Novel Conversations

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

July 23, 2024 27 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...
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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
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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
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April 23, 2024 57 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
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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
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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
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March 12, 2024 58 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...
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February 27, 2024 45 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...
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February 13, 2024 50 mins
This classic of English literature was originally penned under the name "Currer Bell", and details the story of the titular Jane as she struggles to find comfort and self-worth through the ups and downs of her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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December 12, 2023 26 mins
in 1897's West Sussex, a strangely dressed and unfriendly man named Griffin takes up lodging at a local inn, causing havoc and disharmony with his rude antics and constant scientific investigation. As the novel progresses, we see more and more of the evil within Griffin, even as he is seen less and less. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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November 28, 2023 46 mins
"Bleak House" is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The story centers around a variety of characters whose livelihoods depend on the outcome of an active court case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Throughout the novel, our perspective shifts between an omniscient third person and the personal perspective of our main protagonist, Esther Summerson. Learn more about your a...
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Evergreen Podcasts, the network that brought you From First Lady to Jackie O, is pleased to introduce Countdown to Dallas, another podcast from Host Paul Brandus.  On the sixtieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, former White House correspondent Paul Brandus takes an in-depth look at the seemingly unconnected events that led to that infamous afternoon in Dallas, Texas. He explores the troubled and brok...
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November 14, 2023 41 mins
My Antonia, the third of Willa Cather's "prairie trilogy", follows the story of a young bohemian immigrant to the town of Blackhawk, Nebraska. Narrated by our protagonist Jim Burden, Cather uses vivid imagery and beautiful prose to paint a picture of immigrant life on the prairie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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In this famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, we follow Gabriel Utterson, a London legal-practitioner who investigates the relationship between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and a criminally abominable man by the name of Mr. Hyde. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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In "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we see the preeminent Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes' solve the eerie murder of a Sir Arthur Baskerville on the moors of Dartmoor by an apparent fiendish hound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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In F. Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel, published in 1920, he tells the story of Amory Blaine, a smart, attractive, ivy-league dropout with whom Fitzgerald makes observations about the greed and loneliness of the post WWI era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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September 19, 2023 28 mins
The Loved One tells the story of Dennis Barlow, a British ex-patriot living in Los Angeles and working at a funeral home for pets. Throughout the book, we see Dennis struggle to balance his reputation for the British community in Hollywood, the demands of his position, and the glitz and glamor of the film industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Around The World in 80 Days tells the story of Phileas Fogg, a London gentleman with meticulous habits, and his bet that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days or less. Accompanied by his loyal valet Passepartout, Fogg's whirlwind journey weaves a fantastical tale of heroics and adventure as they try to beat the clock back to London to cash in on his wager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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'The Picture of Dorian Gray' is a story of a young, beautiful man named Dorian whose wish is granted his wish when his portrait ages on his behalf, but records his mistakes also. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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January 3, 2023 34 mins
"To The Lighthouse" is a philosophical, introspective story about the Ramsay family, a large English family that visit their summer home in northeast Scotland. Through the lens of 3 separate trips to the family's Scottish estate, we examine the small joys and quiet tragedies of an everyday life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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