Save Me From My Shelf

The eighteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Kite Runner episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-sixth episode, we examine Khaled Hosseini's 2003 redemption-and-brotherhood melodrama, The Kite Runner. In this episode, Daniel feels seen, gives a shout out to his friends in the Taliban, and tells us what he'd do if ever gifted a copy of Hitler's biography. Abby, meanwhile, becomes the angriest she's been since the Pamela episode.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Ustad_Gada_Mohammad_-_RababaEpisode Theme: Ustad Gada Mohammad, 'Rababa'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fifteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Handmaid's Tale episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-fifth episode (which coincides with International Women's Day), we examine Margaret Attwood's dystopia about far-right misogyny, The Handmaid's Tale (1985). Turkey basters and Orwell klaxons at the ready!Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Gabriel Faure, 'Pie Jesu', Requiem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fifteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Duchess of Malfi episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-fourth episode and Valentine's Day special, we spent some sexy time with Gustave Flaubert's adulteress, Madame Bovary (1856), which was immediately banned for offenses against morality under the conservative rule of Napoleon III. We also play 'Spot the "Big F*ck"', develop the hashtag #NotAllNuns, and watch a character go through a C19th French version of It's Always Sunny's 'The D.E.N.N.I.S. System'.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Charles Gounod, 'La nuit de Walpurgis' (Act V), Faust (1859), Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fifteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Duchess of Malfi episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-third episode, we open Season 6 with a look at banned and controversial books with John Webster's hyper-violent Jacobean revenge tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (1614). This play gives us our first authentic himbo sting in a while, as well as an Oscars-worthy In Memoriam.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Carlo Gesualdo, Moro lasso al mio duolo (1611), Performed by the MIT Chamber Chorus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The thirteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Little Women episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-second episode and Christmas Special, we plunge through the ice into Louisa May Alcott's bildungsroman and first strong example of girls' YA fiction, Little Women (1869). We declare an ethno-feud on the Germans, figure out which March sister is the Wario, and discuss which is worse (in Alcott's universe): hitting or hitting on a minor.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Émile Waldteufel, 'The Skaters' Waltz', Op. 183 (1882) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The thirteenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Heart of Darkness episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-first episode, we finally cover the most glaring omission on the show: Joseph Conrad's 1899 pre-modernism Imperial Gothic novella, Heart of Darkness. We close the circuit on our Things Fall Apart episode from S2 and get a cool International Man of Mystery sting which can sadly never be used in another episode.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Karol Szymanowski, 'Nocturne and Tarantella, Op. 28', 1915. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The twelfth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our The Bloody Chamber episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixtieth episode and Halloween special, we examine Angela Carter's feminist novella and Bluebeard retelling (which is NOT an adult version of a fairy tale), The Bloody Chamber (1979). In this episode, Daniel expresses Carter-fatigue and we praise Carter's depiction of sex with someone gross.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Bela Bartok, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, an Opera in One Act, 1965. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the remainder of S5, we need to release all episodes at the end of every month, rather than in the mdidle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The eleventh episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Don Quixote, Part Two episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our fifty-ninth episode, we tackle the remainder of the biggest book we've ever featured on the show: Miguel de Cervantes's Picaresque adventure, Don Quixote (1605).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Manuel de Falla y Orquesta Nacional De Espana, 'Overture' in El Retablo De Maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show), 1957. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tenth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Don Quixote, Part One episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the first part of our fifty-ninth episode, we tackle the first half of the biggest book we've ever featured on the show: Miguel de Cervantes's Picaresque adventure, Don Quixote (1605).We look at its status as potential 'first novel', one of the most influential works of all time (from Shakespeare to Dumas to Forrest Gump), and debate which of the two hosts is the Quixote and which one is the Sancho Panza.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Manuel de Falla y Orquesta Nacional De Espana, 'Overture' in El Retablo De Maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show), 1957. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ninth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our To Kill A Mockingbird episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-eighth episode, we once again cross the Atlantic for Harper Lee's 1960 novel of racial injustice, To Kill A Mockingbird. We get some long-overdue Cornish slander, delve into the American legalistic mindset, and mutter a lot about grits and yams.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Daniel Jenkin-Smith on keyboard, 'Mockingbird Lullaby'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The eighth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Through the Looking Glass episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our fifty-seventh episode, we recap Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871) and discuss rare spatial reasoning issues, Abby's peasant background (which includes tunnel-corn), famous egg-men, and if a single move in chess is measured in speed or mobility.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saens, The Carnival of the Animals, '10 Voliere', played backwards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The seventh episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Alice's Adventures in Wonderland episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the first part of our fifty-seventh episode, we regress to childhood and look at Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). We examine Lewis Carroll's sexual vs. artistic motives, take our first dive into nonsense literature, and celebrate confectionary, being mean to children, and Alice's criminal escalations.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saens, The Carnival of the Animals, '10 Voliere'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sixth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Midsummer Night's Dream episode.You can hear us on an episode of Carl Sweeney's The Movie Palace here, in the last 5-10 minutes of the show, where we recommend our favourite pre-'70s film: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/classic-movie-recommendations-part-1/id1398503911?i=1000656989665 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-sixth episode, we celebrate midsummer with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1605). We make a lot of (obvious) jokes about asses, Amazon, and fairy kink (despite not reading THE fairy kink book).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Felix Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream 'Op 61' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fifth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from The Grapes of Wrath episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-fifth episode, we recap John Steinbeck's 1939 Dust Bowl adventure, Biblical allegory, and socialist manifesto, The Grapes of Wrath. It's all pigs, sex, and pooping (a shocking amount of pooping). We discover the show's second mono-butt-cheeked character, Abby develops a backup plan for a life of crime, and Daniel goes on a rant about topsoil.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: 'Woody' on guitar and harmonica, by Daniel Jenkin-Smith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The forth episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from The Time Machine episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our last episode, we went into the past. Now, in our fifty-fourth episode, we go way, way into the future with H.G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895). We workshop Save Me From My Shelf: On Ice!, turn into feral, biting Morlocks, and wonder what the hell is going on with time travel romances, both generally and in the Year of Our Lord BOOBIES.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: 'Gnossienne No. 1', Erik Satie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The third episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Ivanhoe episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-third episode, we cover the first proper Historical Novel™, Sir Walter Scott's extremely boring, Ren Faire-style medieval romp, Ivanhoe (1819). In this episode, Abby gets ghosted by her best friend and medieval scholar, Justine. Scott talks about nothing but clothing, pork, and boobs, and Daniel enjoys (?) all the invented names, the porn parody that would write itself, and all the tournaments which are really just medieval versions of Super Smash Bros.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: 'The Ballad of Robin Hood'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Rebecca episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-second episode, Valentine's Day Special, AND Ash Wednesday spectacular, we look at Daphne Du Maurier's Cornish Gothic romance-tragedy-thriller, which is also a courtroom drama, police procedural, ghost story, and psychosexual horror. Daniel sings Edith Piaf, Abby references Nick at Nite shows, and we have the return of a great breakfast spread (separate from all the pilchard chat).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Phil Harris Orchestra, 'The Vamp' (1932). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abby and Daniel launch their first episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Scarlet Letter episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our Season 5 opener and fifty-first episode, we return to Puritanical, repressed New England with Nathaniel Hawthorne's experimental, philosophical musing about adultery, guilt, religion, and haute couture, The Scarlet Letter (1850). Daniel debuts some strange accents and discusses his previous theatrical career. We also learn that sex is like pancakes: the first go is a write-off.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Dvorak, 'String Quartet, No. 12, Op. 96' (1893). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Save Me From My Shelf's end-of-year wrap up for 2023, Abby and Daniel read listener letters, respond to audience questions, correct any Season 4 mistakes, and have a general retrospective on the past year on the podcast. Abby also reveals her tradition of Dark Christmas, Daniel is an unprepared boring bastard, and wee Donalbain makes a guest appearance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fiftieth episode and (anti-)Christmas special, we go into John Milton's Puritanical vision of the Fall of Man, Paradise Lost (1667) ... where Milton may just be of Satan's party. It's a world where God is both a mall security guard and the leader of a sex cult, and neither role explains his mysterious ways. Daniel discovers the word, 'Ayyyoooo!', Abby reminisces about '90s pop culture, and both of them hate Milton's Alt Jesus.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Purcell, 'March' in Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1695). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-ninth episode, we cover Edith Wharton's wintry New England romantic tragedy, Ethan Frome (1911). Abby goes to therapy live on the show, while Daniel obsesses over pickles and learns all about New England traditions (how maple syrup is made, sugar on snow, apple cider doughnuts). The hosts also both reveal that they are secretly lawyers.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Swan Hennessy, 'Adagio: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 46' (1911). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-eighth episode, we tell the tale of ambition, revenge, murder, Irn-Bru, bad accents, respeck, balls, breastmilk, and other people's awesome tweets in William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' (1606).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Themes: 'I Vow to Thee, My Country' (Wikimedia Commons); 'Moorland' (Wikimedia Commons). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our forty-seventh episode, we continue our recap of the short works of Edgar Allan Poe (1830s-40s): 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'The Cask of Amontillado', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Raven'.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saëns, 'Danse Macabre' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-seven and big Halloween episode, we host our first anthology: the short works of Edgar Allan Poe (1830s-40s). In the first half of this anthology, we cover 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Fall of the House of Usher', and 'The Masque of the Red Death'. We also hear a lot about our hosts' Halloween costumes, lots about asses, Abby's own disappointing masquerade experience, and Daniel's most uptight accent yet.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saëns, 'Danse Macabre' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-sixth episode--Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives (1972)--we move to the suburbs, eat a lot of Lobster Newburg, and watch nothing but Air Bud. Daniel also reveals his secret feminist tattoo, Abby puts out a dating advert, and we get a quick look-in from a legendary feminist: Grendel's Mother.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: John Philip Sousa, 'Thunderer March' - arranged by 'Free Tim'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-fifth episode, we delve into a world of cartoon references, James Bond-level panty dropping, questions for the BDSM community, and beards. Too many beards. It's Franz Kafka's 1925 paranoid, sadomasochistic dystopia, The Trial!Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Alban Berg, '4 Stucke, Op. 5', performed by Steven Beck. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel and Abby answer listener questions about how they make the podcast, the best literary decades, overrated authors, giant ducks, and when to throw a drink in your mother-in-law's face (always).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode themes: Mozart's 'Overture' to Don Giovanni. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-fourth episode, we look at Mark Twain's satire on systematic racism and childhood trauma, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). It's full of bad southern accents, men painted weird colours, identity theft, and bounty (both financial and chocolate). We also learn that Abby is from Grade-A dirtbag stock, and that Daniel has clinical depression.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: 'Riffs on Tara' written and performed by Daniel Jenkin-Smith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-third episode, we go back to ancient epics and probably the earliest text we can cover on this show: the Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100-1200 BC). In this episode, Daniel finds religion, Abby repents her punning ways, we see a glorious return of MeasuringWorth, and our hosts make way for the real star of the show: semi-standardised cubits.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Themes: Bach, 'Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, VI. Gigue'; Baligh Hamdi 'Hobb Eih' on Arabic oud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-second episode, we get dark and dirty with Matthew Lewis's 1796 'Male Gothic' masterpiece, The Monk. Abby shows off her Bible learnin', Daniel speaks (and slurps) in tongues, and both of them scream forever into the void.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, op. 14-5. 'Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat' (Igor Markevitch, Orchestre Lamoureux, 1962) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel's homework on the blind prophet Tiresias got cut from our episode on Homer's The Odyssey, Part One. Please find the segment resuscitated here, for all your Greek mythology needs.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode themes: Mozart's 'Overture' to Don Giovanni. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second half of our forty-first episode, we cover the last twelve books of Homer's The Odyssey (circa 800 BC). It's a delicious world, full of roast goat stomach, pig spine, and onion-peel cloaks. It's a sexy world, with plenty of Groundskeeper Willy nudity. It's an emotional world, full of crying naps and rage murder. And above all, it's a man's world, with some of the strongest misogyny we've seen so far.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Γκάιντα Ναούσης 1498 (Wikimedia Commons) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.