Beyond the Walls Book Chat

Tonight's episode is an overview of the normal, semi-normal, and extra-extra type of people that exist in the Hertfordshire world of Pride & Prejudice . Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

We're moving on to a new book. Tonight's episode is all about the life and times of the incomparable Jane Austen. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

This is our final episode of Anne of Green Gable. Tonight we'll look at all the sides of symbolism, themes, and recurring images in this bright and cheery novel. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight's episode introduces some of the main residents of Avonlea whose lives are impacted by the red-headed sprite Anne Shirley. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight we look back over a history of powerful opening lines in classic books. Then we'll explore what we can learn from the very verbose opening Maud Montgomery writes for Anne of Green Gables. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

I'm beginning Season 7 with Anne of Green Gables . Tonight's episode gives a little author back story for the very complex, quiet, and famous resident of Prince Edward Island, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight's episode begins with a correction from last week. Next, we'll go on to explore the unsteady, shifting ground of human philosophy and the solid rock of absolute truth. What does it mean that our world is spoken from the mouth of God? And how will our perspective change when stop looking inward and open our eyes to the wonder of the world God is writing all around us? Send us Fan...

After Victor refuses to make a companion for the monster things spiral out of control. The end of the novel takes us full circle back to Walton on the Arctic Ocean. Hopefully Walton has learned the lessons Frankenstein ignored. *Correction in the episode. I say near the end that Shelley can't save her characters, but what I should have said is that she is unwilling to save them.  Questions an...

There are so many sides to the story of Frankenstein. Tonight's episode takes a pause in the middle of Volume III and looks at the possible arguments Mary Shelley could be making for one of the oldest of debates. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

The looming question of what happened to Frankenstein's monster is answered in Volume 2. Tonight we cover his story and the pitiful request he makes of his creator. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

After Victor succeeds in what he has been killing himself to achieve his eyes are opened to the horror of what he's done. But rather than step up, he runs away and tragedy eventually catches up to him. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight we'll hear the beginnings of the cautionary tale that Victor Frankenstein shares with Walton. But rather than listening to the words themselves we'll pay attention to what isn't being said. We'll dig beneath the superficial, romantic layers of his tale and ask the probing questions that no one around him dared to do.  Email comments and insights to beyondthewallsbookcha...

The world Frankenstein was born into was fraught with emotional madness. His story is one of intense passion and despair but also full of caution for the man who wants to follow his heart against all sound reason. For any feedback and thoughts email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight we cover the context and backstory of one of the most impactful novels of Western Culture. A young woman surrounded by tragedy and pain, poured her sorrow into authoring a fable that spawned a new literary genre and a character recognizable anywhere. For thoughts, opinions, and insights email me at beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email be...

What we read forms our minds. We will become what we behold. For thoughts, opinions, and insights email me at beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com  Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight is a brief recap of my reading in 2025.  Find me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/betlapointe Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Beware the doppelganger. Find out how tonight's featured author reworks the timeless theme of the villainous twin. Thoughts or comments? Email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com  Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Tonight's episode reviews an old book that was banned from being printed until 1973. Why are some books challenged? Should their questionable content stop us from reading them? What's a better way to approach different ideas and viewpoints? Thoughts? Comments? email: beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

How much of the cares of this world can one woman carry on her shoulders? Thomas Hardy tries to answer this question in his classic, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Tonight's episode explores the worldviews Hardy struggled with in Victorian England and what he puts his heroine through to express to the world the tragic results of man-made religion and man centered philosophy. If you have any...

Our first episode of Season 6 looks at four things about better books that can change our lives when we read them. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to me at beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Macbeth's hold on reality is in shambles, his fiend-like queen is being eaten up by guilt, and an army is marching to the gates of the castle. The house of Glamis is about to fall. What is special about Macduff that will allow him to be the victor and hand the throne back to Malcolm? Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

"Since only goodness can raise a man above the level of humankind, it follows that it is proper that wickedness thrusts down to a level below mankind those whom it has dethroned from the condition of being human." -Boethius In Act 4 Macbeth seals his fate with his latest treacherous act. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Has Macbeth reached the point of no return? What is compelling him to kill again and when will he stop? Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

In Act 2 Macbeth strikes the fatal blow to King Duncan and begins his slow descent into evil and madness. Throughout this part of the play Shakespeare alludes to the deep symbolism of sleep as death and demonstrates the corruption of Macbeth's soul in his brutalizing the blessedness of rest. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com

Foggy, rocky, foul, and mysterious the Scottish Play opens on the blasted heath. Nothing is as it seems. False faces hide traitorous thoughts, and weird sisters whisper cryptic predictions. Act 1 of Macbeth leads us into an uncertain and dark world where sinister spirits lie in wait. Send us Fan Mail For questions and comments please email beyondthewallsbookchat@gmail.com