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Novel Pairings
Novel Pairings
- 1 hour 6 minutes155. Notable books of 2024: our bookish superlatives, reading life updates, and a little Jane Austen
We’re back and kicking off 2025 with our annual Superlatives episode. Today, we’re excited to highlight stand-out books from 2024. We’ve got eight superlatives lined up that highlight our favorites, least favorites and everything in between. Plus, we’re looking back on our podcasting journey through 2024 and give you some behind-the-scenes insight to our reading lives. Stick around because we’ve got two big announcements to wrap things up!
Special Announcement (Timestamp 58:20)
Link to Announcement video on Patreon
Books Mentioned
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-Zi Yang
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
Say You’ll Be Mine by Nayina Kumar
Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Also Mentioned
Classics We Love & Loathe Episodes
Fiction Matters Paperback Summer Reading Guide
Liz Moore on New York Times Podcast
14 January 2025, 10:00 am - 56 minutes 56 seconds154. Moody & Atmospheric Fall 2024 Book Releases with Backlist Pairings
We’re excited to be back in your podcast feeds to pair highly anticipated fall book releases with beloved backlist favorites. Prepare to overload your TBR pile as we dive into an exciting fall publishing season filled with moody, atmospheric titles.
In today’s episode, we’ll share our carefully curated lists of outstanding upcoming fiction from both renowned authors and indie presses, along with a selection of diverse fiction and nonfiction we think you’ll enjoy, all paired with a backlist book to explore while you await your library holds and pre-orders.
Before diving into the books, we want to remind our community that Chelsey will be on maternity leave this fall. As a small (very small!) business, this requires significant planning and adjustments. To best manage our schedules while preserving the community we've created, we will take a short break from the main feed while focusing on providing fun, nerdy new content on Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings.
We aim to return to the main feed in December or January with a special episode featuring the best books of 2024, along with a thrilling spring season. In the meantime, we will continue to offer bonus episodes, discussion-based classes, and book club events through our Patreon community. You can join us at either the $5 or $10 level, depending on your desired level of participation.
We are incredibly thankful for your support. Thank you for being with us!
Books Mentioned
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmond
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Don’t Be a Stranger by Susan Minot
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann
The Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Curdle Creek by Yvonnne Battle-Felton
The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews
The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews
The Wedgford Trials by Courtney Milian
The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Kong
The Fortnite In September by RC Sheriff
Also Mentioned
Anonymous Divorce/Sex Substack
17 September 2024, 9:00 am - 1 hour 7 minutes153. Dishing our opinions on the hottest summer books of 2023
As the summer reading season comes to a close, we’re turning our eyes to fall. With Chelsey on maternity leave, we’ve made some thoughtful adjustments to our plans and structure here at Novel Pairings. Our goal is to ensure that we stay connected and continue to foster the amazing community we’ve built together. The best way to stay connected this fall is through our Patreon community; we’re excited about the bonus episodes, discussion based classes and book club events we have planned!
On today’s episode, we revisit last summer's buzzy book reviews from our Patreon archives. Each summer, we sit down for a conversation where we share our thoughts on the latest buzzworthy books we've read. Today, we're re-airing last summer's discussion on popular titles, which features some unconventional opinions on well-known works.
Follow us on Instagram @novelpairingspod and subscribe to our newsletter at novelpairings.substack.com.
Books Mentioned
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’ Donaghue
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi
Congratulations, the Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas
Talking at Night by Claire Daverley
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
Also Mentioned
Chelsey's Recipe for a Summer Romance Reading Guide
Sara's Reading in Public newsletter on long books and active attention
3 September 2024, 9:00 am - 1 hour 15 minutes152. The Custom of the Country Book One Recap
In today's recap episode, we discuss Book One of The Custom of the Country (that's chapters 1-10 if your book is not divided into books). This episode includes detailed discussion of the plot and characters introduced in this first section of the novel, so spoilers abound. We discuss our initial impressions of the unforgettable character that is Undine Spragg, how well this book would translate to the screen, a close read of a mythology reference, and what we've learned about parenting from this portion of the novel because we desperately want to avoid raising Undines!
Some more background on this episode: twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every book we read, we dust off our English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes.
We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.
If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables.
Books Mentioned:
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Eloise at The Plaza by Kay Thompson
Also Mentioned:
11 June 2024, 9:02 am - 43 minutes 36 seconds151. Introduction to The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Today’s episode is a special one! Twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every big book we read, Chelsey and Sara dust off their English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes.
We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.
If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables.
In today's first recap episode, we discuss the introduction materials from the Penguin Classics (Sofia Coppola & Sarah Blackwood) and Scribner (Brandon Taylor) versions of the text. You do not need to read the intros in order to listen to this episode. Future recaps will include plot spoilers, of course, but this introduction episode is completely spoiler-free! We discuss initial impressions of the introductions, lenses and questions for guided reading, literary relevance and contemporary comparisons, and three big things to look for as you read.
Books Mentioned:
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Also Mentioned:
11 June 2024, 9:00 am - 40 minutes 58 seconds150. Ten classic novels you should read this summer
We’re taking it back to the classroom in today’s episode! Chelsey and Sara reflect on their experience with high school summer reading as both students and teachers: the good, the great, and the hot takes. While we aren’t assigning any reading in this episode, we are sharing 10 classics that would make for great summer reads at any age! For an enhanced reading experience, pair a past Novel Pairings episode with each of these classics to listen as you go.
Of course, our main summer reading recommendation is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, our BIG summer readalong hosted in Patreon with classes, bonus episodes, and special recaps to get the most out of this huge novel.
Novel Pairings operates on an academic calendar to keep our work sustainable. But like most teachers, just because we have summer “off” doesn’t mean we aren’t hard at work behind the scenes! This summer, we will take off from sharing new episodes on the main feed in July and August to devote more time and energy to planning for the year ahead, restoring our creativity, and strengthening our bond with Patreon community members.
If you are missing Novel Pairings in your podcast feed, we would love for you to join our community for extra nerdy summer fun.
Books Mentioned:
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Novel Pairings Episodes
Episode 86: Palpable tension and shocking twists in Passing by Nella Larsen
Episode 136: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Episode 117: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Episode 114: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Episode 68: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson and contemplative books for moody summer reading
Episode 66: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Part Two
Episode 64: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Part One
Episode 20: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and romantic Black feminist heroines
Episode 126: Leaving a Legacy: The Odyssey in modern literature
Episode 142: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Stay Connected with Novel Pairings
4 June 2024, 9:00 am - 1 hour 15 minutes149. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Today, we’re wrapping up our spring season with Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, a theme-driven novel that recreates the social world of an elite liberal arts college, exploring issues through nuanced satire on race, class, and beauty. We dig into the stories of the Belsey and Kipp families and Smith’s use of the academic setting to discuss identity and social satire. Our pairings for On Beauty include callbacks to previous classic episodes, essays by Zadie Smith, and surprising historical fiction.
Our Slow Down Summer Read Along of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is starting soon! Just like our readalongs for The Odyssey and The Custom of the Country, you can expect exclusive Patreon content, including book clubs and classes, to guide you through this ginormous classic. We’d love for you to join us! Go to patreon.com/novelpairings to sign up.
Books Mentioned:
There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
28 May 2024, 7:51 am - 1 hour 40 seconds148. We can't wait to read these brand new summer 2024 books and backlist pairings
Get ready for your summer TBR to pile high as we share our most anticipated titles releasing this summer! Plus, each new release that we preview in today’s episode is perfectly paired with a backlist book or two, giving us plenty to read while waiting for pre-orders and library holds to come in.
If you enjoy our recommendations on today’s episode, we have even more book suggestions to explore in our Novel Pairings Patreon community. Our Patreon is a great place to discuss books with a smart group of readers, and now is the perfect time to join as we're about to start our Slow Down Summer Read Along of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Subscriptions start at just $5 a month, and yearly discounts are available. Visit patreon.com/novelpairings to learn more.
You can also stay up-to-date with all things Novel Pairings by following us on Instagram and subscribing to our weekly newsletter on Substack. Thank you for supporting our book-loving community!
Books Mentioned:
The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
Every Day Is For the Thief by Teju Cole
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan
One Star Romance by Laura Hankin
The Hunter’s Wife by Anthony Doerr
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Latecomer by Jean Hanf Korelitz
The Plot by Jean Hanf Korelitz
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abudrraqib
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Also Mentioned:
Novel Pairings Summer 2023 Book Preview and Backlist Pairings
21 May 2024, 8:51 am - 55 minutes 10 seconds147. The limits of satire & A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
On today’s Modern Readers episode, we’re placing “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift in context with pieces of contemporary political satire. We'll explore how satire is being used today to comment on politics and social issues, and the power, or limits, of its influence. Throughout our discussion, we discuss the lasting legacy of Swift’s essay, the rise of satirical media, and how satire is used as a rhetorical tool. Listen to the end for contemporary satirical examples in TV, online media, and comedy.
We’re also excited to announce our Summer Big Book Read Along: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. We’re looking forward to digging into this classic with you! This Big Book Read Along includes 5 recaps spread over June, July, and August, 3 book club meet ups to discuss along the way, an active Discord chat for support and motivation, classes and bonus content. The summer is a great time to join our scholarly community!
Find more details on our summer plans in our free Substack newsletter or head to patreon.com/novelpairings to join our community.
Books Mentioned:
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Also Mentioned:
A Modern Proposal on Project Gutenberg
A Point of View: What’s the point of satire?
14 May 2024, 9:17 am - 1 hour 12 minutes146. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
In today’s episode, we’re discussing The Importance of Being Earnest by the ever-delightful Oscar Wilde. A classic example of British theater, this play is known for its biting social satire and brilliant comedic dialogue. Throughout our conversation, we dive into the play’s themes, discuss Wilde’s mastery of wordplay, and his ability to write characters that satirize Victorian society in the cleverest ways. As always, we share our complementary pairings, and we hope this episode adds a few books to your TBR pile!
If you love our extra nerdy discussion on the podcast today, we have a hunch that you would also love participating in our Novel Pairings Patreon community. Our Patreon is a great space to take part in public scholarship and talk about books with a smart group of readers. Subscriptions start at just $5 a month, and yearly discounts are available. To learn more about our Patreon, visit patreon.com/novelpairings.
Books Mentioned:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Best of Me by David Sedaris
I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett
What a Difference a Duke Makes by Lenora Bell
Also Mentioned:
Bonus: 127. An Introduction to The Importance of Being Earnest
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
30 April 2024, 3:57 pm - 1 hour 10 minutes145. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare with Traci Thomas
We're thrilled to welcome back Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks Podcast, for a thought-provoking discussion on one of Shakespeare's darkest comedies, Measure for Measure. In this conversation, we'll dive deep into the play's timeless themes including punishment, gender, power, and politics. We discuss how these themes continue to resonate with modern audiences, revealing the parallels between the play and our contemporary world. We also talk about how Shakespeare masterfully uses this satire in this work, even when satire doesn't necessarily equate to laugh-out-loud humor. Listen to the end for Traci’s book recommendations, including Shakespeare pairings and a soon-to-be-released title.
Connect with Traci:
Instagram: @thestackspod
Join our community!
Instagram: @novelpairingspod
Books Mentioned:
Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
Blackface (Object Lessons) by Ayanna Thompson
Color Television by Danzy Senna
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Love’s Labor Lost by William Shakespeare
All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
Othello by William Shakespeare
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Also Mentioned:
The Stacks episode on Romeo and Juliet
16 April 2024, 9:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App
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