The Literary Life Podcast

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, we begin our new series on C. S. Lewis' masterpiece, Til We Have Faces . (Affiliate links are used in this content.) This week, Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks cover the first two chapters and share their observations as they reread this oftentimes challenging book. To help us gain a framework for this novel, Thomas summarizes the myth of Cupid...

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins are having a conversation about why everyone ought to read myths. Angelina begins by explaining what a myth is in terms of literary genre. She talks about the characteristics that run through myths, such as explanations of origins and natural phenomena, common characters, and a universe that hangs together. Cindy poses a quest...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks continue their discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien's short story " Leaf by Niggle ". If you missed the Back to School 2020 Conference when it was live, you can still purchase access to the recordings at CindyRollins.net . Angelina opens the book chat highlighting Tolkien's mirroring of Dante's Divine Com...

Welcome to another episode of The Literary Life with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks. Both this week and next, our hosts will be discussing J. R. R. Tolkien's short story " Leaf by Niggle ". When this episode goes live, Cindy, Angelina and Thomas will be in the thick of the second annual Back to School Online Conference , happening August 3-8, 2020. It's not too late to register...

Today on The Literary Life podcast, we will be discussing J. R. R. Tolkien's essay " On Fairy Stories ". Tune in again over the next two weeks as we continue the conversation with Tolkien's short story " Leaf by Niggle ". Cindy, Angelina and Thomas are also excited to announce the second annual Back to School Online Conference , happening August 3-8, 2020. Register today at CindyRollins.net for ac...

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts Angelina and Cindy chat with Emily Raible. First, though, they announce our #20for2020LitLife reading challenge giveaway winners! If you were one of our winners, please email Cindy at Rollinsfamily11(at)gmail(dot)com to give her your contact information and get your prize! Also, coming up August 3-7, 2020, we will be having our second annual Back to Sc...

Welcome to our 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge Check-In episode! Before we dig into the content, Angelina announces Thomas' next webinar coming up this summer, "The Fable: From Aesop to Brer Rabbit." Sign up at HouseofHumaneLetters.com to find out when registration opens! After a brief discussion on the merits of reading fiction, our hosts begin listing what they have read in each category of the 20...

This week on The Literary Life, our hosts talk about their favorite poems and poets. Cindy starts off by sharing the early influences on her developing a love of poetry. Thomas also shares about his mother reading poetry to him as a child and the poetry that made an impression on him as a child. Angelina talks about coming to poetry later in life and how she finally came to love it through learnin...

Welcome to the second part of our discussion of Euripides' The Trojan Women here on The Literary Life podcast. This week Angelina, Cindy and Thomas really get into the meat of the play. If you missed last week's introduction episode , you will want to go back and listen to that first to set the stage, so to speak. Cindy and Angelina talk about how much emotion is evoked by Euripides' portrayal of...

Welcome to the first episode in our series on Greek drama and The Trojan Women by Euripides. Classicist Thomas Banks will be leading the discussion with Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins asking questions and adding their own thoughts along the way. If you enjoy these podcasts, you can also check out the HouseofHumaneLetters.com for the summer intensive on Classical Greek Drama. Thomas begins wit...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life podcast, our hosts have a converation about Simone Weil's essay " Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God ". Angelina Stanford opens this discussion talking about stories as a lens to see other perspectives, rather than our own. Thomas Banks gives some biographical information on Simone Weil. Cindy Rollins highlights...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas wrap up their discussion of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce with the final chapters 11-14. Before starting their talk about the book, Cindy shares about her upcoming Summer Discipleship Program, Morning Time for Moms . Angelina and Thomas also have some exciting summer courses coming up on Classical Greek Drama and Flannery O'Connor...

On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 7-10 of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce . Angelina points out the way in which Lewis uses the "newcomer" character to explain the world he has created. They discuss the various personalities Lewis presents who choose not to take the journey to heaven, sharing how these sketches often hit...

On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 2-6 of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce . Angelina reminds us as we begin this exploration of Lewis' narrative not to read too much theology into the details of this dreamlike world he creates. Cindy points out the similarities between these chapters and his descriptions at the end of The...

On The Literary Life podcast today, Cindy Rollins, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin their series on The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. Today you are going to get a crash-course in Medievalism through Lewis' story, and we hope you will enjoy this book as much as our hosts do. Angelina kicks off the discussion even while sharing her commonplace quote, sharing some information about the epigra...

On today's episode of The Literary Life podcast, our fearless hosts discuss Oscar Wilde's unraveling of the tangle of plot points in Act 3 of The Importance of Being Earnest . Cindy Rollins talks about her reaction to Act 3 and how it gets resolved. Thomas Banks observes how Wilde sets up the conflict with the possibility to become a tragedy like Oedipus Rex instead of a comedy. Angelina Stanford...

On today's episode of The Literary Life podcast, Cindy, Thomas and Angelina cover Act 2 of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest . Angelina is excited to share her research on the connection between the work of Oscar Wilde and P. G. Wodehouse. Cindy brings up Booth Tarkington's Penrod books as another example of witty, humorous literature. Thomas points out the importance of cultural lens...

This week on The Literary Life podcast, our hosts dive into Act 1 of Oscar Wilde's satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest . Angelina, Cindy and Thomas share their commonplace quotes, which leads into a conversation on education before they begin talking about the play. Thomas talks about the name of the play as well as the name "Ernest" in context of this time period. Angelina highlights h...

On today's episode of The Literary Life, our hosts, Cindy Rollins, Thomas Banks and Angelina Stanford introduce us to Oscar Wilde and our next literary selection, his satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest . They begin with a discussion on the purpose of art and literature in depicting truth without preaching it at us, making so many connections along the way. Thomas gives us a biographica...

In light of the recent changes to all our lives, The Literary Life crew is breaking from the previously announced schedule to discuss the importance of stories in times of crisis. But first, we want you to know about a special gift from Cindy Rollins. You can download a PDF copy of her Handbook of Morning Time for free by visiting her shop here . You can also purchase the replays of the Re-Enchant...

Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and our discussion of the Art of Writing! If you missed last week's discussion, you can go back and catch up here . We start off today with Angelina Stanford asking Karen Glass about the principles of good writing. Karen talks a bit about William Zinsser and his ideas about writing and education. Our hosts give some practical encouragement to the average h...

This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas sit down with Karen Glass for a conversation centering on the topic of writing. They discuss the problem of trying to teach writing in a formulaic way. They also talk about the challenge of helping students learn to think well in order to write well. Karen highlights narration as a tool to teach thinking well in the form of oral co...

On today's episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview Karen Glass. Karen is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline . She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason's methods from beginning to end. She has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years, and has written Consider This to share the...

On today's episode of The Literary Life, we wrap up our discussion of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale with a look at Act 5. Our hosts, Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks also announce our next book to read together, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Angelina notes that Act 5 is all about reconciliation and redemption. Thomas points out that Shakespeare had a challenge he...

This week on The Literary Life, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas dive in to Act 4 of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale . We are excited to announce a new online conference coming on March 13-14, 2020. Our theme will be Re-enchanting the World: The Legacy of the Inklings . Our keynote speaker is Inklings scholar, Joseph Pearce. Go to Angelina and Thomas' new website HouseofHumaneLetters.com for all the info...