Save Me From My Shelf

The third episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Ivanhoe episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-third episode, we cover the first proper Historical Novel™, Sir Walter Scott's extremely boring, Ren Faire-style medieval romp, Ivanhoe (1819). In this episode, Abby gets ghosted by her best friend and medieval scholar, Justine. Scott talks about nothing but clothing, pork, and boobs, and Daniel enjoys (?) all the invented names, the porn parody that would write itself, and all the tournaments which are really just medieval versions of Super Smash Bros.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: 'The Ballad of Robin Hood'.

The second episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Rebecca episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-second episode, Valentine's Day Special, AND Ash Wednesday spectacular, we look at Daphne Du Maurier's Cornish Gothic romance-tragedy-thriller, which is also a courtroom drama, police procedural, ghost story, and psychosexual horror. Daniel sings Edith Piaf, Abby references Nick at Nite shows, and we have the return of a great breakfast spread (separate from all the pilchard chat).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Phil Harris Orchestra, 'The Vamp' (1932).

Abby and Daniel launch their first episode of SMFMS Bookends, the satellite show for Save Me From My Shelf. Here we read emails, answer listener questions, talk about what we're currently reading, watching, and playing, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from the Scarlet Letter episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our Season 5 opener and fifty-first episode, we return to Puritanical, repressed New England with Nathaniel Hawthorne's experimental, philosophical musing about adultery, guilt, religion, and haute couture, The Scarlet Letter (1850). Daniel debuts some strange accents and discusses his previous theatrical career. We also learn that sex is like pancakes: the first go is a write-off.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Dvorak, 'String Quartet, No. 12, Op. 96' (1893).

In Save Me From My Shelf's end-of-year wrap up for 2023, Abby and Daniel read listener letters, respond to audience questions, correct any Season 4 mistakes, and have a general retrospective on the past year on the podcast. Abby also reveals her tradition of Dark Christmas, Daniel is an unprepared boring bastard, and wee Donalbain makes a guest appearance.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fiftieth episode and (anti-)Christmas special, we go into John Milton's Puritanical vision of the Fall of Man, Paradise Lost (1667) ... where Milton may just be of Satan's party. It's a world where God is both a mall security guard and the leader of a sex cult, and neither role explains his mysterious ways. Daniel discovers the word, 'Ayyyoooo!', Abby reminisces about '90s pop culture, and both of them hate Milton's Alt Jesus.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Purcell, 'March' in Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1695).

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-ninth episode, we cover Edith Wharton's wintry New England romantic tragedy, Ethan Frome (1911). Abby goes to therapy live on the show, while Daniel obsesses over pickles and learns all about New England traditions (how maple syrup is made, sugar on snow, apple cider doughnuts). The hosts also both reveal that they are secretly lawyers.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Swan Hennessy, 'Adagio: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 46' (1911).