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I like some good, juicy media discuss. And I’m not speaking scorching takes over on the clock app. I imply hour+ lengthy chat about books, TV, and/or movie that basically digs deep: the premise, the reception, the lore, the recent takes. All of this may most likely sound like a setup given what I’m about to advocate to you, like I’ve to say it as a result of I’m plugging a podcast that E book Riot produces. However with my hand on my first version Agatha Christie, I swear to y’all: I’m an enormous fan of E book Riot’s Zero to Well-Read podcast.
For those who aren’t hip to it but, it’s a dialogue about books that feels slightly like English class, slightly like guide membership, slightly like a gaggle chat together with your bookish besties. It’s a deep dive into all types of reads: classics (cult, trendy, and classics classics), buzzy modern reads, books you really feel like you need to have learn (and perhaps even lied about studying in school or highschool), and extra. It’s a lot enjoyable to hearken to that I requested to do extra work and become involved with the present. Right here’s the place I plug that I’m the author of the companion e-newsletter, which you’ll be able to entry totally free on Patreon.
At present I’m recommending a complete bunch of classics—some established entries in “the canon,” and a few trendy additions. And I might let you know what every of them is about, however 1) you would possibly already know, as a result of classics, and a pair of) in the event you don’t, the accompanying podcast episode is precisely what you want. And would you have a look at that: all of those books fulfill process #8 of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge: Learn a basic from the Zero to Nicely-Learn Podcast.
Pleased studying, and listening!
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Rebecca and Jeff dive into Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece, a narrative in regards to the seek for love, freedom, and self-determination. They speak about what makes Hurston’s writing so transcendent, why the novel was almost forgotten, and the way it discovered its rightful place within the American canon.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Our dynamic duo explores the best tragedy and arguably the best-known work by the person, the parable, the legend: William Shakespeare. I listened to this episode whereas grocery procuring and acquired greater than I meant to; I used to be having such time listening, and nobody requested me to say that!
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Did I choose this guide so I might pair it with Hamlet? Positive did. Jeff and Rebecca get into Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling, critically-acclaimed, and now characteristic movie, Hamnet. How does a guide loosely primarily based on the lifetime of William Shakespeare not even use the identify as soon as? It’s a deft, transferring, and sophisticated novel—and makes for terrific dialogue.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
If you understand something about Jeff and Rebecca, you understand this inimitable creator’s work was all the time going to characteristic on this podcast (and doubtless will once more). Jeff and Rebecca sort out the debut novel of the all-everything novelist Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin
Revisit James Baldwin’s searing coming-of-age novel about religion, household, disgrace, and generational inheritance. Rebecca and Jeff focus on Baldwin’s difficult relationship to the church, what it means to be “saved” in a world structured to disclaim freedom, and why the guide’s questions on energy, masculinity, and perception nonetheless really feel pressing as we speak.
Little Women by Louisa Could Alcott
Collect across the fireside for a dialogue of this beloved novel about girlhood, household, ambition, and what it means to reside life. Jeff and Rebecca speak about why Alcott was reluctant to put in writing a “women’ guide,” Little Girls’s distinctive mixture of ethical instruction and home realism, and the way the March sisters every mannequin a special manner of being a girl in a world with slim selections.
Meet up with all of Zero to Nicely-Learn on Apple or Spotify, together with current episodes on Wuthering Heights, Mission Hail Mary, and A lot Ado About Nothing. For extra guides to studying the classics, take a look at this information to the classics that are actually worth the read, overrated classics (and what to learn as an alternative), and these collections of classics by women and authors of color.
