The Bookening

Thank you to everyone who helped us continue our Narnia series. Now, our heroes talk about The Silver Chair. The heroic optimism (yeah, optimism) of Puddleglum, claustrophobia in stories about caves, Neo-platonism, the dumbness of Pascal's wager as it related to C. S. Lewis, and more. Support us here! No, seriously, we could use your support these days. Thank you in advance! ★ Support this podcast...

Jake really loves this book. Brandon does not as much. Thus disagreement stalks The Bookening crew in this episode, as Brandon goes on the attack against some of the more, shall we say, mystical elements of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And, after about 45 minutes, Jake goes on the defense, because he just really likes the boy's adventure of this book. All this and more. Support us here! ★ Suppo...

Our heroes discuss Prince Caspian, a novel that they really liked, except for some weird pagan stuff at the end. What was Lewis doing there and why? Our heroes have plenty to say about that. But first they talk about many of the great things about the book, which may not rank that highly among Narnia rankers, but our heroes agree is a good one. LISTEN NOW! Support us here! ★ Support this podcast o...

Our heroes discuss The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis's 'supposal' theory of allegory, whether these books ARE allegory or not, what the book gets wrong and right about the resurrection, the importance of discipline in children's literature, which character Jake may or may not have named a kid after, and more ... Support us here! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! In which our heroes try to clean up some mess regarding C. S. Lewis and some of his more interesting opinions. And then talk about the baggage they bring to Lewis and Narnia. And predict which Narnia books they will like the most, and which they will like the least this time around.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! The Bookening provides some much needed context on C. S. Lewis, as our heroes embark on their multipart quest to talk through all The Chronicles of Narnia. Also, our heroes court a little controversy by having their usual issues with Lewis. But also, they really like him and are looking forward to talking through his books. But on the other hand, he has some issues that are, shall...

Support us here! Brandon and Nathan hammer home their recent forays into poetry by reading and examining three poems together: The Wild Swans at Coole, The Art of Losing, and Digging. Next week Jake will be back and we'll start on Narnia! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Brandon is still recovering from ACL surgery, so Nathan, Jake, and Dubstep Dani (the mom who's a bomb of reading) review Witness for the Prosecution, the wonderful 1957 feature film starring Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Chillax and join us for a mellow summer episode. After teaching you how to make the perfect margarita (no, seriously), Nathan walks you through his top ten summer reads. What about Brandon and Jake you ask? Well, one of them is on vacation and one is recovering from surgery. So Nathan decided to do this ultra-rare solo outing. The good news is you get to hear about a great detecti...

Support us here! Do women like poetry? Our heroes answer this horribly sexist question in this episode. And then Brandon at long last gives us a linear discussion of poetry.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! We're gonna go ahead and call this a bonus episode instead of a real one. It was recorded on a crazy late night in Brandon's kitchen without the best sound quality. But we thought it was worth releasing because there's some good discussion and a good lead in for next week's real poetry episode. Plus you get to hang out with the women of The Bookening. ★ Support this podcast on Pat...

Support us here! So close to reading Narnia and making Jake wear elf ears. Oh dear. It's another thing that Nathan didn't particularly like. But also it's a pretty good thing at being what it is. Our heroes discuss it in this episode.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! After playing "Guess the literary quote", our heroes answer some email and end up talking about why they do the show the way they do the show.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! In this episode our heroes continue to discuss Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. They have good things to say about it. This is a quality episode of The Bookening. You should listen to it, and benefit from it. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Our heroes provide some much needed context for The Old Man and the Sea.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Apologies, no new episode this week. Our heroes will be back next week with Old Man and the Sea. In the meantime, here is the first episode of our new podcast Sanity at the Movies. It happens to feature Nathan, Jake, and Brandon, so it's pretty much like an extended Bookening ep. Only about a movie. If you already heard it, there's a new ep of that podcast coming out tomorrow, whi...

Support us here! After a visit from Dusty the Magical Podcast Elf, our heroes discuss Of Mice and Men. Is this a book that is ruined because everyone knows the twist? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Our heroes talk Steinbeck, literary snobbery, and Of Mice and Men. Also they talk about the mice and cats for some reason. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us today! Our heroes have a huge disagreement about Catcher in the Rye and don't come to consensus at the end. It's weird. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Hey, in this episode our heroes provide some much needed context for Catcher in the Rye. It looks like this book might be a big disagreement between them? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Jane Eyre 's view of sexuality is all messed up, yo. This podcast discusses it. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here please and thank you! The Bookening is talking about Rochester in Jane Eyre in this episode, and the weird crazy ways the book goes off the rails. Oy vey. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Our heroes talk about the first part of the novel Jane Eyre . Is Mrs. Reed a straw (wo)man? Is Helen Burns too good to be true? Will our heroes compare the novel to Harry Potter? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Brandon provides his patented context on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Support us here! Our heroes discuss Alice in Wonderland, the place of surrealism in art, and whether you should read this book to your kids given Lewis Carroll's ... troubling history. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★