Tea or Books?
128 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 79 ratingsSimon (Stuck in a Book) and Rachel (Book Snob) debate the difficult decisions of books and reading.
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Episodes
Tea or Books? #28: scary vs not scary, and The Home-Maker vs The Victorian Chaise-Longue
November 10, 2016 22:42 - 48 MBTwo Persephone titles will help solace us in these bizarre post-election days. We’ve been away for a while because I lost my voice – sorry! – but Rachel (Book Snob) and I are back, talking about The Victorian Chaise-Longue by
Tea or Books? #27: cats vs dogs in literature, and Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward vs The Dover Road by A.A. Milne
October 18, 2016 13:53 - 47 MBCats! Dogs! Noel Coward! A.A. Milne! I always start off these descriptions with exclamation marks, but seldom has it been more justified… In this episode, we pit literary cats against literary dogs, and almost instantly regret it (while also
Tea or Books? #26: give up vs soldier on, and Matilda by Roald Dahl vs Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
September 27, 2016 21:41 - 44.1 MBRoald Dahl, Michelle Magorian, and whether or not to give up on books – I’m back from holiday, and Rachel and I have a lovely new (…long) episode of Tea or Books? In our first half, we discuss whether
Tea or Books? #25: to adapt or not to adapt, and To The North vs The House in Paris
September 12, 2016 21:16 - 49.5 MBElizabeth Bowen and novels adapted into films – though not in conjunction… In the first half of this podcast, we discuss novels adapted into films – and whether or not we would like our favourite novels to be adapted
Tea or Books? #24: careful or manhandle, and The Love-Child vs Lolly Willowes
August 25, 2016 21:17 - 47.4 MBI have forced two topics on Rachel – firstly, are you careful with books, or do you manhandle them? (It will all make sense in context.) And then two books that were lynch pins of my doctoral thesis – The
Tea or Books? #23: keep or cull, and They Came Like Swallows vs Time Will Darken It
August 03, 2016 19:57 - 44.7 MBTwo William Maxwell novels go up against each other in this episode – but not before we’ve got to the heart of the emotional issue of whether to keep books or cull books. (Obviously we don’t want to cull
Tea or Books? #22: set in the time vs written in the time, and 84, Charing Cross Road vs Howards End is on the Landing
July 18, 2016 20:54 - 49.4 MBHistorical fiction and books-about-books are the themes for episode 22 of Tea or Books? – and we have a LOT to say on these topics. And we hope you do too! Let us know your thoughts for each category. And
Tea or Books? #21: children narrators vs adult narrators, and Shakespeare comedies vs tragedies
July 06, 2016 06:19 - 47.3 MBShakespeare! That’s right, we’re getting very classy and/or GCSE English in our discussion of his comedies and tragedies – following a fairly haphazard chat about child narrators vs adult narrators. This is what happens when Rachel only tells me
Tea or Books? #20: first vs third person and Cider With Rosie vs My Family and Other Animals
June 21, 2016 20:12 - 49.5 MBHappy birthday us! We actually passed our birthday by a couple of weeks, but this is the first podcast after the big day. Can you believe it’s been a whole year? And it might be our longest episode yet.
Tea or Books? #19: summer vs winter and The Night Watch vs The Little Stranger
June 06, 2016 05:34 - 40.1 MBSarah Waters and the seasons – how better to celebrate the sunny weather we’ve been having recently? In episode 19 we look at summer and winter in books (and get tangled in what that could mean) and then talk
Tea or Books? #18: titles: fancy or simple? and Hercule Poirot vs Miss Marple
May 23, 2016 06:10 - 45.5 MBAgatha Christie and curious titles come together in perhaps my favourite episode of the podcast yet. And also the first one where we’re both in our 30s, guys. And also one of our most bizarre. In the first half, we look at
Tea or Books? #17: diaries vs letters and The Importance of Being Earnest vs The Picture of Dorian Gray
May 12, 2016 05:49 - 44.6 MBLetters! Diaries! Oscar Wilde! We’ve got it all – well, those three things – in episode 17 of Tea or Books?, which has taken a bit of time to arrive, for which I apologise. But we are as rambling
Tea or Books? #16: series vs standalones and Winnie the Pooh vs The Wind in the Willows
April 19, 2016 06:32 - 42.6 MBWinnie-the-Pooh vs Wind in the Willows is perhaps the most animal-strewn debate we’ve had so far, as well as being more or less inevitable that we’d get to this one eventually – especially given my tendencies to shoe-horn A.A.
Tea or Books? #15: plays vs poetry, and Rebecca vs My Cousin Rachel
April 05, 2016 22:00 - 47.1 MBPlays or poetry? We go broad with the first half of our 15th episode, and (inevitably) barely scratch the surface. You wouldn’t have it any other way, right? In the second half, we pit two much-loved novels by Daphne
Tea or Books? #14: reprints vs original editions, and The Time Traveller’s Wife vs Her Fearful Symmetry
March 21, 2016 05:20 - 37.7 MBReprints or original editions? That’s the first question we ask ourselves, courtesy of Michelle of Book Musings, and have a lot of fun discussing it. In the second half of the episode we get uncharacteristically modern – pitting two
Tea or Books? #13: villainous vs virtuous, and One Fine Day vs London War Notes
March 08, 2016 22:27 - 33.6 MBVillains or virtuous folk? No, not describing your hosts Rachel (Book Snob) and me, but enquiring into our favourite types of characters. In the second half, we look at two books by Mollie Panter-Downes: One Fine Day and London War Notes,
Tea or Books? #12: happy vs sad endings, and Elizabeth and Her German Garden vs The Enchanted April
February 15, 2016 06:31 - 36.8 MBHappy endings? Sad endings? And a couple of Elizabeth von Arnim novels – we have a fun, albeit somewhat sickly episode. It makes me think of my favourite, my-missed sitcom Happy Endings, but we’re actually talking about whether we prefer
Tea or Books? #11: ebooks vs books and Nancy Mitford vs Evelyn Waugh
February 03, 2016 22:54 - 36.1 MBEbooks! Books! Nancy Mitford! Evelyn Waugh! We’ve got it all for you in episode 11, as we turn our attention to the well-worn path of ebooks vs paper books/tree books/real books (whatever you want to call them) and to
Tea or Books? #10: Reading Resolutions, yes or no? and Barbara Pym vs Elizabeth Taylor
January 18, 2016 22:58 - 34.6 MB‘Tea or Books?’ is back for the new year – and it starts pretty shambolically, as we can’t remember the episode number. Once that is sorted out, we discuss whether or not we set New Year’s Reading Resolutions,
Tea or Books? #9: buy or borrow and Christmas books: yes or no?
December 19, 2015 17:32 - 35.2 MBWelcome to a festive edition of ‘Tea or Books?’ (and another one where I forgot to close my bedroom window when recording) – Rachel (Book Snob) and I discuss buying vs borrowing and whether or not we read specifically
Tea or Books? #8: biography vs autobiography and I Capture the Castle vs Guard Your Daughters
December 02, 2015 20:53 - 44.5 MBIn this episode Dodie Smith’s much-loved I Capture the Castle goes up against Diana Tutton’s lesser-known Guard Your Daughters, and we debate the merits of biographies and autobiographies. Somewhat to my surprise, we didn’t actually end up talking about all that
Tea or Books? #7: Persephone vs. Virago & To The Lighthouse vs. A Room of One’s Own
November 16, 2015 23:11 - 44 MBRachel and I are pitting our favourite publishers against each other in this (belated!) episode – Persephone vs Virago Modern Classics. We definitely want to keep both of them, of course, but had fun talking about our faves and a
Tea or Books? #6: mothers vs fathers in fiction and Dickens on page vs screen
October 13, 2015 05:45 - 38.3 MBFictional mothers vs fictional fathers and Dickens on the page vs Dickens on screen in this episode of Tea or Books? – and I think Rachel and I are at our most rambling. What can I say, we had a lot
Tea or Books? #5: rural vs urban settings and Pride & Prejudice vs Sense & Sensibility
September 29, 2015 05:23 - 38.6 MBIt’s been an enormous delay, because of internet issues, but – we’re back! In this episode, Rachel (Book Snob) and I debate rural vs urban settings in novels, then have a Jane Austen battle between Pride and Prejudice against Sense and Sensibility. We
Tea or Books? #4: American classics vs. British classics and Enid Blyton vs. E. Nesbit
July 28, 2015 22:29 - 37.1 MBIn this week’s episode, Rachel (Book Snob) and I get waaay out of our depth talking about American classics and British classics, then back onto more secure ground in debating Enid Blyton vs. E. Nesbit. (I stupidly forgot to close my
Tea or Books? #3: re-reading vs. new books, and D.E. Stevenson vs. Dorothy Whipple
July 12, 2015 21:46 - 41.3 MBA little later than we planned (which is probably a good indication of how unreliable we’re going to be… but I hope not!) here is episode 3 of Tea or Books? with lovely Rachel of Book Snob. In this
Tea or Books? #2: long vs. short books, and The Catcher in the Rye vs. The Go-Between
June 23, 2015 16:49 - 44.5 MBWelcome to the second episode of our podcast! In this episode, Rachel and I are discussing long books vs. short books and The Catcher in the Rye vs. The Go-Between. Buckle up; it’s a long episode. We certainly loved having our chat.
Tea or Books? #1: books in translation vs. books set in other countries, and Emily vs. Charlotte Brontë
June 08, 2015 18:32 - 37.4 MBThe first episode of Tea or Books? looks at books in translation vs. books set in other countries, and Emily vs. Charlotte Brontë