Save Me From My Shelf

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our Season 3 premiere and twenty-sixth episode, we read one of the world's (apparently) Most Boring Classics™ and take our first foray into Russian literature with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866). Abby gives some train trivia, Daniel reveals a fetish for clerks, and everyone faints forever. Cover ar...

More bonus content for the summer hiatus. It's all about animals this time: all the ones Daniel hates, the ones that turn up in dreams, and the ones that our natural enemies (the Devonians) use to mock the Cornish. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Camille Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals , 'Finale'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another steaming bowl of bonus material coming your way. This podcast, provisionally named 'Carry on up the Canon', has never shied away from the odd bawdy joke, except when sublimating these into food talk, so please enjoy some of the odder examples compiled into one handy reel. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: 'Sexy' by Benjamin Tissot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

A bit of bonus material to tide you over during the summer hiatus. The archives of Save Me From My Shelf are littered with cultural insights and aperçus which would have felt out of place in any particular episode, but needed to be heard. Here are some of the best compiled into one manageable reel. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 'Overture' to Don Giovanni , perfo...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twenty-fifth episode, End of Season 2, and End-Of-Year Special, we read George Eliot's 1861 proto-Realist/German Idealist/grudgingly sensational novel, Silas Marner . Come celebrate with us and Friedrich Nietzsche as we finally hear Daniel's real accent, produce a special range of S&M SMFMS whips, and eat s...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our DoublePlusTolerable twenty-fourth episode covers George Orwell's 1949 totalitarian dystopia, 1984 . If you're looking for an UnGood time, tune in for everything reeking of cabbage, adventures in antiquing, and surprisingly erotic sex scenes (the perverts). No need to DoubleThink twice! Cover art © Catherine Wu. Ep...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-third episode features the Antichrist, an indictment of the £10 note, the King of Himbos, and some snippets from Daniel's erotic fanfiction when we cover Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813). Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode themes: Beethoven, 'Egmont Overture Op.84'; Boieldieu, 'Caliph de Bagdad' reco...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-second episode is one extended queer reading--full of dodgy back doors, debauchery-filled strolls, and a vicious debate about if a mirror is weird or not--as we recap Robert Louis Stevenson's science fiction novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme:...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-first episode is full of intrusive THOTS, dawg-named babies, power bottoms, and 'inelegant horseplay' as we recap Tennessee Williams's screwball tragedy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Gus Arnheim Orchestra, 'How Long Will It Last' (1931). Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twentieth episode is nothing but potatoes, patriarchy, and proverbs with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958). Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: 'Udu Sound' on Ibo drum (Wikimedia Commons). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our nineteenth episode is all about S-E-X: we cover Daniel Defoe's 1722 raunchy crime-spree confessional, Moll Flanders . Abby gets turned on by a bandito in a cool hat, Daniel gets turned on by an economic value calculator, and Moll gets turned on by pretty much anything. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Chri...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our eighteenth episode, we cover Virginia Woolf's trans, posho, time-traveling romp, Orlando (1928). Daniel once again gets into a row with medieval expert and enemy of the podcast, Justine; Abby once again gets into a row with friend of the podcast, Jonathan Swift; and we have 'Set the Scenes'  on tap. Cover...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventeenth episode, we go back to the first major English work: Beowulf. So, hwæt, dummies! Join us if you like endless gift giving interspersed with the most disgusting charnel-house violence possible, if your ideal hero a seven-foot tall wino, or if you think a poem itself can be a lesbian. Cover art © Cathe...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixteenth episode, we examine Shakespeare's most olfactory play. Abby celebrates a strong return of himbos to the podcast, Daniel conceptualises an award-winning Disney+ show, and we discover this is the Bard's only (?) work where someone sh*ts their pants out of love. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode themes:...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifteenth episode and Valentine's Day special, we follow Jane Eyre on her angry quest to find love, avoid housefires, and not punch everyone she meets along the way. Abby and Daniel go on their own quests to worship St Valentine in the old ways and to finally become friends in real life. Cover art © Catherine W...

Theme music: Kevin MacLeod, 'Carpe Diem'; Rimsky-Korsakov, 'Flight of the Bumblebee', United States Air Force Band. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fourteenth episode and Season 2 premiere, we follow Lemuel Gulliver, Esq., as he poops his way around the globe, takes nipple rides, and develops linguistic connections in the Luggnaggian-Brobdingnagian language family. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Georg Philipp Telemann, 'Intrada Suite for Two Viol...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirteenth episode and Christmas special, we see: lobsters glowing like an open fire, oysters nipping at your nose, Tiny Tim and his dad in a tank - marine life riddles Dickens's prose. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode themes: Sears/Willis, 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear', performed by the Diplomats of the U...

Theme music: Gruber/Mohr, 'Stille Nacht', sung by Ernestine Schumann-Heink; Tchaikovsky, 'Trepak', Ballet Francaise Symphony Orchestra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twelfth episode, Daniel premieres a quiz segment and gets himself all lusty over agriculture and metaphysics. Abby is mostly concerned with bitches: of the basic, brotherly, and rich varieties. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Gustav Holst, 'Second Suite in F for Military Band II'. Hosted on Acast. See...

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. We might have faces good for podcasting, but in our eye-watering eleventh episode, we discuss a face only a mother could love. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Constantin Brailoiu, 'Berceuse'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our tenth episode, we talk rodents, list big American breakfasts, and do a lot of Harpo Marx impressions. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Ma Rainey, 'Slave to the Blues'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our ninth episode (our bumper Halloween special) Abby and Daniel start a band, Dracula is uncovered a chronic masturbator, and himbos make a glorious return to the podcast. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Episode theme: Bartok's 'Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

What the hell is 'forcemeat'? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our eighth episode, Daniel embraces Puritanism, Abby embraces self-promotion, and John Proctor regrets embracing a thresher. Cover art © Catherine Wu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.