Category: Show Notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are celebrating National Poetry Month. We chat about our strong feelings towards poetry in high school, how our view has changed as teachers, and the ways in which we incorporate poetry into our daily reading lives. Our discussion includes:

• How we feel about poetry and how our high school experiences shaped our view (1:45)
• Our favorite poets and poetry collections (28:30)
•  Amazing YA novels in verse (42:30)

Shop this episode in our affiliate shop at Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores. 
Today’s episode is brought to you by Libro.fm, the only audiobook company that allows you to purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite indie bookstore. You can get THREE audiobooks for $15 by clicking this link or by using code NOVELPAIRINGS at checkout.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Libro.fm, the only audiobook company that allows you to purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite indie bookstore. You can get THREE audiobooks for $15 by clicking this link or by using code NOVELPAIRINGS at checkout.

Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins

Eating Poetry by Mark Strand

If I Should Have a Daughter by Sarah Kay (13:38)

3 Ways to Speak English by Jamila Lyiscott (13:55)

Romantic poets

A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver (17:40)

Japan by Billy Collins (24:35)

Emily Dickinson (28:47)

Funeral Blues by WH Auden (31:22)

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (31:44)

No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay (31:49)

The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy (32:56)

Felicity by Mary Oliver (34:33)

Audre Lorde (35:33)

Shakespeare’s Sonnets (36:33)

Sir Patrick Stewart Reading a Sonnet a Day

Sonnet 116

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda (38:37)

Langston Hughes (38:45)

Theme for English B

Rupi Kaur

I, Too

I Hear American Singing by Walt Whitman (40:54)

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (42:42)

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson (43:32)

Red at the Bone 

Brown Girl Dreaming 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (44:36)

Kwame Alexander (45:39)

Poem-a-day emails

Poetry Foundation

Poets.org

Button Poetry

Today Chelsey and Sara are chatting about The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in 1954, this Booker Prize winning novel follows a quintessential English butler named Stevens on a road trip to visit his manor’s former housekeeper Miss Kenton. This is the perfect novel for Downton Abbey fans, but it’s darker and more introspective than the show. We both loved this book on paper and on audio. In addition to the historical context of this modern classic, we discuss character-driven novels and four of Sara’s all-time favorite books.

 Our discussion includes:

•  Personal reading preferences and the appeal of character-driven novels (6:55)
•  The theme of regret (20:00)
•  Connections to Downton Abbey and why fans needs to read this book  (28:28)

Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic including a time-hopping literary fiction novel and a cozy historical mystery.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Libro.fm, the only audiobook company that allows you to purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite indie bookstore. You can get THREE audiobooks for $15 by clicking this link or by using code NOVELPAIRINGS at checkout.
Librofm: https://libro.fm/membership/new

Today Chelsey and Sara dig  up some well-loved English major lingo and dust it off. We’re talking about critical theory and how it enhances our reading lives, starting with the feminist or gender lens. We provide examples and suggestions for how to incorporate critical theory into your everyday reading life because you don’t have to be a teacher, English major, or scholar in order to get the most out of this tool!

Books Discussed in Today’s Episode:

Emma by Jane Austen: https://bookshop.org/a/1300/9780143107712 

The Awakening by Kate Chopin: https://bookshop.org/a/1300/9780743487672 

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf: https://bookshop.org/a/1300/9780156787338 

If you’d like to learn more, check out these resources:

Introduction to Literary Theory: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html 

Feminist Criticism: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/feminist_criticism.html 

The Bechdel Test: https://bechdeltest.com/

Resources for Middle and High School teachers:

Critical Encounters in Secondary English by Deborah Appleman: https://bookshop.org/a/1300/9780807756232 

“Teach the How”: https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1034-mar2014/EJ1034Teach.pdf How and Why to Teach Literary Theory in Secondary ELA: http://doccopteaching.com/2019/03/26/how-and-why-to-teach-literary-theory-in-secondary-ela/

Today Chelsey and Sara are toppling your TBR with classics and pairings to keep you company during the pandemic. Comfort reading is different for everyone, so we’ve got a wide range of books to recommend including books with cozy communities, classic comedies (and modern pairings), and big books to last you through many weeks of social distancing.

Comfort Reads

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

***the Strand is hosting a readalong of P&P  because their customers voted it the ultimate comfort read – follow along as they discuss it in their stories (@strandbookstore)

• The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
• American Love Story by Adriana Herrera
• Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
• Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

-BBC Pride and Prejudice (1995) – streaming on Hulu

-Death Comes to Pemberley  – Amazon

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

• News of the World by Paulette Jiles (Jefferson Kidd and Johanna, post Civil War Texas)
• Little Weirds by Jenny Slate

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cozy Communities

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell / Middlemarch by George Eliot (great on audio)

• Gilead by Marilynn Robinson (my favorite is Lila)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaefer 

-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Netflix

-Doctor Thorne – streaming on Amazon Prime

-Downton Abbey

Page Turners

Passing by Nella Larsen

• The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell (Rose, Odelie)
• You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanan (Shay, Jane & Cassandra)

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

• The Likeness by Tana French
• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

-Sherlock – Netflix

Big Books

Les Miserables (my favorite BIG classic) by Victor Hugo

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (Cyril Avery)

-2019 Masterpiece edition on PBS

-Poldark (2015) – streaming via PBS on demand

Chelsey: not inclined towards long books in general, especially not huge classics. But: favorite comfort series that IS really chunky:

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

-Outlander – Netflix and Starz

Escapist Reads

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

-traveling to another world

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Feyre) 

In the same vein: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Quentin)
• Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

–A Discovery of Witches (free 7 day trial of Sundance)

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Tita)

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 
• A Million Junes by Emily Henry

Comedies

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

-farcical comedy

• A Quiet Life in the Country by T.E. Kinsey

Vanity Fair by William Thackery (must get the original illustrations)

• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarity

Books that Make You Think

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

-speaking clear truths with a distinct voice

• Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
• Here for It by R. Eric Thomas

–If Beale Street Could Talk – streaming on Hulu

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

• Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister

Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

Today Chelsey and Sara are chatting about The Awakening by Kate Chopin. [Brief summary/background about book]. Our discussion includes how this book illustrates the constraints placed on 19th century women, why we don’t seem to have any issues with the infidelity in the novel, and how Kate Chopin speaks to today’s mom-shaming. We also dig into some of the problematic content in this book and offer suggestions on how to read it through a more modern lens.

Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic include a young adult novel full of evocative nature imagery and a closed door second chance romance.

Books Discussed: The Awakening Modern Library Torch Edition (23:50), Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (30:36), Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (30:38)

Chelsey’s Pairings: Educated by Tara Westover (39:45), Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper (44:08), We Are Okay by Nina Lacour (48:40)

Sara’s Pairings: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (41:40), Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (46:02), Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (50:20)

Picks of the Week: Love is Blind (52:35) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (54:45)

In this episode, we’re discussing Jane Austen’s final novel, Emma. We admit our love for Emma’s sass and bossiness, debate her potentially problematic friendship with the orphan Harriet Smith, and swoon over Mr. Knightley. Plus we’re offering six contemporary reads that perfectly pair with Austen’s most memorable heroine.

Pairings:

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn (43:50)

Spinster by Kate Bolick (45:10)

All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister (46:40)

Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams (46:48)

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (48:39)

If I Loved You Less by Tamsen Parker (51:10)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (52:52)

Picks of the week:

Emma Approved (55:46)

Fleabag (56:58)