Stay ConnectedClose Reads is a book-club podcast for the incurable reader co-hosted by David Kern, Heidi White, Sean Johnson, and occasionally Tim McIntosh. We read good books and talk about them.
This is a show for amateurs in the best sense. This is not an experts show: we’re book lovers, book enthusiasts. Our goal is have empathetic and intelligent conversations about good books.
Close Reads is produced by Goldberry Studios, the podcast wing of Goldberry Books, a family-run indie bookshop in Concord, NC.
Copyright: © Goldberry Books L.L.C.
Join David, Heidi, and Tim as they chat about the second half of Norman Maclean's beloved novella, A River Runs through It. They chat about whether the story is a tragedy, the way the end recalls the beginning, the theme of union in the story, and the way it explores the complicated nature of human relationship (and much more, of course).
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And we're off. It's time for Norman Maclean's A River Runs through It. On this episode, David, Heidi, and Tim discuss roughly the first half of the story. They chat about the central metaphors in the book, Maclean's craftsmanship as a prose writer, the subtly of the characterizations, the relationship between the brothers, and much more. Remember, if you like this show, your ratings and reviews (wherever you get podcasts), go a long way in helping the show longterm.
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It's time to answer your questions. Join David, Sarah-Jane, and Matt as they dive into the many great questions listeners submitted, included questions about the Griscam men, Prescott's failures and successes, Charlotte Mason and this book, Prescott's idealism, whether we're overrating the book, lessons for educators from Justin Martyr, and more.
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And here we are at the end. Join David, S-J, and Matt as they chat about the conclusion of The Rector of Justin. They chat about the outsized figure of Prescott, the narrator as mentee, Shakespeare in this book, and the thematic payoff of the novel.
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David, Sarah-Jane, and Matt are back and diving into the meaty middle part of the book. They discuss the reliability of the narrators, psycho-analysis as a theme in the book, whether Prescott treated Jules Griscam justly, and much more.
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Join David, Sarah-Jane, and Matt as they continue their discussion of The Rector of Justin. It's a long episode, so get ready for a deep dive into some of the themes that make this book what it is, with a little bit of friendly disagreement thrown in.
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We're back, chatting about chapters 6-9 of Louis Auchincloss' The Rector of Justin. Conversation explores the connections between Frank Prescott and Hamlet, his quixotic nature, the book's female characters, and much, much more.
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After a one-week hiatus due to some scheduling issues, we are back! In this episode David is joined by Matt and a new contributor to the network, Sarah-Jane Bentley, who teaches at Eton College in England. They chat about the unique structure of the book, the myriad of intertextual references (and whether they matter), the similarities between the various narrators, and much more.
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Unfortunately we had a scheduling snafu with recording for this week, so we are sharing a bonus episode that we sent to our Patrons a few months back. It's a conversation between David, Tim, and Heidi about Hemingway's famous story, "A Clean Well-lighted Place." Conversation touched on the difficulty with Hemingway and his particular craftsmanship in this short story.
Thanks for your patience! The regular show will be back soon.
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It's time for listener questions! In this episode, David, Tim, and Heidi answer your questions about topics like why Athena is gray-eyed, other great translations, whether Odysseus broke the hospitality code when visiting the cyclops, what first-time readers should glean from this epic poem, and much, much more.
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