The boys (sans Friedrich) wrap Season 3 by talking about the perfect capstone book: John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. They take one last gander at form (picaresque? satire?), discuss Fortuna's wheel, and think through what it means to be a political and artistic outsider in the vein of Ignatius J. Reilly. They also talk localism and other weird political alignments that defy the usual American dichotomies. Theme Music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza

The boys hop on their three person tandem bike to pedal their way through the spinning wheels of Flann O'Brien's dark comedy The Third Policeman. They debate the novel's genre (sci fi? fantasy? existential tragicomedy?) and explore its fascination with particle physics, theology, and, of course, whether or not bikes can turn into humans and vice versa. Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

Back at full strength, the boys discuss the first entry of the final cycle of the season, "Mirth" -- Friedrich's selection of Thomas Carlyle's Sartor Resartus. They discuss the book's strange format as a work that blends fiction and pseudo-philosophy, and Carlyle's unique brand of satire. They also talk about clothes, about German idealism and Romanticism, and who is the podcast's resident dandy. Then, in a new episode of PoMoFooFac, the boys try the strange elixir known as Mountain Dew...

It's double trouble as Karl and Søren tackle two film adaptations of books from the boys' mystery cycle: Carl Franklin's 1995 neo-noir version of Devil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and Jennifer Beals; and Nicholas Ray's 1950 version of In a Lonely Place, with Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. After discussing how widely Ray's film departs from Dorothy B. Hughes' novel, they talk about various technical aspects: Franklin's love of tracking shots, Devil's musical...

With Friedrich on vacation, Søren and Karl team up to crack the case of Dorothy B. Hughes' classic L.A. noir In a Lonely Place. Will the L.A. Police find out who's been strangling women once a month, like clockwork? Will mystery writer Dix Steele outrun his postwar demons and his own loneliness and find happiness with the alluring Laurel Gray? Who has the more outré name, Dix Steele, or his best friend Brub Nicolai? All this and more on this week's exciting episode.   Theme music:...

The mystery segment of Season 3 continues as the boys discuss Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress. They discuss how the book acts as an excellent first entry in a detective series, how Easy Rawlins differs in his detective work from Sherlock Holmes, and the book's place in the history of U.S. racial relations and American Pragmatism. Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza

The boys begin Part III of Season III with a bang, as they tackle Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic (but perhaps overlooked) Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of Four. They discuss Holmes' method as a detective, especially compared to that of his rival Athelney Jones; the great sleuth's cultural blind spots; and whether emotion has any role in investigative work.   Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

The boys discuss the final entry in the "Monks" section of the season: Karl's pick of Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. They talk about Mishima's fascinating life, the ins and outs of Zen Buddhism and how its ideas relate to the book's narrative, and problems of size, scale, and beauty in the book. Note from Karl regarding the discussion of Zen meditation: "At one point I say that 'zazen meditation it literally means 'just sitting' you're just supposed to sit and...

The boys are back in the most explosive episode of The Readers Karamazov yet. They discuss a classic of dystopian sci-fi, Walter M. Miller Jr.'s nuclear wasteland novel A Canticle for Leibowitz. They discuss the book's thrilling, intricate structure, its view of the spirals of history, and its ideas about science and faith and art. Complete with references to Jacques Ellul, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Merton, and... Sisqo? Theme Music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

In the first non-Eco book of the season, the boys tackle Herman Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund, a tale of two very different medieval figures. Karl and Friedrich, our Hessexperts, are perplexed by the book's relation to Hesse's other works, but plow on nonetheless. The boys talk about artistic creation, medieval verisimilitude, and the special bond between teachers and students. Then, on a very special Postmodern Food Factory, the boys try not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different...

In the final episode on The Name of the Rose, the boys discuss the "solution" to the mystery of the abbey murders, the potential of comedy, and music. They debate how we should feel about William of Baskerville, tragedy vs. comedy, and music vs. the plastic arts.   Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

The boys tackle days 3+4 of The Name of the Rose, as the plot (and the pig's blood) thickens in the abbey. They talk about the book's monastic structure, built around the daily prayers, and think about how that affects the central mystery, as well as the ideas Eco is interested in discussing. There is also a discussion of love and its liquefying effects, and the dangers and necessities of censorship.

Retro vintage Readers K episode (originally for Patrons only, when we had Patrons) in which Karl and Søren discuss the famous "Grand Inquisitor" section of The Brothers Karamazov. Enjoy! (Note: this ep is from very early in our life as a pod. As a result, the audio is less than perfect).

The boys are back to start Season 3, The Name of the Rose. After a brief overview of the season, they dive right into Days 1 and 2 of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. Thinking through some of the pleasures the book offers, they dwell on the names of The Name of the Rose and spend time investigating the intertwining of religious and political ideas in the first two days. Theme song: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

The boys close Season 2 with a grand fête centered around W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn. They try to discern if the book is fiction or memoir or whatever else it might be, talk about its elliptical style, and dive into its sense of history and image. Then, in one final Postmodern Food Factory, the boys come back -- like dogs returning to their vomit -- to try the Bud Light Ugly Sweater Seltzer Pack. Bad times are had by all. Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

The boys discuss two short stories by Jorge Luis Borges. In their discussion of "Pierre Menard" they speculate on authorship, historical imagination, and more; while in their discussion of "The Library of Babel" they argue over pessimism and infinity. With special guest star Dana Carvey.

In this episode, the boys discuss Michelle Cliff's classic postcolonial novel No Telephone to Heaven. Their conversation ranges from discussions of race and class to thoughts about the book's cinematic touches, its treatment of the decay of language, and its potential theological lenses.

The boys finish up their cycle "Lonely Women in Your Area" with Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, a book that is in some ways the anti-Middlemarch. They talk fate, chance, and impulse in regard to protagonist Michael Henchard's downfall. Also on tap: a discussion of Roman history and the ways the past continues to haunt us. Then, in the bonus Postmodern Food Factory, they tackle their toughest test yet: not gagging on caramel apples that have been coated in peanuts dusted with Red...

The boys are back at full strength this week as they discuss a favorite of all of theirs, Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. They spend some time luxuriating in Flaubert's prose, and discussing the book as a fountainhead of numerous literary streams. They also talk about imitation, ascetic mysticism, and stultifying bourgeois life. Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

Sans Friedrich, Karl and Søren perform a difficult duet on Kate Chopin's The Awakening. They talk about the book's literary impressionism, its place in American literature, race and class, labor and love, and the beguiling role of music in the book. Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

In the main episode, the boys discuss Gao Xingjian's experimental novel Soul Mountain. They work through the unusual narrative techniques (second person?); discuss Taoism, Buddhism, and the book's seeming preference for plurality; and think about the interaction between the book's political context and its incorporation of folk stories and field anthropology.   As a bonus, the second ever episode of Postmodern Food Factory sees the boys diving into the great autumny unknown, trying all...

The boys kick it Ancient Greece style once more, discussing Aristophanes' uproarious comedy The Clouds. Bouncing off a reader question, they discuss what Aristophanes' view of Socrates, the main target of the play, actually is. They also talk conservatism in art and whether society can withstand massive upheaval, and dissect some of the trickier formal elements of the play.   Theme Music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

In the first non-Middlemarch episode of the season, the boys tackle Voltaire's fast paced picaresque Candide, and think through issues of humor, how fair the book is to its main target Leibniz, and what it means to live a good, contented life in Candide's world.   SPECIAL BONUS: In our first ever "mini episode," the boys debut a new segment, Postmodern Food Factory, in which they try gross simulacra of actual foods. First up, Mountain Dew Major Melon, a monstrosity of chemical...

This is it: the final episode on George Eliot's Middlemarch. In this episode the boys tie up some loose ends, ruminating a little more on acts of the will, what it takes to make it in marriage, and even more talk about the books within Middlemarch. As a final bonus, they loop back around to "The Cinematic Eliot" to discuss who would excel at adapting the novel (Robert Altman?), with a brief cameo by Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, which takes its title from the novel's last lines. As...