“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”: So reads one of the great opening lines in British literature, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel, “Mrs. Dalloway.”
The book tracks one day in the life of an English woman, Clarissa Dalloway, living in post-World War I London, as she prepares for, and then hosts, a party. That’s ... Show More
Nov 14
Nicholas Boggs on Writing a James Baldwin Biography
<p>Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation of Baldwin’s work, filled with astute literary analysis of his books and prose. And, most pressingly, it’s an argument for a new critical ... Show More
36m 28s
Nov 7
The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 50 Years Later
<p>On Nov. 10, 1975, during a calamitous storm, the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk below the waves of Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard went down with the vessel. With no survivors and no eyewitnesses, there’s always been a sense of mystery to what is arguably the most famous shipwreck in ... Show More
39m 33s
Oct 2024
Merve Erme on Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the writer, critic, and author, Merve Emre.
Currently the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University – and the Director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism – ... Show More
49m 21s
Oct 27
744 Love, Sex, and Frankenstein (with Caroline Lea) | #10 Greatest Book of All Time | My Last Book with Geoffrey Turnovsky | A Letter from a Middle School Teacher and Mom
The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Carol ... Show More
1h 26m
Aug 2024
#130: Do Books Need Romance? and The Ladies’ Paradise vs Babbacombe’s
Emile Zola, Noel Streatfeild, and romantic books – welcome to Tea or Books? episode 130! In the first half of this episode, we do a topic suggested by Lindsey – do books need a romantic storyline? In the second half, we
1s
Jan 2025
Ep 463: Remarkable stories that demand to be told
Readers, today we're thrilled to share a delightful conversation with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, authors of The Personal Librarian. This conversation originally took place over in our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club community, where Marie and Victoria joined Anne, ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 13
740 Mel Brooks and Other Eminent Jews (with David Denby) | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (#13 GBOAT)
In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of ... Show More
1h 3m
Dec 2024
Episode 509 || Best Books of the Year with Hunter Mclendon
<p>This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter (<a href='https://www.instagram.com/shelfbyshelf/'>@shelfbyshelf</a>) discuss their top 10 favorite books of 2024.</p>
<p>To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, <a href='https:/ ... Show More
57m 36s
Oct 20
742 Edgar Allan Poe (with Richard Kopley) | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (#12 GBOAT) | My Last Book with Christopher Herbert
It's October, the perfect month to celebrate the master of mystery and the macabre. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Richard Kopley about his book Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, a comprehensive critical biography that combines a narrative of Poe's enduring challenges (including h ... Show More
1h 17m
Oct 6
738 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (#15 Greatest Book of All Time)
Emily Brontë only published one full-length book before dying at the tragically young age of 30. But that book, Wuthering Heights, which tells the story of obsessive and vengeful love on the rugged moors of Yorkshire, is still considered one of the pinnacles of English literature ... Show More
1h 16m