Close Readings podcast

Close Readings

Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription 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 2025: '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 ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: '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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription 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 2025: '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 ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: '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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 

#174

Novel Approaches: ‘Kidnapped’ by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped began life serialised in a children’s magazine, but its... more

03 Nov 2025

17 MINS

17:06

03 Nov 2025


#173

Novel Approaches: ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ by Henry James

In The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James borrows from Eliot, Austen, folktales and potboiler... more

05 Oct 2025

14 MINS

14:38

05 Oct 2025


#172

Novel Approaches: ‘The Last Chronicle of Barset’ by Anthony Trollope

Trollope enthusiasts Tom Crewe and Dinah Birch say they could have chosen any one of his 4... more

07 Sep 2025

17 MINS

17:07

07 Sep 2025


#171

Novel Approaches: 'Our Mutual Friend' by Charles Dickens

'Our Mutual Friend' was Dickens’s last completed novel, published in serial form in 1864-6... more

11 Aug 2025

18 MINS

18:12

11 Aug 2025


#170

Novel Approaches: ‘The Mill on the Floss’ by George Eliot

The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot’s most autobiographical novel, and the first she pub... more

14 Jul 2025

17 MINS

17:34

14 Jul 2025


#169

Novel Approaches: 'Aurora Leigh' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

‘I want to write a poem of a new class — a Don Juan, without the mockery and impurity,’ El... more

16 Jun 2025

18 MINS

18:40

16 Jun 2025


#168

Novel Approaches: ‘North and South’ by Elizabeth Gaskell

In North and South (1855), Margaret Hale is uprooted from her sleepy New Forest town and m... more

19 May 2025

25 MINS

25:49

19 May 2025


#167

Novel Approaches: 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray

Thackeray's comic masterpiece, Vanity Fair, is a Victorian novel looking back to Regency E... more

21 Apr 2025

33 MINS

33:37

21 Apr 2025


#166

Novel Approaches: ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë

When Wuthering Heights was published in December 1847, many readers didn’t know what to ma... more

24 Mar 2025

27 MINS

27:23

24 Mar 2025


#165

Novel Approaches: 'Crotchet Castle' by Thomas Love Peacock

Thomas Love Peacock didn’t want to write novels, at least not in the form they had taken i... more

24 Feb 2025

36 MINS

36:57

24 Feb 2025


#164

Novel Approaches: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen

On one level, Mansfield Park is a fairytale transposed to the 19th century: Fanny Price is... more

28 Jan 2025

32 MINS

32:38

28 Jan 2025


#163

Introducing ‘Novel Approaches’

Clare Bucknell and Thomas Jones introduce their new Close Readings series, Novel Approache... more

05 Jan 2025

08 MINS

08:42

05 Jan 2025


#162

Love and Death: Elegies for Poets by Auden, Arnold and Schuyler

When poets elegise other poets, the results are often more about self-scrutiny and analysi... more

27 Oct 2025

15 MINS

15:01

27 Oct 2025


#161

Love and Death: 'Surge' by Jay Bernard and 'In Nearby Bushes' by Kei Miller

Jay Bernard’s 'Surge' and Kei Miller’s 'In Nearby Bushes', both published in 2019, address... more

29 Sep 2025

16 MINS

16:07

29 Sep 2025