

Sophomore Lit
John McCoy
John McCoy and a guest host read books you might have been assigned in high school, or college, or other stuff you might have read when you were a kid. The theming is loose!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 24, 2022 • 40min
129: The Metamorphosis
Gregor’s mother warned him about days like this. Jason Snell discusses Franz Kafka’s inescapable novella, The Metamorphosis (1915).
John McCoy with Jason Snell
Referenced Works
The Metamorphosis
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia entry for The Metamorphosis
Kafka rock opera from Home Movies
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May 17, 2022 • 1h 1min
128: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street
Audrey Lazaro discusses Mellville’s 1853 story, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of the top three bits of scrivener fiction ever.
John McCoy with Audrey Lazaro
Referenced Works
Bartleby the Scrivener
Show Notes & Links
An inexplicable 1969 film adaptation by the Encyclopædia Britannica
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Apr 15, 2022 • 56min
127: The Egypt Game
No, I won’t make a Bangles joke. Erin Gambrill discusses Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967).
John McCoy with Erin Gambrill
Referenced Works
The Egypt Game
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia article on The Egypt Game
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Mar 28, 2022 • 1h 9min
126: Bambi, a Life in the Woods
Bambi’s not so cute in this gritty new reboot. Glenn Fleishman discusses Felix Salten’s 1923 parable about what goes on in the woods. Also we talk a lot about copyright.
John McCoy with Glenn Fleishman
Referenced Works
Bambi
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia on Bambi
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Mar 1, 2022 • 1h 15min
125: At the Mountains of Madness
Climb ev’ry mountain—except these mountains, they’re nuts. Phil Gonzales discusses H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” written in 1931 and published in 1936.
John McCoy with Phil Gonzales
Referenced Works
At the Mountains of Madness
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia article on "At the Mountains of Madness"
HPLHS Dark Adventure Radio Theater adaptation
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Feb 4, 2022 • 53min
124: Under Milk Wood
To begin at the beginning: David Loehr is back in the slow, black, crowblack, podcast-bobbing sea to discuss Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (1954).
John McCoy with David J. Loehr
Referenced Works
Under Milk Wood
Show Notes & Links
1954 production with Richard Burton
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Jan 1, 2022 • 43min
123: The Bell Jar
New Year’s is a time for optimism, but instead Christy Admiraal discusses Sylvia Plath’s 1963 roman à clef, the Bell Jar. Also, John totally gets the dates wrong for this book’s complicated publishing history.
John McCoy with Christy Admiraal
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia entry on the Bell Jar
The book was first published in the UK 1963 under a pseudonym, then in 1967 in the UK under Plath’s name, and then in 1971 in the US.
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Dec 24, 2021 • 21min
122: Christmas Special: Gift of the Magi
But I sold my Zune to buy you this podcast! Marina and John discuss hair, watches, and O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”
John McCoy with Marina McCoy
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia entry for O. Henry
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Nov 25, 2021 • 40min
121: Thanksgiving Special: Burma-Shave
It’s turkey time / once again / Dan and Rob / dive right in / we discuss / Buma-Shave!
John McCoy with Dan McCoy and Rob McCoy
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Nov 16, 2021 • 46min
120: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a podcast, for example, where Bill O’Donnell discusses Jerome K. Jerome’s very silly Three Men in a Boat (1889).
John McCoy with Bill O'Donnell
Referenced Works
Three Men in a Boat
Show Notes & Links
Wikipedia article for Three Men in a Boat
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