Summer is the season for road trips, and also for road trip stories. Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” may be the most famous example in American literature — but there are so many other great ones. This week the Book Review’s critics Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai chat with host Gilbert Cruz about some of their favorites.
Jul 10
This Author Says You Shouldn’t Be Intimidated by ‘The Odyssey’
If you can’t tell your Eurylochus from your Telemachus, fear not: Your primer on “The Odyssey” is here, just in time for Christopher Nolan’s new film adaptation of the 3,000-year-old epic. Madeline Miller, who reinvented “The Odyssey” in her best-selling novel “Circe,” explains w ... Show More
43m 38s
Nov 2019
Ep 386 - On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
<p>What's up, daddio? Dig this, you cool cats: a podcast, burning with the soul of American individualism and the poetry of the open highway. Kerouac's legendary novel defined the Beat Generation, and it's chock-a-block with hallmarks of the era. Join us for a road trip back to t ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 2022
Book recommendations for 50+ states and beyond!
We have something a little different today. Often when we travel to new places, we look for books about the areas we'll be exploring. Whether via travel books, poetry, or fiction, reading about new places can help us understand them in all of their complexities. As summer kicks o ... Show More
4m 58s
Jul 2018
Summer Reading 2018, Part 2
It's a summer tradition! Once more, Stuff to Blow Your Mind devotes a summer episode to the discussion of fiction, non-fiction and children's books that the hosts read over the course of the last year. So listen in and maybe one of these books will accompany you on your next beac ... Show More
50m 16s