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The Big Book Club Podcast from Arlington Public Library

Oct 14, 2022

For this episode we read three Holmes stories. The first is Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 original “A Study in Scarlet,” the first Sherlock Holmes work. The second is is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse’s 2015 “Mycroft Holmes,” and the third is “A Study in Scarlet Women,” by Sherry Thomas. 

Reminder:...


Aug 1, 2022

For this episode we read both Maria Headley’s translation of the Old English epic poem "Beowulf" and “The Mere Wife,” Headley's 2015 retelling of Beowulf, which is set in present-day New York. 

Reminder: this is a spoiler-filled podcast. So if you’re not into that kind of thing, read the texts first and come...


May 23, 2022

For this episode we read both the play "King Lear," written by William Shakespeare, and the 2009 book “Fool,” by Christopher Moore. King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s tragic plays, and is based on a legendary 8th Century BCE king of Britain (which would have been around the founding of Rome), as recounted in...


Mar 28, 2022

For this episode we read both the 1908 novel “A Room with a View,” by E.M. Forster, and Kevin Kwan’s 2020 novel “Sex and Vanity.” As foundational texts go, "A Room with a View" is an Edwardian era novel – there are trains, and horses and carriages – setting it later than our recent foundational texts.


Jan 31, 2022

The Eyre Affair, by English author Jasper Fforde, was first published in 2001. It takes place in an alternative 1985, where literary detective Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. 

Reminder: this is a spoiler-filled podcast. So if you’re not into that...