You Don’t Know Lit

Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding... Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis by Sam Anderson (2018) vs Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (2017)

Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco (1974) vs The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1981).

The Years by 2022 Noble Prize Winner Annie Ernaux (2008)

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (1991) vs The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1963).

Fairy Tale by Stephen King (2022) vs I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022).

The greatest thing since sliced bread by Don Robertson (1965) vs Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman (2008).

The Muses Are Heard by Truman Capote (1956) vs Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (1958).

The Gremlins by Roald Dahl (1943) vs Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964).

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (2002) vs Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (1997)

The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike (1994) vs The Haunted School by R. L. Stine (1997).

We finally see if education is worth it on today's episode. The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan (2018).

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988) vs Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie (2012)

Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku by David Davis (2015) vs Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn (2020).

Lit Head recommendation this week! Eragon by Christopher Paolini (2002)

In honor of Ian and Joe being on vacation, here's a rerun of the YDKL classic covering America's most popular genre: Big City books. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) vs Native Son by Richard Wright (1940).

Blood of Victory by Alan Furst (2022) vs The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963).

Mrs. Doubtfire bookspired by Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine (1987) vs The French Dispatch bookspired by An Editor’s Burial: Journals and Journalism from the New Yorker and Other Magazines by Wes Anderson (2021).

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick (2000) vs The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (2013)

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie (1993) vs The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich (2005).

Hey, hey, hey it's part two of rewrites! On Beauty by Zadie Smith (2005) loosely based on Howards End by E.M. Forster (1910).

Got book? This week you get two, kinda. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966), a companion novel for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847).

Keeping this description little. Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang vs The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943).

Two Litheads enter literary Thunderdome, two Litheads leave Thunderdome richer for having participated. This week, two recommendations face-off: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (2013) vs Kiss the Girls by James Patterson (1995).

This week, two owls explain Taoism to a rabbit. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff (1982) vs The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974).