Required Reading

The classic fantasy novel by J. R. R. R. Tolkien R. Join Mike, Nic, and guest Robert von Hagen as we discuss the classic YA fantasy novel. Also, in an effort to aid our numbers and have less competition, we are going to begin releasing midweek every other week. Sorry about the confusion.

This week we talk The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, Nic talks history and Mike talks literature, we both leave happy.

In this masterful piece of history, we learn about serial killers, architects, assassins, and waffle cones! This complex narrative combines narratives of the Chicago Columbian Exposition, the killer H. H. Holmes, and the architects building both.

This episode we are paralyzed with happiness! We talk The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece about why being rich isn’t always so easy. As the poet said, “mo money, mo problems.” Also, now that it is out of copyright projection, what is next for the story? Panel: Nic Hoffmann and Mike Burns.

Following the more modern high school path (which I guess follows the slightly older collegiate path) of having students read social justice material for summer reading, our school assigned the High School Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Also, (exciting) we are joined by our first guests! Wooo!

This episode Dr. Nic and Mike break down the proto-feminist novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter! Yes, like the rest of you, I didn’t like this book when I read it in High School, but see how the reassessment goes! Oh, and skip the Custom House Chapter.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Required Reading, a podcast coming out every other week (during the school year, of course), that looks at the books we assign, wished we assigned, and read ourselves in high school and college. This week we start with the classic American rags to riches, heroes journey with a happy ending, slave narrative...you read that right, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.