Secret Life of Books

• Classic Books vs Trump: Jill Lepore on reading her way through the first 100 days

  Jill Lepore is one of America’s most renowned intellectuals. She’s Professor not only of American History, but also of Law at Harvard University; she's a staff writer at the New Yorker, and still finds time to write some of the most renowned history books of the 21st Century, including the magisterial and monumental These Truths: A History of the United States, the brilliant Secret History of Wonder Woman and Sophie’s personal favourite, a history of King Phillip’s War and the origins of American identity.For the first 100 days of the new US presidency, Jill Lepore turned to the classics-- the Penguin Little Black Classics to be exact. In these miniature volumes of great writing, Jill found the imaginative intelligence, resilience and sense of ordinary pleasures she needed to abide with what's going on across America -- and at Harvard specifically -- as a result of Trump's turbulent regime. Listen and learn how the classics reconnect us with deep truths that we might "hold to be self-evident," but which have so often been under threat across human history.Books mentioned in this episode and published in Penguin Little Black Classics:The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio (~1350)"As Kingfishers Catch Fire," Gerard Manley Hopkins (1877)Anon. The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue (late 13C)Wailing Ghosts, Pu Songling (c.1640)"A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift (1727)Tang Dynasty Poets (c8C)"On the Beach at Night Alone," Walt Whitman (1856)A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees, Kenko (13C)"The Eve of St Agnes," John Keats (1819)"Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls," Marco Polo (c1300)"Caligula," Suetonius (121 CE)"Olalla," Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848)"Trimalchio's Feast", Petronius (c.60 CE)Inferno, Dante (14C)"The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," Geoffrey Chaucer (c1390)Essais, Michel de Montaigne (1580)"The Beautifull Cassandra," Jane Austen (1788)Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey"The Maldive Shark," Herman Melville (1888)Socrates’ Defence, Plato (399 BCE)"Goblin Market," Christina Rossetti (1862) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Oscar Wilde 1: The Happy Prince and Other Stories

  Few writers have blurred the boundaries between life and art quite so spectacularly as Oscar Wilde. In his writing, he challenged the moral standards of the time, advocated for Irish Nationalism and demanded tolerance of homosexuality. He wrote about decadence and the corruption of youth before going out in a fireball of scandal of his own making, his reputation shattered in the infamous trial that followed. So, was Oscar Wilde the great genius of his day or just a rather talented man with a knack for publicity? Was he a martyr in the history of gay activism, or just a self-absorbed pain in the arse? These are just some of the questions Sophie and Jonty are asking in the first of a four part series on Oscar Wilde. In this first episode, they look at his early years and how cultural and political movements of the time shaped his first great work - the seemingly timeless fairy-tales of The Happy Prince and Other Stories. Into these stories, Wilde condensed years of scholarship, literary criticism and the development of a personal aesthetic and philosophy. It is a short book and deceptively simple because these stories - like all the best fairytales - conceal deeper truths about human experience. Most importantly, through them Wilde found his voice as a writer, unleashing the extraordinary creative outpouring of the following ten years. Texts referred to: Oscar: A Life (2018) by Matthew SturgisAlice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll Children’s and Household Tales (1812) by the Brothers GrimmDoctor Faustus (c.1594) Christopher MarlowePatience (1881) by Gilbert and Sullivan (extract from 1961 recording with John Reed) Study of the Greek Poets (1873) by JA Symonds Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) by Walter PaterSocial Life in Greece (1874) by John Pentland MahaffyDavid Copperfield (1850) by Charles DickensA Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens Hard Times (1854) by Charles DickensDracula (1897) by Bram Stoker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• BONUS: More 'Rivals': Actor Katherine Parkinson on the joy of Jilly Cooper and playing Lizzie Vereker in the television adaptation

  Hot on the heels of our Rivals episode, Sophie and Jonty are joined by the actor and writer Katherine Parkinson - one of the stars of the recent adaptation for television. Katherine talks about playing Lizzie Vereker, wife of the ghastly James Vereker, and the satisfaction she finds in her characters's affair with Freddie Jones; why Jilly Cooper is the Jane Austen of the modern age; and why champagne is more than an optional extra when it comes to sex on screen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Bollinger, Board Battles and Bonking Galore: Jilly Cooper's Rivals

  Jilly Cooper’s Rivals (1988) is the ultimate bonkbuster - a story of professional rivalry in the Cotswold’s fast-set with lashings of sex thrown in. It follows a wide cast of characters as they jostle for power, conduct affairs with one another’s spouses, eat terrible 1980s food and listen endlessly to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red. Rivals was marketed as an airport book back in the day, but beneath the brash cover is a sophisticated story that draws in surprising ways from classic literature to create what is now considered to be a modern classic. Sophie and Jonty why they are so drawn to Rivals, what we can learn about the 1980s from reading it today, and the ways in which it engages with a wide range of literary influences, including Austen, Trollope and Yeats, but also Valley of the Dolls and the works of Jackie Collins and Danielle Steele. BOOKS DISCUSSED/ALLUDED TO: Rivals (1988) by Jilly Cooper Mansfield Park (1814) by Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen The Wind Among the Reeds (1899) by WB Yeats A Dance to the Music of Time (1951-1975) by Anthony PowellBarchester Towers (1857) by Anthony Trollope Possession (1990) by AS ByattOscar and Lucinda (1988) by Peter CareyBilgewater (1977) by Jane Gardam Middlemarch (1872) by George EliotCocktail (1988) screenplay by Heywood GouldLady in Red (1986) by Chris de BurghValley of the dolls (1966) by Jacqueline SusannThe Bitch (1979) by Jackie Collins Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Epic of Gilgamesh with Robert Macfarlane

  The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of literature - an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, stitched together from fragments going back as far as 2100BCE. It tells the story of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, his friendship with the wild man Enkidu, and his attempts to come to terms with his own mortality. Although incomplete, the essence of the story - and many passages - are preserved thanks to the work of dedicated Assyriologists past and present. To discuss this extraordinary work, Sophie and Jonty are joined by Robert Macfarlane, author of The Wild Places (2007), The Old Ways (2012), Underland (2019) and now Is A River Alive? (2025). Rob has been obsessed with Gilgamesh for many years - what it has to tell us about humanity and the environment. BOOKS REFERRED TO:The Epic of Gilgamesh (1999) translated by Andrew George Gilgamesh: A New English Version (2004) by Stephen Mitchell Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic (2021) by Sophus HelleWe Have Never Been Modern (1991) by Bruno Latour Camera Lucida (1981) by Roland Barthes Civilization and its Discontents (1930) by Sigmund Freud The Country and the City (1973) by Raymond Williams People of the River (2021) by Grace Karskens Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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