Save Me From My Shelf

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixtieth episode and Halloween special, we examine Angela Carter's feminist novella and Bluebeard retelling (which is NOT an adult version of a fairy tale), The Bloody Chamber (1979). In this episode, Daniel expresses Carter-fatigue and we praise Carter's depiction of sex with someone gross.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Bela Bartok, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, an Opera in One Act, 1965.

For the remainder of S5, we need to release all episodes at the end of every month, rather than in the mdidle.

The eleventh 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 our Don Quixote, Part Two episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our fifty-ninth episode, we tackle the remainder of the biggest book we've ever featured on the show: Miguel de Cervantes's Picaresque adventure, Don Quixote (1605).Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Manuel de Falla y Orquesta Nacional De Espana, 'Overture' in El Retablo De Maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show), 1957.

The tenth 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 our Don Quixote, Part One episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the first part of our fifty-ninth episode, we tackle the first half of the biggest book we've ever featured on the show: Miguel de Cervantes's Picaresque adventure, Don Quixote (1605).We look at its status as potential 'first novel', one of the most influential works of all time (from Shakespeare to Dumas to Forrest Gump), and debate which of the two hosts is the Quixote and which one is the Sancho Panza.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Manuel de Falla y Orquesta Nacional De Espana, 'Overture' in El Retablo De Maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show), 1957.

The ninth 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 our To Kill A Mockingbird episode.

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-eighth episode, we once again cross the Atlantic for Harper Lee's 1960 novel of racial injustice, To Kill A Mockingbird. We get some long-overdue Cornish slander, delve into the American legalistic mindset, and mutter a lot about grits and yams.Cover art © Catherine Wu.Episode Theme: Daniel Jenkin-Smith on keyboard, 'Mockingbird Lullaby'.