Marlon and Jake Read Dead People

The Most Important Character Isn’t a Character

Marlon and Jake explore the power of setting in novels—and why the best stories feel like they couldn’t have happened anywhere else. They discuss settings that become characters in their own right, fictional worlds they’d love (or absolutely hate) to inhabit, and books that made unexpected places fascinating. Plus: why a modern-day Captain Nemo might just be a tech bro. Amerika by Franz Kafka Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall Moby-Dick by Herman Melville Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake Dubliners by James Joyce The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow A Room with a View by E. M. Forster Macbeth by William Shakespeare Dune by Frank Herbert The Last Man by Mary Shelley Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This Got More Personal Than We Expected

Marlon and Jake explore the books that have helped define who they are, choosing four that capture different parts of their personalities and lives. They unpack how reading can shape our understanding of identity, community, and growing up—and change the way we see ourselves and each other. Tune in as they reflect on books they encountered at exactly the right (or wrong) time and the stories that made the world around them feel a little bigger. Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper. Amadeus by Peter Shaffer Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer The Lion in Winter by James Goldman The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf The Red and the Black by Stendhal The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin The Aspern Papers by Henry James Persuasion by Jane Austen A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange Sula by Toni Morrison The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley

Why Does Great Literature Have Such Bad Sex?

Marlon and Jake dive into one of literature's trickiest subjects: sex. Why do some writers capture intimacy with honesty while others veer into the unintentionally hilarious? Along the way, they discuss why writing about sex is really writing about people, the differences between American and French attitudes toward sexuality in fiction, ghost stories as a vehicle for taboo desires, and the delicate balance between telling the truth and keeping readers engaged. Tune in for a conversation about why the best writing on sex is rarely just about sex. Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth  “The Diamond Mine” by Nadine Gordimer The Late Bourgeois World by Nadine Gordimer Death of Venice by Thomas Mann The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet Maurice by E. M. Forster The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Ernesto by Umberto Saba Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller London Fields by Martin Amis The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown G. by John Berger  Flashman series Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel The Godfather by Mario Puzo Jaws by Peter Benchley

Writers We'll Never Read Again (Sorry, Faulkner)

Marlon and Jake tackle the writers they have no interest in revisiting, asking when it's worth giving a beloved (or notorious) author another chance and when it's perfectly fine to walk away for good. Tune in as they debate literary canon, books that simply aren't for them, the difference between a difficult author and a difficult book, and why sometimes the most honest review is, "Nobody needs to go back to that" Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper. The Executioner series by Don Pendleton Hotel by Arthur Hailey Airport by Arthur Hailey Wheels by Arthur Hailey The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey Advise and Consent by Allen Drury Shōgun by James Clavell Tai-Pan by James Clavell King Rat by James Clavell Whirlwind by James Clavell Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson Light in August by William Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Pylon by William Faulkner In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote Answered Prayers by Truman Capote “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” by Eudora Welty The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy The Return of a Native by Thomas Hardy The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing Children of Violence series by Doris Lessing Pentimento by Lillian Hellman Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman An Unfinished Woman by Lillian Hellman The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara Butterfield 8 by John O’Hara A Rage to Live by John O’Hara Sophie’s Choice by William Styron Grendel by John Gardner October Light by John Gardner The Art of Fiction by John Gardner On Moral Fiction by John Gardner The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Giant by Edna Ferber Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman Once Is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann Burr by Gore Vidal The Godfather by Mario Puzo In the Hand of Dante by Nick Tosches Delina Delaney by Amanda McKittrick Ros Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Stuart Little by E. B. White The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews Jaws by Peter Benchley

Is Jane Eyre Okay?

Marlon and Jake explore why we're so eager to revisit the worlds of our favorite stories, asking whether great characters are better left where their authors left them—or if there's value in imagining what came before or after. Tune in as they unpack the appeal of sequels, the pitfalls of origin stories, and why some fictional worlds are more powerful when they remain a mystery. Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletter A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes Lord of the Flies by William Golding Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser Mansfield Park by Jane Austen To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Lost Horizon by James Hilton Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Little Men by Louisa May Alcott David Copperfield by Charles Dickens The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker The Tempest by William Shakespeare