Overdue

It's time to solve the mystery of the Boxcar Children! (Or is it The Box-Car Children?) Warner's novel about a quartet of self-sufficient kiddos underwent a major revision 20 years after its debut AND it spawned dozens of mystery-focused sequels despite there not really being a mystery in the original. Tune in to hear about our own secret hideouts and to learn about Andrew's favorite new website f...

Craig and Andrew said they would record the podcast themselves. This very modern episode about a very modern novel discusses Woolf's signature writing style, the regrets of a postwar British people, and when (or where) you might find yourself Thinking Big. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . Advertise on Overdue See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy a...

Ada Palmer's Too Like the Lightning is mostly concerned with big historical questions like "what if nationality had nothing to do with geography" and "what if a boy could make toys come to life," but it also deals with things like "what if noticing gender were a fetish" and "what if all the world's leaders were secretly slamming each other."  Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . Advert...

Everybody get up it's time to read now. We got a podcast goin' now. Welcome to the Space Jam! Join us as we talk about a storybook edition of the 1996 cartoon basketball commercial Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Pri...

After 488 episodes, we finally return to ol' Johnny Steinbeck. East of Eden mixes autobiography, pastoral fiction, and Biblical allegory -- a cocktail that has dismayed critics and excited audiences for decades. We dig into what works in this sprawling story and what might leave some readers wanting more. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com...

This book is a work of "faction" (that's "fact" plus "fiction") about Richard Nixon's interactions with the physical manifestation(s) of Uncle Sam in the run-up to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. So, uh, a weird one. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-s...

There are small flames all over the place! Well, specifically all over a family's house in Shaker Heights, OH in the late 1990s. Ng's bestselling sophomore effort dives into two different but intertwined families whose lives are flip-turned-upside-down by a conflagration of personal mysteries, teenage desires, and a tense adoption case. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Pri...

Everyone! There's been a MURDER! And the person who committed it is still listening to THIS VERY PODCAST!! While we try to figure this out you should definitely listen to us talk about Hercule Poirot, the unassuming-ish detective who is here to discover your deepest darkest secrets and chew bubblegum and is all out of bubblegum. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Pol...

Join us for a trip back to Sherlock Holmes Times, as Melody and Erin from the Heaving Bosoms podcast help us talk about Kristen Callihan's Moonglow. The second book in the Darkest London series, Moonglow brings the romance and the supernatural lore in a way that keeps all four of us talking. You can find more from our new friends at the Heaving Bosoms podcast here . Our theme music was composed by...

Enjoy another episode of our newest show-within-a-show! We're reading Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes a few chapters at a time. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption. These episodes cover Chapters 28-42. In Episode 5, Don Quixote rejoins the party. and everyone decides to shack up in th...

In this kid goth Victorian house, objects talk...but only to the people who can listen! Find out what happens to Clod Iremonger and Lucy Pennant in this creepy-yet-kid-friendly novel about a bunch of people who live near (and develop a symbiotic relationship with) trash. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

The House of the Spirits is a multi-generational, lightly-magical-realism-y Chilean novel that eventually ends up being about Piochet's military coup, but it's also about the importance of studying events over a long span of time to come to a deeper understanding of why things happen the way they do. Something we could all stand to do more of, honestly. Our theme music was composed by  Nick L...

This sensational punk novel from 1993 got attention because it depicts a LOT: drug use, sex, and all sorts of deviance in late 20th-century Edinburgh. You may even be familiar with the film adaptation starring a young Obi-Wan Kenobi! We also discuss Welsh's connections to (and opinions of) local government, the joy of the beautiful game, and why Craig's cultural references stop in the mid 2000s. O...

We've got lesbian necromancers! We've got spooky mansion murder mysteries! We've got MEMES! What else could you need in your space fantasy? How about a lively chat debating the pronunciation of "Doge"? Find out more about our bonus episode recordings at  patreon.com/overduepod . Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...

It's beach season! And that means it's time for beach reads (whatever that means). We discuss the loose meaning of this genre-slash-marketing-term-slash-state-of-mind, plus a very recent book about a Russian spy who has made it to the top of a fictional (but all-too-recognizable) American tech company. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours is a late 20th-century homage to and interrogration of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway . One woman writes it, one woman reads it, and one woman lives it. Now you can listen to us talk about it! Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-...

If you want to read a book where a well-adjusted character responds well to questions about their own sexuality, Giovanni's Room ain't it! But its depiction of one character's internal conflict is still compelling and relevant decades after its release. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art...

Celebrated author and essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates entered the world of fiction in 2019 with The Water Dancer . A combination of his appreciation for superheroes and his years spent researching the Antebellum South, it's a book that tries to marry critique of American history with supernatural adventure. It also argues pretty hard for the power of remembrance. Our theme music was composed by  Ni...

If you've ever read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and thought to yourself "this book is an interesting read except for the part at the end where Tom Sawyer shows up" then buddy I have a book podcast for you (it's this one). Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sel...

This week we choose our own lunar adventure! Join us as we learn some moon facts, climb on moon rocks, and make some choices about whether or not to meet Moon Separatists. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Carolyn Keene wasn't a real person, and we suspect that the Secret of the Old Clock might not actually meet the technical definition of a "mystery"? But dang if that plucky Nancy Drew and her confident stride aren't fun to talk about anyway. Our theme music was composed by  Nick Lerangis . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/priva...

Enjoy another episode of our newest show-within-a-show! We're reading Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes a few chapters at a time. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption. These episodes cover Chapters 15-27. In Episode 3, Don Quixote, the Knight of the Sorrowful Face, and his companion Sanc...

It's disorienting to read the tenth book in a longrunning detective fiction series without reading any of the books that came before, but Gaudy Night is noteworthy because its heroine Harriet Vane is a precursor to many many women found in today's mystery novels. Just come prepared for the romantic parts and the parts about English high society that all make it take longer to figure out who did th...

Tom Sawyer, a 19th-century amalgam of Zack Morris and Dennis the Menace, has much to teach us about the joys of boyhood and adventure in the pre-Civil War United States. Twain, by extension, has plenty to teach us about racial stereotypes and how they can bog down even the most charming of adventure stories. Check out our previous Mark Twain episode on The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Coun...

April's bonus episode uses Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton’s illustrated sort-of-memoir Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology as a springboard to talk about being a Cat Person, loss, pandemic brain, and the fact that more books for adults should be illustrated. Find out more about our bonus episode recordings at patreon.com/overduepod . Our theme music was composed by...