Overdue is a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. Join Andrew and Craig each week as they tackle a new title from their backlog. Classic literature, obscure plays, goofy childen’s books: they'll read it all, one overdue book at a time.
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Ep 706 - James, by Percival Everett
1:27:51
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1:27:51James isn't so much a retelling or corrective of Huck Finn as it is an expansion, a conversation with, a delving -- or so says Pulitzer Prize winner Percival Everett. Tune in to find out what happens when an authors read Huck Finn 15 times and then starts putting pen to paper. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at be…
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Ep 705 - Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
1:07:29
1:07:29
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1:07:29A dying preacher writes a (rather) long letter to his son. Another dying preacher’s son returns home, seeking…something. Salvation? Forgiveness? A balm? Robinson’s novel is a deeply considered portrait of a family of ministers, wrestling with the powers and limitations of their faith and fatherhood. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to s…
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Ep 704 - Cursed Bread, by Sophie Mackintosh
1:00:20
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1:00:20This is another one of those historical books that could have resulted from a Wikipedia dive, this one's arguably based on a real historical event but with a non-real non-historical protagonist . Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr…
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Ep 703 - Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion
1:07:52
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1:07:52Did you know the towering career of Joan Didion included several novels, many of which were driven by the same acerbic wit and insight that helped to anoint her as an essential voice in the New Journalism movement? Her second novel, Play It As It Lays, traffics in much of the same Hollywood/Los Angeles social destruction that powered her essays, bu…
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Ep 702 - Alice Adams, by Booth Tarkington
1:11:28
1:11:28
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1:11:28Booth Tarkington is one of only four authors to have won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, and he’s the only one of those four authors who nobody has ever heard of. His aggressively old-fashioned views and his stories’ general fluffiness have helped keep him from enduring fame, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a spark of something here. This epi…
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Ep 701 - Madeline (series), by Ludwig Bemelmans
1:16:08
1:16:08
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1:16:08Everyone get into two lines, break your bread, brush your teeth, get into bed, and listen to our episode about Ludwig Bemelmans’ original series of Madeline stories. We talk about the art’s blend of sketchy and beautiful, the rise of Pepito, and the voice acting in 90s educational CD-ROM games. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to square…
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Ep 700 - Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, by Stephenie Meyer
1:35:40
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1:35:40We have to go back. Back to FORKS! To celebrate 700 episodes of our show, we decided to celebrate the tenth anniversary of a companion novel celebrating the tenth anniversary of Twilight. Meet Beaufort and Edythe, who very much resemble Bella and Edward, and the rest of the genderswapped cast who inhabit this novel that is definitely not all differ…
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Ep 699 - Arrival (Stories of Your Life and Others), by Ted Chiang
1:31:15
1:31:15
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1:31:15This collection of short stories runs the gamut from biblical fiction to sci-fi mockumentary to "short story that inspired a very successful film named Arrival." Recurring themes include Creation, Thought, and Perception. Pretty heavy stuff! But Chiang tackles it all with creativity and flair. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squares…
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Ep 698 - The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley
1:12:43
1:12:43
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1:12:43Have podcast, will (time) travel! This is the time travel book-slash-romance novel you write when you’re enamored with a hot old-timey boat guy and his doomed Arctic exploration. It’s got a whole lot going on, for better or worse! Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky Advertise on Overdue See Pri…
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Ep 697 - The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
1:15:49
1:15:49
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1:15:49This is a podcast, recorded by two nincompoops, full of the novel The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, signifying...something? a recording in which we discuss the Modernism the italics the three sons the Mother the golf course the South and is Craig sick who knows this consciousness won't stream itself you know This episode is sponsored by S…
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Ep 696 - Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games #0.5), by Suzanne Collins
1:35:49
1:35:49
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1:35:49The Hunger Games are back, and so are we! Remember Haymitch Abernathy, the occasionally sympathetic drunk from the original Hunger Games trilogy? Well, here he is as a young man, being ground into dust by his authoritarian government and its media apparatus. Collins really wants to make sure that you Get It This Time. Our theme music was composed b…
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Ep 695 - Orbital, by Samantha Harvey
1:07:49
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1:07:49We're up on the International Space Station this week, floating around with our coworkers/friends, looking at the earth as it speeds by multiple times a day. We're not really "doing" anything in like, a "narrative" sense. But it's a vibe, man. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky Advertise on Ov…
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Ep 694 - Supercomputer (Choose Your Own Adventure), by Edward Packard
1:31:35
1:31:35
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1:31:35GREETINGS LISTENER. HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY? IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE BOOK SUPERCOMPUTER BY EDWARD PACKARD? Sometimes people make mistak. YES THEY DO. SHALL WE PLAY A GAME(BOOK)? This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. Our theme music was comp…
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Ep 693 - Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
1:06:57
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1:06:57Welcome to the infinite halls of Piranesi’s House. Don’t mind the flooded basement, or the cloudy attic, or the fact that staying here more than a day starts to really take a toll on your memory. Piranesi’s got it all written down, so he knows everything there is to know about the House. Or does he? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give onl…
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Ep 692 - The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
1:13:43
1:13:43
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1:13:43It's not every day you run across this skillful an abridgment of S. Morgenstern's classic tale of love and adventure, one that was also turned into a beloved feature film of the same name. But there's something weird going on here. Both author and abridger are editorializing a LOT, and I'm not sure I can even find the kingdom of Florin on a map. Oh…
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Ep 691 - The Invasion (Animorphs #1), by K.A. Applegate
1:48:15
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1:48:15The time has come...to become...Animorphs! We had a blast diving into this 90s sci-fi hit for Scholastic. The kids: they become animals. The stakes: they become apocalyptic! Complete our listener survey at gum.fm/overdue. Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod on Instagram and Bluesky Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Poli…
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Ep 690 - The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
1:08:13
1:08:13
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1:08:13How does one construct an identity? And what must you sacrifice to forge one all your own (and who is most impacted by your choices)? Bennett's acclaimed novel The Vanishing Half meditates on these questions and more in a story about passing, sister/motherhood, and acting. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/overdue for …
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Ep 689 - In the Midst of Winter, by Isabel Allende
1:07:18
1:07:18
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1:07:18This book's heavier social commentary is... leavened? Heightened? By being juxtaposed with some borderline-goofy corpse-hiding heist stuff. We think it works! Not all reviewers of the book agree. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self. Our theme music …
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Ep 688 - The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead
1:07:51
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1:07:51Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel The Nickel Boys tells a haunting story of two young men whose identities are forever changed by their experiences at a brutal institute for boys in 1960s Florida. It's not easy subject matter, but Whitehead's wonderfully economic prose keeps it engaging all the way to the downright surprising end. This epis…
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Ep 687 - The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
1:06:47
1:06:47
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1:06:47Sometimes you read a book that you heard about in high school, something that was taught as a sort of historical document that helped to explain why things are the way they are today. But sometimes it turns out that the book is actually about a whole lot of other stuff too! Including lots of (apparently) live debates about politics and food safety!…
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Ep 686 - Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Amy Newmark
1:32:43
1:32:43
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1:32:43Over 100 tales of trauma, inspiration, and a vague sense that Positive Thinking may not be all it's cracked up to be! This collection (and its surrounding media empire) can be heartwarming, but nothing quite as heartwarming as a sodium-rich can of condensed chicken soup with noodles. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/o…
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Ep 685 - Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
1:07:26
1:07:26
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1:07:26A prime example of the "healing fiction" genre, Before The Coffee Gets Cold has uncharacteristically low stakes for a time travel novel: no future of humanity to save, no butterfly effects, no risk of destroying the present by altering the past. It's more concerned with simpler questions: if you had just a little more information about things that …
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New year, new podcast ideas! Time for a few announcements that won't fit into a regular episode. In this special edition podcast update, we share some tweaks to our Patreon project. This includes the new Dusty Bookshelves newsletter, monthly Q&A streams, and more! Also, we'd like to thank you all for listening and for supporting the show. For more …
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In this award-winning novella, T. Kingfisher asks, "What if you DIDN'T want to wake Sleeping Beauty?" The protagonist Toadling is most certainly not the princess in question. She is, however, an "interesting, but sad" fae creature who tells her tale with a moving mix of warmth and tragedy. Complete our listener survey at gum.fm/overdue. This episod…
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Ep 683 - The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot
1:13:25
1:13:25
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1:13:25Imagine waking up one day to find out that you're the heir to the throne of a tiny fictional European country. Now imagine that, after that, you still need to navigate the choppy waters of high school! Also you're flunking Algebra, which has somehow created an opening for your teacher to date your mom. Oh no! Complete our listener survey at gum.fm/…
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