The Bookening

Hello. It's us.

Memory. Identity. Barbra Streisand.

We haven't got our actual podcast recorded yet but here's a taste of why you should read along.

An ordinary (kind of) man caught in extraordinary circumstances! A race against time to expose a dangerous spy ring! Long walks through Scotland! It's John Buchan's immortal (?), classic (?): The 39 Steps.

Mysterious intelligent rats??? Please don't refer to our podcasters like that!

Tolstoy is a great writer. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novella about a middle-aged man named Ivan Ilyich. Yep, he dies. It's sad, moving, thoughtful, ironic, true to life, etc. And unlike some other Tolstoy books we could name, it's short. Worth your time.

Check out the Kickstarter for our friend's non-woke children's book, The Rainbow Knight.

The Bookening talks about a charming kid's book by the quirky children's author (and longtime New Yorker illustrator) William Steig.

We talk about some of his early books of "symbolic pictures" too—too dark to be kid's stuff. You have been forewarned! You can check out The Agony in the Kindergarten here, or About People here.

We're back, baby! Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your patience. We're offering some much needed context on one of the best books we've ever done, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. 

Our heroes discuss a podcast series that is taking things from them. (Note: for maximum coverage, this podcast is being published in the Sound of Sanity and Sanity at the Movies feed as well.) 

(Additional note: Jake and Nathan and Brandon are getting together this week to try to finally get that schedule worked out. Thanks for hanging in there.)

It's an update! With atrocious audio! Basic message: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!"

"Emma" by Jane Austen is considered a great novel due to its sharp wit, complex characters, and insightful commentary on societal norms and human nature. Austen's writing is known for its irony, subtle humor, and ability to draw readers into the world of her characters. The novel also explores themes of class, romance, self-delusion, and the dangers of interfering in the lives of others. Additionally, the novel's protagonist Emma Woodhouse is a strong, independent woman whose flaws and mistakes make her relatable and endearing to readers. 

The above description was definitely NOT written by a Chatbot.

A salesman who shared his liquor and steered while sleeping... A Cherokee filled with bourbon. A VW no more than a bubble of hashish fumes, captained by a college student. And a family from Marshalltown who head-onned and killed forever a man driving west out of Bethany, Missouri..

..I rose up sopping wet from sleeping under the pouring rain, and something less than conscious, thanks to the first three of the people I've already named- the salesman and the Indian and the student--all of whom had given me drugs. At the head of the entrance ramp I...

Ho ho ho!

Our heroes talk about Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien, asking such questions as "did you know there was a Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien?" They also announce their booklist for 2023, baby!

All the pretty horses ... where do they all come from? All the pretty horses? Where do they all belong?

Did you know Cormac McCarthy was born in Rhode Island? He had to work to sort of figure out how to become a southern western gothic writer, or whatever he is. Anyway, The Bookening talks about All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.

For some reason this is our Spooky October episode. Love is ... frightening? Or we dumbly mixed up the Stephen King episode and this one in release order? Who can tell?

The Green Mile by Stephen King. It’s a book we review. 

“My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.” 

The audio quality is not all there in this one. So think of it more as a bonus episode. You'll get giant Romeo...

Nathan checks in with an update on when you can expect the next full episode and a very interesting story about trying to schedule with Brandon. But believe me, if you don't like episodes that aren't just about books, this is NOT the episode for you. You have been warned. 

Revenge, madness, whale blubber, etc. The Bookening discusses one of the best books they've ever discussed. And probably the great American novel. Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

"If it had not borne Mr. Dickens's name, it would in all probability have hardly met with a single reader; and if it has any popularity at all, it must derive it from the circumstance that it stands in the same relation to his other books as salad dressing stands in towards a complete salad. It is a bottle of the sauce in which Pickwick and Nicholas Nickleby were dressed, and to which they owed much of their popularity; and though it has stood open on the sideboard for a very long time, and has lost a good deal...

The senselessness of life. The meaninglessness of death. Those moments where you murder someone in cold blood for no particular reason. Hope you like existential stuff. Because Ernest Heminway and Albert Camus sure do, as we talk about in this mega-stuft episode of none other than ..... THE BOOKENING. 

The Bookening is divided over one of the great (?) Russian novels!

Here's a link to that great piece on Tolstoy and Turgenev's relationship.

Two children's books that we had STRONG feelings about!

Happy Valentine's Day! It's been six years. Can you believe it? Time for The Bookening to return to the book that started it all. Will our opinions have changed? Will we argue our former selves into the dust? Will we now HATE Pride and Prejudice???? Find out in this mega stuffed episode.

How is the Bookening moving forward after a 2021 that wasn't what we wanted? What are we reading in 2022? Was Ender's Game a good novel? The answers to all these questions and more in the mega-long super spectacular new episode!

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Next week (Lord willing) Jake and Brandon will face off in the epic trial of Ender's Game. This week Jake prepares.

Ender's Game on, Bro!

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster. Will our heroes decide this book is romantic wish fulfillment? Or just really good? 

In which our heroes discuss E. M. Forster, a gay guy who lived his mom until she died at 90. But also wrote some great novels!

What do a great Russian novel, an iconic horror story, and some classic regency romance all have in common? They all appear on our list of books to buy even the most difficult people for Christmas this year. 

3 fetters that hold back 21st century style. 

ANOTHER EPISODE ABOUT HAMLET!

You didn't think we'd leave you hanging for Halloween did you? It's one of the most influential supernatural stories of the twentieth century, "The Call of Cthulhu", by H.P. Lovecraft. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Hamlet! We keep discussing it!

A classic episode of The Bookening in which eventually we talk about Hamlet. 

Some much needed context on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. 

Oh the rapture.