Shows / Sophomore Lit
Sophomore Lit
John McCoy and a guest host read books you might have been assigned in high school, or college, or other stuff you might have read when you were a kid. The theming is loose!
Episodes
- Sophomore Lit
137: A Christmas Carol
There are many podcasts from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited. John and Marina discuss Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol…
- Sophomore Lit
136: Stuart Little
This is one weird mouse book. Phil Gonzales and John discuss E. B. White’s Stuart Little(1945). Host John McCoy with Phil Gonzales. Referenced Works…
- Sophomore Lit
135: Thanksgiving Special: The Wreck of the Hesperus
It’s Thanksgiving, so of course Rob, John, and Dan drink and discuss “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1842). Host…
- Sophomore Lit
134: Macbeth
Probably best not to listen to this episode while you’re in a theatre. Shannon Campe and John discuss Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1605-ish). Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
133: The Picture of Dorian Gray
The podcasts that the world calls immoral are podcasts that show the world its own shame. Tamar Avishai and John discuss Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of…
- Sophomore Lit
132: The Canterbury Tales
Those smale foweles maken melodye got nothin’ on us: Kathy Campbell and John discuss Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400). Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
131: Beowulf
The original Farewell to Arms. Nathan Alderman discusses Beowulf (c. 1000). Host John McCoy with Nathan Alderman. Referenced Works Beowulf Show Notes & Links…
- Sophomore Lit
130: Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh, a king, at Uruk. It’s not just a Star Trek meme. Gregory Fried talks ritual sex, heavenly bulls, and sneaky snakes in the Epic of Gilgamesh…
- Sophomore Lit
129: The Metamorphosis
Gregor’s mother warned him about days like this. Jason Snell discusses Franz Kafka’s inescapable novella, The Metamorphosis (1915). Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
128: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street
Audrey Lazaro discusses Mellville’s 1853 story, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of the top three bits of scrivener fiction ever. Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
127: The Egypt Game
No, I won’t make a Bangles joke. Erin Gambrill discusses Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967). Host John McCoy with Erin Gambrill…
- Sophomore Lit
126: Bambi, a Life in the Woods
Bambi’s not so cute in this gritty new reboot. Glenn Fleishman discusses Felix Salten’s 1923 parable about what goes on in the woods. Also we talk…
- Sophomore Lit
125: At the Mountains of Madness
Climb ev’ry mountain—except these mountains, they’re nuts. Phil Gonzales discusses H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of…
- Sophomore Lit
124: Under Milk Wood
To begin at the beginning: David Loehr is back in the slow, black, crowblack, podcast-bobbing sea to discuss Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (1954). Host…
- Sophomore Lit
123: The Bell Jar
New Year’s is a time for optimism, but instead Christy Admiraal discusses Sylvia Plath’s 1963 roman à clef, the Bell Jar. Also, John totally gets…
- Sophomore Lit
122: Christmas Special: Gift of the Magi
But I sold my Zune to buy you this podcast! Marina and John discuss hair, watches, and O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
121: Thanksgiving Special: Burma-Shave
It’s turkey time / once again / Dan and Rob / dive right in / we discuss / Buma-Shave! Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy and Rob McCoy. Support this show…
- Sophomore Lit
120: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a podcast, for example, where Bill O’Donnell discusses Jerome K. Jerome’s very…
- Sophomore Lit
119: Peter Pan
Grab on to your happy thought and join Shannon Campe in discussing James Barrie’s complicated children’s novel Peter Pan (1911), originally called…
- Sophomore Lit
118: Spoon River Anthology
Spoon River…wider than a mile. Okay, now that we have that out of our way, join Lisa Schmeiser as we discuss Edgar Lee Master’s poetic collection…
- Sophomore Lit
117: The Dispossessed
Anarchy in the U. K. (LeGuin)! David Woken talks a lot of politics and a little story as we discuss The Dispossessed (1974). Host John McCoy with David Woken…
- Sophomore Lit
116: Kerouac and Ginsberg
Gena Radcliffe and John don’t blab any drab gab—they chatter hep patter about Jack Kerouac’s “October in the Railroad Earth”…
- Sophomore Lit
115: Flowers for Algernon
I no I wil be smart won day. Until thin I will diskus Daniel Keyes’s epistolary novel Flowers for Algernon (1966) with Jason Snell. Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
114: Dracula
Please invite in Jelani Lee and Matt Skuta to discuss Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). We can’t start until you do. Host John McCoy with Jelani Sims…
- Sophomore Lit
113: Hans Christian Andersen
Let’s all hunker around this match and discuss some of the tales by Hans Christian Andersen. David Loehr returns. Host John McCoy with David J. Loehr…
- Sophomore Lit
112: George Orwell Essays
It’s phraseology and pachyderms, as Daniel Daughetee discusses Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and “Shooting…
- Sophomore Lit
111: Our Town
Enjoy every, every minute of Phil and John discussing Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (1938). Host John McCoy with Phil Gonzales. Support this show and other…
- Sophomore Lit
110: Persuasion
Maybe you should consider listening to this episode, in which Sammi C. discusses Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1817). Actually, we must insist. Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
109: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Marina McCoy returns to discuss faith, fairies, and newspapers in Francis Pharcellus Church’s “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” (1897)…
- Sophomore Lit
108: The Crucible
Why am I persecuted here? Travis Bedard discusses Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible. Host John McCoy with Travis Bedard. Referenced Works The Crucible…
- Sophomore Lit
107: Trees
I think that I will never see brothers so drunk as we three. Drunken Thanksgiving continues this year with Rob, Dan, and John discussing Joyce Kilmer’s…
- Sophomore Lit
106: Atlas Shrugged
Who cares who John Galt is? Bridget Kennedy discusses the geniuses and moochers of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (1957). Host John McCoy with Bridget…
- Sophomore Lit
105: Native Son
Jelani Sims returns to discuss Richard Wright’s 1940 wake-up call, Native Son. Host John McCoy with Jelani Sims. Support this show and other shows like…
- Sophomore Lit
104: Walt Whitman: Lincoln Poems
O Captain, My Captain, the podcast has begun! Daniel Daughetee discusses two Whitman poems about Lincoln. Host John McCoy with Daniel Daughetee. Referenced…
- Sophomore Lit
103: White Noise
I considered posting an hour of static, but instead here’s Erin Gambrill and me discussing Don Delillo’s postmodern novel White Noise (1985). Host…
- Sophomore Lit
102: Rebecca
Last night I dreamed I did a podcast again. It seemed to me that Gena Radcliffe discussed Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (1935). Host John McCoy with Gena…
- Sophomore Lit
101: Little Women
Christmas isn’t Christmas without presents, and literary podcasts aren’t literary podcasts without an exhaustive conversation about Louisa May…
- Sophomore Lit
100: Required reading
Happy 100th episode everybody! For this special Sophomore Lit, I asked random people what they remembered most about their high school literature classes. Host…
- Sophomore Lit
99: "Tam O' Shanter" and "To a Mouse"
Och, please dinnae make fun of non-Scottish people Darren Husted and John as they discuss and try to read aloud excerpts of Robert Burns’s “Tam…
- Sophomore Lit
98: The Martian Chronicles
You’re the Martian now, Dog! Jason Snell discusses frontiers and sad houses in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950). Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
97: A Christmas Memory
It’s fruitcake weather! John and Marina discuss memory, dog bones, and kites in Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” (1956). Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
96: The Way of All Flesh
It’s a big long book about Victorian religion and railroad investments! Daniel Reifferscheid discusses Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh (1903)…
- Sophomore Lit
95: Casey at the Bat
There is no joy in Mudville. My brother Dan discusses “Casey at the Bat” (1888). Happy Thanksgiving! Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy. Support this…
- Sophomore Lit
94: The Bear
And still bellowing he came. Jacob Haller discusses William Faulkner’s “The Bear” (1942). Host Jacob Haller. Support this show and other…
- Sophomore Lit
93: Mrs. Dalloway
Does anybody really know what time it is? Zach Powers discusses Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Host John McCoy with Zach Powers and Jean…
- Sophomore Lit
92: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
I promise we won’t make any jokes about losing our heads. Sarah Ifft Decker discusses Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Host John McCoy with Sarah Ifft…
- Sophomore Lit
91: The Sword in the Stone
We didn’t mention that the titular Sword is not the same thing as Excalibur because you already knew that. Rosalynde Vas Dias discusses T.H…
- Sophomore Lit
90: The Wind in the Willows
There is nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in boats, except maybe messing about in podcasts. Erin Gambrill discusses The Wind in the Willows…
- Sophomore Lit
89: Flatland
John Siracusa returns to discuss Edwin Abbott’s Flatland (1884). Will it give us a new perspective or will it leave us flat? (Spoiler, John hated it.)…
- Sophomore Lit
88: Fifth Business
After four failed IPOs, we’re sure this one will work! Dan McCoy discusses Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business (1970). Host Dan McCoy. Support this…
- Sophomore Lit
87: The Importance of Being Earnest
The truth is rarely pure and never simple. However, podcasts are both. Ollie Brady discusses Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Host…
- Sophomore Lit
86: The Yellow Wallpaper
Caroline Fulford returns to discuss a nice story about home decorating, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
85: The Long Winter
John’s wife, Marina, returns to discuss strange birds, hidden wheat, and barrel turkeys in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter. Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
84: Guy De Maupassant
Anaïs Concepcion returns to discuss necklaces, hypocrisy, and roasted chickens in jelly in Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and…
- Sophomore Lit
83: The Day of the Locust
Some people just want to watch the world burn. Josh Hollis and Brian Skinner discuss Nathaniel West’s 1939 novel, The Day of the Locust. Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
82: Guys and Dolls
We’ve never done a musical before / now all at once it’s Guys and Dolls forevermore. David Loehr discusses the original high school musical. Host…
- Sophomore Lit
81: The Call of the Wild
Will we answer the Call of the Wild or will we say “new phone, who dis?” Laura Hayes discusses mushing, wolves, and the surprising amount of…
- Sophomore Lit
80: A Child's Christmas in Wales
There were always podcasts at Christmas. Pour some whiskey in your eggnog and join Rosalynde Vas Dias in discussing Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s…
- Sophomore Lit
79: The Red Badge of Courage
Hither and thither, the entire Snell Family is here to discuss Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (1895). Host John McCoy with Jason Snell, Lauren…
- Sophomore Lit
78: A People's History of the United States
Rise up and seize the methods of producing history textbooks! Daniel Daughhetee discusses the alternative textbook A People’s History of the United…