Every time you download an episode of Novel Pairings, you hear us promise to discuss the books we love and the books we loathe—but the truth is, over the past three years, we’ve covered many more of the love books than the loathe books. While we may not officially loathe Mark Twain’s The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn, it was certainly a book we found more challenging to discuss and both of us are bring a little bit of baggage into today’s episode.
Our discussion of this Great American Novel is great for readers who love or loathe Mark Twain, as well as listeners who haven’t thought about him since high school. In addition to a nuanced conversation about this complicated book, we each offer two contemporary pairings that we think are excellent companions to or replacements for Huck.
Let us know what you thought of today’s episode on Instagram.
In Classics Club news, we moved our lecture on Themes and Tropes in Children’s Literature to this Wednesday, April 19th at 7pm ET so there’s still time to join use by signing up for our Patreon at the Literature Scholar tier. Joining now will also grant you admittance to our book club discussion of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomer on Wednesday April 26th at 7pm ET. Head to patreon.com/novelpairings to sign up!
Links
Check out these links related to today’s episode and our Children’s Classics season:
Read Toni Morrison and Jane Smiley’s essays on Huckleberry Finn.
Reflections on teaching Huck Finn.
Norman Mailer’s 100th anniversary review of Huck.
Are we reading Huck Finn all wrong?
Coming Up
Readers, truth be told we are treading water over here, maybe even sinking a bit? Sickness and teething toddlers and travel over the last three months have put a lot of pressure on our production schedule, so we need to make some margin. We’re pushing April main feed episodes back a bit, which shouldn’t affect your reading plans or our exclusive content on Patreon. It will, however, give us some time to catch up, be creative, and have more fun doing what we love: connecting with you over classic literature.
Check out our April and May calendars, and join our Patreon community for cozy, nerdy, and seasonal book talk. Have any questions for us? Reply to this email or send us a DM on Instagram.
Happy Spring Reading,
Chelsey & Sara