Between The Covers

 
Jay makes the case for Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles for this week’s addition to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Holmes is a key figure in Western Culture, and we examine the appeal and Conan Doyle’s craft in creating him as well as Holmes's partnership with Dr. Watson. Chaos Reader checks in on the biography she’s reading.

Jay’s choice this week is John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces, a premier novel of southern American literature and a predictor of the "male loneliness epidemic." Jay talks about how this novel stays relevant and where it hasn’t held up as well, even though it’s still worthy of a spot on his Most Lovable Novels list. Chaos Reader checks in on her progress with a biography of Anna Wintour.

Jay chooses Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man for his list this week. The celebrated novel addresses the Black experience in the first half of the twentieth century in America, but it hasn’t lost its relevance. Chaos Reader starts a new book consistent with the current Zeitgeist.

Muriel Spark’s iconoclastic education novel is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Set in 1930s Edinburgh, the novel focuses on six girls who are assigned to Miss Brodie, and her radical teaching style makes a mark on them at 10 years old and well beyond. Chaos Reader shares her final update on the Ian McEwan novel she’s been reading.

This week Jay’s entry on the list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Ken Kesey’s seminal novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which grapples with the power of systems against the individual human mind and various responses to the forces of the powers that be. Chaos Reader doesn’t achieve her goal, and checks in on Trollope.

But not this week! Jay names The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and—spoiler alert!—he LOVES talking about them. Stacey won’t let him spoil them all for you, though, dear listener. Chaos Reader makes a promise.

It’s fitting for Jay to follow up last week’s pick of A Passage to India with Paul Scott’s novel The Jewel in the Crown, as this first novel of Scott’s Raj Quartet has definite references to Forster’s earlier work as Scott chronicles the friction among people of differing races and classes in mid-century India. Chaos Reader updates her progress reading Ian McEwan’s latest novel.

E.M. Forster’s 1924 novel A Passage to India is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The nuance and opacity of this unflinching look at interpersonal relationships when empires are involved feels particularly relevant today. Chaos Reader shares a TV show she’s reading… in French.

Jay kicks off Season 3 of Between the Sheets with William Golding’s 1954 novel about boys stranded on a remote island, and their collective and individual responses to their situation. The novel’s themes are timeless. Chaos Reader checks in with Ian McEwan’s newest novel.

 
In the final episode of Season 2, Jay names Mary Shelley’s 19th century gothic-horror novel FRANKENSTEIN to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and Chaos Reader checks in AGAIN with Gerald Ford’s biography, in which the author has entered the chat. BETWEEN THE COVERS will be taking a break between seasons, but we’ll be back later this spring to finish the list of 100 most lovable novels.