Save Me From My Shelf

SMFMS Bookends 29: Lysistrata

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:00:00 GMT

The twenty-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 Lysistrata episode.

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Episode 77 - Lysistrata

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventy-seventh episode and International Women's Day Special, we cover one of the randiest, bawdiest texts we've had on the show: Aristophanes's sex-strike comedy, Lysistrata (411BC). We notice a dildo discrepancy, get a surprise visit from wee Donalbain, and get a lot of help from friend of the podcast (and Ancient Greek scholar) Fabio!

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Γω στα ξένα περπατούσα

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SMFMS Bookends 28: Much Ado About Nothing

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 06:00:00 GMT

The twenty-eighth 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 Much Ado About Nothing episode.

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Episode 76 - Much Ado About Nothing

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventy-six episode and Valentine's Day Special, we go back to basics with a Shakespeare romcom: Much Ado About Nothing (i.e., a lot of fuss about a vagina). We lament the lack of effort given to masquerade balls, Daniel makes endless fart jokes (to Abby's increasing annoyance), grow weary of the Beatrice and Benedick schtick, and give some massive side-eye to Claudio and Hero's twisted relationship.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Philip Pickeet & Musicians of the Globe, excerpts from 'Nutmeg & Ginger', https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inleiding_Nutmeg_%26_Ginger_(audio).mp3

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SMFMS Bookends 27: The Phantom of the Opera

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

The twenty-seventh 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 Phantom of the Opera episode.

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Episode 75 - The Phantom of the Opera

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventy-fifth episode and opener for Season 7 (a whole year of fan favourites and camp classics), we look at something a bit highbrow (the opera) in the pulpiest, trashiest way (through this book). We introduce our new imaginary producer, Diane, wonder if this should be our first musical episode, and learn that Raoul is more than just the most hated man on all of Broadway: he's also the most hated man in literature.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Verdi, 'Overture' in La Forza Del Destino.

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SMFMS Bookends 26: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 06:00:00 GMT

The twenty-sixth 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 Uncle Tom's Cabin episode.

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Episode 74 - Uncle Tom's Cabin

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventy-fourth episode, and last in our season on banned books, we celebrate (?) Christmas with the inappropriately summery Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). There are ample Simpsons and South Park references, we reveal that everything we knew about this book we both learned from The King and I, and Daniel gets annoyed by a Bookends slight AND by his own previously poor skills in name analysis.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'Ol' Man River'.

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SMFMS Bookends 25: Lord of the Flies

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 06:00:00 GMT

The twenty-fifth 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 Lord of the Flies episode.

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Episode 73 - Lord of the Flies

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our seventy-third episode, and to celebrate Internation Men's Day, we look at our blokiest book yet: William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954). Our accents get a workout, we debate the correct pronunciation of 'conch', and learn that they don't teach this kind of thing on Nickelodeon (or, indeed, Nick At Nite).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Kampen Boys Choir, 'O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem'.

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SMFMS Bookends 24: Dante's Inferno

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The twenty-fourth 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 Dante's Inferno episode.

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Episode 72 - Dante's Inferno (and rest of the Divine Comedy)

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our seventy-second episode, we invite Friend of the Podcast (and Abby's best friend/medieval historian) Justine back to the show to school us on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. We focus primarily on the 'Inferno' section and get really caught up on Dante being a civil engineering girlie.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Motet, 'Ypocrite / Velut stelle / Et gaudebit' (14th century)

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SMFMS Bookends 23: Catcher in the Rye

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The twenty-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 our Catcher in the Rye episode.

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Episode 71 - The Catcher in the Rye

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our seventy-first episode, we look at a controversial text of teenage rebellion and grief-trauma that has attracted a LOT of weird loners over the years: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951). In this episode, Daniel takes a big L over David Copperfield, we have Buckfast at Tiffany's, spend a long time discussing Howard Hughes's design of the perfect bra, and realise that this should have been our Christmas episode.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Larry Wagner, 'Autopsy on Schubert' (1937).

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SMFMS Bookends 22: Fahrenheit 451

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The twenty-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, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Fahrenheit 451 episode.

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Episode 70 - Fahrenheit 451

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our seventieth episode, Ray Bradbury's literary-based dystopia, Fahrenheit 451 (1953), we get one step closer to EGOT-ing, see more of Abby's French-Canadian Vermonter roots, process Daniel's early cinema trauma, and discuss some scholastic terms: fridging, Bowlderisation, and Futurismo.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Tchaikovsky, 'Valse Sentimental' by Clara Rockmore on theramin.

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SMFMS Bookends 21: Fanny Hill

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The twenty-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, resuscitate the Bad Sex Awards™, and provide further outtakes and analysis cut from our Fanny Hill episode.

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Episode 69 - Fanny Hill

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-ninth episode (nice) we recap the first (?) known pornographic work to use the novel as its form: John Cleland's Fanny Hill, Or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748). We see a weaponised Measuringworth and learn the joys of giant maypoles, turtlebilling, and plenipontentary instruments.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: John Gay, 'Overture' in The Beggar's Opera (1728).

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SMFMS Bookends 20: A Streetcar Named Desire

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The twentieth 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 Streetcar episode.

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Episode 68 - A Streetcar Named Desire

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-eighth episode, we recap Tennessee Williams's most famous work, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). Abby stresses out after some massive audio equipment failure and Daniel reveals himself to be both the podcast's Brando AND a thriving gay man.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Daniel Jenkin-Smith, 'Trolley Problem'.

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SMFMS Bookends 19: Ulysses

Wed, 28 May 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The ninteenth 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 Ulysses episode.

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Episode 67b - Ulysses, Part Two

Wed, 21 May 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-seventh episode, we examine the second half of James Joyce's 800-page inscruitable Modernist Masterpiece, Ulysses. Here we recap the 'Nausicaa' chapter, which got the book banned in the first place, and speculate on if such an achievement in literature angered the gods.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'The Rocky Road to Dublin'.

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Episode 67a - Ulysses, Part One

Wed, 07 May 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-seventh episode, we examine the first half of James Joyce's 800-page inscruitable Modernist Masterpiece, Ulysses. We make lots of connections to the Odyssey and wonder if Joyce--the filthy bugger--might have put his penis (or something worse, given his pecadillos) in a popcorn tub at Dublin's first cinema.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'The Rocky Road to Dublin'.

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SMFMS Bookends 18: The Kite Runner

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The eighteenth 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 Kite Runner episode.

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Episode 66 - The Kite Runner

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.

This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-sixth episode, we examine Khaled Hosseini's 2003 redemption-and-brotherhood melodrama, The Kite Runner. In this episode, Daniel feels seen, gives a shout out to his friends in the Taliban, and tells us what he'd do if ever gifted a copy of Hitler's biography. Abby, meanwhile, becomes the angriest she's been since the Pamela episode.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Ustad_Gada_Mohammad_-_Rababa

Episode Theme: Ustad Gada Mohammad, 'Rababa'.

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SMFMS Bookends 17: The Handmaid's Tale

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMT

The fifteenth 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 Handmaid's Tale episode.

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Episode 65 - The Handmaid's Tale

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.

This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-fifth episode (which coincides with International Women's Day), we examine Margaret Attwood's dystopia about far-right misogyny, The Handmaid's Tale (1985). Turkey basters and Orwell klaxons at the ready!

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Gabriel Faure, 'Pie Jesu', Requiem.

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SMFMS Bookends 16: Madame Bovary

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMT

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Episode 64 - Madame Bovary

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.

This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-fourth episode and Valentine's Day special, we spent some sexy time with Gustave Flaubert's adulteress, Madame Bovary (1856), which was immediately banned for offenses against morality under the conservative rule of Napoleon III. We also play 'Spot the "Big F*ck"', develop the hashtag #NotAllNuns, and watch a character go through a C19th French version of It's Always Sunny's 'The D.E.N.N.I.S. System'.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Charles Gounod, 'La nuit de Walpurgis' (Act V), Faust (1859), Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra

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SMFMS Bookends 15: The Duchess of Malfi

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

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Episode 63 - The Duchess of Malfi

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-third episode, we open Season 6 with a look at banned and controversial books with John Webster's hyper-violent Jacobean revenge tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (1614). This play gives us our first authentic himbo sting in a while, as well as an Oscars-worthy In Memoriam.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Carlo Gesualdo, Moro lasso al mio duolo (1611), Performed by the MIT Chamber Chorus.

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SMFMS Bookends 14: Little Women

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:00:57 GMT

The fourteenth 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 Little Women episode.

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Episode 62 - Little Women

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:00:02 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-second episode and Christmas Special, we plunge through the ice into Louisa May Alcott's bildungsroman and first strong example of girls' YA fiction, Little Women (1869). We declare an ethno-feud on the Germans, figure out which March sister is the Wario, and discuss which is worse (in Alcott's universe): hitting or hitting on a minor.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Émile Waldteufel, 'The Skaters' Waltz', Op. 183 (1882)

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SMFMS Bookends 13: Heart of Darkness

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 06:00:45 GMT

The thirteenth 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 Heart of Darkness episode.

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Episode 61 - Heart of Darkness

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:00:54 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixty-first episode, we finally cover the most glaring omission on the show: Joseph Conrad's 1899 pre-modernism Imperial Gothic novella, Heart of Darkness. We close the circuit on our Things Fall Apart episode from S2 and get a cool International Man of Mystery sting which can sadly never be used in another episode.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Karol Szymanowski, 'Nocturne and Tarantella, Op. 28', 1915.

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SMFMS Bookends 12: The Bloody Chamber

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 06:00:56 GMT

The twelfth 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 The Bloody Chamber episode.

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Episode 60 - The Bloody Chamber

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:00:29 GMT

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.

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SMFMS Scheduling Update

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 05:00:56 GMT

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

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SMFMS Bookends 11: Don Quixote, Part Two

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 05:00:53 GMT

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.

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Episode 59b - Don Quixote, Part Two

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 05:00:17 GMT

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.

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SMFMS Bookends 10: Don Quixote, Part One

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 05:00:01 GMT

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.

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Episode 59a - Don Quixote, Part One

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 05:00:51 GMT

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.

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SMFMS Bookends 9: To Kill a Mockingbird

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 05:00:29 GMT

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.

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Episode 58 - To Kill a Mockingbird

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 05:00:31 GMT

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'.

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SMFMS Bookends 8: Through the Looking Glass

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 05:00:34 GMT

The eighth 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 Through the Looking Glass episode.

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Episode 57b - Through the Looking Glass

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 05:00:43 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our fifty-seventh episode, we recap Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871) and discuss rare spatial reasoning issues, Abby's peasant background (which includes tunnel-corn), famous egg-men, and if a single move in chess is measured in speed or mobility.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saens, The Carnival of the Animals, '10 Voliere', played backwards.

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SMFMS Bookends 7: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 05:00:25 GMT

The seventh 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 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland episode.

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Episode 57a - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 05:00:15 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the first part of our fifty-seventh episode, we regress to childhood and look at Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). We examine Lewis Carroll's sexual vs. artistic motives, take our first dive into nonsense literature, and celebrate confectionary, being mean to children, and Alice's criminal escalations.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saens, The Carnival of the Animals, '10 Voliere'.

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SMFMS Bookends 6 - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 05:00:09 GMT

The sixth 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 Midsummer Night's Dream episode.

You can hear us on an episode of Carl Sweeney's The Movie Palace here, in the last 5-10 minutes of the show, where we recommend our favourite pre-'70s film: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/classic-movie-recommendations-part-1/id1398503911?i=1000656989665

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Episode 56 - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 05:00:39 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-sixth episode, we celebrate midsummer with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1605). We make a lot of (obvious) jokes about asses, Amazon, and fairy kink (despite not reading THE fairy kink book).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Felix Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream 'Op 61'

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SMFMS Bookends 5 - The Grapes of Wrath

Wed, 22 May 2024 05:00:53 GMT

The fifth 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 Grapes of Wrath episode.

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Episode 55 - The Grapes of Wrath

Wed, 15 May 2024 05:00:50 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifty-fifth episode, we recap John Steinbeck's 1939 Dust Bowl adventure, Biblical allegory, and socialist manifesto, The Grapes of Wrath. It's all pigs, sex, and pooping (a shocking amount of pooping). We discover the show's second mono-butt-cheeked character, Abby develops a backup plan for a life of crime, and Daniel goes on a rant about topsoil.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'Woody' on guitar and harmonica, by Daniel Jenkin-Smith.

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SMFMS Bookends 4: The Time Machine

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 05:00:10 GMT

The forth 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 Time Machine episode.

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Episode 54 - The Time Machine

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 05:00:32 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our last episode, we went into the past. Now, in our fifty-fourth episode, we go way, way into the future with H.G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895). We workshop Save Me From My Shelf: On Ice!, turn into feral, biting Morlocks, and wonder what the hell is going on with time travel romances, both generally and in the Year of Our Lord BOOBIES.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'Gnossienne No. 1', Erik Satie.

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SMFMS Bookends 3: Ivanhoe

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 06:00:12 GMT

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.

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Episode 53 - Ivanhoe

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:00:55 GMT

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'.

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SMFMS Bookends 2: Rebecca

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 06:00:33 GMT

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.

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Episode 52 - Rebecca

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:00:01 GMT

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).

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SMFMS Bookends 1: The Scarlet Letter

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 06:00:51 GMT

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 51 - The Scarlet Letter

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:00:46 GMT

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).

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End-Of-Year-Special 2023

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 06:00:20 GMT

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.

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Episode 50 - Paradise Lost

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 06:00:27 GMT

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).

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Episode 49 - Ethan Frome

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 06:00:02 GMT

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).

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Episode 48 - Macbeth

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 06:00:04 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-eighth episode, we tell the tale of ambition, revenge, murder, Irn-Bru, bad accents, respeck, balls, breastmilk, and other people's awesome tweets in William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' (1606).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Themes: 'I Vow to Thee, My Country' (Wikimedia Commons); 'Moorland' (Kevin MacLeod).

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Episode 47b - Poe Anthology, Part Two

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:00:04 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second part of our forty-seventh episode, we continue our recap of the short works of Edgar Allan Poe (1830s-40s): 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'The Cask of Amontillado', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Raven'.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saëns, 'Danse Macabre'

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Episode 47a - Poe Anthology, Part One

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 05:00:14 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-seven and big Halloween episode, we host our first anthology: the short works of Edgar Allan Poe (1830s-40s). In the first half of this anthology, we cover 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Fall of the House of Usher', and 'The Masque of the Red Death'. We also hear a lot about our hosts' Halloween costumes, lots about asses, Abby's own disappointing masquerade experience, and Daniel's most uptight accent yet.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Camille Saint-Saëns, 'Danse Macabre'

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Episode 46 - The Stepford Wives

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 05:00:16 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-sixth episode--Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives (1972)--we move to the suburbs, eat a lot of Lobster Newburg, and watch nothing but Air Bud. Daniel also reveals his secret feminist tattoo, Abby puts out a dating advert, and we get a quick look-in from a legendary feminist: Grendel's Mother.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: John Philip Sousa, 'Thunderer March' - arranged by 'Free Tim'.

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Episode 45 - The Trial

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:00:30 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-fifth episode, we delve into a world of cartoon references, James Bond-level panty dropping, questions for the BDSM community, and beards. Too many beards. It's Franz Kafka's 1925 paranoid, sadomasochistic dystopia, The Trial!

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Alban Berg, '4 Stucke, Op. 5', performed by Steven Beck.

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Bonus Content - Q&A with Abby and Daniel

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:00:57 GMT

Daniel and Abby answer listener questions about how they make the podcast, the best literary decades, overrated authors, giant ducks, and when to throw a drink in your mother-in-law's face (always).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode themes: Mozart's 'Overture' to Don Giovanni.

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Episode 44 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 05:00:41 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-fourth episode, we look at Mark Twain's satire on systematic racism and childhood trauma, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). It's full of bad southern accents, men painted weird colours, identity theft, and bounty (both financial and chocolate). We also learn that Abby is from Grade-A dirtbag stock, and that Daniel has clinical depression.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: 'Riffs on Tara' written and performed by Daniel Jenkin-Smith.

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Episode 43 - The Epic of Gilgamesh

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 05:00:54 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-third episode, we go back to ancient epics and probably the earliest text we can cover on this show: the Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100-1200 BC). In this episode, Daniel finds religion, Abby repents her punning ways, we see a glorious return of MeasuringWorth, and our hosts make way for the real star of the show: semi-standardised cubits.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Themes: Bach, 'Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, VI. Gigue'; Baligh Hamdi 'Hobb Eih' on Arabic oud.

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Episode 42 - The Monk

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 05:00:54 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our forty-second episode, we get dark and dirty with Matthew Lewis's 1796 'Male Gothic' masterpiece, The Monk. Abby shows off her Bible learnin', Daniel speaks (and slurps) in tongues, and both of them scream forever into the void.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, op. 14-5. 'Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat' (Igor Markevitch, Orchestre Lamoureux, 1962)

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Bonus Content - Tiresias Minisode

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 05:00:19 GMT

Daniel's homework on the blind prophet Tiresias got cut from our episode on Homer's The Odyssey, Part One. Please find the segment resuscitated here, for all your Greek mythology needs.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode themes: Mozart's 'Overture' to Don Giovanni.

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Episode 41b - The Odyssey, Part Two

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 05:00:51 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In the second half of our forty-first episode, we cover the last twelve books of Homer's The Odyssey (circa 800 BC). It's a delicious world, full of roast goat stomach, pig spine, and onion-peel cloaks. It's a sexy world, with plenty of Groundskeeper Willy nudity. It's an emotional world, full of crying naps and rage murder. And above all, it's a man's world, with some of the strongest misogyny we've seen so far.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Γκάιντα Ναούσης 1498 (Wikimedia Commons)

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Episode 41a - The Odyssey, Part One

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 05:00:05 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Sing, O Muse!, of our forty-first episode, the first twelve books of Homer's The Odyssey (circa 800 BC). Sing, of oil baths and endless sobbing! Sing, of sex and monsters and sex-monsters! Sing, of potty-humour and MILF Manor! Sing, of two exhausted academics who pinball from Olympus to Hades and all around the Aegean.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Γκάιντα Ναούσης 1498 (Wikimedia Commons)

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Episode 40 - Candide

Wed, 24 May 2023 04:00:00 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fortieth episode, we make our first foray across la Manche in order to recap Voltaire's satirical picaresque, Candide, ou l'Optimisme (1759). In this episode, Daniel trots out his feeble/faible Franglais, Abby discerns a preoccupation with derrières lying at the bottom of an otherwise highly varied narrative, and both take a moment to lament with Voltaire that most oppressed group of the eighteenth-century world: philosophers.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Jean-Philippe Rameau, 'Gavotte and Variations' (1727), performed by Martha Goldstein.

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Episode 39 - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Wed, 10 May 2023 05:00:49 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In out thirty-ninth episode, our Audience Pick from Season Three, and Queer Con 2023, we recap our first Decadent text, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). In this episode, we throw a hate party for Lord Alfred Douglas, discover that Abby is both already a queer icon AND knows what music is, and see if Oscar Wilde is funny enough to do a Save Me From My Shelf-style recap.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Richard Strauss, 'Tanz' from Salome, Op. 54.

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BONUS - Interview with Liam Knight

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 06:46:53 GMT

Following on from our coverage of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower (1993), we have a bit of a roundtable chat with local hellscape expert, Liam Knight (AKA 'DystopiaJunkie').

In this bonus episode we discuss the differences and interactions between dystopian and postapocalyptic literature, explore these genres' preoccupations and their history, and explain why no budding survivalist should be without a garden gnome.

Liam's Youtube page (on which we're making a guest appearance) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@DystopiaJunkie

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Episode 38 - Parable of the Sower

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 05:00:22 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In out thirty-eighth episode, we recap our first apocalyptic novel, Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower (1994). In this episode, Daniel redefines male fashion (monocles, Keith-core) and Abby traces real-world allegories, and both of them end the text shaking and traumatised under one of those tinfoil blankets.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Stickfigure, 'Spaghetti Western'.

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Episode 37 - Robinson Crusoe

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 05:00:50 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In out thirty-seventh episode, we look at a candidate for first-ever English language novel: Daniel Defoe's shipwreck narrative, Robinson Crusoe (1719). In this episode, Daniel creates a TikTok challenge, witness G.O.A.T. husbandry, and learn to see the Face of God (by watching barley grow or getting violent, turtle-induce dysentery).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Eric Coates, 'By the Sleepy Lagoon'.

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Episode 36 - A Tale of Two Cities

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 06:00:58 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In out thirty-sixth episode, we journey back to Revolutionary France with Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859). We learn all about the historical novel, but are less certain about gay iconography, what constitutes clinical depression, and precisely what Dr Manette was up to with all those shoes.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Hector Berlioz, 'Symphonie fantastique, op. 14, 4. Marche au supplice'.

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Episode 35 - Lady Chatterley's Lover

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 06:00:12 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our Season Four opener, Valentine's Day special, and thirty-fifth episode, we recap D.H. Lawrence's controversial, court case-launching novel full of weird sex and four-letter words, Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928). The episode teaches us many things: the difference between the normal West and exotic East Midlands, the mystery of eggs, the effects of purple prose, and when we finally need to put that 'explicit content' warning up.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Claude Debussy, 'Reverie'; Samuel Corwin, 'A Man Approaches with Bowed Sitar, Rishikesh'.

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Bonus: Blooper reel #5 - tangents 'n' banter

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 06:48:09 GMT

Yet another sequence of brief clips that have been rescued from oblivion.

Thematically we're getting a bit thin on the ground here, and dressing it up as a hodgepodge, salmagundi, macédoine, zibaldone - or any other pompous way of describing a mishmash - would be to everyone's discredit.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode themes: Cliff Carlisle, 'Columbus Stockade Blues' (1930), and Anton Bruckner, Symphony 7 in E Major (1883) performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker.

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Bonus: Blooper Reel #4 - US-UK Relations

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:00:49 GMT

A new, eagerly-awaited installment in the much-loved series of outtakes and bloopers.

Bald eagle-eared listeners may have noticed that the co-hosts of Save Me From My Shelf hail from different co(u)ntries, and that this is occasinally the so(u)rce of some acrimony. This bonus program(me) compiles those numero(u)s clips from the cutting room floor in which our transatlantic contretemps came to a head, and we really nailed o(u)r colo(u)rs to the mast. Who wins? Choose your fighter: Grover Cleveland or Michael Caine.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode themes: Scott Joplin, 'Maple Leaf Rag' (1899), performed by the US Marine Band (1906) and Gilbert and Sullivan, excerpts from 'H.M.S. Pinafore' (1878), performed by the Imperial Military Band (1907).

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Episode 34 - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 06:00:58 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirty-fourth episode and Christmas special/end-of-season finale, we recap C.S. Lewis's wintry Christian allegory, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950). Daniel gives us the gift of 'Measuringworth: Biblical Hermeneutics Edition' and Abby renames the Pevensie and Daniel's hypothetical pet beaver. This is also the second episode of the season with surprise cameos by both the Greek gods and Santa Claus. Brought to you by Mothers Against Wardrobes.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Tchaikovsky, 'Waltz of the Snowflakes', The Nutcracker Suite.

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Episode 33 - Wide Sargasso Sea

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 06:00:09 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirty-third episode, the Pedants' Revolt keeps waging on with a series of rebuking letters. We also discover the villain origin story for villain origin stories in Jean Rhys's postcolonial modernist/postmodernist Jane Eyre-fan fiction masterpiece, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: 'Liva: biguine', performed by Mlle. Estrella and Orchestre Gudeloupeen A. Kindou.

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Episode 32b - The Canterbury Tales, PART TWO

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 06:00:28 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In Part Two of our thirty-second episode, we keep the bawdy scatological humour up in the second half of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1400). It's all farts, penned-in sex-yards, and apologies to Jesus.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Anonymous, 'Weltliche Musik um 1300', performed by the Studio der frühen Musik

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Episode 32a - The Canterbury Tales, PART ONE

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 06:00:39 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In Part One of our thirty-second episode, we experience a whole lot of firsts: the first substantial work of English literature, our podcast's first guest spot, and the first time we gave up on an episode halfway through. Brace yourself for a bawdy, boozy, scatological good time with the first half of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1400).

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Anonymous, 'Weltliche Musik um 1300', performed by the Studio der frühen Musik

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Episode 31 - The Turn of the Screw

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 05:00:10 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirty-first episode and the second of two Halloween specials, we get properly scary with a ghost story full of ambiguous trauma, creepy children, and isolated country mansions: Henry James's The Turn of the Screw (1898). We also investigate the 'obscure hurt' a young Henry James did to his balls, speculate about hasty office sex, and introduce some weird factoids about the Aztecs.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode theme: Alexander Scriabin, 'Prelude No.1, Op. 67'

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Episode 30 - The Castle of Otranto

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 05:00:40 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirtieth episode and first of two Halloween specials, we cover the world's first (?) Gothic novel, Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). It's got more gigantic sabres, private caves, disembodied ghost parts, and lists of soldiers than you can shake a stick at.

Episode themes: Mozart, 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusic ("Allegro")', Mozart, 'Requiem ("V. Rex tremendae')'; Orfeo, 'Toccata'.

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Episode 29 - An Inspector Calls

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 05:00:05 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twenty-ninth episode, we answer the age-old question, 'What if socialism were a cop?' when we look at JB Priestley's 1945 anti-capitalist (Jean-Paul Sartre knock-off) play, An Inspector Calls. Today, we put our PhDs to work like never before, have a go at CSI: Miami stingers, and yearn for sexier content.

Episode themes: Kurt Weill, 'Violin Concerto, Op. 12' performed by the Gardner Chamber Orchestra, with Corey Cerovsek on violin.

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Episode 28 - Lolita

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 05:00:22 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twenty-eighth episode, we court controversy with Vladimir Nabokov's surreal paedophile road trip, Lolita (1955). It's got more unreliable narration, 1950s consumerism, and untranslated French than you can stomach.

Episode theme: Tchaikovsky's 'Serenade for Strings', covered by Freddy Martin and his Orchestra

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Episode 27 - Twelfth Night

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 05:00:45 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twenty-seventh episode, we return to Shakespeare--but with a comedy this time: the classic tale of twins, mistaken identity, and classic cis-direction, Twelfth Night (1601). In it, Daniel gives listeners of a particular SMFMS episode a scolding, Abby has a lot of anger and gender puns, and we make more than one Batman connection.

Episode theme: Tielman Susato, Danserye, Gaillarde, 'La dona' (1551).

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Episode 26 - Crime and Punishment

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 05:00:24 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our Season 3 premiere and twenty-sixth episode, we read one of the world's (apparently) Most Boring Classics™ and take our first foray into Russian literature with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866). Abby gives some train trivia, Daniel reveals a fetish for clerks, and everyone faints forever.

Episode theme: Fëdor Shalyapin, 'Ey, ukhnem!'

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Bonus: Blooper Reel #3 - Four Legs Good

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 05:00:32 GMT

More bonus content for the summer hiatus.

It's all about animals this time: all the ones Daniel hates, the ones that turn up in dreams, and the ones that our natural enemies (the Devonians) use to mock the Cornish.

Episode theme: Camille Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals, 'Finale'.

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Bonus: Blooper Reel #2 - S*x and F**d

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:25:03 GMT

Another steaming bowl of bonus material coming your way.

This podcast, provisionally named 'Carry on up the Canon', has never shied away from the odd bawdy joke, except when sublimating these into food talk, so please enjoy some of the odder examples compiled into one handy reel.

Episode theme: 'Sexy' by Benjamin Tissot

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Bonus: Blooper Reel #1 - Cultural Insights

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 13:52:05 GMT

A bit of bonus material to tide you over during the summer hiatus.

The archives of Save Me From My Shelf are littered with cultural insights and aperçus which would have felt out of place in any particular episode, but needed to be heard. Here are some of the best compiled into one manageable reel.

Episode theme: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 'Overture' to Don Giovanni, performed by the Fulda Symphonic Orchestra.

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Episode 25 - Silas Marner

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 05:00:34 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twenty-fifth episode, End of Season 2, and End-Of-Year Special, we read George Eliot's 1861 proto-Realist/German Idealist/grudgingly sensational novel, Silas Marner. Come celebrate with us and Friedrich Nietzsche as we finally hear Daniel's real accent, produce a special range of S&M SMFMS whips, and eat some rum-ham.

Episode themes: Ludwig van Beethoven, 'Allegretto, Symphony No.6, Op.68 ("Pastoral")', performed and arranged by Paul de Bra.

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Episode 24 - Nineteen Eighty-Four

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 05:00:50 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our DoublePlusTolerable twenty-fourth episode covers George Orwell's 1949 totalitarian dystopia, 1984. If you're looking for an UnGood time, tune in for everything reeking of cabbage, adventures in antiquing, and surprisingly erotic sex scenes (the perverts). No need to DoubleThink twice!

Episode themes: 'Spliff and Wesson' by Airglow.

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Episode 23 - Pride and Prejudice

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 05:00:59 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-third episode features the Antichrist, an indictment of the £10 note, the King of Himbos, and some snippets from Daniel's erotic fanfiction when we cover Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813).

Episode themes: Beethoven, 'Egmont Overture Op.84'; Boieldieu, 'Caliph de Bagdad' recorded by Richard Siegel.

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Episode 22 - Jekyll and Hyde

Wed, 25 May 2022 05:00:23 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-second episode is one extended queer reading--full of dodgy back doors, debauchery-filled strolls, and a vicious debate about if a mirror is weird or not--as we recap Robert Louis Stevenson's science fiction novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886).

Episode theme: Franz Liszt, 'Totentanz'.

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Episode 21 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Wed, 11 May 2022 05:00:23 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twenty-first episode is full of intrusive THOTS, dawg-named babies, power bottoms, and 'inelegant horseplay' as we recap Tennessee Williams's screwball tragedy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).

Episode theme: Gus Arnheim Orchestra, 'How Long Will It Last' (1931).

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Episode 20 - Things Fall Apart

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:00:03 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our twentieth episode is nothing but potatoes, patriarchy, and proverbs with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958).

Episode theme: 'Udu Sound' on Ibo drum (Wikimedia Commons).

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Episode 19 - Moll Flanders

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 05:00:58 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. Our nineteenth episode is all about S-E-X: we cover Daniel Defoe's 1722 raunchy crime-spree confessional, Moll Flanders. Abby gets turned on by a bandito in a cool hat, Daniel gets turned on by an economic value calculator, and Moll gets turned on by pretty much anything.

Episode theme: Christoph Schaffrath, 'Duetto in D-Minor for 2 Violas da Gamba'.

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Episode 18 - Orlando

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 05:00:43 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our eighteenth episode, we cover Virginia Woolf's trans, posho, time-traveling romp, Orlando (1928). Daniel once again gets into a row with medieval expert and enemy of the podcast, Justine; Abby once again gets into a row with friend of the podcast, Jonathan Swift; and we have 'Set the Scenes' on tap.

Episode themes: Orlando Gibbons, 'Fantasia A4, No.1 for Treble, Tenor & Bass Viols with Great Bass'; Ozan Yarman, 'Cumbus Tanbur Recording'; Antonio Vivaldi, 'Cello Concerto G Major - 1 Allegro'; Camille Saint-Saens, 'Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, op. 33, i. Allegro Non Troppo' ; Bela Bartok, 'Divertimento For String Orchestra'.

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Episode 17 - Beowulf

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 06:00:53 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventeenth episode, we go back to the first major English work: Beowulf. So, hwæt, dummies! Join us if you like endless gift giving interspersed with the most disgusting charnel-house violence possible, if your ideal hero a seven-foot tall wino, or if you think a poem itself can be a lesbian.

Episode theme: Alexander Nakarada, 'Catalyst'.

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Episode 16 - Hamlet

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 06:00:45 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixteenth episode, we examine Shakespeare's most olfactory play. Abby celebrates a strong return of himbos to the podcast, Daniel conceptualises an award-winning Disney+ show, and we discover this is the Bard's only (?) work where someone sh*ts their pants out of love.

Episode themes: John Dowland, 'The King of Denmark, Galliard, Lachrimae, No. 11'; Thomas Tallis, 'Why fum'th in sight', from Archbishop Parker's Psalter.

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Episode 15 - Jane Eyre

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 06:00:35 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifteenth episode and Valentine's Day special, we follow Jane Eyre on her angry quest to find love, avoid housefires, and not punch everyone she meets along the way. Abby and Daniel go on their own quests to worship St Valentine in the old ways and to finally become friends in real life.

Episode theme: Franz Liszt, 'Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2'.

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Trailer: Jane Eyre - Valentine's Day Special

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 09:29:15 GMT

Theme music: Kevin MacLeod, 'Carpe Diem'; Rimsky-Korsakov, 'Flight of the Bumblebee', United States Air Force Band.

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Episode 14 - Gulliver's Travels

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:00:22 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fourteenth episode and Season 2 premiere, we follow Lemuel Gulliver, Esq., as he poops his way around the globe, takes nipple rides, and develops linguistic connections in the Luggnaggian-Brobdingnagian language family.

Episode theme: Georg Philipp Telemann, 'Intrada Suite for Two Violins: Gulliver's Travels'.

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Episode 13 - A Christmas Carol

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 06:00:01 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our thirteenth episode and Christmas special, we see: lobsters glowing like an open fire, oysters nipping at your nose, Tiny Tim and his dad in a tank - marine life riddles Dickens's prose.

Episode themes: Sears/Willis, 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear', performed by the Diplomats of the United States Air Force Band; Trad., 'The Coventry Carol', sung by the Oriana Madrigal Society.

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Trailer: A Christmas Carol - Christmas Special

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 12:45:22 GMT

Theme music: Gruber/Mohr, 'Stille Nacht', sung by Ernestine Schumann-Heink; Tchaikovsky, 'Trepak', Ballet Francaise Symphony Orchestra.

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Episode 12 - Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:00:23 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our twelfth episode, Daniel premieres a quiz segment and gets himself all lusty over agriculture and metaphysics. Abby is mostly concerned with bitches: of the basic, brotherly, and rich varieties.

Episode theme: Gustav Holst, 'Second Suite in F for Military Band II'.

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Episode 11 - Oedipus

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 06:00:15 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. We might have faces good for podcasting, but in our eye-watering eleventh episode, we discuss a face only a mother could love.

Episode theme: Constantin Brailoiu, 'Berceuse'.

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Episode 10 - The Color Purple

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 06:00:11 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our tenth episode, we talk rodents, list big American breakfasts, and do a lot of Harpo Marx impressions.

Episode theme: Ma Rainey, 'Slave to the Blues'.

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Episode 9 - Dracula

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 05:00:51 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our ninth episode (our bumper Halloween special) Abby and Daniel start a band, Dracula is uncovered a chronic masturbator, and himbos make a glorious return to the podcast.

Episode theme: Bartok's 'Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116'.

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Trailer: Dracula - Halloween Special

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 20:49:52 GMT

What the hell is 'forcemeat'?

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Episode 8 - The Crucible

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 05:00:17 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our eighth episode, Daniel embraces Puritanism, Abby embraces self-promotion, and John Proctor regrets embracing a thresher.

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Episode 7 - The God of Small Things

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 05:00:59 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our seventh episode, we recap a very depressing great work of literature, wax lyrical about the back catalogue of Christopher Plummer, and have real different reactions to gross breakfast combinations.

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Episode 6 - Pamela

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 05:00:13 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our sixth episode, Abby develops a rage-ulcer and writes an award-winning K-Pop song, while Daniel has only love for waistcoats, evil Swiss guards, and Measuringworth.com.

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Episode 5 - The Great Gatsby

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 05:00:41 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fifth episode, we do a lot of bad Katharine Hepburn impressions, get VERY hot and bothered about South Dakota, and disagree if every single character is a himbo or not.

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Episode 4 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:00:17 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our fourth episode, we make huge assumptions about the medieval period, discuss the benefits of swearing, and imagine Peter Falk in sexier roles.

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Bonus: Thrushcross Grange Supercut

Sun, 15 Aug 2021 18:47:34 GMT

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Episode 3 - Wuthering Heights

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 05:00:27 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our third episode, we discuss the height differences of the Brontës, career alcoholism, and Daniel gets very excited about a tureen full of applesauce.

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Episode 2 - Othello

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 05:00:42 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our second episode, we discuss Shakespeare, the benefits of casting Michael Cera, and if this play was potentially sponsored by Big Linen.

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Episode 1 - Frankenstein

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 12:07:21 GMT

Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal. In our pilot episode, we go to town on Victor Frankenstein, Most Hated Man in Literature™.

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