Novel Conversations
Novel Conversations is a podcast summarizing the world’s greatest works of classic literature: you get the whole story from cover to cover. If CliffsNotes had an audio-bestfriend, it would be us! Each episode, Frank Lavallo hosts two readers, and the three of them share their reactions to the story and read their favorite passages along the way. If you're looking for a good story, you're in the right place. *This podcast is a production of the Ohio Film Tax Credit.
Episodes
May 6, 2025 • 56 mins
This classic children's novel follows the journey of Mary Lennox, a sad and lonely orphan who discovers a hidden, neglected garden on her uncle's estate.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
April 22, 2025 • 77 mins
Immortalized by Alfred Hitchcock's movie adaptation, Rebecca tells the story tells the story of a nameless protagonist who falls in love with a wealthy bachelor only to be haunted by memory of his late wife.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
April 8, 2025 • 38 mins
Metropolis is a pioneering dystopian science fiction novel which tells the story of Frieder, the son of the a futuristic megacity's ruler, who opens his eyes to the injustice of his society and its industrial underbelly through his romance with a compassionate working-class woman named Maria.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
April 3, 2025 • 2 mins
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
November 13, 2024 • 50 mins
In this landmark fantasy novel, Tolkien introduces us to his richly imagined world of Middle Earth, where we meet a small creature named Bilbo Baggins, who reluctantly heeds the call of adventure to help reclaim a treasure from the dragon Smaug.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
October 29, 2024 • 43 mins
This classic western novel tells the story of a Mattie Ross, a young girl who, with her unlikely companions, traverses the American West to avenge the death of her father.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
October 15, 2024 • 53 mins
Herman Melville's landmark novel follows the obsessive quest of Captain Ahab as he seeks revenge on Moby Dick, the huge white wale which had previously maimed him, leading to a perilous and philosophical journey for the crew of the whaling ship The Pequod.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
October 1, 2024 • 56 mins
A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most prolific fictional works to every be written in the English language. Its story explores the nature of sacrifice, revenge, and resurrection amongst several characters set around the French Revolution.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
September 17, 2024 • 56 mins
Edith Wharton's 1920 novel is set in 1870s New York City, and explores the conflict between individual desire and cultural expectations in New York City's high society. This landmark jazz-age novel won Wharton the Pulitzer Prize in 1921, the first woman to recieve the award.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
September 3, 2024 • 55 mins
The landmark debut novel of author James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of young Stephen Dedalus's spiritual and intellectual awakening in turn-of-the-century Ireland. Its modernist stylings and use of strict realism would come to define Joyce as an author.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
August 20, 2024 • 25 mins
Originally published alongside other famous Falkner works in an anthology titled "Go Down Moses", The Bear is about Issac "Ike" McCaslin, who trains to hunt and kill the legendary bear Old Ben.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
August 6, 2024 • 49 mins
In Robert Louis Stevenson's seminal adventure novel "Treasure Island." The story follows young Jim Hawkins' journey aboard a pirate vessel, chasing hidden treasure and battling the fearsome Long John Silver. The novel's iconic pirate imagery, and rich and complex characters have made it a timeless classic in the adventure sub-genre.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
July 23, 2024 • 28 mins
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh is a satirical novel that follows the lives of members of London's wealthy elite. The focus of our story, Tony Last, his wife Brenda, and their son John Andrew, endure hardship and turmoil. By utilizing a satirical stance for the narrative, Waugh paints a farcical, tragic picture of 20th century religion and morality. The novel also famously features an alternate ending, setting a very different to...
Mark as Played
July 11, 2024 • 41 mins
Hey there listeners! We're nearly ready to get started with the next season of Novel Conversations, but in the meantime, we have a show that we think you'll love! If you enjoy this episode, be sure to go give Thoughts From A Page a follow. We appreciate it!
We'll be back with fresh episodes of Novel Conversations before you know it.
Thanks!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
May 7, 2024 • 67 mins
Graham Greene's final contribution to his 4 "Catholic Series" novels, The End of the Affair tells the story of Maurice Bendrix and his internal struggles navigating an affair with his partner, Catherine Walston. The novel's deeply introspective narrative is contrasted by the escalation of WWII in 1940s England.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
April 23, 2024 • 58 mins
In Conrad's landmark novel from 1899, English sailor Charles Marlow describes his voyage into the interior of the African jungle aboard a Belgian shipping vessel. The work levees a striking criticism of the imperial mindset of its era, reflected in its inclusion as one of the greatest texts of Western literature.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
April 10, 2024 • 64 mins
One of the greatest all-time works of American fiction, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a timeless account of the American South as seen through the eyes of a young girl named Scout. The novel's warm and approachable dissection of gender, society, and race have made it an enduring staple of the American literary canon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
March 26, 2024 • 47 mins
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is classic science-adventure novel written by Jules Verne, and released serially through 1870. It tells the story of the Nautilus, a futuristic deep-sea submarine, and its long voyages through the ocean's depths through the eyes of our protagonist, the marine biologist Professor Aronnax, who is captive aboard the vessel with his companions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
March 12, 2024 • 59 mins
Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights tells the story of the turbulent relationships between the Earnshaws and the Lintons, two families of landed gentry in 1847 West Yorkshire. In its time, the novel was controversial for its depictions of cruelty and abuse, and for its challenges to Victorian ideals and morality. In the time since however, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written.
Special thanks t...
Mark as Played
February 27, 2024 • 46 mins
Titled "The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, Near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having Been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, Wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how he was at last as Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself,” at publication, Robinson Cruso...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com