkness (1899). John McCoy with John Holt Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.…

Though his mind is not for rent, it still is the subject of this episode. Jacob Haller discusses Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer (1876). John McCoy with Jacob Haller Referenced Works Tom Sawyer Show Notes & Links Tom Sawyer (1973) The trailer for the musical movie version from Reader’s Digest. Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable n…

Actually, I need this sea in an extra wide. Caroline Fulford discusses postcolonialism and recurring fires in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966). John McCoy with Caroline Fulford Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.…

The Burgermeister Meisterburger has nothing on this burglar! My wife Marina joins me for our annual Christmas episode. This time we discuss Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas” (1896). John McCoy with Marina McCoy Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bo…

The waiting is the hardest part. Ross Cleaver and James Randall discuss the apocalypse, palace intrigue, and the charm of 80’s BBC television in this episode about John Christopher’s The Prince in Waiting (1970). John McCoy with Ross Cleaver and James Randall Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member…

Fish and visitors stink in three days, but podcasts are evergreen! Dan and Rob return for the annual Thanksgiving nonsense with Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758). John McCoy with Dan McCoy and Rob McCoy Referenced Works Poor Richard's Almanack Show Notes & Links Rare Book Room Facsimiles of most of the pages of most of the edi…

Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Chucky—they’re all here. That’s what this book is about, right? Erin Gambrill discusses Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (1966). John McCoy Sponsors Incomparable Memberships!: Sign up, support our show, and get access to exclusive podcasts! Referenced Works Valley of the Dolls (novel) Show Notes & Links Valley of the Dol…

Why just sit around waiting for the end of the world when you can hear a podcast about it? Jelani Sims discusses Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957). John McCoy with Jelani Sims Sponsors Incomparable Memberships!: Sign up, support our show, and get access to exclusive podcasts! Show Notes & Links On the Beach (1959) Stanley Kramer’s film adaptation, …

Kids today love Thucydides, right? Anyone? Daniel Daughhetee returns to discuss this late fifth century BCE chronicle of Athens v. Sparta. John McCoy with Daniel Daughetee Show Notes & Links Map of the Peloponnesian Wars Follow along at home! Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get ear…

It’s a naive literary podcast without any breeding, but I think you’ll be amused by its presumption. Dan Cassino discusses James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat” (1942) and The 13 Clocks (1950). John McCoy with Dan Cassino Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, b…

If you’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast, why not listen to this podcast before lunch? Phil Gonzales discusses Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).Af The Incomparable

After eight years of the podcast I finally do the inevitable. Shelly Brisbin discusses John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939).Af The Incomparable

Howl likes to move it, move it. Audrey Lazaro and Dan McCoy are on to discuss Diana Wynne Jones’s book Howl’s Moving Castle (1986).Af The Incomparable

I don’t care how long this day’s journey has been, so help me I will turn this car around if you kids don’t stop. Kris Markel discusses Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night(written 1941, published 1956).Af The Incomparable

Jean, Jean, the roses are red and all of the leaves have gone green, so Glenn Fleishman and John are discussing Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961).Af The Incomparable

Ross Cleaver discusses Carrie’s War (what is it good for?), Nina Bawdwin’s 1973 children’s book about evacuations, skulls, and grumpy Welshmen.Af The Incomparable

Grab a whisky and soda and put your leg up. My dad and I discuss Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936). Bonus content: a visit to the Hemingway Home in Key West!Af The Incomparable

Jelani Sims returns to discuss the literal and metaphorical ghosts of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved (1987).Af The Incomparable

I have good feelings about this one! Zach Powers returns to discuss desparate criminals and mysterious benefactors in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861).Af The Incomparable

There are many podcasts from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited. John and Marina discuss Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843).Af The Incomparable

This is one weird mouse book. Phil Gonzales and John discuss E. B. White’s Stuart Little(1945).Af The Incomparable

It’s Thanksgiving, so of course Rob, John, and Dan drink and discuss “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1842).Af The Incomparable

Probably best not to listen to this episode while you’re in a theatre. Shannon Campe and John discuss Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1605-ish).Af The Incomparable

The podcasts that the world calls immoral are podcasts that show the world its own shame. Tamar Avishai and John discuss Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1831).Af The Incomparable

Those smale foweles maken melodye got nothin’ on us: Kathy Campbell and John discuss Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400).Af The Incomparable

The original Farewell to Arms. Nathan Alderman discusses Beowulf (c. 1000).Af The Incomparable

Gilgamesh, a king, at Uruk. It’s not just a Star Trek meme. Gregory Fried talks ritual sex, heavenly bulls, and sneaky snakes in the Epic of Gilgamesh.Af The Incomparable

Gregor’s mother warned him about days like this. Jason Snell discusses Franz Kafka’s inescapable novella, The Metamorphosis (1915).Af The Incomparable

Audrey Lazaro discusses Mellville’s 1853 story, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of the top three bits of scrivener fiction ever.Af The Incomparable

No, I won’t make a Bangles joke. Erin Gambrill discusses Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967).Af The Incomparable

Bambi’s not so cute in this gritty new reboot. Glenn Fleishman discusses Felix Salten’s 1923 parable about what goes on in the woods. Also we talk a lot about copyright.Af The Incomparable

Climb ev’ry mountain—except these mountains, they’re nuts. Phil Gonzales discusses H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” written in 1931 and published in 1936.Af The Incomparable

To begin at the beginning: David Loehr is back in the slow, black, crowblack, podcast-bobbing sea to discuss Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (1954).Af The Incomparable

New Year’s is a time for optimism, but instead Christy Admiraal discusses Sylvia Plath’s 1963 roman à clef, the Bell Jar. Also, John totally gets the dates wrong for this book’s complicated publishing history.Af The Incomparable

But I sold my Zune to buy you this podcast! Marina and John discuss hair, watches, and O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”Af The Incomparable

It’s turkey time / once again / Dan and Rob / dive right in / we discuss / Buma-Shave!Af The Incomparable

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a podcast, for example, where Bill O’Donnell discusses Jerome K. Jerome’s very silly Three Men in a Boat (1889).Af The Incomparable

Grab on to your happy thought and join Shannon Campe in discussing James Barrie’s complicated children’s novel Peter Pan (1911), originally called Peter and Wendy.Af The Incomparable

Spoon River…wider than a mile. Okay, now that we have that out of our way, join Lisa Schmeiser as we discuss Edgar Lee Master’s poetic collection *Spoon River Anthology *(1915).Af The Incomparable

Anarchy in the U. K. (LeGuin)! David Woken talks a lot of politics and a little story as we discuss The Dispossessed (1974).Af The Incomparable