Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides. The #SecretLifeOfBooks is a weekly podcast that uncovers the hidden stories behind the books you thought you knew. Hosted by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s...

Secret Life of Books

Books Podcast · Updated Weekly · Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides.The Secret Life of Books is a fascinating, addictive, often shocking, occasionally hilarious weekly ...

podcasts.apple.com

@theguardian.com just announced the ‘100 Best Novels of All Time.’ So now it's official. The greatest book of all time (in English anyway) is ... Middlemarch, by George Eliot! Here on SLOB of course we already suspected as much, which is why we picked Middlemarch as our first Book Club read.

📖✒️ Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice paints Mary Bennet as a comic character — we’re supposed to find her ridiculous and it’s clear Austen has little sympathy for her. In The Other Bennet Sister (2020), Janice Hadlow asks: What does it look like to have sympathy for Mary? #BookSky

🥀 We think of Jane Austen as an author of love stories. And, certainly, they are. But they're also about a journey of self-knowledge — all of her heroines must change in order to "find themselves" (and a man). But what about the characters that don't change? What happens to them? #BookSky

NEW EPISODE: Anyone familiar with Pride & Prejudice will know Lizzy Bennet has an unappealing younger sister called Mary, who - with Austen’s characteristic talent for cruelty - is portrayed as a plain-looking prig, with sub-par musical talent. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t... #TOBS #BookSky

The Other Bennet Sister with author Janice Hadlow

Podcast Episode · Secret Life of Books · 5 May · 54min

podcasts.apple.com

This week on the Secret Life of Books podcast, Sophie and Jonty chat with the wonderful Janice Hadlow, author of The Other Bennet Sister, which has recently adapted as a new BBC series! #BookSky #JaneAusten

Who else is reading Janice Hadlow's The Other Bennet Sister? #TOBS #BookSky

NEW EPISODE: Welcome to the ultra-elite world of East Coast preppy culture, where Laura Ashley dresses, goldfish crackers, and pink shorts, reign supreme. This week, we round out our series on high school novels with @csittenfeld.bsky.social’s Prep (2005). #BookSky podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

Back to School 4: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Podcast Episode · Secret Life of Books · 28 April · 1hr 12min

podcasts.apple.com

🧶👕 Who wore it better? We're rounding out our series on high school novels by jumping across the pond (aka the Atlantic Ocean) and skipping several decades to find ourselves in early 1990s Massachusetts. Welcome to the world of East Coast preppy culture Out now: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

Welcome to the world of East Coast preppy culture 💸🛍️✨, where Laura Ashley dresses, goldfish crackers and pink shorts reign supreme. These are the details that make up the ultra-elite 1990s boarding school of Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel PREP. Out now: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b... #BookSky

🚽🧻✨ Here on SLOB, we love a toilet. So, how could we not love the (scarily accurate) description of school toilets in Barry Hines' 1968 masterpiece, A Kestrel for a Knave — it's a real time capsule. 🎧 Out now, wherever you listen to podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s... #ClassicBooks #Kes

Corporal punishment, the use of physical force to correct a child's behavior, was legal when Sophie and Jonty were at school in Australia and the UK respectively. Sophie even suffered the cane! ...why are we chatting corporal punishment, you ask? Find out tomorrow on the Secret Life of Books pod 🎧

Before writing fiction, Muriel Spark was a very successful literary biographer — and she played a huge role in re-shaping what biography, as a form, should do. Spark believed that the life of a writer was inseparable from their work. Learn more: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b... #BookSky #History

The character of Miss Brodie isn’t the only thing memorable in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The prose is - as you would expect from a writer called Spark - electric. That is to say, both poetic and incredibly funny. 🎧 Out now, wherever you get podcasts! #ClassicBooks #BookSky

We made it! This week, we discuss the final rousing chapters of George Eliot's magnificent novel, Middlemarch. We feel so lucky to have re-read Middlemarch with our much-loved SLOB community. Thank you for reading and listening along with us. We can't wait to start our next book club soon!

George Eliot was not a radical... When we talk about George Eliot, we talk about her as a conservative radical. Eliot believed the world could not be made up of radicals, because this would lead to anarchy. Learn more in the finale of our subscribers-only Middlemarch book club. Out now!

Thomas Hughes’ #TomBrownsSchoolDays (1857) wasn’t the first school fiction book – Sarah Fielding published The Governess over 100 years earlier. As always, the man takes credit. SLOB uncovers how Hughes’ inspired a genre for years to come, even Harry Potter 🎧⬇️ podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

Somehow we keep coming back to one of our favourite topics, or at least Sophie's favourite: the Reformation. While Jonty does not have the Reformation spirit, it's always bubbling under the surface in Thomas Hughes’ 1857 novel Tom Brown’s School Days. #BackToSchool #History #BookSky

📚 Were you a teacher's pet or rebel at the back of the class? Maybe you were more like Sophie — somewhere in the middle. This week, the Secret Life of Books goes back to school with a deep dive into Thomas Hughes’ School Days. Out now, wherever you get podcasts 🎧️ podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

The WORST honeymoon in classic fiction? Being placed in a grave by your sleepwalking husband -not ideal. But it happened to Tess of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles. This week, we take a romp through the least romantic holidays in literary history. What do you think makes the list? #BookSky

There’s one kind of honeymoon in literature, and it's disastrous! Join Sophie & Jonty for a romp through some of the least romantic holidays in history. We don’t just cover fictional honeymoons – there are some classic off-page bloopers too. Not least, SLOBs own 🎧: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t...

NEW EPISODE: There’s only one kind of honeymoon in classic literature, and it's disastrous. From Frankenstein's murderous honeymoon to and Heathcliff’s revenge honeymoon with Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights, they all seem to end the same - badly. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t... #BookSky

The Secret Life of (Literary) Honeymoons

Podcast Episode · Secret Life of Books · 31 March · 1hr 8min

podcasts.apple.com

The worst honeymoon of all time?John Ruskin and the infamous pubic hair story, of course. This week, we uncover the secret life of (literary) honeymoons! Spoiler alert: honeymoons don't bode well in classic literature. Out now 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t...

Book 7 of George Eliot's Middlemarch is subtitled "Two Temptations" — but what, exactly, tempts people of Middlemarch? Gambling (with a side of opioids) and... manslaughter? As always with Eliot, there's more to it than that. Feeling tempted yourself? Join our book club to read along with us!

⚔️🛡️ 'Although he was a brave and noble warrior, he did not often slay his own friends while drunk'. 🥴🍻 Sophie & Jonty dive deep into the manosphere - aka Anglo-Saxon England - to look at one of foundational stones of English literature: Beowulf! 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b... #BookSky #History

J.R.R Tolkien was hugely inspired by Beowulf. And, while The Hobbit is not a direct adaptation, Tolkien uses a lot of what he's leaned from this epic poem -- from Middle-Earth to Gollum. 🎧👇️ podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b... #History #Podcast #LordOfTheRings #LOTR #BookSky

Hwæt ‼️ Did we get your attention? You might know more Anglo-Saxon than you think. Hwæt has been translated many times, from the more traditional "Listen!" to Maria Dahvana Headley's recent and alredy legendary "Bro!" 👇️ Comment your own translation! #History #Beowulf

This week, we talked with Namwali Serpell about why Toni Morrison's novels became instant classics, why you should reread them, how we can address the reading crisis around the world, and how (as ever) classic literature especially offers us crucial ways forward. #BookSky #SecretLifeOfBooks

To close out our popular series on the great American novelist Toni Morrison, we sit down with Namwali Serpell, a @harvard.edu literature Professor and author of the highly acclaimed book of essays "On Morrison." 🎧 Out now, wherever you listen to podcasts. @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social #BookSky

👻 You can read #ToniMorrison's Beloved as a supernatural ghost story or a psychological thriller — both make sense, and Morrison lets both coexist. Learn more by tuning into the latest episode in our Toni Morrison series! 🎧 Out now.: apple.co/slob #BookSky #BlakHistoryMonth