The Worst Century

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Normalcy did not return... But never fear! We're still here! (And we might be coming at you a bit more than usual as we start the year and clear out the backlog from 2025 recordings.) Today, you're hearing our conversation about the Goodreads Mos...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Readers, normalcy did not return as originally promised, but we are scheming and plotting for 2026 with the hopes of a new version of ourselves. We are back though, and we're getting into the awards contenders of 2002! In this episode, we are tal...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Normalcy is (maybe) returning to the Worst Century feed, and we are back with the final installment in our discussion of the year 2001. In this episode, we use Namwali Serpell's 2020 collection Stranger Faces * to look at the role of the face in...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Life continues to disrupt, but God's two favorite little soldiers power on. This episode, we get into the critical darlings of 2001: Bel Canto* by Anne Patchett; I, the Divine* by Rabih Alameddine; The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Hor...

Reproductive/Gendered Violence Content Warning Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. After a month and a half of moves, power outages, and vacations, we're back! This episode, we're talking about the "Most Popular" fiction books of 2001 as listed by GoodReads: Life of Pi by Yann Mart...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. This episode, we're talking about the big awards books of 2001, but first, we discuss the Pulitzer drama of 2025. We get into generational trauma, the right wing "they're coming to get you" conspiracy, how sad men are, and influencer culture and...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. This episode, we're talking about how Camp absolutely slays the house down boots, divas. Listen along as we discuss how 2000 was the last year of Camp until the Barbie movie and how auteur directors are resurrecting the studio system to bring Cam...

Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Today's episode is about the books 2000 wants you to remember. We get into Dan Brown, John Grisham, George Saunders, and Helen DeWitt. We get caught up in the limbo that is time talking about a pope who was alive when we recorded. (And you get to...

Episode 2 and still going strong! Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. Today's episode is all about the movies of the year 2000. We start by diving into the Oscar & Indie Spirit Best Picture nominees for the year - really it's just a lot of talk about drugs and corporate power....

We're so back, baby! Ian and Page, your two favorite store-brand English professors, have put together a syllabus for reading our way to an understanding of the 21st Century. On this first episode, we get into our rules for the road, share a little about what went in to making this project , and dive into the first two books for the year 2000: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Micha...