Novel Pairings

We’re back and kicking  off 2025 with our annual Superlatives episode. Today, we’re excited to highlight stand-out books from 2024. We’ve got eight superlatives lined up that highlight our favorites, least favorites and everything in between. Plus, we’re looking back on our podcasting journey through 2024 and give you some behind-the-scenes insight to our reading lives. Stick around because we’ve got two big announcements to wrap things up! Special Announcement (Timestamp 58:20) Link to Announcement video on Patreon Books Mentioned The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton Les Miserables by Victor Hugo James by Percival Everett Martyr by Kaveh Akbar Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday  Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst The Wedding by Dorthy West Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-Zi Yang Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Private Rites by Julia Armfield Salt Slow by Julia Armfield Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr Emma by Jane Austen Say You’ll Be Mine by Nayina Kumar Come and Get It by Kiley Reid Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Quarterlife by Devika Regge Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Sandwich by Katherine Newman Blue Sisters by Coco Melores   Also Mentioned Classics We Love & Loathe Episodes Fiction Matters Paperback Summer Reading Guide  Liz Moore on New York Times Podcast      

We’re excited to be back in your podcast feeds to pair highly anticipated fall book releases with beloved backlist favorites. Prepare to overload your TBR pile as we dive into an exciting fall publishing season filled with moody, atmospheric titles. In today’s episode, we’ll share our carefully curated lists of outstanding upcoming fiction from both renowned authors and indie presses, along with a selection of diverse fiction and nonfiction we think you’ll enjoy, all paired with a backlist book to explore while you await your library holds and pre-orders. Before diving into the books, we want to remind our community that Chelsey will be on maternity leave this fall. As a small (very small!) business, this requires significant planning and adjustments. To best manage our schedules while preserving the community we've created, we will take a short break from the main feed while focusing on providing fun, nerdy new content on Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings.  We aim to return to the main feed in December or January with a special episode featuring the best books of 2024, along with a thrilling spring season. In the meantime, we will continue to offer bonus episodes, discussion-based classes, and book club events through our Patreon community. You can join us at either the $5 or $10 level, depending on your desired level of participation. We are incredibly thankful for your support. Thank you for being with us!    Books Mentioned The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Guide Me Home by Attica Locke  The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia  The Professor by Charlotte Bronte Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout Graveyard Shift by ML Rio  If We Were Villians by ML Rio The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmond The Wildes by Louis Bayard The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng Heir by Sabaa Tahir  Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon Don’t Be a Stranger by Susan Minot Sandwich by Catherine Newman All Fours by Miranda July The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister  Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann The Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Curdle Creek by Yvonnne Battle-Felton Ours by Philip B. Williams Lone Women by Victor Lavalle The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews Persuasion by Jane Austen The Wedgford Trials by Courtney Milian The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes  Homefire by Kamila Shamsie Rental House by Weike Wang Chemistry by Weike Wang Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Kong The Fortnite In September by RC Sheriff   Also Mentioned The English Teacher A Discovery of Witches Fiction Matters Substack Joyce Carol Oates Algonquin Books Anonymous Divorce/Sex Substack Cup of Jo Substack  

As the summer reading season comes to a close, we’re turning our eyes to fall. With Chelsey on maternity leave, we’ve made some thoughtful adjustments to our plans and structure here at Novel Pairings. Our goal is to ensure that we stay connected and continue to foster the amazing community we’ve built together. The best way to stay connected this fall is through our Patreon community; we’re excited about the bonus episodes, discussion based classes and book club events we have planned!  On today’s episode, we revisit last summer's buzzy book reviews from our Patreon archives. Each summer, we sit down for a conversation where we share our thoughts on the latest buzzworthy books we've read. Today, we're re-airing last summer's discussion on popular titles, which features some unconventional opinions on well-known works. Follow us on Instagram @novelpairingspod and subscribe to our newsletter at novelpairings.substack.com. Books Mentioned The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’ Donaghue The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Tom Lake by Ann Patchett Congratulations, the Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Happy Place by Emily Henry Talking at Night by Claire Daverley Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo Loot by Tania James Also Mentioned Our Town on YouTube  Chelsey's Recipe for a Summer Romance Reading Guide  Sara's Reading in Public newsletter on long books and active attention  

In today's recap episode, we discuss Book One of The Custom of the Country (that's chapters 1-10 if your book is not divided into books). This episode includes detailed discussion of the plot and characters introduced in this first section of the novel, so spoilers abound. We discuss our initial impressions of the unforgettable character that is Undine Spragg, how well this book would translate to the screen, a close read of a mythology reference, and what we've learned about parenting from this portion of the novel because we desperately want to avoid raising Undines! Some more background on this episode: twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every book we read, we dust off our English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes. We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.  If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables. Books Mentioned: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton Eloise at The Plaza by Kay Thompson Also Mentioned: Gossip Girl  

Today’s episode is a special one! Twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every big book we read, Chelsey and Sara dust off their English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes. We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.  If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables. In today's first recap episode, we discuss the introduction materials from the Penguin Classics (Sofia Coppola & Sarah Blackwood) and Scribner (Brandon Taylor) versions of the text. You do not need to read the intros in order to listen to this episode. Future recaps will include plot spoilers, of course, but this introduction episode is completely spoiler-free! We discuss initial impressions of the introductions, lenses and questions for guided reading, literary relevance and contemporary comparisons, and three big things to look for as you read. Books Mentioned: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Also Mentioned: The Buccaneers Bridgerton The Gilded Age Downton Abbey  

We’re taking it back to the classroom in today’s episode! Chelsey and Sara reflect on their experience with high school summer reading as both students and teachers: the good, the great, and the hot takes. While we aren’t assigning any reading in this episode, we are sharing 10 classics that would make for great summer reads at any age! For an enhanced reading experience, pair a past Novel Pairings episode with each of these classics to listen as you go.  Of course, our main summer reading recommendation is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, our BIG summer readalong hosted in Patreon with classes, bonus episodes, and special recaps to get the most out of this huge novel.  Novel Pairings operates on an academic calendar to keep our work sustainable. But like most teachers, just because we have summer “off” doesn’t mean we aren’t hard at work behind the scenes! This summer, we will take off from sharing new episodes on the main feed in July and August to devote more time and energy to planning for the year ahead, restoring our creativity, and strengthening our bond with Patreon community members.  If you are missing Novel Pairings in your podcast feed, we would love for you to join our community for extra nerdy summer fun.    Books Mentioned: The Once and Future King by T.H. White The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham  Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe The Joyluck Club by Amy Tan Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Passing by Nella Larsen To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  James by Percival Everett Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor The Summer Book by Tove Jansson The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson  The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton   Novel Pairings Episodes Episode 86: Palpable tension and shocking twists in Passing by Nella Larsen Episode 136: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Episode 117: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Episode 114: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor Episode 68: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson and contemplative books for moody summer reading Episode 66: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Part Two Episode 64:  The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Part One Episode 61: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, plus books about complicated families, romance, and boundaries Episode 20: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and romantic Black feminist heroines Episode 126: Leaving a Legacy: The Odyssey in modern literature                                Episode 142: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton Stay Connected with Novel Pairings  Novel Pairings Substack Novel Pairings Instagram Novel Pairings Patreon  

Today, we’re wrapping up our spring season with Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, a theme-driven novel that recreates the social world of an elite liberal arts college, exploring issues through nuanced satire on race, class, and beauty. We dig into the stories of the Belsey and Kipp families and Smith’s use of the academic setting to discuss identity and social satire. Our pairings for On Beauty include callbacks to previous classic episodes, essays by Zadie Smith, and surprising historical fiction. Our Slow Down Summer Read Along of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is starting soon! Just like our readalongs for The Odyssey and The Custom of the Country, you can expect exclusive Patreon content, including book clubs and classes, to guide you through this ginormous classic. We’d love for you to join us! Go to patreon.com/novelpairings to sign up.    Books Mentioned: Howard’s End by E.M. Forster There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset Passing by Nella Larsen Members Only by Sameer Pandya Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith  Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Love Marriage by Monica Ali Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan A Room with a View by E.M. Forster Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Get ready for your summer TBR to pile high as we share our most anticipated titles releasing this summer! Plus, each new release that we preview in today’s episode is perfectly paired with a backlist book or two, giving us plenty to read while waiting for pre-orders and library holds to come in. If you enjoy our recommendations on today’s episode, we have even more book suggestions to explore in our Novel Pairings Patreon community. Our Patreon is a great place to discuss books with a smart group of readers, and now is the perfect time to join as we're about to start our Slow Down Summer Read Along of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Subscriptions start at just $5 a month, and yearly discounts are available. Visit patreon.com/novelpairings to learn more. You can also stay up-to-date with all things Novel Pairings by following us on Instagram and subscribing to our weekly newsletter on Substack. Thank you for supporting our book-loving community! Books Mentioned: Fire Exit by Morgan Talty  LaRose by Louise Erdrich The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop Every Day Is For the Thief by Teju Cole  The God of the Woods by Liz Moore  Unseen World by Liz Moore In the Woods by Tana French Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan  On Beauty by Zadie Smith One Star Romance by Laura Hankin  Beach Read by Emily Henry Bear by Julia Phillips  The Hunter’s Wife by Anthony Doerr Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner The Latecomer by Jean Hanf Korelitz The Plot by Jean Hanf Korelitz The Coin by Yasmin Zaher  You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman  Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Liars by Sarah Manguso  Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill Colored Television by Danzy Senna  Yellowface by R. F. Kuang A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abudrraqib Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell   Also Mentioned: Novel Pairings Summer 2023 Book Preview and Backlist Pairings  

On today’s Modern Readers episode, we’re placing “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift in context with pieces of contemporary political satire. We'll explore how satire is being used today to comment on politics and social issues, and the power, or limits, of its influence. Throughout our discussion, we discuss the lasting legacy of Swift’s essay, the rise of satirical media, and how satire is used as a rhetorical tool. Listen to the end for contemporary satirical examples in TV, online media, and comedy. We’re also excited to  announce our Summer Big Book Read Along: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. We’re looking forward to digging into this classic with you! This Big Book Read Along includes 5 recaps spread over June, July, and August, 3 book club meet ups to discuss along the way, an active Discord chat for support and motivation, classes and bonus content. The summer is a great time to join our scholarly community!  Find more details on our summer plans in our free Substack newsletter or head to patreon.com/novelpairings to join our community.    Books Mentioned: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Les Miserables by Victor Hugo The Odyssey by Homer Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift   Also Mentioned: A Modern Proposal on Project Gutenberg  Little Women Musical Jo Musical A Point of View: What’s the point of satire? The Onion Saturday Night Live The Daily Show The Colbert Report White Lotus Abbott Elementary Veep The West Wing John Oliver  

In today’s episode, we’re discussing The Importance of Being Earnest by the ever-delightful Oscar Wilde. A classic example of British theater, this play is known for its biting social satire and brilliant comedic dialogue. Throughout our conversation, we dive into the play’s themes, discuss Wilde’s mastery of wordplay, and his ability to write characters that satirize Victorian society in the cleverest ways. As always, we share our complementary pairings, and we hope this episode adds a few books to your TBR pile!  If you love our extra nerdy discussion on the podcast today, we have a hunch that you would also love participating in our Novel Pairings Patreon community. Our Patreon is a great space to take part in public scholarship and talk about books with a smart group of readers. Subscriptions start at just $5 a month, and yearly discounts are available. To learn more about our Patreon, visit patreon.com/novelpairings.   Books Mentioned: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby Nevada by Imogen Binnie Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris The Best of Me by David Sedaris I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett Dr. No by Percival Everett What a Difference a Duke Makes by Lenora Bell On Beauty by Zadie Smith   Also Mentioned: Bonus: 127. An Introduction to The Importance of Being Earnest Hamlet by William Shakespeare Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead R. Eric Thomas