Between The Covers

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.

But not this week! Jay names The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and—spoiler alert!—he LOVES talking about them. Stacey won’t let him spoil them all for you, though, dear listener. Chaos Reader makes a promise.

It’s fitting for Jay to follow up last week’s pick of A Passage to India with Paul Scott’s novel The Jewel in the Crown, as this first novel of Scott’s Raj Quartet has definite references to Forster’s earlier work as Scott chronicles the friction among people of differing races and classes in mid-century India. Chaos Reader updates her progress reading Ian McEwan’s latest novel.

E.M. Forster’s 1924 novel A Passage to India is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The nuance and opacity of this unflinching look at interpersonal relationships when empires are involved feels particularly relevant today. Chaos Reader shares a TV show she’s reading… in French.

Jay kicks off Season 3 of Between the Sheets with William Golding’s 1954 novel about boys stranded on a remote island, and their collective and individual responses to their situation. The novel’s themes are timeless. Chaos Reader checks in with Ian McEwan’s newest novel.

  In the final episode of Season 2, Jay names Mary Shelley’s 19th century gothic-horror novel FRANKENSTEIN to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and Chaos Reader checks in AGAIN with Gerald Ford’s biography, in which the author has entered the chat. BETWEEN THE COVERS will be taking a break between seasons, but we’ll be back later this spring to finish the list of 100...

  Saul Bellow’s comic, yet philosophical novel Henderson the Rain King is Jay’s most lovable novel this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. Henderson’s mid-life crisis and the resulting international journey leads to a greater exploration of his own inner self. Chaos Reader checks in on her progress reading a biography of Gerald Ford (still).

  Jay’s lovable novel this episode is AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth, in which the hero, Seymour “Swede” Levov, struggles to understand his life in late 20th  century America, and how the 1960s still reach into his family to trouble and unsettle him and those he loves. Chaos Reader introduces a new book she’s just picked up, one of Trollope’s Victorian-era Palliser novels, to fulfill her goal of...

  Jay makes his case that The Crying of Lot 49 is the most lovable of Thomas Pynchon’s novels as he dives into the plot of the 1966 conspiracy-theory, suspenseful novel. (It’s also Pynchon’s shortest novel.) Chaos Reader checks in on the progress she’s making in Kawabata’s The Sound of the Mountain.

  This week, Jay’s pick is the 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, which focuses on a violent teen subculture and a dystopian society’s attempt at reformation. Chaos Reader updates her progress on the biography she’s reading of Gerald Ford.

  Jay’s entry this week to his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Thomas Hardy’s 1892 novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and it raises issues 21st century readers are still grappling with. Chaos Reader discusses her reading goals for 2026. A NOTE ON THE SOUND: We discovered a mic issue after we recorded, so we know the sound is off on this one, but it wasn’t possible to f...

  This week’s entry on Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is William Makepeace Thackeray’s VANITY FAIR, often considered the Victorian domestic novel that kicked off this sub-genre of fiction. Jay talks about why he has so much affection for the 1848 book that follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley through British society. Chaos Reader checks in on the bi...

Jay chose Anthony Doerr’s CLOUD CUCKOO LAND for this episode’s lovable novel.  While the plot sounded a bit wackadoodle to Stacey, Doerr’s deft ability to link the book’s different narratives to a common theme that booklovers can relate to makes an effective case for its lovability. Chaos Reader discusses her personal reaction to being in a musical based on Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

  Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel GULLIVER’S TRAVELS is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and Stacey admits she had a very narrow view of what the book was like to read or what it is really about. (Spoiler: It’s not a children’s story.) Chaos Reader discusses a recent New Yorker essay that made an impact on her.

  Walter Scott’s IVANHOE: A ROMANCE is Jay’s choice for his 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language list this week. A 19th century example of medievalism, the book takes readers back to England in the Middle Ages and influenced how people think of this era today and significantly influenced 19th, 20th and 21st fiction to come. Chaos Reader buys a collection of poems by Margaret Atwood.

Jay chose Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN for this week’s lovable novel (which is also a lovely Christmas read) and surprises Stacey with the backstory of how it got written and how some savvy young readers green-lit the manuscript to get it published. After this discussion of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy’s passage from girlhood to womanhood in Civil War-era New England, Chaos Reader picks up a biograph...

This week Jay enters Jack London’s 1903 naturalist fiction novel The Call of the Wild, which Stacey was surprised to learn is not a children’s or young-adult novel. London’s dog hero Buck and his struggles highlight many issues inherent in a growing industrial economy as it trickles down to the creatures upon whom the work depends. Chaos Reader revisits Exit Interview for an update.