hardcoreliterature

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles: Ancient Greek Tragedy Lecture

Lonesome Dove Lecture: The Valley of Death (Chapters 26-74)

"It's all right, though," Augustus said. "It's mostly bones we're riding over, anyway. I'm told that over in the Old Country you can't dig six feet without uncovering skulls and leg bon...

2026-02-01 22:30:40 +0000 UTC View Post

The Oresteia of Aeschylus: Ancient Greek Tragedy Lecture

'We must suffer into truth. Better to die on your feet, than live on your knees.'

Today we are appreciating the sublime tragic saga that is the Oresteia of A...

Book Club Discussion for January 2026

Dear Book Club Readers ---

You've had such a phenomenal start to your reading year and it would be so wonderful to hear about the books you've been enjoying this month.

Your comments in...

Lonesome Dove Lecture: The Waning of the West (Chapters 1-25)

‘It was an odd thing, but true, that the death of an enemy could you affect you as much, almost as much, as the death of a friend.’

Today we are discussing the fi...

How to Read Ancient Greek Tragedy (Introductory Lecture)

'Pride breeds the tyrant, violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting with all that is overripe and rich with ruin — clawing up to the heights, headlong pride crashes down the abyss â...

2026-01-11 22:29:41 +0000 UTC View Post

How to Read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Introductory Lecture)

'When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake — not a very big one.'

It’s time to begin our journey through the sweeping saga that ...

Wishing You a Happy New Year for 2026

Dear Book Club Members ---

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you a very Happy New Year and say a deep thank you from the bottom of my heart for making the year just gone such a spec...

Bleak House Lecture: Mistress of Bleak House (Vol. III, Ch. XLVI-LXVII)

'Full seven happy years I have been the mistress of Bleak House. The few words that I have to add to what I have written, are soon penned; then I, and the unknown friend to whom I write...

2025-12-28 22:02:03 +0000 UTC View Post

'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens (Festive Reflections)

Dear Book Club Readers ---

Here's wishing a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!

I love rereading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens every year. It has become a wa...

Book Club Discussion for December 2025

Dear Book Club Readers ---

You've had such a phenomenal reading year and you should be intensely proud of your reading accomplishments. It would be so wonderful to hear about the books you've...

Bleak House Lecture: Spontaneous Combustion (Vol. II, Ch. XXIII-XLV)

'The Lord Chancellor of that Court, true to his title in his last act, has died the death of all Lord Chancellors in all Courts, and of all authorities in all places under all names soe...

2025-12-14 21:59:30 +0000 UTC View Post

Bleak House Lecture: The Curse of Jarndyce & Jarndyce (Vol. I, Ch. I-XXII)

'London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly ret...

2025-12-07 22:47:54 +0000 UTC View Post

Revealing the Book Club Schedule for 2026

Dear Book Club Readers ---

Thank you all so much for making the book club such a special community.

Your love of great literature is deeply inspiring, and I am endlessly grateful for al...

Jane Austen's Emma: Faultless in Spite of All Her Faults (Lecture on Ch. 27-55)

“I cannot make speeches, Emma. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am.—You hear nothing but truth from me."

Today we a...

Jane Austen's Emma: In the Heart of Highbury (Lecture on Ch. 1-26)

'To be sure — our discordancies must always arise from my being in the wrong.'

Today we are indulging in a little bit of Regency gossip as we settle into t...

How to Read Jane Austen's Emma (Introductory Lecture)

'Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one year...

2025-11-09 22:28:54 +0000 UTC View Post

'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson - Halloween Lecture

'All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil. Man is not truly one, but truly two.'

Tonight we’re talking about late Victorian g...

Dickens Seasonal Read Revealed

The time has arrived.

Excitement is in the air.

We are finally revealing the Secret Seasonal Dickens, which will be cosying up with as we move into winter.

Let us know at what poi...

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca: The Road to Manderley (Lecture on Ch. XX-XXVII)

'The road to Manderley lay ahead. There was no moon. The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of b...

2025-10-26 21:44:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca: Secrets of the Past (Lecture on Ch. XI-XIX)

'Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?’

We return again to Manderley, where the dark secret...

Book Club Discussion for October 2025

Dear Book Club Readers ---

You've been having such an incredible reading year, and should be proud of your reading accomplishments. It would be so wonderful to hear about the books you're enj...

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca: Dreaming of Manderley (Lecture on Ch. I-X)

'There was Manderley, our Manderley, secretive and silent as it had always been. Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls.'

Welcome to back Manderley,...

Ranking the Complete Works of Shakespeare from Worst to Best

Dear Book Club Readers,

Today I'm very excited to run through my personal ranking of the complete works of Shakespeare with you. This is a reverse ranking, from worst to best, with each play ...

Special Announcement: Meet Baby McEvoy

Dear Book Club Readers,

I hope you are keeping well and your reading is going well. You may have already guessed, but I can now officially confirm that we have welcomed our newest member of t...

How to Read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Introductory Lecture)

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.'

It’s time to begin our journey into the heart of Daphne du Maurier's dark gothic bestseller: Rebecca.

The Odyssey of Homer: Ithaca Restored (Lecture on Books XVII-XXIV)

'Like a musician stretching a string over a new peg on his lyre, Odysseus strung the great bow. Lifting it up, he plucked the string and it sang beautifully under his touch with a note ...

2025-09-14 21:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post

The Odyssey of Homer: Returning Home (Lecture on Books IX-XVI)

'Don’t try to sell me on death, Odysseus. I’d rather be a hired hand back up on earth, slaving away for some poor dirt farmer, than lord it over all these withered dead.'

2025-09-07 20:58:57 +0000 UTC View Post

The Odyssey of Homer: Speak, Memory (Lecture on Books I-VIII)

'Speak, Memory — of the cunning hero, the wanderer, blown off course time and again after he plundered Troy's sacred heights.'

Welcome back to the world of Ancient ...

The Three Musketeers: Lieutenant of the King's Musketeers (Lecture on Ch. XLII-LXVII)

"So I'll have no more friends," said d'Artagnan. "Alas! nothing but bitter memories..." And he let his head drop into his hands, whilst two tears rolled down his cheeks. "You are young,...

2025-08-24 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post