Banned Book Club
27 episodes - English - Latest episode: 12 months ago - ★★★★ - 18 ratingsWelcome to Banned Book Club where we believe that the most controversial books are often the best books. Join us as we dive into literature that has been good enough to raise the ire of governments, school-boards, and concerned parents all over the world. We hope that by the end of each episode you will agree with us on this point, if a book is banned its worth reading.
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Episodes
Fight club - How the movie cheats the book
April 21, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBA double dip fight club episode about the unfortunate differences between the movie and its source material. In this episode Rafi is replaced by Thomas, who is a person that knows much about movies. We discuss David Fincher, China, Paradise Lost, A Clockwork Orange, and sigma males — all within the context of Fight Club. Hold on to your fedora as we sail into the abyss. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores....
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk - Book Review
February 24, 2023 12:00 - 50 minutes - 34.9 MBIn this episode, we discuss one of the most iconic and thought-provoking novels of the 20th century. "Fight Club" follows an unnamed narrator as he struggles with insomnia and an unfulfilling job, eventually leading him to create an underground club where men can gather to fight. Palahniuk explores themes of masculinity, consumerism, and the search for identity in a society that often feels hollow and oppressive. Join us as we break the main rule of Fight Club… talking about Fight Club. Tim...
The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq _ Atomised - BOOK REVIEW
January 05, 2023 11:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBIn this episode, we discuss Atomised by Michel Houellebecq, who’s been called among other things — France’s greatest literary export, Enfant terrible, provocateur, and a jerk. The story follows half brothers Michel and Bruno, whose lives are sent on painful and seemingly dissimilar trajectories as consequence of their hippie mother’s neoliberal ideology. The book goes on to chart the evolution and spread of neoliberalism in western society, using the lives of Bruno and Michel to illustrate t...
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker - Book Review
October 28, 2022 10:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBIn this spooky halloween episode we review “The Hellbound Heart”, a 1980’s horror novella by Clive Barker. Barker is a banned author/painter/playwright, who’s been described by Stephen King as “the future of horror”. The Hellbound Heart makes it plain to see why — rendering demons, killers, and the prospect of unending torture in a terrifyingly vivid light. When Frank, a suave hedonist - opens the cursed Lemarchand configuration, he’s transported to a world where one experiences pain to a po...
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Book Review
October 20, 2022 10:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBIn this episode, we review “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert. Published in 1856 - the novel was deemed a threat to morality and caused Flaubert to face charges in the French court - because of the searingly detailed account it gives of protagonist Emma Bovary’s romantic affairs. But the book is anything but romantic - widely considered to be the first ‘modern novel’- Madame Bovary ushered in a new era in fiction by handling its controversial subject matter with a camera like neutrality. T...
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Book Review
October 20, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBIn this episode, we review “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert. Published in 1856 - the novel was deemed a threat to morality and caused Flaubert to face charges in the French court - because of the searingly detailed account it gives of protagonist Emma Bovary’s romantic affairs. But the book is anything but romantic - widely considered to be the first ‘modern novel’- Madame Bovary ushered in a new era in fiction by handling its controversial subject matter with a camera like neutrality. T...
Factotum by Charles Bukowski - BOOK REVIEW
May 03, 2022 10:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBThis episode centers around “Factotum”, written by the infamous and widely imitated Charles Bukowski. As the name implies, Factotum tells the story of a worker’s life, but Henry Chinaski (Bukowski’s self inspired antihero) is not your average worker— unless your idea of an average worker is someone who constantly drinks, fights, philanders, and writes poetry. Join us as we discuss Bukowski’s unique philosophy on work, women, and a system that’s apparently designed to keep the little guy down...
The Last Temptation Of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis BOOK REVIEW
April 05, 2022 11:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBIn this episode, we explore the expanded fictionalized version of Jesus’ life in Nikos Kazantakis “The Last Temptation of Christ”. This story follows the Bible loosely, using Kazantakis thoughts on what Christ must’ve felt before being crucified. It focuses mainly on his struggles of being human in every sense of the word dealing with earthly temptations such as fear, doubt, lust, violence, and reluctance. We explore this banned novel and decide whether or not it is as blasphemous as the Cat...
How This Short Story Can Make You A Better Writer
March 23, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 12.9 MBIn this episode, Nick takes you through Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Indian Camp” and explains how it can make you a better writer. The deceptively simple story embodies Hemingway’s iceberg theory - the idea that the weight of a good sentence lies under its surface. Indian camp explores themes like death, birth, maturity, and relationships, - getting great mileage out of very few words. If you liked or didn't like this episode, let us know. Leave us a comment and subscribe to our channel...
The Problem With Book Banning - Interview With Ryan Estrada | Co Author Of Banned Book Club
March 08, 2022 12:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBGet "Banned Book Club" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9781945820427 In this episode we're joined by Ryan Estrada - author of the Eisner nominated graphic novel “Banned Book Club” -Not a typo - the book just happens to have the same name as our channel. It also happens to be an exciting and timely book, exploring the dangers of censorship through the eyes of a young girl living under an oppressive political regime in Korea. We talk with...
Banned Book Club: Tropic Of Cancer by Henry Miller BOOK REVIEW
March 01, 2022 12:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBGet "Tropic Of Cancer" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780802131782 In this episode we tackle probably the most banned of the banned books we've covered so far - Henry Miller's infamous "Tropic of Cancer". It literally got people sent to jail. This one breaks every rule of polite society, and also every rule in the fiction writing handbook; no plot, no structure, mountains of adjectives, pages long plunges into intangibles, and overall...
Banned Book Club: MAUS by Art Spiegelman - REVIEW
February 22, 2022 15:00 - 24 minutes - 16.5 MBGet "MAUS" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780679406419 In this episode we examine ‘Maus’, the recently banned Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman. It tells the story of a son trying to reconnect with his father while the shadow of the Holocaust looms heavily in the background. By not hammering the inherent emotion of source material, ‘Maus’ inavedertantly becomes the most heart rending depiction of the Holocaust we’...
Banned Book Club: The Stranger by Albert Camus - REVIEW
February 01, 2022 12:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBGet "The Stranger" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780679720201 In this episode we investigate “The Stranger” - Albert Camus’ most famous and most controversial novel. The story, really a prolonged meditation on the death of meaning — follows Mersault - an unassuming businessman who’s passivity knows no bounds. But his apathetic approach to life quickly takes him to the edge of the law, of common morality, and of the society he’s born ...
Banned Book Club: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - Review
January 04, 2022 12:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MBGet "The Inferno" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780451531391 In this episode we cover "The Inferno" by Dante Alighieri; inestimably influential, highly controversial since its release in the 1400’s . . . it is after all about Hell, hell with a capital H. This first segment of the three part "comedia" follows Dante and his poetic guide, Virgil —through the nine circles of hell. Each circle corresponds to a particular sin, and gets pro...
Banned Book Club: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - Review
December 21, 2021 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBGet "The Hobbit" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/97805479... In this episode we investigate the grandfather of modern fantasy literature, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”— probably the most wholesome banned book we’ve covered! The story follows Bilbo, who’s convinced by a wizard to leave the sheltered comfort of his “hobbit hole” and reclaim a treasure guarded by the great dragon Smaug. Is this simply another rote exercise of “the hero’s j...
Banned Book Club: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - Review
December 07, 2021 11:00 - 48 minutes - 33.6 MBGet "American Psycho" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780679735779 In this episode we ‘dissect’ American Psycho, a divisive novel from one of America’s most transgressive authors - Brett Easton Ellis. Set in the era of 80’s excess, Psycho follows Patrick Bateman - a young high-powered business man who also happens to be a deranged serial murderer. This novel ignores plot and narrative structure in favor of aesthetics and social comment...
Banned Book Club: Dune by Frank Herbert
November 12, 2021 12:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBGet "Dune" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780441013593 This episode covers Frank Herbert’s “Dune”, the seminal sci-fi novel that inspired Star Wars and shaped the genre as we know it today. Dune follows young Paul Atreides as he ascends from destitution to the galactic throne. To do this he must navigate the hostile desert environment of Arrakis, as well as a precarious political landscape of feudal houses vying for control of the “sp...
Banned Book Club (Bonus): Dune by Frank Herbert
November 12, 2021 12:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBGet "Dune" by clicking the link below and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780441013593 This episode covers Frank Herbert’s “Dune”, the seminal sci-fi novel that inspired Star Wars and shaped the genre as we know it today. Dune follows young Paul Atreides as he ascends from destitution to the galactic throne. To do this he must navigate the hostile desert environment of Arrakis, as well as a precarious political landscape of feudal houses vying for control of the “sp...
BannedBookClub: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
November 02, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBGet "Lolita" by clicking the link bellow and support local book stores. https://bookshop.org/a/57229/9780679723165 In this episode, we cover Vladimir Nabokov's infamous novel “Lolita”. According to Vanity Fair, this book is considered to be “the only convincing love story of this century.” The novel is famous for its controversial subject: pedophilia. Humbert Humbert, the novel’s unreliable narrator and protagonist is obsessed with nymphets - specifically 12-year-old Dolores Haze, whom he n...
Banned Book Club: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
April 06, 2021 09:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBIn this episode we discuss “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, which tells the story of American literature’s most famous unreliable narrator Holden Caulfield. Is Holden just a whiny teenager? Or is he one of the most brilliant characters in modern fiction? Join us to find out. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores. Socially Conscious. Fast Shipping. Huge Selection. https://bookshop.org/shop/bannedbo...
Banned Book Club: Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski
March 02, 2021 06:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBIn this episode we discuss Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. This semi-autobiographical story centers around the childhood of Bukowski’s alter ego, Henry Chinaski. It is a coming of age story devoid of sunshine, rainbows, hugs, and moral platitudes. The book is filled instead with humor, action, and everyday madness. Join us as we explore this origin story of one of America’s greatest curmudgeons, if you have the stomach for it. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission ...
Banned Book Club (Bonus): The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
February 14, 2021 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBWhat better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a lovely novel about the death of all romance and meaning! Join us in this mini-sode, where we cover “The Rules of Attraction”, the second novel from one of America’s most controversial writers, Bret Easton Ellis. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores. Socially Conscious. Fast Shipping. Huge Selection. https://bookshop.org/shop/bannedbookclub If you li...
Banned Book Club: Perfume by Patrick Suskind
February 02, 2021 11:00 - 35 minutes - 24.7 MBIn this episode we discuss Patrick Süskind's Perfume, a murder mystery told primarily through the sense of smell. Join us as we venture into the beautiful and disturbing world of scent, in this truly unique banned book. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores. Socially Conscious. Fast Shipping. Huge Selection. https://bookshop.org/shop/bannedbookclub If you liked or didn't like this episode, let us know. Lea...
Banned Book Club: Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
January 05, 2021 11:00 - 39 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this episode we discuss 'less than zero' the debut novel from one of americas most controversial authors, Brett Easton Ellis. Join us as we stare into the abyss of the 80s L.A. party scene. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores. Socially Conscious. Fast Shipping. Huge Selection. https://bookshop.org/shop/bannedbookclub If you liked or didn't like this episode, let us know. Leave us a comment and subscri...
Banned Book Club: 1984 by George Orwell
December 08, 2020 11:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MBIn this episode we examine George Orwell’s relentlessly relevant 1984, the novel that defined the genre of dystopian fiction. In this story the machine of government is the ultimate power, capable of bending truths as fundamental as ‘2+2=4’. We investigate Orwell’s background, the book’s composition, and its parallels in modern life that hit a little too close to home. Every sale supports local bookstores. Bookshop is on a mission to financially support your local, independent bookstores. ...
Banned Book Club: Trailer
December 02, 2020 14:00 - 1 minute - 1010 KBWelcome to Banned Book Club where we believe that the most controversial books are often the best books. Join us as we dive into literature that has been good enough to raise the ire of governments, school-boards, and concerned parents all over the world. We hope that by the end of each episode you will agree with us on this point, if a book is banned its worth reading. Check out our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and everywhere else you get your podcasts from! If you ...
Ep.0_Trailer
November 26, 2020 14:00 - 1 minute - 1010 KBIf you liked or didn't like this episode , let us know. Leave us a review and follow us. Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram: @bannedbookclubpod Follow us on Facebook: @bannedbookclubpod BannedBookClubPodcast.com