Australia
Brazil
Canada
Germany
India
Ireland
Japan
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New Zealand
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United Kingdom
Narrative Poems
From London Review of Books
Arts
Close Readings
by London Review of Books
Today: #101 in Arts on our combined chart.
Today: #31 in Arts, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
Today: #62 in Arts, Canada on our combined chart.
Today: #52 in Arts, Australia on our combined chart.
Today: #119 in Arts, Germany on our combined chart.
Today: #44 in Arts, New Zealand on our combined chart.
Today: #34 in Arts, Ireland on our combined chart.
Today: #70 in Arts, India on our combined chart.
Today: #54 in Arts, South Africa on our combined chart.
Chart positions today · United States
Not on the Brazil charts we track today.
Not on the Mexico charts we track today.
Not on the Japan charts we track today.
Not on the Philippines charts we track today.
If you like Close Readings, try…
London Revisited
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Ranking history · United States
Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.
Position on the Arts combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.
Episode releases
View as table
| Date | Combined Rank | Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Castbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | #101 | #71 | — | #62 |
| Oct 26 | #100 | #71 | — | #66 |
| Oct 25 | #94 | #64 | — | #74 |
| Oct 24 | #100 | #71 | — | #59 |
| Oct 23 | #96 | #72 | #47 | #55 |
| Oct 22 | #73 | #45 | — | #45 |
| Oct 21 | #99 | #70 | — | #70 |
| Oct 20 | #191 | #161 | — | — |
| Oct 19 | #196 | #167 | — | — |
| Oct 16 | — | #181 | — | — |
| Oct 15 | — | #183 | — | — |
| Oct 14 | #174 | #143 | — | — |
Latest episodes
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The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce
October 24, 2026 · 52 minTom McCarthy, writing in the LRB, described James Joyce's Ulysses as a ‘heavy book, a book full of weight, a fallen book’; a ‘properly obscene book’; ‘a book in which the central stake is the coming into being of the book itself’; a book…
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Nature in Crisis: ‘Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism’ by Thea Riofrancos
October 21, 2026 · 24 minLithium-ion batteries are at the heart of the transition away from fossil fuels. But lithium, like the copper, cobalt and rare earths that renewable technologies also require, has to be mined. ‘Everywhere that mines are dug up to provide…
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Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Shyness and Dignity’ by Dag Solstad
October 14, 2026 · 24 minWhat happens when the techniques of realist literature become absorbed into our understanding of real life? And what would it mean to try to depict that experience in fiction? In Dag Solstad’s Shyness and Dignity (1994), a middle-aged…
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London Revisited: The Monster
October 8, 2026 · 26 minIn 1737, Samuel Johnson and his student David Garrick decided to walk to London from Lichfield in search of opportunity. It worked out well for both of them, but for many of the large number who made their hopeful journey to the capital…
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Narrative Poems: ‘Amours de Voyage’ by Arthur Hugh Clough
September 30, 2026 · 14 minIn 1848, Arthur Hugh Clough resigned his fellowship at Oxford after realising that he could no longer in good conscience teach the doctrines of the Anglican Church, as the job required. He immediately embarked on some European travel and…
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Nature in Crisis: ‘The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right’ by Alex Roberts and Sam Moore
September 20, 2026 · 16 min‘The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right’ is a different kind of book from the others Meehan and Peter have discussed so far in their series, even as their focus has shifted from biology to society. Its authors, Sam Moore…
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Who’s afraid of realism?: ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark
September 15, 2026 · 22 minWhen Muriel Spark describes the art teacher, Mr Lloyd, in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, she writes that ‘most wonderful of all, he had only one arm, the right, with which he painted’. The loss of an arm was hardly wonderful for Mr Lloyd…
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London Revisited: Coffee, Satire and Bubbles
September 7, 2026 · 24 minThe coffee served in London in the 1690s was notoriously unappetising, likened at the time to ‘burnt shoes and charcoal’. Nonetheless it was extremely popular, not least for the energy and locations it provided for two great booms in…
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Narrative Poems: ‘Childe Roland’ and ‘The Pied Piper’ by Robert Browning
August 31, 2026 · 18 min‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’ has baffled readers and critics ever since it was published in Men and Women in 1855. It baffled its author, too. It ‘came upon me as a kind of dream’, Browning recalled. ‘I had to write it then and…
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Nature in Crisis: ‘Lessons for Survival’ by Emily Raboteau
August 24, 2026 · 12 minOver the past twelve years, the walls and shop shutters of Upper Manhattan have been gradually filled by giant paintings of climate-threatened birds, inspired by the species depicted by the artist John James Audubon, who lived in the area…
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Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Pnin’ by Vladimir Nabokov
August 17, 2026 · 24 minIf Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day (1956) belongs firmly to postwar American realism, then Pnin (1957) certainly doesn’t. With its self-conscious fictionality and unreliable narrator, Nabokov’s novel is a model of postmodernism. Yet for all…
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London Revisited: Pepys, Plague and Fire
August 10, 2026 · 25 minThe restoration of the monarchy in 1660 brought a flurry of changes to London life. Women were allowed to appear on stage for the first time, the Royal Society was founded and the West End, with its squares, parks and fashionable ‘season’…
About the show
Close Readings is a multi-series podcast from the London Review of Books. Two contributors explore areas of literature through a selection of key works, providing an introductory grounding like no other. Listen to some episodes for free here, and extracts from our ongoing subscriber-only series.
How To Subscribe
In Apple Podcasts, click 'subscribe' at the top of this podcast feed to unlock the full episodes.
Or for other podcast apps, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadings
RUNNING IN 2026
'Who's afraid of realism?' with James Wood and guests
'Nature in Crisis' with Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith
'Narrative Poems' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford
'London Revisited' with Rosemary Hill and guests
Bonus Series: 'The Man Behind the Curtain' with Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones
ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION:
'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood
'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis
'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford
'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests
'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones
'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones
'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell
'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards
'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk