What’s Old is New

0:25 So, Nicole still hates this and the characters are annoying.

1:15 Jen actually liked the first 30 pages, and then it all went downhill once the characters actually started talking and interacting with one another.

16:45 Contact us.

Bye!

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Eleanor Brown is the author of The Weird Sisters

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0:15 One of Nicole's favorites classics (who knew we HAD favorite classics?!?)

1:45 Jen mostly likes this book, but the beginning is a snoozefest.

2:35 Robert Louis Stevenson, meme master?

5:15 Thematic similarities to Frankenstein - except this is WAY BETTER.

8:45 So, we basically liked, but didn't love this. Would Nicole like other Stevenson better now?

10:30 In which we detour into 'protecting' kids from literature.

13:30 Preview of our next RIP.

Bye!

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Sara Levine is the author of Treasure Island.

0:20 Welcome to Sara Levine, and Jen tries to introduce the three exclamation marks.

0:50 About Treasure Island!!!

2:30 Sara's background with Stevenson's non-exclamated Treasure Island - from essayist to novelist

4:00 Coming to Treasure Island (and classics in general) as a child, versus as an adult - and hey, we come back to Jane Eyre again, surprise!

7:20 Treasure Island!!! and how we do (and perhaps shouldn't) respond to classics

10:40 Sara's writing process, reading Treasure Island to write Treasure Island!!!

12:45 What is a classic? Sara's definition.

15:00 In which we make silly jokes about Sara, Stevenson, and punctuation.

16:30 Wrap-up

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0:25 Don't forget about the Dickens contest!

1:06 Nicole HATED it.

2:20 Jen is indifferent.

3:10 Should Jen be allowed to listen to books she hates instead of reading them?

4:35 So, we don't have that much to say...

5:50 Shortest show ever!

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0:30 Our initial thoughts about Persuasion.

2:35 Jane Austen is basically hilarious, and honestly, Persuasion isn't very romantic

4:25 How does Jane Austen have such lovely heroines who have such terrible sisters?

6:25 Wentworth plays games

9:10 Persuasion and Austen in general stay in the canon (and now we want to watch Clueless).

10:00 Welcome Laurel Ann Nattress

10:25 About Jane Austen Made Me Do It

11:40 How did Jane Austen Made Me Do It come about?

16:00 Laurel Ann's Jane conversion

24:40 The participating authors

29:10 Laurel Ann's favorite

30:30 Wrap-up

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Erin Blakemore is the author of The Heroine's Bookshelf.

0:40 Welcome to Erin, and she explains The Heroine's Bookshelf

2:40 The development of The Heroine's Bookshelf - from Jane Eyre on!

4:50 The heroines

6:15 The emotional appeal of the authors (Jen sort of cops out), and our personal experiences with them

14:00 Is today's awesome YA keeping kids from discovering some of the classics? Also, some digression.

22:30 E-readers freeing our reading habits

25:25 Women-specific reading rooms

27:00 What books do we not want people to ask us "what are you reading?"

34:20 What would Erin's authors be doing if they lived today? Plus the Their Eyes Were Watching God readalong

40:25 What does Erin consider to be a classic? Including the classics of girl p*rn

40:20 Ally Condie's Matched illustrates our horror of the narrowness of some people's canon

46:30 The negative power of "the classics"

53:30 Wrap up

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0:25 Jen sounds punchy, within the first minute.

0:45 It is like A Tale of Two Cities, but not WAY TOO LONG and Nicole is amazed that The Scarlet Pimpernel didn't read like a play, even though it was a play first.

2:45 The verdict of Nicole the skeptic! It is romance adventure, but we love it!

3:55 There is a strange noise and I have no idea what it is, but we continue loving on The Scarlet Pimpernel.

4:15 We basically read this because Jen once read Lauren Willig's books.

5:15 HOW DO WE PRONOUNCE BARONESS ORCZY'S NAME? Sadly, this time Jen can't just ask the author.

6:30 Is this the best writing in the world? Maybe not, BUT IT WORKED FOR THE STORY.

7:40 A Tale of Two Cities is much more ambitious than The Scarlet Pimpernel, but they aren't dissimilar and Baroness O's book is WAY more accessible.

10:45 Nicole's initial reluctance to The Scarlet Pimpernel. What is the deal with the pimpernel, anyway?

12:20 More about Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation series.

15:35 In which we keep The Scarlet Pimpernel in our personal canon.

17:15 Sorry, guys, there was no "ripping" in this classics rip!

18:20 Next classics rip, we're going back to Dickens and reading A Christmas Carol, expect snark.

19:30 PRIZE ALERT! The first person to recommend something by Dickens that we like (or, you know, don't hate after 100), you will win A BIG PILE OF BOOKS!!! Comment here, or email oldisnewpodcast@gmail.com

20:50 Wrap up!

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Hillary Jordan is the author of Mudbound and When She Woke.

0:30 Hillary explains the premise of When She Woke

2:15 The genesis of When She Woke aka, why it is important to pay attention to your family

3:50 Hillary's ode to The Scarlet Letter

5:10 Dear schools, please stop making 15 year olds read The Scarlet Letter!

6:20 We get the cliff notes version of The Scarlet Letter references in When She Woke

8:10 Hillary Jordan has read all the classics (okay, not ALL of them, but you know what she means)

9:50 The definition of a classic, a la Hillary Jordan

11:40 The writing process for two very different books

16:15 How post-9/11 America changed When She Woke and the conflicting American attitudes towards freedom

20:10 Jen's rambling wrap-up

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0:15 In which we are somewhat speechless, our experiences with Childe Harold

2:20 Does anyone actually read Byron? It doesn't seem like anyone adapts his work

3:50 Jen compares Byron to Paris Hilton

4:30 Is Byron as bad has he has been represented? Nicole talks about Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

7:25 A bad rap may be the best thing that happened to Byron's legacy

9:35 Introducing the Justin Evans interview

Interview with Justin Evans, author of The White Devil

10:00 Say "hi" to Justin Evans everyone!

10:25 About The White Devil

11:10 Why Lord Byron?

15:00 Harrow School

16:40 Byron: predator or protector?

18:55 Justin's experience reading Byron

22:00 The growth of Byron's writing

23:20 We retitle Justin's book The Grossest Ghost and Nicole reveals her deep, dark secrets

28:00 What constitutes a classic in Justin's opinion?

Our Wrap-up

32:50 We will all now torture Nicole

33:45 Jen says Byron is never the main character and is immediately proved wrong. He really does end up in books with supernatural elements, though

38:15 That is the sound of us tentatively kicking Byron out of the canon

41:40 Contact us!

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