Clare and Hannah struggle to untangle the final book in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy: That Hideous Strength. Clare declares this book did not require a wizard. Hannah finally discovers a romantic subplot she's invested in. Once again, we mention The Abolition of Man, but only because Lewis mentioned it first. Get your own copy of That Hideous Strength at Clare’s Bookshop.org shop. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We pro...
After reading Perelandra, Clare and Hannah have been thinking about creation myths. In this episode, Hannah shares the whacky ideas the Greeks, Norse, and Chinese cultures had about how the world came to be. Listener discretion advised for the following reasons: We mention the raunchy aspects of Greek mythology.Both hosts devolve into wailing the saxophone riff from "Careless Whispers."Hannah was left unsupervized on-mic for aproximately 27 seconds.We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click...
Clare and Hannah continue their journey through Deep Heaven with C.S. Lewis, to a pure and unfallen planet where everyone is naked without shame. Seriously. The only clothed person in this entire book is literally the Devil. The planet is Perelandra—what we call Venus—a newly created Paradise, complete with a “human” King and Queen to be its stewards. But the Ancient Enemy, Satan, inflamed with Envy and bent on destruction, high-tails it there on a mission of corruption and evil. This time, E...
Clare and Hannah have a close encounter! In this episode we go over C.S. Lewis' five kinds of science fiction, as detailed in his essay, "On Science Fiction.” For complete show notes, including a list of the books we discussed, click through to the episode page on the Splanchnics website. CSL’s essay “On Science Fiction” appears in the collection entitled Of Other Worlds. If you’d like to get your own copy of this or any of the books we mentioned, check out Clare’s Bookshop.org page and...
In this book club episode, Clare and Hannah travel into space and try not to embarass themselves as they discuss C.S. Lewis's science fiction classic, Out of the Silent Planet. Naturally, they mention The Abolition of Man. For complete show notes, including a list of the books we discussed and one of the most beautiful passages Lewis wrote, click through to the episode page on the Splanchnics website. If you’d like to get your own copy of Out of the Silent Planet, or any of the books we...
Clare and Hannah take on Jekyll and Hyde in a battle of Victorian proportions. In other words, we slink furtively through darkened doorways, scandalize young housemaids sitting up past their bedtime, and write letters to our lawyers with the tantalizing instruction: "Do not open until I have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances." Get your own copy of this Robert Louis Stevenson classic, here at Clare's Bookshop.org store! Or, since Jekyll & Hyde is in the public...
This is a very serious episode. Clare and Hannah tackle a topic that is probably far beyond them, but that's never stopped them before. Today we discuss the difference between tragedy and evil. Hannah brings up vampires because at least she knows something about those. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about on this episode! Note that some of these may inc...
Clare and Hannah look back on 2024 as the year that blew their minds every other day. A few examples: The day that Israel blew the pants off their enemies.The presidential candidate who almost got his head blown off on live television.Amazing health discoveries that will keep you from blowing up the bathroom at your in-laws' house. Links: “Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms” (Sorry if that’s TMI…) The Brilliance of ‘Operation Grim Bee...
Clare and Hannah read H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau," and discuss universal themes like the hubris of science, the true nature of humanity, and their uncanny ability to shoehorn a C.S. Lewis shoutout into any discussion. Get your own copy of The Island of Dr. Moreau. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about on this episode! Note that some ...
Clare and Hannah share their experiences practicing martial arts. By share their experiences, we mean they soared with exquisite grace through a grove of bamboo trees, exchanging blows that shook the surrounding wilderness and awakened a long-dormant volcano. The Karate Kid Collection. Includes the original 1984 Karate Kid and its two sequels, plus the 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Little boy trying to break a board in tae kwon do—so cute!!...
Clare and Hannah return with another book club, this time covering Joseph Heller's Catch 22, a satirical commentary on corporate malfeasance, nonsense, incompetence and bureaucracy. A classic war novel that coined a phrase still prominent in the modern zeitgeist, Catch 22 left Clare feeling like a dummy and convinced Hannah that she does indeed have a twisted brain. In other words, a bit of light reading for your summer. Get your own copy of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller We’d love to hear you...
Hannah takes the "reigns" for part 1 in a series about the kings and queens of England. Because royalty in England just cycled through the same three names over and over, today we learn about two kings named Henry: Henry II: the highlights of his reign were murdering his best friend in a cathedral, getting whipped within an inch of his life in the same cathedral, and giving a gorgeous castle to a six year-old out of spite. We talk about several movies: Becket (1964, starring Peter O'Toole a...
Clare and Hannah read Charles Portis' 1968 novel, True Grit, and have not been able to talk normally since. We also analyze two movie adaptations of the book: the 1969 adaptation directed by Henry Hathaway and the 2010 adaptation directed by the Coen Brothers. To get your own copy of this amazing book and/or your own DVD copy of the movies, visit Clare's Bookshop.org store. (It's in the Splanchnics Book Club section). You'll get a discount AND you'll be supporting your favorite podcast! Tha...
Clare has been doing some light reading... of Dante's Inferno. The translation Clare's been reading is by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander. The commentaries are A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason M. Baxter and Spiritual Direction from Dante: Avoiding the Inferno by Paul Pearson. She's also been referring to the Dorothy Sayers terza rima English translation. These books are all available in our Bookshop.org store, in the "Dante's Divine Comedy" section. If you purc...
Today we discuss whether The Chronicles of Narnia should be read in chronological order or in order of publication. Clare has strong opinions about this one. Hannah doesn't care either way, but that may change... You already have your own copy of The Chronicles of Narnia, right? Wait...what? You don't?? Let us help you rectify that unacceptable situation right now: head over to our Bookshop.org store, where there are C. S. Lewis books all over the place: in the C.S. Lewis section...
The four temperaments have been around since Hippocrates, who theorized that our human behavior is influenced by the quantities of various fluids present in our bodies. The four temperaments are: Sanguine (blood), Choleric (Yellow bile), Melancholic (black bile), and phlegmatic (phlegm). Clare (a sanguine) and Hannah (a melancholic) plumb the depths of the human psyche in their discussion of the temperaments and their influence on our behavior. "The Temperament God Gave You" by Art and Lar...
In this episode, Hannah and Clare continue to talk about Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," through the lens of one of our favorite "Star Trek" episodes. We also manage to mention "Abolition of Man" again. See if you can spot it! Brave New World by Aldous Huxley includes adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about...
In this episode, Clare and Hannah come off the reservation and step into a Brave New World where people are made in bottles, Henry Ford is God, and the police are armed with water-pistols. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley includes adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Please enjoy this hilarious video from The Onion about how Disney grows childhood stars in their advanced genetic engineering laboratory! We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Suppor...
Don't be fooled by the title. We're still talking about Shakespeare. This time Hannah and Clare talk about the elements of tragedy and comedy, why the Lancasters had to look good in the histories, and what kind of play The Tempest is anyway. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about on this episode! Note that some of these may include “affiliate” links to bo...
Hannah finally uses her drama degree! In this episode, our mother-daughter duo discuss Shakespeare, its challenges, its beauty, and its relevance to us today. This week's installment of "Splanchnics Math:" According to Clare (3:50), Shakespeare was born in 1864 and died in 1616 at the age of 52. This is, of course, incorrect. He lived to be 248 and lived his life going backwards in time. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message! Support the show We provi...