Special guest Jenny joins us for episode 39 – discussing children’s classics and spoilers!
I was SO excited that Jenny agreed to join me and Rachel on ‘Tea or Books?’ while she was visiting England – her podcast, Reading the End, was one of the two book podcasts that inspired me to start my own, so it seems like a perfect circle that she joins us as we’re nearing our second anniversary.
In this episode, inspired by her blog and podcast name, Jenny asked if we discuss whether or not we like hearing spoilers – and, in the second half, we debate Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster. Guys, this podcast was SO FUN to record.
We were crowded around one mic – the first time Rachel and I have ever recorded a podcast in person – so forgive any issues with the sound quality or variability.
Here’s our iTunes page, and here are the books and authors we mention in this episode:
The Pelicans by E.M. Delafield
Country Notes by Vita Sackville-West
Friends and Relations by Elizabeth Bowen
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Miss Mole by E.H. Young
Chatterton Square by E.H. Young
Once a Week by A.A. Milne
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
Long Live Great Bardfield by Tirzah Garwood
Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
Threads: the Delicate Life of John Craske by Julia Blackburn
Sylvia Townsend Warner
A Footman for the Peacock by Rachel Ferguson
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Muriel Spark
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Enid Blyton
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham
*So* pleased you’re turning into a fellow Beverley fan…. :))))))
As a lifelong lover of Daddy Long Legs and–even more–Dear Enemy, I was eager to listen to this broadcast, but I’m afraid that it was awfully hard to understand. Tell me: What was the conclusion about them?
Oh, I’m sorry you found it hard to understand – was it the sound quality or something? We were a bit divided – Jenny was a big fan, and I enjoyed it with some strong reservations about the whole set-up…
How many people listen to your podcast?I feel it should be on Radio 4
What a fantastic pairing!
On reading the end: I realise that I have a superstition that the book writes itself as you read it. So this rereading may be the time when Lizzie and Darcy *don’t* get together. Therefore, reading the end seems a complete impossibility.
On a related note, have you done rereading vs. not rereading.
I love Daddy Long Legs (ignoring the creepiness). Also the Daughter of Time – one of my favourite books.
I loved the podcast also though it was a bit hard to hear in parts — your normal podcast is easier. But it was really fun hearing Jenny though I completely disagree with her about reading the end! I can’t do it and I get really annoyed if I’m flipping to the back of the book to check the page count or an endnote and accidentally spy something revealing.
I like both AoGG and DLL/DE, I can’t really compare the two. And I didn’t read either of them until I had children of my own — I always lumped Anne with Pollyanna and Heidi and assumed it would be sickly sweet, so avoided it like the plague. I’ve still only finished the first volume in the series. I’d seen the Webster books but never really got interested in them until I started blogging myself — I think it was Daddy Long-Legs that inspired me to start blogging, in fact.
I’ve never read any E. H. Young but own Miss Young, The Misses Mallet and Jenny Wren so I shall try to read Miss Young before your next podcast. Also must read The Red House Mystery and Emily of New Moon!