Fictional Places We Wish Were Real
Borges’ library. Middle Earth. Avonlea. Literature is filled with wonderful and intriguing places we wish were real. This week, we chat about the different things that make these worlds so appealing and fascinating. And, of course, we each pick a few of our very favorites to discuss!
We would love to hear your favorite places in fiction as well.
For Our Next Episode
Our next episode is going to be about scary books that kept us up at night. Again, please share your stories with us! If you are reading this newsletter on your email, you can just reply to the email and we will get your response. If you are reading it on Substack, you can leave us a comment!
Also in this episode we will be talking about three stories perfect for Halloween. Join us!
Here are the three we’ll be discussing.
“Afterward,” by Edith Wharton
“Compulsory Games,” by Robert Aickman
“The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe
Upcoming Episodes
Here are our current plans for the next few episodes, though some things might change here and there.
October 20: Scary Books That Kept You Up at Night
November 3: The Magic of Libraries, with Nancy Pearl
November 17: Book Prizes, with Lori Feathers
Fall Reading on Patreon
Last week we released our September Patreon bonus episode. In it, we revisit our topic from Episode 7: Fall Reading. We both love this time of year, so it was nice to sit back and make some plans to take advantage of this lovely reading season!
Patreon supporters not only get these monthly episodes, but all of our regular episodes also come out a few days earlier!
October Books We Have Our Eyes On
As I mention in this episode, we wanted to showcase a few books coming out in the next few weeks in the newsletter.
Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative, by Peter Brooks, coming out on October 18. Read more on the publisher’s webpage.
Nights of Plague, by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Ekin Oklap, published this week! Read more on the publisher’s webpage.
Liberation Day, by George Saunders, coming out October 18. Read more on the publisher’s webpage.
Seven Empty Houses, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell, coming out October 18. Read more on the publisher’s webpage.
Episode 38 Books
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, by Herman Melville
Why Read Moby-Dick, by Nathaniel Philbrick
Cold Enough for Snow, by Jessica Au
My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier
Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson
Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
“Compulsory Games,” by Robert Aickman, from Compulsory Games
“Afterward,” by Edith Wharton, from Ghosts
“The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
The Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr
A Time of Gifts, by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Butcher’s Crossing, by John Williams
The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares
The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lockwood & Co., by Jonathan Stroud
Titus Groan, by Mervyn Peake
The Iliad, by Homer
Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
About the Podcast
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.
Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher. You can also listen to us on YouTube, if that’s your thing.
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, please visit our Patreon page. Patreon subscribers get a monthly bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!