Overdue

Overdue

This week, we're joined once again by Gwen and Frank from the New York Public Library's The Librarian Is In podcast, this time to talk about Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (and the movie of the same name). It's a discussion of narrator reliability, "boy books," and the long and fruitful career of Louise Fletcher.

Overdue

What's up, daddio? Dig this, you cool cats: a podcast, burning with the soul of American individualism and the poetry of the open highway. Kerouac's legendary novel defined the Beat Generation, and it's chock-a-block with hallmarks of the era. Join us for a road trip back to the late 1940s -- an era of sweaty jazz, discarded marriages, and Benzedrine.

Overdue

James Henry Trotter has a hard life. He's suffered loss. He's been mistreated. But things start looking up when a giant peach and a menagerie of bug friends come into his life! Roald Dahl's classic story of a typically-sized boy and his atypically-sized fruit is a real crowd-pleaser, even if there's a bunch of stuff we didn't remember from our childhoods. Natasha from the UNSpoiled! Show joins us to kick off Remember November festivities, wherein we read books at least one of us has read before. Breaking our own rules - how rebellious!

Overdue

This is Halloween. This is Halloween! Halloween. Halloween. Join us for a bonus episode that includes a frightening chat, horrifying drawings, and a spooky spelunk through the world of Tim Burton's (children's book?) The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Overdue

Stop me if you've heard this one: a strange man who runs a motel with his mom (maybe) commits several murders before people get wise to him. At least one of them is in a shower. It's very creepy. Were you thinking of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho? Well we're not talking about it! This is a book podcast, silly! Actually we do talk a bit about what the movie lifted from the book, but we also dive into topics such as the murders that inspired Bloch, Norman Bates' murder swamp, and the prolific writer/musician Chet Williamson.

Overdue

Come on into our spooky kitchen and let us cook you up a big steaming bowlful of creepypasta! This week's book began life as a series of Reddit posts that were later Kickstarted into a book self-published on Amazon, which is maybe the most early-2010s sentence that has ever been written. Join us for a lesson in creepy story etymology, and also a lesson in Skinhorse, the inside-out horse.

Overdue

Ever wanted to marry a ghost? Then boy do we have a book for you! Spooktober continues with Yangsze Choo's debut novel about a young woman in late 19th-century Malaya who winds up promised to a spectral groom. It's a fun book that is almost overflowing with hallmarks of different genres. Coming-of-age concerns, supernatural fantasy, historical fiction, romance: it's got a lot going on! But the heart of it all is Li Lan's entertaining exploration of the afterlife, its characters, and its bureaucracies.

Overdue

We rip our way into Spooktober 2019 with From Hell, a 90s graphic novel from writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell about Jack the Ripper. The book presents one (possible, but unlikely) solution to the mystery, and our research leads us through a lot more.

Overdue

Please, sir, I want some more podcast! Dickens' classic novel about a lovable urchin named Oliver Twist is equal parts social novel, mystery, and bildungsroman -- or so Charlie thought. We dive into what works and doesn't work about its depictions of London in the Industrial Revolution, Oliver's moral compass, and the titular twist.

Overdue

Welcome back to HELLBOYS, a Divine Comedy podcast from the boys here at Overdue! We're continuing our journey through Robert and Jean Hollander's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy a few cantos at a time. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we combine them for general consumption. This episode carries us through the back half of the Inferno, covering Cantos XVII-XXXIV. We travel through the Malebolge, meet a demon biker gang, and climb down the Devil himself! Find out more about how to get these episodes monthly at patreon.com/overduepod.

Overdue

The God of Small Things is about family, and loss, and India, and the caste system, and all of its disparate plot lines and character arcs come together in the end like a Seinfeld episode but with more tragedy.

Overdue

"What if women ended the Peloponnesian War, am I right?" asks Aristophanes in his classic comedy Lysistrata. Famous for its depiction of a sex strike that brings the warring Greek states to their unsexed knees, the play has been remixed countless times as generations of artists adapt its core conceit to their own times. So we figured we'd go back to the old Prince of Comedy himself to see what all the fuss is about. Talking points include comedies of bad manners, Ancient Greek props, and the "lioness on a cheese grater."

Overdue

It's time to play some games! Craig's sister Jillian read Iain M. Banks' The Player of Games, one of several entries in his Culture series that explores a hegemonic utopia influencing as much of outer space as it can. Banks' ideas gameplay may be primarily analog, but he still manages to represent cultures and worlds with digital creativity. Andrew may be away, but we still find time to joke about names, make some Gatsby references, and chat about Starcraft.

Overdue

Join us as we attempt to bring Pullman's epic god-fightin' trilogy to a close! We start with a brief recap of the first two books, and then we dive into what does and doesn't work for Andrew in the final installment. Train your spyglass on the Fall of Man, cut through bear armor with your subtle knife, and follow your golden compass to the origin of Dust. Additional talking points include Andrew's new partyboy son, motorcycle elephants, and the debut of a new segment: Andrew's Dad Moment.

Overdue

Friend of the show Christina Tucker (Unfriendly Black Hotties, PCHH, her new newsletter, etc.) joins us to chat about Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation. It's the first of his Southern Reach trilogy, a Weird Science Fiction romp through a mysterious zone called Area X. We've got our own Area X going, replete with chicken sandwiches, Edward James Olmos, and a fun-loving chat of supporters.