Between The Covers

We’re getting closer to the top of the list with this episode covering Jay’s most lovable novels. We share each book from 75 to 51 with the original air dates and a few choice comments. Chaos Reader decides if Jay has sold her on each entry… or not.

We continue walking through the final rankings of Jay’s List of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language that we covered one by one for the past two years. This week, we discuss nos. 75 to 51 along with the original air dates for each book.

This week we begin walking through the final list’s rankings, as Jay slowly built the ranked list of his 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language over two years of podcasting. In this episode, we talk about nos. 100 through 76, what’s lovable, whether Chaos Reader has or will read them and when each book's episode originally aired.

Jay completes his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language with A.S. Byatt’s Possession. The novel about academics and poets in parallel timelines engages the reader on many levels. Chaos Reader shares the next phase of the podcast. A note on the sound: We apologize for the scratching noise listeners may hear in the podcast this week. We will make sure it doesn’t happen again!

This week’s entry on Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Irish Murdoch’s novel The Sea, The Sea. Jay discusses the allusion of the title and Murdoch’s philosophical themes, making the case for this worthy book. Chaos Reader checks in on her adventures with The Neapolitan Quartet.

Jay’s pick this week is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, a book that could be maddening or it could be one of the 100 Most Lovable Books in the English Language if you approach it ready for the ride. Chaos Reader is very enthusiastic about a newly published mystery novel.

The Magus was John Fowles’ first novel, but his third to be published, and its postmodern, metafictional format focuses on a young British teacher on a Greek Island who falls in with an unreliable local mastermind, Conchis. Chaos Reader discusses an academic history book she and Jay are reading aloud.

Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, a novel about a young man’s coming of age in Nottinghamshire, as he navigates his relationships with two very different women in the shadow of his brother’s death and his mother’s attentions and strong personality. Chaos Reader talks about a recent TV series rewatch in which...

John Galsworthy’s chronicle of the “new money” Forsyte family is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The Forsyte Saga focuses on Soames Forsyte, a “man of property,” who seems to have succeeded at wealth but never seems to learn how to be happy. Chaos Reader starts a new novel in a famous tetralogy.

Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is this week’s pick for Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. This British novel isn’t as well known in the United States, but it should be. Chaos Reader finishes another novel. Note: Jay occasionally misidentifies Winterson in the podcast, and for that he is deeply apologetic. 

Jay’s choice this week is Old Filth, a 2004 novel by British writer Jane Gardam. The book focuses on Sir Edward Feather’s quest to understand the life he has lived in the second half of the twentieth century. Chaos Reader FINALLY finishes a book.

Jay’s pick this week in the final 10 of his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Andrea Levy’s Small Island, a 2004 novel that explores the experiences of the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom through four narrators. The book addresses many big ideas through careful attention to the daily lives and dramas of a white couple and a Jamaican co...

This week’s addition to Jay’s 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language list is Wilkie Collins' Victorian proto-detective, gothic novel The Woman in White. Wilkie’s chosen structure of multiple narrators puts the reader into the role of juror, working to discern what really happened from the various voices and agendas in the text. Chaos Reader responds to yapping in the zeitgeist about Nolan...

This week we're taking a break from our 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language list to join in the world's current Odyssey Era. Jay and Stacey share their enthusiasm for the book and talk about tips for selecting a translation as well as why The Odyssey by Homer is so lovable and a joy to read.

Of John Updike’s four Rabbit books, Jay has chosen the first, Rabbit, Run, to include on his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The 1960 novel introduces readers to Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom and this broken promise of his adult life. Chaos Reader is still enjoying almost nothing happening in The Eustace Diamonds.

Martin Amis’s 1984 novel Money: A Suicide Note is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Though the main character, John Self, is thoroughly detestable, Amis’s novel is thoroughly enjoyable because of the author’s command of voice and craft. Chaos Reader is in her slow reading era.

Jay’s choice this week is another historical fiction novel, this one set in turn-of-the-millenium Rome, I, Claudius by Robert Graves. The epic follows 80 years of violent Roman politics when dark-horse Claudius emerges as the surprise winner of the emperor’s laurels. Chaos Reader focuses on her Roman Empire, Vogue Magazine of the 1980s and 1990s.

This week Jay cheats and names a tetralogy (four books) to his list as one entry, Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End. The chronology addresses the WWI era from the intimate life of its protagonist. Chaos Reader is still reading the Wintour biography.

  William Styron’s 1979 tragedy, Sophie’s Choice, is the book Jay is naming this week to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in English. He and Stacey discuss the profound pain of the novel as well as the objections readers have made to Styron's decisions in crafting the book. Chaos Reader updates Anna Wintour’s life as she continues reading a biography about her.

  Jay’s choice this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is another world-famous detective novel, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. While this may not be the Christie novel others choose as her greatest, Jay makes his case. Chaos Reader checks in with her progress on The Eustace Diamonds.

  Jay makes the case for Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles for this week’s addition to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Holmes is a key figure in Western Culture, and we examine the appeal and Conan Doyle’s craft in creating him as well as Holmes's partnership with Dr. Watson. Chaos Reader checks in on the biography she’s reading.

Jay’s choice this week is John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces, a premier novel of southern American literature and a predictor of the "male loneliness epidemic." Jay talks about how this novel stays relevant and where it hasn’t held up as well, even though it’s still worthy of a spot on his Most Lovable Novels list. Chaos Reader checks in on her progress with a biography of Anna Wintour.

Jay chooses Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man for his list this week. The celebrated novel addresses the Black experience in the first half of the twentieth century in America, but it hasn’t lost its relevance. Chaos Reader starts a new book consistent with the current Zeitgeist.

Muriel Spark’s iconoclastic education novel is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Set in 1930s Edinburgh, the novel focuses on six girls who are assigned to Miss Brodie, and her radical teaching style makes a mark on them at 10 years old and well beyond. Chaos Reader shares her final update on the Ian McEwan novel she’s been reading.

This week Jay’s entry on the list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Ken Kesey’s seminal novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which grapples with the power of systems against the individual human mind and various responses to the forces of the powers that be. Chaos Reader doesn’t achieve her goal, and checks in on Trollope.