Keene on Books

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Alison Cochrun's 2024 novel, Here We Go Again. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair of the Communication and Philosophy Department at Keene State and Kim McKane, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Keene State. Our start-of-summer timing is immaculately-aligned with the start of this b...

Keene on Books is back with an episode discussing Daniel Kraus's 2025 novel, Angel Down. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, the Assistant Vice-President for Academic Engagement and Dean of Mason Library at Keene State as well as Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing at KSC. The episode runs over an hour, b...

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Suzanne Collins's 2025 novel and Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair of the Communication and Philosophy Department at Keene State and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the KSC Center for Research and Writing. It is winter in New Engl...

Keene on Books makes its 2026 return with an episode on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2025 novel Dream Count. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by KoB legend Dr. Emily Robins Sharpe. She is Professor of English at Keene State, teaching courses on, amongst other things, postcolonial and world modernist literatures. Emily is the author of Mosaic Fictions: Writing I...

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Agustina Bazterrica’s 2017 novel Tender Is the Flesh (Sarah Moses's 2020 English translation). Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by three KSC legends: Dr. Anna Schur is Professor of English at Keene State and author of the books Wages of Evil: Dostoevsky and Punishment and The Letters and the Law: Legal and Literary Cu...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Louise Erdrich's 2024 novel, The Mighty Red. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Keene State's Mason Library and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing at KSC. Molly may have founded The Mighty Red fan club, but Celia and I are eager members.

It is autumn, and we are back. Keene on Books returns with an episode on Taylor Jenkins Reid's 2025 novel, Atmosphere. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair of the Communication and Philosophy Department and Meriem Pagès, Professor of English, departmental medievalist, and Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Forum. For t...

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Rufi Thorpe's 2024 novel Margo's Got Money Troubles. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair of the Communication and Philosophy Department at Keene State and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the KSC Center for Research and Writing. A book with pro wrestling, OnlyFans, and narrative...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Kate Atkinson's 2024 novel, Death at the Sign of the Rook. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library at Keene State and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing at KSC. You should listen, but the TL;DL here is that we love Atkinson, and Beat...

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Lauren Groff's 2021 novel, Matrix. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Meriem Pagès, Professor of English and Director of KSC's Medieval and Renaissance Forum as well as Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. Of course, we discuss Groff's book. But Meriem also tells us about the 12th...

Keene on Books returns with an episode on Friedrich Gorenstein’s 1967 novel Redemption (Andrew Bromfield's 2018 English translation). Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Dr. Anna Schur, Professor of English at Keene State and author of the books Wages of Evil: Dostoevsky and Punishment and The Letters and the Law: Legal and Literary Culture in Late Imperial R...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Miranda July's 2024 novel, All Fours. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. Discussing the New York book of the summer in January in New Hampshire is our BRAND.

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Maia Kobabe's 2019 graphic memoir, Gender Queer. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Eleanor Green, Teen Librarian at Keene Public Library, Alyssa Hamilton, English teacher at ConVal High School, and Ian Kaplan, Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Student Support at Keene State. Only Eleanor had the deluxe edition of the bo...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Min Jin Lee's 2017 novel, Pachinko. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Cindy Cheshire, biblical scholar, JEDI Faculty Fellow, and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Communication and Philosophy at Keene State as well as Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. We may not hav...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing 2023's Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, edited by Jordan Peele. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Kirsti Sandy, Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and English prof at Keene State as well as illustrious KSC senior students and writers Kyla Culver and Moses Fisher. 

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Kaveh Akbar's 2024 novel, Martyr!. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. Cue a dream sequence where you listen to this podcast with a family member and your favorite basketball player / carto...

Keene on Books is back with an episode discussing Emma Cline's 2023 novel, The Guest. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Dr. Kirsti Sandy, Professor and Chair of the Keene State English Department and Kyla Culver, an English literature major and studio art minor at KSC. Spoiler: in the story of our conversation, we make it to Simon's Labor Day party but do N...

Keene on Books returns with an episode discussing Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah's 2023 novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. Depending on how you think about it, this is either the least or most appropriate novel to t...

Just in time for the holidays and year-end book lists, Keene on Books is back with an episode discussing Zadie Smith's 2023 novel, The Fraud. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Kirsti Sandy, Professor and Chair of the Keene State English Department and William Stroup, Professor of English. If you are deciding between listening to this podcast and reading a n...

Keene on Books returns with a romance novel double feature with Casey McQuiston's 2022 novel I Kissed Shara Wheeler and Ruby Dixon's 2020 novel When She Purrs. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair of Communication and Philosophy and Meriem Pagès, Professor of English and Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Forum. Come f...

Keene on Books returns with a podcast discussing Celeste Ng's 2022 novel, Our Missing Hearts. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. Get thee to a library!

Keene on Books returns with a podcast discussing Jennifer Egan's 2022 novel, The Candy House. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Emily Robins Sharpe, Chair of the English Department, and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Writing. 

Keene on Books returns with a podcast discussing Danya Kukafka's 2022 novel, Notes on an Execution. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Amber Davisson, Professor and Chair in the Communication Department and Meriem Pagès, Professor of English and Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Forum. 

No fiction: Keene on Books returns with a podcast discussing Elizabeth McCracken's 2022 novel, The Hero of This Book. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library and Brinda Charry, Professor of English and author of the recently released novel, The East Indian.

Keene on Books discusses Lydia Millet's 2020 novel, A Children's Bible. Host / Associate Professor of English Education Chris Parsons is joined by Celia Rabinowitz, Director of Mason Library, and Molly Parsons, Assistant Director of the KSC Center for Research and Writing. Biblical allusions welcome.