Best Lizzy Bennet Podcasts (2025)

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The Secret River with Kate Grenville 54:08

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2d ago54:08

54:08

This special episode on a great modern classic was recorded live at the Sydney Writers' Festival in 2025. Very few novels can genuinely claim to have changed a nation’s consciousness. The Secret River, written by Kate Grenville and published in 2005, is one of those books. It put a spotlight on a side of white settler experience that Australians ha…

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In Defense of Persuasion (2022) with Laughing with Lizzie 1:14:59

4d ago1:14:59

1:14:59

We're joined today by Laughing with Lizzie aka Sophie Andrews to discuss, one last time, Persuasion (2022), but this time with a positive spin. Topics discussed include breaking the fourth wall, Anne as the center of the story's focus, Sir Walter and Elizabeth's fairly tale, the cinematography, unseriousness, our favorite supporting characters, tak…

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Keeping Up Appearances with the Pooters: The Diary of A Nobody 1:15:50

9d ago1:15:50

1:15:50

This episode is a cheat. It's not a real published personal diary, but a satire on published diaries. It’s a fiction, but it’s a fiction that tells us a lot about fact. Published 1892, The Diary of a Nobody is about London clerk, Charles Pooter, his wife Carrie, his son William Lupin, and numerous friends and acquaintances. Most of all, it's about …

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Question Mark Ohio (Part 5) 2:27:07

14d ago2:27:07

2:27:07

Andrew and Marn return to Question Mark for one final time to wrap up the investigation into all the unusual happenings around town. Useful Links: Moonshot Network Recommendations: Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: [email protected] @ARGonautsPod

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The Secret Life of Summer Holidays: sunburns, family arguments and holiday cottages in classic literature 49:49

16d ago49:49

49:49

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Not if it was the summer holiday that Jonty's family went on to Menorca when a stomach bug ripped through their local village. Or the ill-fated beachside retreat amid a lacerating tropical storm that Sophie took with her mother and sister to mourn her father's death. Classic literature stages endless scenes o…

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Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld 1:26:05

16d ago1:26:05

1:26:05

Today we're covering Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld! Aside from reading Austen, this is our first ever straight-up book review! Spoiler alert for Eligible. This adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is set in 2013 Cincinnati. The eldest Bennet sisters are approaching 40 and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are country club parents who don’t care that they’re deep in…

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BONUS: Move Over Bridgerton: James Boswell's Big Romance 24:21

20d ago24:21

24:21

A bonus episode to share the extraordinary detail and richness of the real-time, live-streamed account James Boswell gives us of his first love affair in 1760s London. This may be the closest we can ever come to understanding what passion was like in an age of sexual libertinism and STDs before antibiotics. In our last episode, we talked about Bosw…

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A Date With Signor Gonorrhea: James Boswell's London Journal 1762 1:20:57

23d ago1:20:57

1:20:57

It’s London, 1763 - we're paying a visit to the most fashionable, literary, sexy, filthy, glamorous capital in the world. The 22 year old James Boswell, born and raised on a large country estate outside Edinburgh, has escaped his ambitious and pushy Presbyterian parents and arrived in London. They want him to follow the family footsteps and become …

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Question Mark Ohio (Part 4) 1:58:44

29d ago1:58:44

1:58:44

Jeez, how long does it take to drive through Ohio, anyways? Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: [email protected] @ARGonautsPo

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Plague, fire and hanky-panky in Swinging 1660s London: Samuel Pepys' Diary 1:19:13

1M ago1:19:13

1:19:13

Welcome to London in the swinging sixties. One man fights off a towering inferno, navigates a zombie apocalypse, and an invading fleet of evil foreigners, while doing an extraordinary amount of shagging along the way. But we’re not talking about Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. This is the Diary of Samuel Pepys, written in the - flip th…

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Persuasion (2022) Part 3 with Sequoia Simone 53:29

1M ago53:29

53:29

Finishing strong today with Sequoia Simone (@sequoiasimone) as we dive into the final part of the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion. Topics discussed include: ruching, whether Elliot is a villain, octopus dreams, the Mandela Effect, gelatinous tears, the bunny, Mary in therapy, Mrs. Clay's happy ending, and the NON-FLASHBACK! Cast and Crew of Persuasio…

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Question Mark, Ohio (Part 3) 1:37:29

1M ago1:37:29

1:37:29

Join Andrew and Marn as they continue their journey through Question Mark, OH and its many divorced and not-yet-divorced residents. Useful Links: Moonshot Network Recommendations: Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: [email protected] @ARGonautsPod

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Breakfast with Jane Austen 52:19

1M ago52:19

52:19

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- especially for Jane Austen. On and off the page, Austen paid a lot of attention to the breakfast table. In real life, Austen woke before her family, played the piano and got the breakfast ready, before retreating to write for the rest of the morning. And in the novels this meal is no less foundatio…

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Question Mark, Ohio (Part 2) 1:52:31

1M ago1:52:31

1:52:31

Join Andrew and Marn as they continue exploring Question Mark Ohio!! Marn DOES A THING. Andrew DOES A THING. Both DO A THING TOGETHER. Useful Links: Moonshot Network Recommendations: Join Andrew and Marn as they continue exploring Question Mark Ohio!! Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: [email protected] @ARGonautsPod This podcast is…

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Oscar Wilde 4: Doing rhyme: The Ballad of Reading Gaol 1:27:09

1M ago1:27:09

1:27:09

In this episode - the last in our series on Oscar Wilde - we tell the story of the melodramatic, mediagenic, mad, melancholy end of Oscar Wilde's writing life and glittering career as the cleverest man in Britain, after his string of smash hit plays, culminating in "The Importance of Being Earnest." Almost as the curtain went up on his masterpiece …

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Persuasion 2022 (Part 2) with Sequoia Simone 57:03

2M ago57:03

57:03

We're joined again today by Sequoia Simone (@sequoiasimone) to discuss this...movie? Topics discussed include: what is ART?, which Austen hero Pedro Pascal is playing, peegate, what if the other guy is an okay option, friendzoning, Regency-era bathing suits, rich Americans, Gaydy Russell and her lesbian European tours, and indoor plumbing. Today's …

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Life and love with MND: Lisa Genova's Every Note Played with Prof Dominic Rowe 40:32

2M ago40:32

40:32

Published in 2018, Lisa Genova’s Every Note Played follows the experiences of renowned concert pianist Richard Evans from the moment he is diagnosed with a form of Motor Neurone Disease, or MND, to his death less than two years later. It is a confronting, blow-by-blow account of the physical deterioration caused by MND, but also a testament to huma…

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(Reupload) Question Mark Ohio (Part 1) 1:49:41

2M ago1:49:41

1:49:41

Join Join Andrew and Marn as they start their coverage of Question Mark Ohio! Marn visits the burned down wedding dress factory. Andrew searches for Mr. Business. Both reach new highs of divorced dad-dom in ARGs. Useful Links: Moonshot Network Recommendations: Janice Hallett Tales from the Loop Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: ARGonautsPod…

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Creator Interview - Laura E. Hall (Center for Immersive Arts) 1:07:23

2M ago1:07:23

1:07:23

Andrew and Marn are joined by Laura E. Hall to discuss Finding Satoshi, Opening the Center for Immersive Arts, and restoring the Unforum Archive! Edited by Riley Hopkins Useful Links: Moonshot Network Laura's Website Center for Immersive Arts Recommendations: Thinky Games Asura Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell The Secret Life of Games Contac…

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We're Back! 1:24

2M ago1:24

1:24

Sorry for the long hiatus, but we're back! Useful Links: Moonshot Network Recommendations: Contact Us! Our Patreon Our Merch! Email: [email protected] @ARGonautsPod

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Oscar Wilde 3: "A Handbag?!" The Importance of Being Earnest 1:24:35

2M ago1:24:35

1:24:35

The Importance of Being Earnest, first performed in 1895 at the sumptuous St James' Theatre in London, was Wilde’s last, and without question his greatest piece of dramatic writing. The handbag, the cucumber sandwiches, the Bunburying and the first class ticket to Worthing all come together to create a timeless classic that has been rarely out of p…

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Happier with Henry Wotton: Gretchen Rubin on Aphorisms and the Importance of Being Oscar Wilde 40:58

2M ago40:58

40:58

Gretchen Rubin is one of America’s best known and best-loved writers on how to be happy. She published her evergreen classic The Happiness Project in 2009, and it was an instant hit. She’s followed it with many more books on the habits of happiness, and she’s also co-host of a hit podcast Happier, which she hosts with her sister, the writer Elizabe…

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Oscar Wilde 2: If Looks Could Kill: The Picture of Dorian Gray 1:20:30

2M ago1:20:30

1:20:30

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel, and it caused a sensation. It was used as evidence in Wilde’s trial for the crime of “gross indecency” in 1895. The conceit of the story is famous – a portrait grows old and corrupt while its human subject remains eternally youthful. But who knows what really happens in this famous modern myth…

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Persuasion (2022) Part 1 with Sequoia Simone 1:28:30

2M ago1:28:30

1:28:30

It's the moment you've all been dreading--I mean, waiting for...Persuasion (2022)! We're joined by Sequoia Simone (@sequoiasimone) to discuss this most beloved film and at which point it lost each of us. Today's episode covers the movie through Anne and Mary's Italian chat. Topics discussed include: modernizing Austen's language, flashbacks, thick …

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Classic Books vs Trump: Jill Lepore on reading her way through the first 100 days 26:20

2M ago26:20

26:20

Jill Lepore is one of America’s most renowned intellectuals. She’s Professor not only of American History, but also of Law at Harvard University; she's a staff writer at the New Yorker, and still finds time to write some of the most renowned history books of the 21st Century, including the magisterial and monumental These Truths: A History of the U…

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Oscar Wilde 1: The Happy Prince and Other Stories 1:15:11

2M ago1:15:11

1:15:11

Few writers have blurred the boundaries between life and art quite so spectacularly as Oscar Wilde. In his writing, he challenged the moral standards of the time, advocated for Irish Nationalism and demanded tolerance of homosexuality. He wrote about decadence and the corruption of youth before going out in a fireball of scandal of his own making, …

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Persuasion 2007 (Part 2) with What the Austen? 1:25:40

2M ago1:25:40

1:25:40

We're joined again by Izzy from What The Austen? (@whattheausten) to discuss the second half of the 2007 adaptation of Persuasion starring Sally Hawkins and directed by Adrian Shergold. Today's episode covers the film from Lyme through the end of the movie. Topics discussed include the film's opinion on moving on from lost love, the stormy Cobb, bl…

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BONUS: More 'Rivals': Actor Katherine Parkinson on the joy of Jilly Cooper and playing Lizzie Vereker in the television adaptation 41:17

3M ago41:17

41:17

Hot on the heels of our Rivals episode, Sophie and Jonty are joined by the actor and writer Katherine Parkinson - one of the stars of the recent adaptation for television. Katherine talks about playing Lizzie Vereker, wife of the ghastly James Vereker, and the satisfaction she finds in her characters's affair with Freddie Jones; why Jilly Cooper is…

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Bollinger, Board Battles and Bonking Galore: Jilly Cooper's Rivals 58:00

3M ago58:00

58:00

Jilly Cooper’s Rivals (1988) is the ultimate bonkbuster - a story of professional rivalry in the Cotswold’s fast-set with lashings of sex thrown in. It follows a wide cast of characters as they jostle for power, conduct affairs with one another’s spouses, eat terrible 1980s food and listen endlessly to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red. Rivals was marke…

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The Epic of Gilgamesh with Robert Macfarlane 50:26

3M ago50:26

50:26

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of literature - an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, stitched together from fragments going back as far as 2100BCE. It tells the story of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, his friendship with the wild man Enkidu, and his attempts to come to terms with his own mortality. Although incomplete, the es…

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The Tortured Poets Department: Emily Dickinson, the Transcendentalists and, yes, Taylor Swift 1:12:42

3M ago1:12:42

1:12:42

Emily Dickinson is probably the most famous female poet in the world. And yet – at least according to Dickinson mythology – her work could easily have gone unpublished. She wrote 1800 poems but published only 10 in her lifetime. Instead, she bound them into little bundles of paper, tied with kitchen string. These were found after her death by her s…

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Persuasion 2007 (Part 1) with What The Austen? 1:26:26

3M ago1:26:26

1:26:26

We're joined today by Izzy from What The Austen? (@whattheausten) to discuss the first part of the 2007 adaptation of Persuasion starring Sally Hawkins and directed by Adrian Shergold. Today's episode covers the film through Mary's announcement that we're going to Lyme. WARNING: Mansfield Park spoiler 11:10 - 13:25. Topics discussed include the sha…

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BONUS: Secret Life of Democracy (Literature at the polls) 54:00

3M ago54:00

54:00

As Australia heads to the polls, Sophie and Jonty slap their democracy sausages on the bbq and take a tour of the greatest elections and electoral candidates in literary history. Their journey takes them through the full political spectrum - from Ancient Athens to Shakespeare's London, the fictional towns of Middlemarch and Market Snodsbury to the …

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Guns and (war of the) Roses. The irresistible rise of Shakespeare's Richard III 1:17:18

3M ago1:17:18

1:17:18

Richard III is one of the OG villains of English literary history, the usurper king who killed his brother, nephews (the infamous “Princes in the Tower”) and seduced his brother's wife all in the space of about six months. Richard III is also known as “Crookback,” or the hunchback of Windsor Castle, because of his curvature of the spine, which prom…

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BONUS: The Disappearance of Agatha Christie 29:07

3M ago29:07

29:07

On 3 December 1926, only a few months after the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (in book form), Agatha Christie mysteriously disappeared, leaving an abandoned car in a ditch. As the days passed, the media went wild with excitement, vast searches involving thousands of volunteers were conducted in the Surrey countryside, and her husband A…

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Hercule Poirot, a Tunisian dagger and an evening of Mah Jong: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1:17:21

3M ago1:17:21

1:17:21

The three best-selling authors of all time are, in order, God, Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. Exact figures are hard to know, but the gulf between Christie and the second division is big enough to guarantee her place. She has sold over 2 billion books (and just to make that number easier to comprehend, that’s two thousand million). There are a ha…

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Persuasion (1995) Part 3 with Fetch the Smelling Salts 1:21:23

3M ago1:21:23

1:21:23

We're joined again today by Alice and Kim from Fetch the Smelling Salts (@fetchsmellingsalts) to discuss the final part of the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Today's episode covers the introduction of Mrs. Smith and Nurse Rooke through the end of the film. Topics discussed include marzipan, on-set murders, Anne…

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Who watches the Watchmen?: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen 1:04:03

4M ago1:04:03

1:04:03

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, wrote the Roman poet Juvenal two thousand years ago. And just in case your Latin isn’t up to scratch, we’ll translate it for you: Who watches the watchmen? That line provided inspiration to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen - arguably the first graphic novel to join the ranks of classic literature. Published as a …

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Persuasion (1995) Part 2 with Fetch the Smelling Salts 1:06:30

4M ago1:06:30

1:06:30

We're joined again today by Alice and Kim from Fetch the Smelling Salts (@fetchsmellingsalts) to discuss the second part of the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Today's episode covers the film from Wentworth's introduction through the introduction of the Dowager Viscountess Lady Dalrymple and Baby Dalrymple. Topi…

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SLoB's Secret Life of Pets 58:07

4M ago58:07

58:07

From Macavity to Samuel Johnson’s Hodge, Buck to Rochester’s Pilot, what is classic literature without its pets? One of the most affecting scenes in The Odyssey, that foundation stone of western literature, occurs when Argos, Odysseus’ aged dog, dies at the moment of reunion with his long lost owner. Not even the knowledge of his afterlife as a sho…

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George Orwell 6: What's in Room 101? 1984 Part 2 55:49

4M ago55:49

55:49

As Shakespeare almost wrote: Orwell That Ends Well. While our six-part series on George Orwell comes to a triumphant end, Orwell’s life - alas - did not. He died too young and deeply pessimistic about the future of the world. In this last episode, Sophie and Jonty look at the bright side of life in Airstrip One, speculate what really lies within Ro…

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George Orwell 5: Sex crime, anyone? 1984 pt1 57:41

4M ago57:41

57:41

Newspeak, Big Brother, the Thought Police, Room 101, doublethink, sex crime, the Ministry of Truth. Few books have generated quite as many outlandish yet unforgettable concepts as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. So much so that Orwell’s name is now an adjective - Orwellian - which, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary means ‘relating t…

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George Orwell 4: Come on, Eileen! Anna Funder, Mrs Orwell and Wifedom 1:00:06

4M ago1:00:06

1:00:06

George Orwell is one of the most famous names in classic literature, thanks to his novels Animal Farm and 1984, both dystopian fables of worlds gone mad, ruled over by autocratic pigs and authoritarian governments who monitor their citizens– or barnyard companions – every move. And yet for all his commitment to political and social justice, or at l…

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George Orwell 3: Murder in the Barnyard: Animal Farm 1:20:13

4M ago1:20:13

1:20:13

Animal Farm is George Orwell’s micro masterpiece, an animal fable that offers a devastating critique of Stalinist Russia and the rise of totalitarianism. Orwell described it to a friend as a “little squib,” but it’s much more than that: a tiny atom bomb that lands a structurally perfect hit on mid-20th century political authoritarianism and communi…

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Persuasion (1995) Part 1 with Fetch the Smelling Salts 1:07:13

4M ago1:07:13

1:07:13

We're joined today by Alice and Kim from Fetch the Smelling Salts (@fetchsmellingsalts) to discuss the first part of the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Today's episode covers the film through the moment the back of Wentworth's head is introduced. Topics discussed include stinky Bath water, hats and bangs, pinea…

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World Poetry Day Double-Bill: Can poetry change the world? The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon 54:19

4M ago54:19

54:19

Together, Siegfried Sassoon’s The Old Huntsman (1917) and Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918) are among the greatest examples of protest art in British history. Sassoon was a decorated war hero, who took a stand - when few others dared - on the moral emptiness, institutional corruption and brutality of the First World War. Alongside his poetry, S…

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George Orwell 2: The Revolution SHOULD NOT be televised: Homage to Catalonia 1:23:03

5M ago1:23:03

1:23:03

War is boring; revolution is boring; politics is boring. That’s the message of George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. But, somehow, Homage to Catalonia itself is NOT boring. Published in 1938, it charts Orwell’s experience on, behind and beyond the front line of the fight against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Through the course of his narrative, …

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World Poetry Day Double-Bill: Elizabeth Bishop's Geography III with Rachel Cohen 51:10

5M ago51:10

51:10

Elizabeth Bishop is one of those poets who’s often referred to as a writer’s writer, but this doesn’t mean her poems are hard to read. On the contrary: as one of the most loved and admired twentieth-century poets, Bishop has the rare ability to do high-low. She’s enjoyable and accessible and also intensely artful and complex, not to mention very fu…

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George Orwell 1: The Best Gap Yah, great food writing and Paris hotels: Down and Out in Paris and London 1:20:03

5M ago1:20:03

1:20:03

In the winter of 1927, George Orwell dropped his aitches, pulled on his distressed tailored trousers, and took the first of many trips to the underbelly of London society. Over the following years, he spent long stints amongst the homeless and starving people of both Paris and London. He collected these experiences into his first book Down and Out …

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Match Me If You Can with Swati Hegde 41:27

5M ago41:27

41:27

Today, we're covering Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde with the author herself, Swati Hegde! We discuss our go-to karaoke songs, matchmaking in modern-day India, grandiose ideas of love, one-star reviews, and adapting Emma to the modern day. Follow Swati on Instagram at @swatihegdeauthor and buy Match Me If You Can at your favorite local bookstor…