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
77: Over the River and Through the Woods
The horse knows the way—but to WHOSE house? The answer may surprise you. The McCoy Boys are all here for the annual drunk Thanksgiving episode to discuss…
- Sophomore Lit
76: An Enemy of the People
Election Day Special: What does a 19th Century play have to do with fake news and ecological disaster? Probably nothing, but Shannon Campe and Zach Powers are…
- Sophomore Lit
75: The War of the Worlds
No one would have believed in the first years of the twenty-first century that this podcast was being listened to keenly and closely by intelligences greater…
- Sophomore Lit
74: A Prayer for Owen Meany
Carla Curtsinger talks armadillos, armlessness, and all caps in John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Host John McCoy with Carla Curtsinger. Support…
- Sophomore Lit
73: Holes
If only, if only the woodpecker cries, this podcast would adhere to a regular schedule. Matt Skuta returns to discuss Louis Sachar’s beloved…
- Sophomore Lit
72: The Westing Game
Fun for the whole family! Ages 10 and up! Dan McCoy discusses Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game (1978). Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy and Nathan Alderman…
- Sophomore Lit
71: William Carlos Williams
This is Just to Podcast David Loehr and I will not be making the obvious joke that is just sitting there and which you were probably expecting for a podcast…
- Sophomore Lit
70: Waiting for Godot
Nobody comes, nobody goes, but every few weeks we have a podcast, like this one where Brian Hamilton tries to make sense of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot…
- Sophomore Lit
69: Ulysses
Marina McCoy talks about Ulysses yes and Joyce and Ireland yes and jessamine and geraniums and cactuses yes and shall I wear a red yes Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
68: Ender's Game
Can’t we play Catan instead? Liz Riegel joins to discuss that most emo young adult novel, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
67: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Hope you like the Smiths. Hayden Gibson discusses the modern classic of introvert life, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Host John McCoy with Hayden Gibson and…
- Sophomore Lit
66: Little House in the Big Woods
Wolves, fiddles, maple candy, and manifest destiny. Lisa Schmeiser discusses Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Host John McCoy with Lisa…
- Sophomore Lit
65: A Streetcar Named Desire
Don’t you just love those long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour, but an hour spent discussing Tennessee…
- Sophomore Lit
64: Winesburg, Ohio
Small towns aren’t all fun and games and Journey songs. Erin Gambrill discusses Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919). Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
63: A Farewell to Arms
If the world is in no special hurry to kill you, why not join Jason Snell to discuss war, love and vermouth? It’s Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to…
- Sophomore Lit
62: Frankenstein
Glenn Fleishman returns to the show to discuss today’s modern Prometheuses. It’s the long-awaited episode on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein…
- Sophomore Lit
61: Alas, Babylon
Time enough at last…to read novels about nuclear Armageddon! Jelani Sims guests to discuss Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon. Host Jelani Sims. Support…
- Sophomore Lit
60: The Outsiders
Nothing gold can stay, but that won’t stop Matt Skuta and John from talking about the greasy hair and switchblades in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders…
- Sophomore Lit
59: John Donne and Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough and time, we could talk about more poems than just these two: John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and…
- Sophomore Lit
58: Watchmen
What do you see when you look at this inkblot: a masterpiece of sequential art, or a confusing mess? Christy Admiraal discusses the unavoidable Moore / Gibbons…
- Sophomore Lit
57: A Tale of Two Cities
It may not be the best of times, it may not be the worst of times, but it’s time for a new episode so let’s discuss Charles Dickens’s novel…
- Sophomore Lit
56: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Time to appreciate the finer things in life, by sleeping on them. Tamar Avishai discusses E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E…
- Sophomore Lit
55: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
ARRR, it be Thanksgiving so it’s time for gettin’ drunk and talkin’ poems with family. Dan and Rob McCoy join in to discuss Samuel Taylor…
- Sophomore Lit
54: The Haunting of Hill House
Gena Radcliffe discusses sanity and shuffles in Shirley Jackson’s spookifying The Haunting of Hill House. Happy Halloween! Host John McCoy. Show Notes &…
- Sophomore Lit
53: The Awakening
Beth Auron discusses why you should never swim less than 20 minutes before reading Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Host John McCoy. Show Notes & Links Beau…
- Sophomore Lit
52: Lamb to the Slaughter
If only he’d been a vegetarian. Shannon Campe returns to discuss one of Roald Dahl’s shockers for adults, “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Host…
- Sophomore Lit
51: A Wrinkle in Time
What happens when you don’t take your clock out of the dryer soon enough? You get A Wrinkle in Time. Matt Skuta returns to discuss tesseracts and…
- Sophomore Lit
50: Dubliners
Sophmore Lit hits 50 episodes with the return of John Siracusa as we sort the living from The Dead in James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914). Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
49: McTeague
Despite all my rage, I am still just a canary in a cage. Jason Snell returns to discuss San Francisco, steam beer, and gold teeth in Frank Norris’s…
- Sophomore Lit
48: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What’s waiting ‘round the bend, my Huckleberry friend? Jelani Sims helps make sense of the glorious mess that is Mark Twain’s The Adventures…
- Sophomore Lit
47: The Handmaid's Tale
Before the Hulu series that everyone told you you had to watch was the Margaret Atwood novel that everyone told you you had to read. Caroline Fulford returns…
- Sophomore Lit
46: Annie John
Sometimes, a girl just wants to play marbles. Kwame Phillips discusses the Caribbean, doctor fish, and Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John. Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
45: Hawthorne tales
Unsightly blemishes! Toxic maidens! David Loehr returns to discuss two short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” and…
- Sophomore Lit
44: Invisible Man
And you thought your electric bill was nuts. Jane Dempsey returns to discuss Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Host John McCoy with Jane Dempsey. Show Notes…
- Sophomore Lit
43: The Glass Menagerie
It’s nothing a little glue won’t fix. David Loehr is here to discuss Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Host John McCoy. Show Notes &…
- Sophomore Lit
42: The Stranger
Do you cry at funerals? If not, maybe you’re the protagonist of Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Matt Skuta returns to puzzle this absurd novel out…
- Sophomore Lit
41: Forever...
Guys let’s all be mature about this. Shannon Campe returns to discuss Judy Blume’s forbidden book for teens, “Forever…” Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
40: Absalom, Absalom!
Ashley Challinor and John spend a long still hot weary dead September afternoon discussing not merely a Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner, nor yet the ideal of the…
- Sophomore Lit
39: Slaughterhouse Five
We return to both Kurt Vonnegut and to Jason Snell, as we discuss the most famous book about time and birdsong ever written, Slaughterhouse Five. Host John…
- Sophomore Lit
38: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Are you unsure of how candles work? Then join Megan Tripp and John as we discuss the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Host John McCoy with Megan Tripp. Show…
- Sophomore Lit
37: The Giver
When it comes to these podcasts, we give and give and you take and take! But that’s okay, because this time Matt Skuta and I are discussing Lois…
- Sophomore Lit
36: The Seagull
In mourning for your life? Then why not join Ethan Warren and John as they discuss Anton Chekov’s The Seagull. Host John McCoy. Show Notes & Links West…
- Sophomore Lit
35: The Courtship of Miles Standish
Look, it’s Thanksgiving and Dan and I are drunk. Let’s discuss Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish. Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
34: Crime and Punishment
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. We’re talking about 600 pages of time. Zach Powers joins the discussion of Fyodor Mikhailovich…
- Sophomore Lit
33: Stories of Ambrose Bierce
It’s a good thing the rope broke so now we have time to talk about Ambrose Bierce’s “A Horseman in the Sky” and “Occurrence at…
- Sophomore Lit
32: Bless Me, Ultima
Have you heard the Good News about the Golden Carp? Joel Torres is here to help us survive the perilous childhood of Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima…
- Sophomore Lit
31: The Rivals
Quick, what was George Washington’s favorite play? If you guessed Richard Sheridan’s The Rivals, congratulations, you know how to use Google!…
- Sophomore Lit
30: To the Lighthouse
Will a family of repressed middle-class Brits ever, in fact, make it To The Lighthouse? Join Trevor Gibson and John as we attempt not to be afraid of Virginia…
- Sophomore Lit
29: Edgar Allan Poe
Need something to do while you’re holed up in the palace avoiding the plague? Why not discuss a couple of Edgar Allan Poe stories with Daniel Daughhetee?…
- Sophomore Lit
28: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Jane Dempsey discusses the birds and the bees—well, the bees at least—in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Host John McCoy…
- Sophomore Lit
27: The Little Prince
What is essential is invisible to the eye—but we can still podcast about it. Anaïs Concepcion discusses The Little Prince. Host Anaïs Concepcion. Show…
- Sophomore Lit
26: Brave New World
Time for a Soma Holiday! This time Jason Snell discusses Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Host John McCoy with Jason Snell. Show Notes & Links Jason…
- Sophomore Lit
25: Stories II: Jackson and O'Connor
Our high school years were full of teen angst. Let’s really give ourselves something to be upset about! Shannon Campe and Caroline Fulford discuss the…
- Sophomore Lit
24: Moby-Dick
Is it a damp, drizzly November in your soul? Then why not spend two hours with Glenn Fleishman discussing Herman Melville’s leviathantic Moby-Dick? Host…
- Sophomore Lit
23: Death of a Salesman
The only thing you’ve got in this world is what you can sell. And we’re selling this fine podcast! Check out the quality workmanship that Nicolas…
- Sophomore Lit
22: Jane Eyre
Reader, we take on Jane Eyre: Caroline Fulford discusses bad childhoods, brooding noblemen, and something cray cray in the attic. Host Caroline Fulford…
- Sophomore Lit
21: Watership Down
Bunnies. ‘Nuff said. Malcolm Nygard joins to discuss Richard Adams’s epic tale of lagogmorphs, Watership Down. Host John McCoy with Malcolm Nygard…
- Sophomore Lit
20: Animal Farm
Elliott Kalan joins in for a quiet weekend in the country with George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Four legs: good! Four eyes: nerd! Host John McCoy with…
- Sophomore Lit
19: Romeo and Juliet
Two co-hosts, alike in dignity, Sharlene Wellington and Stuart Wellington join in for a star-crossed discussion of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and…
- Sophomore Lit
18: Stranger in a Strange Land
You asked for it. Oh, why did you ask for it? Jason Snell returns to discuss Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, in a double-sized podcast…