The Bookening

Nathan lost the episode. He stinks.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

SOME MUCH NEEDED CONTEXT FOR LA MORTE D'ARTHUR!! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Dark magic is always lurking at the edges of Christendom, trying to get in. That's one of the themes of the King Arthur stories, and the ways it plays out can be shocking. How does Sir Gawain and the Green Knight fit into the Arthur mythos? What does it have to tell us about storytelling without psychology? And, like we said, does it reflect a Christian code of morality and influence or a pagan on...

Was King Arthur a real dude? How has the Arthurian romance come down to us? Which cultures has it drawn from, and what has it picked up along the way? The Bookening discusses all these issues and more in the first of our Patron-sponsored mini-series on the tales of King Arthur.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

King Arthur next week we promise! Brandon had something come up, so Jake and Nathan talk about twelve books that will make you rich.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We were tired. It was late. We had an hour of tech trouble before we could get going. Is this the greatest episode of all time????!  Probably not. But enjoy. King Arthur next week!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

It's time to finally litigate it. Is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the great American novel? Or at least a great American novel? Should people read it in spite of the rough content? Does it have anything to say about race (or anything else) that's worth hearing? THE BOOKENING IS ON THE CASE! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Did Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man predict everything that's happened regarding race in the last few years? Also, is Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man the best novel about race in modern America? Yes it did and yes it probably is. Listen to this podcast to hear us discuss.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Conservatives reject a lot of great twentieth century art by people of color for one simple reason. The Bookening discusses all this and more as Brandon provides some MUCH NEEDED context for Ralph Ellison's great novel, Invisible Man.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In many ways, Klara and the Sun repeats all of Kazuo Ishiguro's favorite themes. But it differs in one crucial and very interesting way. Any guesses what that is? Nathan and Brandon discuss this in today's episode. And Jake stops by too! (Forgive the tech issues, we're working to get back up to snuff.)  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Should you read a bad book or short story for your college class? The Bookening considers the age old question, in this VERY SPECIAL EPISODE (ONE OF THE POINTS THEY MAKE WILL SHOCK YOU!). ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What makes a good children's book? Simplicity? Empathy? Revenge? Our heroes sort out all kinds of deep questions as they review Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Roald Dahl ... children's author, fighter pilot, spy ... misogynist? Racist? Or does the internet like to blow these things out of proportion? In any case, he had one of the most interesting lives of anybody we've talked about in six years of this podcast. Listen to our episode to find out more. Yay!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jane Austen wrote six novels and we are discussing them all. Which one is the best? Who is the best villain? Best heroine? Best hero? What do you think? Let us know. We want to hear. (We more or less got it right though, right?) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Modern teenagers are no less in a fantasy world than Catherine Moreland in Northanger Abbey. That's one of the many amazing insights in this podcast. Listen today! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We're talkin' Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, y'all, and the life of its author. And solving some mysteries about Jane Austen along the way. Or, at least, we create some mysteries for ourselves and then solve them.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What did we LIKE about  The Brothers Karamazov?  Can our heroes mount a defense of the novel? Or will they just pat it and the head and say "well, not everybody can be Tolstoy"? LISTEN TO FIND OUT! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Dostoevsky has ruined souls. Or at the very least, he's the sort of writer that ruined souls are attracted to. That's the contention of this episode, one of our more hardcore eps in a while. Will The Bookening say anything nice about The Brothers Karamazov ? Listen to find out.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The word "broken" gets tossed around a lot these days, but Dostoevsky was truly a broken man. Our contextual Texan tells the story of his life, among other things, as The Bookening provides some much needed context on The Brothers Karamazov and its author. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This is an important update on the show. We're announcing our next Patreon goal, which is one very near and dear to our hearts, and one that we hope you'll help us make happen ASAP. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

2020. It was such a great year that our show is still remembering it, talking about the best scenes, biggest surprises and best books they read in 2020. WILL BRANDON FINALLY CONFESS HIS LOVE FOR DUNE ?????? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Who was the best hero of the year? Who was the best heroine? Who was the best supporting character? Probably one of the sandworms from Dune , right? Probably all the answers come from Dune. In any case, our heroes are looking back on every book they read in 2020 and singling out the best of the best. Gandalf, Natasha, Atticus Finch, and others are all in the running. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT!  ★...

What is the best Christmas passage in literature? Nathan attempts to determine this crucial piece of information, in discussion with famed Irish poet, Brandon.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

2020 was a pretty great year here at The Bookening. We haven't been paying a ton of attention to what's going on in the outside world, but we assume everyone else loved 2020 just as much as we did. In any case here's a short episode with the list of books we'll be reading in 2021, and a bit of discussion about them. Yay! Oh, fine, here's the list in written form: January: The Brothers Karamazov  F...

Brandon provides some much-needed context on Frank Herbert and Dune, and Nathan and Jake make their arguments for why this novel is pretty okay, if you like that sort of thing. With a very special emergency guest appearance by Brandon's young daughter, who knows exactly what the fox says.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★