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Sophomore Lit

by John McCoy
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Latest episodes

  • Dorothy Parker Stories

    October 13, 2026 · 59 min

    Beauty is only skin deep, but podcasts go clean to the bone. Shaenon K. Garrity discusses four short stories by Dorothy Parker. Host John McCoy with Shaenon K. Garrity.

  • Tennyson Poems

    September 23, 2026 · 51 min

    I cannot rest from podcasting. Jill Hoffman returns to discuss three poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854), “Lady of Shalott” (1832, 1842), and “Ulysses” (1833). Host John McCoy with Jill Hoffman.

  • Choose Your Own Adventures

    August 26, 2026 · 47 min

    What’s life without choices? How about books that are nothing but choices? Ross Cleaver discusses the choose-your-own genre with examples from both the U.S. and the U.K.: Edward Packard’s The Cave of Time (1978) and Ian Livingstone and…

  • Poe and Doyle: Dupin vs. Holmes

    August 5, 2026 · 58 min

    Which detective is better, Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes? I mean it’s obviously Holmes but that won’t stop Jacob Haller discussing two genre defining stories, Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”…

  • Hamlet

    July 14, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

    There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our podcasts. First-time co-host Tim Read discusses William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, Hamlet (c. 1600). Host John McCoy with Tim Read.

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  • Asterix and Cleopatra

    June 8, 2026 · 53 min

    Zut alors! Ross Cleaver returns to discuss the totally historically accurate Asterix and Cleopatra (Astérix et Cléopâtre) by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (serialized starting in 1963). Host John McCoy with Ross Cleaver.

  • The Wheel on the School

    May 20, 2026 · 45 min

    Storkin’ it up! First-time co-host Jill Hoffman discusses Meindert De Jong’s Newbury-winning book, The Wheel on the School (1954). Host John McCoy with Jill Hoffman.

  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

    May 1, 2026 · 35 min

    Jelani Sims returns to talk about Mildred D. Taylor’s heartbreaking Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1977). Host John McCoy with Jelani Sims.

  • Archy and Mehitabel

    April 15, 2026 · 46 min

    boss these podcasts are getting out of hand the other day i heard dan mccoy and his much older brother discussing archy and mehitabel by which i mean the column by don marquis that started in 1916 and then was collected into a book if you…

  • The Apology

    March 26, 2026 · 50 min

    Love of wisdom means never having to say you’re sorry. Professor Marina McCoy joins her husband to discuss Plato’s The Apology (c. 399-90 BCE). Host John McCoy with Marina McCoy.

  • "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman

    February 26, 2026 · 43 min

    First-time co-host Daniel Heddendorf joins in to discuss clocks and jellybeans in Harlan Ellison’s short story, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965). Host John McCoy with Daniel Heddendorf.

  • The Third Policeman

    February 13, 2026 · 57 min

    I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Flan O’Brien’s enigmatic The Third Policeman (written 1940, published 1967). Host John McCoy with Shaenon K. Garrity.

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

John McCoy and a guest host read books you might have been assigned in high school, or college, or other stuff you might have read when you were a kid. The theming is loose!