Kimberly zips through the 46 books she's read, giving a rating to every one. Check it OUT!

We wrap up SALINGER WEEK with a deep dive into "Zooey" (the story) along with a good hard look at FRANNY AND ZOOEY as a whole. This third and final lecture offers up all sorts of gems--from the source of Franny's crisis to a wider look at why Salinger's prose is so incredibly ENDURING.

"Franny" and "Zooey" (and Franny and Zooey) depend on many important (but subtle) ways upon Seymour Glass. Published in the New Yorker in 1948, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" introduces us to Seymour--in the moments before his death. Even in his absence, Seymour is foundational for the entire Glass Family. He might be MOST crucial to the youngest Glasses, Franny and Zooey. If you love the book FRANNY AND ZOOEY, a deep dive into "Bananafish" will make you love it even more!

This deep dive is SO deep that Kimberly needs a whole lecture just to discuss "Franny." The first 40 pages of FRANNY AND ZOOEY is not only amazing, but the perfect way to look at what makes all of Salinger's prose so unmistakably SALINGER. (A second Salinger lecture will tackle "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," then we'll dive all the way in to the hugely popular FRANNY AND ZOOEY.)

Allow Kimberly to point out the intricacies, the nuance, the FACTS of what Akbar is really saying at the end of his insanely great novel. Tune in to hear Kimberly argue a few sides of this coin. She follows Daniel Mendelsohn's advice to treat literature like a social science: look carefully at the DATA. If you're like all the folks on the internet who have real questions about this novel's close, you're in the right place.

People. This is one of the most intense reading experiences Kimberly has had in ages. The book is so smart, so warm and funny and complicated, that Kimberly realized it deserves two lectures! This first one focuses on the narrative stance, the inventiveness, the humor and complicated compendium-like structure (and a possible small debt to David Foster Wallace). The SECOND lecture (coming soon) tackles the novel's insanely great, ambiguous, enigmatic ENDING.

NO SPOILERS! What's summer without a good beach read? By the QUEEN of the beach read?? Kimberly was somewhat alarmed that Hilderbrand is "hanging up her bikini" but thank god we have 26 other Nantucket novels to choose from. People, Hilderbrand is SO GOOD at this stuff. Listen in to find out why her narrative stance, atmospheric elements and structure make these books so solid. (Also: Kimberly has just a few teeny quibbles). There's no such thing as "guilty pleasure" where Hilderbrand is concerned--she's just so good at this stuff!

Fitzgerald's genius might very well be wasted on the youth. Even if you haven't re-read this classic since you were 16, delving into for an hour is a revelation. Kimberly breaks down the innovative narrative stance, the plot-heavy structure and some master-class motif building--all while reveling in (and also subtly criticizing) this modernist MASTERPIECE.

ALL FOURS is changing how we think about sex, maternity, marriage--and towels. Touted by the New York Times as "the first great peri-menopause novel," it's July's most accessible, most hilarious and most "filthy" (in the best of ways) work. Listen in while Kimberly uses the lens of humor to appreciate the pathos, the sex, the iconoclasm and the tension in this IMPORTANT BOOK.

Kimberly adds her voice to the important chorus extolling Frog and Toad. She explains how structure, monosyllabic word choice, vowel sounds and syntax all combine to result in PROFOUND resonance. She also illuminates how queer elements of the work make reading Lobel not only a nostalgic delight, but an important act.