Between The Covers

Atwood’s Dystopian Novel Makes the List

This week, Jay shares in-depth why the disturbing dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a lovable book, even as it envisions a future for the United States that is peak patriarchy. Chaos Reader reports on her presidential-biography reading project.

The Wonderful World of Wodehouse’s Woosters

Jay’s List of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in English finally gets to one of his favorite writers when he discusses P.G. Wodehouse’s The Code of the Woosters, from which our culture gets the well-known Jeeves figure. Chaos reader goes again to the cookbook shelf for a volume by someone Americans love to hate.

A Timeless War Novel from More than a Century Ago

This week’s 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language entry is Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, which Stacey knew was about a war, but not which war. Jay shares why it made his list and how it's as meaningful today as it was in 1895 when it was published. Chaos reader talks more about Richard Nixon by John A. Farrell.

Kingsolver’s Conversation with Dickens: Demon Copperhead

This week’s entry on the 100 Most Lovable Books in the English Language List is Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead… This beloved instant classic is popular for a reason. While it updates the eternally relevant Dickensian themes of David Copperfield, it also brings us something totally new and completely American. Chaos reader has also started a biography of a very American figure.

Jane Austen’s Emma, with a Healthy Dose of Movie Talk Thrown In

Jane Austen set out to write a novel with an anti-hero: “A heroine whom no one but myself will much like,” she wrote about her goals for the book, so why is Emma so lovable? Of course, we couldn’t discuss this enjoyable book without spending time on the equally lovable film adaptations. Chaos reader shouts out a podcast, because, well… chaos.

Philip Pullman's Subversive Fantasy

This week, Jay goes rogue and chooses a whole trilogy of books as the next entry on his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. He and Stacey discuss the theology behind what Pullman never meant to be young-adult literature, even if the main characters are young people. The page-turning fantasy novels are a very engaging delivery device for a iconoclastic consideration of religious belief. Chaos reader checks in with a new-to-her book of poetry.

A Twentieth Century Take on a Legendary King

Something in the King Arthur canon was bound to make it onto Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and this week Jay and Stacey discuss the linked novellas that comprise this modern classic, the historical influences on White and the new takes that make this novel officially Lovable. Chaos Reader finally gets reading again with one of the New York Times best fiction books of 2024.

"A Record of Hate More than Love"

This week our married authors discuss Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, the most recent entry on Jay Ruud’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The novel focuses on the jealousy and obsession that come to the narrator Maurice after his lover Sarah ends their illicit relationship for her own reasons in the tumultuous time after WWII has ended in England. Chaos reader checks in with a cookery book.

An Odd Best Friend with a God Complex

A coming-of-age story about two boys, Owen and John, growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in rural New Hampshire. While the premise may seem unremarkable and relatable, there is nothing normal about Owen. Chaos Reader also checks in with a recommendation for Princess Diana-philes.

Things We Love: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

This week’s entry on the 200 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language list is Things Fall Apart by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. We talk about Okonkwo, whose life is destroyed by colonialism’s effects on his community. Even if it sounds heavy, Jay makes a case for its lovability and ranks it on his ongoing list. Chaos Reader also checks in.