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Season Four

Episode 35 - Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)
Subtitle: Concurrent Crises: It's the Latest Trend!
Abby calls Daniel: Rule Britannia
Daniel calls Abby: God Bless America
Casting: A boring Terrence Malick film. Cast Holliday Granger as Lady Chatterley again, Tom Hardy (or Robert Carlyle) as Mellors, and one of the Hemsworth brothers as Sir Clifford Chatterley.
Advice:  Good writers occasionally write a bad book. Compare their works and see what works in better stuff and what doesn't work here. You should also give authors multiple chances, because their skills and interests evolve over time.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: Surprisingly gory and action-packed considering who wrote it. A lot of the text is about knitting.
Show Notes: Our first episode labelled 'Explicit'; updated season--we'll do one long season from February to December, guaranteeing at least one episode per month, but possibly two on our normal fortnightly schedule.

Episode 36 - A Tale of Two Cities  (1859)
Subtitle: Confused at the Blood Orgy
Abby calls Daniel: Liquorice Allsort
Daniel calls Abby: Salt water taffy
Casting: A Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt hyper-realist 1970s adaptation with Cybill Shepherd as Lucie, Kurt Russell as Darnay, and Jeff Bridges as Carton.
Advice: All authors fetishize or comment on the past, so pay attention to when a text is set versus when it was actually written.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: A text with a single footprint in the sand.

Episode 37 - Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Subtitle: Disgusted at the Blood Orgy
Abby calls Daniel: Toad of Toad Hall
Daniel calls Abby: Bugs Bunny (or the WB frog)
Casting: A Robert Eggers psychological horror (like his The Witch or The Lighthouse) with Daniel Dafoe as Robinson Crusoe.
Advice:  Look up Biblical references you come across. People used to know their Bible verses really well and a lot of modern readers have lost that, so they're not getting the references now, which can still shed thematic light.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: A lot of post-apocalyptic literature is written by male, pale, and stale authors. The post-apocalyptic author we'll be covering next is none of those things.

Episode 38 - Parable of the Sower  (1993)
Subtitle: Resigned at the Blood Orgy
Abby calls Daniel: Cornish pasty
Daniel calls Abby: The Vermonster
Casting: An early Quentin Tarantino film, with Kiki Palmer as Lauren, Zendaya as Zahra, Tom Holland as Harry, Denzel Washington as Taylor Bankole, Samuel L Jackson as Dad, and Rosie Perez and Cory.
Advice: Pay attention to dream sequences. They're tacky, but it's an author or director working overtime to tell you what themes are important or where the plot is going to go.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: Our audience pick: we're doing The Picture of Dorian Gray!

Episode 39 - The Picture of Dorian Gray  (1891)
Subtitle: Bantz for Bantz's Sake
Abby calls Daniel: Bobs Your Uncle
Daniel calls Abby: Lickety Split
Casting: Anthony Minghella film starring either a young Jude Law, or giving Ben Barnes another go as Dorian in a better film. Colin Firth as Lord Harry again, and Ben Wishaw as Basil.
Advice: Without relying too much on biography, sometimes learning something about the author's personal life can help colour a reading of their works.
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: Of all the possible books we could have chosen, this one is the best.
Show Notes: This is our first audience pick text.

Episode 40 - Candide  (1759)
Subtitle: The Half-Arsed Episode
Abby calls Daniel: Spend a Penny
Daniel calls Abby: I'll be in the John
Casting: A Taika Waititi film, with Taika as Pangloss, Scarlett Johansson as Cunegonde, Matt Berry in multiple roles, and Daniel Radcliffe as Candide.
Advice: Pare down the plot to is basic building blocks and see what modern versions have the same story. Why do we keep coming back to these same plots? How do newer ones improve or update the formula?
Clue(s) to the Next Episode: I can't give a you a clue until I've finished making this shirt.

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