Close Reads Podcast

Summer is nearly here, so it’s the perfect time to dive into Tove Jansson’s cult classic, The Summer Book, a delightful but melancholy story about the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother and their life on an island. In this episode we chatted about Jansson’s attention to the details of island itself, the unique perspectives of the two main characters, the episode nature of the story and the unique humor in each, and much more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

As always, we’re concluding a series by answering you questions. And, while it may have taken two different recording sessions, we answered as many as we could. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in questions—and happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

We can finally talk about the whole book, which really means we can finally debate all the things we want to debate! So click play and listen in as we argue (sorta) about who can actually be trusted in this book and which theories are actually most . . . trustworthy. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Part three of Hernan Diaz’s novel is quite different than its two predecessors. On the one hand, it shifts the point-of-view away from the Bevel family and offers us a look at them through a regular person, a civilian, if you will. On the other hand, Diaz seems to complicate the book even more in making that choice. So in this episode, we debate what his goals are, whether our narrator in this section can be trusted, and how it deepens (but also clarifies) the mystery at the heart of the book. And we continue dancing around the big reveal to come (and much more, as always). Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

We’re back to discuss part two of Hernan Diaz’s award-winning novel. In this episode we chat about whether we can really know anything about its narrator (and how he might be related to the protagonist in part one), whether he’s a bad guy or just a small-soul, the metafiction of it all, and more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

The gang is all back for this new series on Hernan Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Trust! Join as we try not to spoil the rest of the book, discuss what makes Diaz’s approach so compelling, contemplate who part one is most sympathetic toward, and much more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Once again, it’s time to answer your questions! So join us as we discuss Tolkien’s many choices, some differences between this book and the main trilogy, his various influences, teaching it, and much more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Bilbo’s journey is over and he’s home, which means there’s plenty to talk about. So this week we’re discussing the role of luck in Tolkien’s stories, the book’s subtle moral vision, Bilbo’s transformation, Arkenbread, and much more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Bilbo, Thorin, and co. are well on their way, but are they actually good at their jobs? We discuss. Plus: Beowulf, The Hobbit and the question of heroism. Happy listening! Close Reads is community-supported publication. To ensure that we can keep making the content you value, please consider becoming a subscriber. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to a new series here on Close Reads! We’re talking Tolkien, we’re talking Hobbits, we’re talking rings and dwarves and wizards, and (this week anyway) we’re talking first lines. So join us as we dig into what makes The Hobbit both so fun and so brilliant, what is has to say about heroism, whether our riddle game is strong, and much more. Plus, at the end, we discuss the annual Close Reads literary bracket, which is on great opening lines in literature. Happy listening! Preorder LUMEN Volume One: www.goldberryarts.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

We’ve come to the end of the line discussing another book and that means it’s time to answer your questions! A lot of questions came in for this one, and we did our best to get to the bottom of as many as we could. Thanks so much to all who posted questions. Happy listening! Up next: The Hobbit, chapters 1-6 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

This week we begin with a brief “Posts for the Hosts” segment before diving into conversation about the final passages in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Topics include passages that are most moving to each of us, whether the final pages are truly hopeful, the archetypal nature of the story, the question of God in the book, and much more. Happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to ensure that we can keep making the content you value! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

The gang’s all back to discuss Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. This week we contemplate the gruesome nature of some of the scenes and images in this section, the anagogical core of the book (with a nod to McCarthy’s original working title), the arrival of the mysterious stranger, and much more. As always, happy reading!Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to ensure that we can keep making the content you value. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to our new (and long-awaited) series on Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Road. All four of us are here for this one and here in the first episode conversation explores what it is like to read (or re-read) this book as a parent, McCarthy’s unique approach to world-building and language, why people should read this book even if it’s hard, and much more. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

And so we come to the end of our conversations on Anthony Trollope’s The Warden, focusing, as always, on your questions. Join us as we dig into Trollope’s thoughts on the nature of the novel, whether he was doing theological commentary or social commentary, whether the novel works on all four levels of interpretation (and much more!). Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to our conversation on the concluding chapters of The Warden, in which the Close Reads team discusses whether this books ends in anti-climax, whether Trollope is actually poking more fun at Harding himself than it seems at first, the anti-Dickensian nature of the story, the book’s unique moral vision, and much more. Happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported publication. To ensure that we can keep making the content you value, please consider subscribing! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s episode features a new occasional segment tentatively called “Letters to the Editors” (help us come up with something better!). So click play and tune in as we give the floor to a few listeners who disagree with us . . . and then let conversation flow, of course. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

This week on the show, Sean is forced to confront some . . . questions . . . about The Warden presented by David and Heidi (and David suggest a narrative theory that is definitely worth taking seriously). Happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to ensure we can keep on making the content you value. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to conversations on a new book, which is in a genre we seem to turn to at least once a year: a novel about (or from the perspective) of a clergyman. We’ve done books on Catholic priests, country ministers, Orthodox monks, and others. In Anthony Trollope’s The Warden, we encounter a warden that is connected to the Church of England and who is thus caught between two sides in a war of Victorian Social Justice. So join in as we kick off this series by discussing it’s representation of competing duties pitted against each other, what makes the warden a compelling protagonist, and Trollope’s approach. Happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a subscriber to make sure we can keep producing the content you value. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

It’s Q&A time! This week David, Heidi, and Sean discuss the end of Wodehouse’s Summer Lightning, then dig into some listener questions. Topics of conversation include Shakespeare’s influence on Wodehouse, his “formula", and much more. Happy listening!Up next: The Warden, chapters 1-5 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe