American Classics

The School – Donald Barthelme – Literary Roadhouse Ep 31

Rated Almost Clean – Maya drops the s-word once. Other than that, safe!

Next week’s story is The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. (Updated Fri Sept 11 for a better translation)

The School by Donald Barthelme received high marks all around. We appreciated its ability to address a serious theme with lightness and humor. The absurdist narrative may be a first for the podcast, and perhaps it is only appropriate that Maya, Gerald, and Anais went into the weeds a bit, comparing the story to wines and candy.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Bloodchild“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Listener’s last week gave Bloodchild by Octavia Butler 5 bradberries.

Next week’s story is The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. (Updated Fri Sept 11 for a better translation)

Bloodchild – Octavia Butler – Literary Roadhouse Ep 30

Rated Explicit

Next week’s story is The School by Donald Bartelme

Bloodchild by Octavia Butler received high marks from all three of us this week which is pretty rare and says a lot about the author. This is only our second science fiction story and the first that truly felt deeply sci-fi so I was a little nervous suggesting it. I am glad I did. Bloodchild provided great fodder for a fun discussion on gender, symbiosis and diversity in fiction. The story was also a wonderful example of science surpassing it’s genre.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Bloodchild“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The School by Donald Bartelme.

The Half-Skinned Steer – E. Annie Proulx – Literary Roadhouse Ep 29

Rated Explicit

Next week’s story is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and understanding for last weeks late podcast. This week, we read Annie Proulx and while Maya entered the podcast torn about the time shifts, both Anais and Gerald loved the story. This was a deeply dense and nuanced tale that took close reading to fully appreciate the skill and artistry. Maya also recommends listening to the story on Audible. Close Range by Annie Proulx is a collection of stories based in the rural communities in Wyoming. If you don’t have Audible already, click here for a free trial.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “Sonny’s Blues” by 5.5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Half-Skinned Steer“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler.

Cathedral – Raymond Carver – Literary Roadhouse Ep 25

Next week’s story is The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review (for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

Rated Explicit

We read our first Carver story this week and it prompted a great discussion. Maya has been reading through Carver’s body of work and found the reading experience very different compared to Anais. Gerald was turned off by the narrator, and we delved a bit into how we feel when we confront a main character we don’t like.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “Safe, Somewhere” by Baird Harper 3.75 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Safe, Somewhere”? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín

The Masque of the Red Death – Edgar Allan Poe – Literary Roadhouse Ep 19

Next week’s story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review (for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners

Rated G

Roz Morris joined us this week to discus The Masque of the Red Death. She is an author, writing coach and public speaker. This story prompted a wonderful exchange on the definition of story given just how many rules this story breaks. Edgar Allan Poe was the granddaddy of Horror and Crime genre, and this was an interesting exploration both of the story and the experience of reading the precursor to several modern fiction forms. With flowery Gothic style and a modern feel, The Masque of the Red Death was a great choice for Literary Roadhouse.

Personally, I found researching Edgar Allan Poe deepened my enjoyment of the story. After writing this weeks Author Spotlight: Edgar Allan Poe, I would have rated the story a solid point higher. I hope the article does the same for you.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Y’all rated Axolotl by Julio Cortázar, 5.66 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate The Masque of the Red Death? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next we’re reading The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin

To Build a Fire – Jack London – Literary Roadhouse Ep 15

Next week’s story Birdsong by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review ( for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

We were having an excellent conversation when the UK power outage hit and kicked Gerald offline.  As a result, not only is this episode late but Anais and I recorded an extra conversation were we really talked about our relationship with reading. I think that conversation had a positive effect on this episode as we went deeper into character than we had on previously. After 15 episodes, I am looking for ways to make the podcast more fun, informative and dynamic. If you have ideas or suggestions, please post below. Also, don’t miss Anais’ article on Jack London, it is a wonderful read.

Yes, we do have a rating scale based on Bradberries! For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Anais has the urge to create a Bradberry collage… Imagine, Bradberries on your desktop! You gave last week’s story, The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, 4.25 Bradberries.

On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate To Build a Fire? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

Next week we are reading Birdsong by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 11

Discussion Notes: Everything That Rises Must Converge

Next week’s story Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review ( for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

I am glad we had Jocelyn Johnson as our first guest. The sound quality is lower than usual, but she was a wonderful guest and added a lot to the discussion. Jocelyn and Maya found the story well crafted with a few key places where something felt off. Gerald enjoyed it as well and we had an interesting exchange on Class in the US verses the UK. As usual, Kenechi did not disappoint with a strong divergence of opinion. I hope you enjoy the episode. You can find the Author Spotlight for Flannery O’Connor here.

Yes, we do have a rating scale based on Bradberries! For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Anais has the urge to create a Bradberry collage… Imagine, Bradberries on your desktop! You gave last week’s story, “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” by Gabriel García Márquez, 5.5 Bradberries.

On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge‘? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

Next week we are reading be reading Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami. I hope you enjoy it!

The Old Man at the Bridge – Ernest Hemingway – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 9

Discussion Notes: The Old Man at the Bridge

Next week’s story is The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review ( for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

This week’s story was divisive with both Kenechi and Gerald enjoying it a lot more than either Maya or Anais. That said, Maya was the most disappointed and the conversation was interesting, as Gerald and Anais tried to pinpoint the problem. The messy video is on our Youtube page, and the glistening audio podcast is above. Check out the great article on Ernest Hemingway Gerald wrote. It was a wonderful read and full of information I didn’t know.

Here is the video I promised on where to start with several authors, including Hemingway by Ashley Riordon.

And here are the links for Kenechi’s Hemingway pick, For Whom The Bell Tolls and for Anais’ book recommendation of Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Yes, we do have a rating scale based on Bradberries! For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Anais has the urge to create a Bradberry collage… Imagine, Bradberries on your desktop! You gave last week’s story, “The Magic Chalk” by Kobo Abe, 5 Bradberries.

On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Old Man at the Bridge“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is  by The Most Handsome Drowned Man In the World by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I hope you enjoy it!

The Laughing Man – J.D. Salinger – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 7

Discussion Notes: The Laughing Man

We selected “The Magic Chalk ” by Kobo Abe for next week’s story.

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher and various podcatchers. If you can take a few moments to leave an iTunes and/or Stitcher review, it would help us immensely.

Oh J.D. Salinger, you made us scratch our heads. Today we sort out how a story with such great language and well drawn characters left us the minute we finished reading it. It was interesting listening to each of us come to different conclusions on the theme and meaning of The Laughing Man. We also broached the question, ‘is the podcast or the fact that we’re writers affecting how we read?’ The messy podcast is on the Youtube page, and the glistening audio version will be available Wednesday morning. Don’t forget to check out our Author’s Spotlight on J.D. Salinger to learn more about the author.

We do have a rating scale. For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” You gave last week’s story, “The Hasselblad” by Jocelyn Johnson, 3 Bradberries.

On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Laughing Man“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

After Kenechi’s horrible no good very bad quiz, we selected “The Magic Chalk ” by Kobo Abe for next week’s story. Anais was especially excited to read this story as Wikipedia described the author as a surreal nightmarish Kafka… I think perhaps this tells us too much about Anais.

The Story Of an Hour by Kate Chopin – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 1

Discussion Notes: The Story Of an Hour

Next week’s story is ‘The Cheater’s Guide to Love’ by Junot Diaz.

For the inaugural episode of Literary Roadhouse we got to know our hosts, and then had an exciting discussion about the definition of literary fiction. During the episode, we referenced a blog post that Gerald wrote, so make sure to check out that amazing read here.

Because many listeners wouldn’t have had time to read the story before the first taping, Maya read the story aloud and then we had a ruckus debate that touched on power, marriage and feminism. “The Story Of an Hour” may be over a hundred years old, but we all agreed that it felt modern and stood the test of time. What did you think of this weeks story?

We do have a rating scale. For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’s post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Story Of an Hour”? Tell us in the comments and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” by Junot Diaz.  We hope you enjoy the read and join us next Tuesday for the live discussion. The podcast will be available on iTunes within a few days.