The Literary Life Podcast

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas are joined by Addison Hornstra as they open a new book discussion series covering George MacDonald's Lilith: A Romance. This introductory conversation on the book opens with some thoughts on both the book's title and the epigraph. Addison shares some background on the story from MacDonald's own son and how this book was written and sent out into the world. They discuss the form of Lilith as a literary romance, as well as the ways in which MacDonald points the reader to admit his limits of understanding. Another major...

This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas sit down for another chat with Addison and Ella Hornstra to bring us an update on their literary lives and educational journeys. They open the conversation with some thoughts on how and why Addison and Ella changed their educational paths and goals. They discuss how the girls went about the search to find their vocations and how that affected their decisions on pursuing their education as adults. Thomas asks how Addison and Ella's approach to reading in English has been affected by the process of learning foreign languages. Angelina...

On The Literary Life podcast today, we bring you a replay of a chat that Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas had with twin sisters Addison and Ella Hornstra. Together they have been given a literary home education. Angelina introduces the Hornstra ladies and she and Thomas tell a little bit about having them as students. Cindy also shares how she met the Hornstra family. Then they dig into the girls' reading journeys from the beginning of their learning to read all the way to their current reading lives. Some of the topics that come up in this conversation are: reading...

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas cover the final chapters in our series on Richard Adams' Watership Down. They begin by taking a look at the epilogue in light of the journey of the soul. Angelina also talks about why the many digressions in this book work so well and how they contribute to the overall meaning of the story. She and Thomas also talk about the aristeia finally making its appearance in these chapters, the legend of the Fisher King, the "deus ex machina" that we see here. Finally, they highlight the beauty of...

Today's episode of The Literary Life is part 4 of our series on Richard Adams' Watership Down. Angelina and Thomas discuss chapters 31-40 this week, starting with some thoughts on the conventions of literature in different literary periods. Thomas also makes a note that although this book mirrors many aspects of The Aeneid, readers ought not expect to find exact correspondence between the characters and plot points in the two stories. They talk about the depth and weight of this story due to its connections with mythology and the literary tradition.

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On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas continue their series on Richard Adams' Watership Down, covering chapters 21-30 in this episode. Angelina opens the discussion with some thoughts on the importance of the structure of a story in view of the literary tradition inspired by her commonplace quote for today. Once again, in these chapters we see echoes from mythology and beast fables, including references to the "and-then" story structure, the Sabine women, the rabbit as trickster, testing of the leader, and so much more!

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Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast and the second episode in our series on Richard Adams' Watership Down.This week Angelina and Thomas will be discussing chapters 11-20. In addition to covering the main plot points and characters in these chapters, they share connections with other stories in the literary tradition and highlight elements of the journey story seen in this section of the book. The contrasts between the Aeneid and the Odyssey and Illiad are part of the conversation in context of the ways in which Watership Down reflects the Aeneid. Angelina also brings out some of the...

Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and a new book discussion series! This month, Angelina and Thomas will be covering Richard Adams' Watership Down. Beginning of their commonplace quotes, they talk about the background of this book and what type of story this is, as well as how Angelina is approaching this first read. Thomas gives some biographical information on Richard Adams, including the publishing challenges facing Adams. Angelina highlights the epigraphs beginning each chapter and their significance. Some of the other topics Thomas and Angelina share their thoughts about include the classical references in these chapters, the...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks return from their summer break with a fun "Ask Us (Almost) Anything" episode. The questions they answer include the following:

Welcome to the final episode of our summer series on short stories and essays! Today your hosts Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins are joined once again by Thomas Banks for their discussion of Samuel Johnson's essay "The Vulture." Before getting into the meat of the essay, Angelina talks about why she disagrees with her own commonplace quote on the purpose of poetry. In the process, she gives us a brief history of literary periods from the classical to the neoclassical and enlightenment.

Thomas shares some more biographical information on Samuel Johnson and his work. Cindy highlights both...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life, we continue our series of replays from our Summer of the Short Story with a discussion of "The Celestial Omnibus" by E. M. Forster. Angelina and Cindy tell why they love this short story so much and how it encapsulates their own ideas about literature. Thomas gives us some biographical background on E. M. Forster. We get a brief look at the plot of the story, as well as some discussion of how allegorical Forster makes this story. Angelina highlights the idea presented in "The Celestial Omnibus" that what we see...

For this week's installment of our Short Story Summer Remix, we revisit a conversation Angelina and Cindy had covering George Orwell's essay "Why I Write." Our hosts kick off the discussion about how much they each identify with Orwell's description of his childhood. In his story of learning to write, we see many aspects of a good education, even his inclination to imitate other authors. An important point Angelina brings up is Orwell's own struggle against the calling he felt to write, in contrast to having an ambition to do so. Angelina brings up a related story about musician G...

In this week's Short Story Summer Remix from Season 1, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discuss Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace." Before getting into the short story discussion, Cindy and Angelina chat about what a "commonplace book" is and how they each go about recording quotes and thoughts.

First off, Angelina gives us a little background on the author Guy de Maupassant and some information on French naturalism. Then she digs into her thoughts on how this story is a fairy tale in reverse and what that might mean in context. Cindy points out the perfection...

Today on The Literary Life, we continue our summer short story series of episodes from the archives. In this episode, Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford are joined by Angelina's husband, Thomas Banks. This week's selection for our summer series is Joseph Addison's "The Adventures of a Shilling."

Their conversation kicks off with an attempt at defining the "essay" form and giving a brief history on its development. Thomas shares a little background information on Joseph Addison and his writing, as well as several other essayists who came before and after Addison. Thomas also talks about why essays...

This week on The Literary Life, we continue our Summer of the Short Story replay series. On today's episode, Cindy and Angelina discussed Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Garden Party." They start with how Cindy found this story and the connections she was making to Little Women. Angelina gives a brief biographical sketch of Katherine Mansfield and highlights how Mansfield's own illness and death give us insight into how she deals with death in this story. Angelina walks us through how she looks at the use of figurative language and images, such as the Garden of Eden. They also t...

On The Literary Life today we continue our re-airing of a series from our "Summer of the Short Story" that originally aired way back in Season 1 of the podcast! This week's episode features Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discussing G. K. Chesterton's essay "A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls."

Angelina opens with a brief history of the Victorian era and the more prevalent availability of the novel to the masses. She also gives several examples of the "penny dreadful." Cindy and Angelina discuss why they agree with Chesterton that people need these simple, even formulaic stories. They remind...

This week on The Literary Life we begin revisiting a series from our "Summer of the Short Story" that originally aired way back in Season 1 of the podcast! Today we return to Episode 11, in which Angelina and Cindy enjoyed a discussion of the short story "Araby" by James Joyce.

Delving into "Araby," Angelina talks about the history and development of the short story form. Cindy gives a little of her own background with reading James Joyce and why she loves his short stories. Angelina and Cindy also discuss the essential "Irishness" of this story and all the...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts seek to answer your questions about reading ancient literature. Angelina and Thomas and joined by their colleague, Dr. Anne Phillips, and together they cover some of the most frequently asked questions about diving into the ancients, including the following:

On today's episode of The Literary Life, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are joined by Jenn Rogers for a new discussion of "On Fairy Stories" by J.R.R. Tolkien. After sharing some opening commonplace quotes, Jenn gives us background and context for how "On Fairy Stories" comes to us today. She talks about the conversations being had by Tolkien and other philologists and folklorists that set the stage for this essay. Angelina highlights the idea of the Tree of Tales and its importance to understanding all of literature. Other topics they discuss together include sub-creation, the...

This week on The Literary Life, we are re-airing an episode from the archives featuring a discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" between Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks. Angelina sets the stage for this discussion by orienting us to the context for the essay by Tolkien as a critique of what is considered a fairy story. She points out the difference between cautionary tales like those by Charles Perrault and the German folk and fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers. Our hosts highlight Tolkien's definition of true fairy stories, ones that take...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, we have a special episode in which our hosts Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Cindy Rollins and joined by poet, priest, scholar, and musician Malcolm Guite. Together they discuss not only Father Guite's newest book, Galahad and the Grail, but also the underlying ideas of why stories matter and what power they have in our lives. Malcolm Guite shares some thoughts on the value of both metrical poetry and the ballad form, as well as his own composition habits. He retells the Arthurian legend his own mother told him as a child...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks will discuss Pope's mock epic poem, "The Rape of the Lock." They begin the conversation by talking about two types of satire to set us up for an accurate understand of this poem. They also talk about the form of a mock epic poem and a burlesque. This conversation brings out the various allusions to classical heroic epic poems juxtaposed with the frivolous in this story.

You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, including Heather Goodman's upcoming webinar on...

Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks share an introduction to the Neo-Classical Poets, including Alexander Pope, and their poetry. First off, they establish a definition of the Neo-classical period both in terms of time and of culture. In addition, Angelina points out some ways in which the coming of the Enlightenment throws off ideals of the Medievals in favor of those of the Greeks and Romans. Another topic they highlight is the popularity of the satire in this period, as well as the prevelance of the printed word. After this general introduction to the...

On The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks this week, we will wrap up our discussion of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. After sharing their commonplace quote for this week, Thomas and Angelina jump right into recapping the important plot points of this last section of the book. They start with some contrasts between St. John and Rochester, then they talk about the journey of the soul and the image of marriage. They also consider the parallels of her return to Thornfield and the reversals in these scenes, as well as how Brontë fulfills the various fa...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, we continue our series on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. In today's episode, they talk about the main plot points and follow threads of meaning in chapters 27-33. Some of the ideas they discuss include Romanticism in literature, Rochester's Byronic qualities, pictures of Jane's awakening, the eucatastrophe in this section of the book, parallels to the story of Cupid and Psyche, and more contrasts between fire and ice.

You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, both upcoming and recorded i...

Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and our series on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. This week Angelina and Thomas discuss chapters 20-26, especially looking at the character of Bertha and the symbolism of "the woman in the attic." They talk more about the medieval idea of the well-ordered person in contrast to the person ruled by the passions, as well as how Bertha is a mirror for Jane's inner turmoil. Angelina highlights more ways in which we see glimpses of the stories of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella in this section, as well as a hint a...

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas cover chapters 13-19 of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Today's episode includes more discussion of the important symbols and images in these chapters. Angelina highlights the stories of Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, and Cupid and Psyche and their connections to this book. She and Thomas also talk about the trope of the "reformed rake" and how it relates to Brontë is setting up that possibility here. In these chapters we see more fire images, as well as several things that point to this story as a journey of th...

On today's episode of The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, we continue our series on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Before jumping into chapters 6-12, Angelina and Thomas re-cap chapter 5 so that they can keep the entire Lowood School storyline together. They discuss the character of Helen and how she mirrors Jane, as well as the images of fire and ice throughout this book. In looking at the character of Miss Temple, they also highlight her as the picture of a well-ordered person. When Jane arrives at Thornfield, we find more fairy tale and Gothic n...

Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. This week we begin our much-anticipated series on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë! After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina and Thomas set the stage for this book by covering some of Charlotte Brontë's personal and literary background. Angelina points out some symbolic things that we will be looking for in this book, as well as the important fact that it is a journey story. They also discuss the history and characteristics of the Gothic novel.

In discussing the first five chapters of Jane Eyre, An...

Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are here to offer some helpful ideas for reading Shakespeare plays and how to approach the Bard. They start off sharing their own stories of first being exposed to Shakespeare. Next, Thomas and Angelina address the idea that Shakespeare is too high-brow for the ordinary reader. Angelina also gives her hot take on whether you should watch or read a Shakespeare play first. She also tells some stories about reading the Bard with her children and students. Some other helpful topics they cover are the different types of...

This week on The Literary Life podcast, we are excited to bring back a special episode from the vault: The Literary Life of Charlotte Mason! Along with Angelina, Thomas, and Cindy, we also have Donna-Jean Breckenridge and Karen Glass of the AmblesideOnline Advisory. They start the conversation by sharing who Charlotte Mason was and what her background was. 

Karen also talks about how and why Mason developed her practices and philosophy and her educational foundation, the PNEU. Donna-Jean mentions the interesting ephemera belonging to Charlotte Mason housed at the Armitt Museum in Ambleside. Finally, the talk turns to...

On The Literary Life podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas are back with this second episode on the play Don Juan by Moliere. After sharing their commonplace quotes for this week, Thomas kicks off the discussion of the play with a definition of the farce and how it applies to this play. They share more notable passages of Don Juan as they highlight related literature and stories from across Europe, the archetypes and stock characters represented by Sganarelle, and the value of the comedic form. They also talk about other works that were influenced by this play.

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Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas begin a new series discussing Moliere's farcical play Don Juan. They open the discussion with some background on Moliere's plays in general, as well as other drama of this time period, then the origins of the story of Don Juan itself. After this introduction, Thomas and Angelina read some of the play and discuss some of the key characters and ideas presented in the opening acts.

If you missed this year's annual Literary Life Online Conference, "The Letter Killeth, but the Spirit Quickeneth: Reading Like a Human", you...

On this "Best of The Literary Life" episode from the vault, our hosts discuss their favorite poems and poets. Cindy starts off by sharing the early influences on her developing a love of poetry. Thomas also shares about his mother reading poetry to him as a child and the poetry that made an impression on him as a child. Angelina talks about coming to poetry later in life and how she finally came to love it through learning about the metaphysical poets.

Cindy and Thomas talk about the powerful effect of reading and reciting poetry in meter...

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas are pleased to have special guest Dr. Michael Drout joining them to discuss his book The Tower and the Ruin: J. R. R. Tolkien's Creation. Together they talk about the background for writing this book and who Drout intended his audience to be. They also share thoughts on the current academic trends and the state of the humanities and literary studies in higher education. Other topics they cover include high modernism, literary criticism, realism and fantasy, and critical reviews of Tolkien's work. Don't forget to share this episode with...

Welcome to an another great episode from the archives of The Literary Life podcast! This week we bring you an interview our hosts had with special guest Dr. Vigen Guroian, retired professor of Religious Studies and Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia and author of twelve book and numerous scholarly articles. Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss with Dr. Guroian the new edition of his book, Tending the Heart of Virtue. They start out talking about how the first edition of this book came about, which leads into a discussion about the current approach to fairy tales and c...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina and Thomas are joined by their friend and colleague Dr. Jason Baxter to talk about his newest book coming soon from Cassiodorus Press, Falling Inward. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina asks Jason why he wanted to update and republish this work that he originally wrote several years ago. They discuss what is different about the idea of falling inward versus navel gazing, the role of the teacher in approaching literature in a humane way, why we should seek a pre-modern cosmology, what kinds of topics Jason explored in this book...

On this week's "Best of The Literary Life Podcast" episode, host Angelina Stanford is joined by friends and fellow readers Cindy Rollins, Emily Raible, and Jone Rose to discuss how to deal with overwhelm with your literary life. Angelina opens the conversation with the acknowledgment that everyone has moments when they feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to read and to know. Jone talks about how she tries to avoid comparing herself and her reading life to that of others. Emily shares her eye-opening understanding after starting out discouraged about being "behind" in her self-education journey. Cindy talks...

For this final episode of the 2025 season on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you a special year-end conversation with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks all about their year in reading. Thomas talks about how most of his reading was tied to classes he taught. Cindy and Angelina talk about the reasons they didn't read as many books as they usually do in a year. They share some of their favorite non-fiction reads of the year, books that surprised them, and fiction highlights. In the course of the conversation, our hosts also make several points about reading...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life, Thomas and Angelina bring you a preview of the books we will discuss on the upcoming season of the podcast. First, Angelina explains their approach to the podcast as they approach this next year, then she and Thomas share what literary topics and book discussions you can be looking forward to in 2026. In addition, if you are looking for a reading challenge created by our Friends and Fellows for 2026, you can find it on Patreon when you join for free!

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