We can’t believe the winter season is almost upon us. Didn’t it seem like September and October went by in a blink? We read Rebecca, Blind Owl, and now To the Lighthouse. Our babies turned TWO! We met with our Novel Pairings Producers and set some exciting business plans in motion. It’s been a fabulous season, and we hope you’ve been enjoying your time at Novel Pairings University.
Keep reading to find out what we’ll be learning about in December and what’s in store for our next readalong.
December
We're excited to announce our December selection: "The Garden of Forking Paths," a postmodern short story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges.
Because December is a busy time for many of us, and because we are busy creating recaps for a special readalong in January and February (see below), we will not be hosting a class or book club for December. Instead, we will read "The Garden of Forking Paths" and discuss it in the Discord #shortstoryclub thread.
You can find a free online copy of the Borges story HERE.
January & February
Listeners raved about our summer readalongs: Lonesome Dove (2022) and The Odyssey (2023), so this year we’re extending our J-Term season with a January-February readalong to infuse Slow Down Summer energy into dark winter days.
📖 This winter, we’re reading The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton.
We’re hard at work planning and recording The Custom of the Country recap episodes for patrons at the Literature Scholar level. You loved our recaps for The Odyssey, and we had the best time recording them! We look forward to sharing a new recap experience with you all this winter.
Now is a great time to sign up for our Patreon community—or to ask for a year long membership as a holiday gift. You can catch up on classes like Gilded Age Literature: Entering Edith Wharton's World and How to be a Literature Scholar while you wait for our 2024 season to begin.
Plus, The Buccaneers (2023) television adaptation is premiering on Apple TV this week. Wharton will be in the air all winter, and we’re so excited!
Stay tuned for calendars and class announcements coming soon.
Final Words
On November 14th, we’ll be discussing “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf, so get ready for tons of educational resources on Woolf, the Bloomsbury Group, and modernist literature.
Until then, we declare after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book.
Thank you for supporting the podcast and our work to make public scholarship fun and accessible. If you would like to stay connected to what’s happening at Novel Pairings, make sure to subscribe to this Substack and follow us on Instagram. Make sure you never miss an episode by subscribing to the show wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love the work we’re doing, please consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts!