Secret Life of Books

Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole
  • 4.9 (31)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Secret Life of Books
SECRET LIFE OF BOOKS CLUB

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Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides.The Secret Life of Books is a fascinating, addictive, often shocking, occasionally hilarious weekly podcast starring Sophie Gee, an English professor at Princeton University, and Jonty Claypole, formerly director of arts at the BBC. Every week these virtuoso critics and close friends take an iconic book and reveal the hidden story behind the story: who made it, their clandestine motives, the undeclared stakes, the scandalous backstory and above all the secret, mysterious meanings of books we thought we knew.-- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio: https://patreon.com/SecretLifeofBooks528?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkinsta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shorts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Happier with Henry Wotton: Gretchen Rubin on Aphorisms and the Importance of Being Oscar Wilde

    1D AGO

    Happier with Henry Wotton: Gretchen Rubin on Aphorisms and the Importance of Being Oscar Wilde

    Gretchen Rubin is one of America’s best known and best-loved writers on how to be happy. She published her evergreen classic The Happiness Project in 2009, and it was an instant hit. She’s followed it with many more books on the habits of happiness, and she’s also co-host of a hit podcast Happier, which she hosts with her sister, the writer Elizabeth Craft.   Today we’re talking about Gretchen’s take on Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde’s only novel, which is packed with sometimes brilliant and sometimes merely glib aphorisms and witticisms. We talk about why pithy sayings are so appealing, whether they are ever really true, and why Wilde was so obsessed with this kind of writing. A companion episode to episode 63 on the book itself.   Mentioned on this episode:   Gretchen Rubin: The Happiness Project, Life in Five Senses, Happier and Home and Secrets of Adulthood. Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft: Happier the podcast. Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    43 min
  2. That's Classic! James Bradley at Sydney Writers Festival

    2D AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    That's Classic! James Bradley at Sydney Writers Festival

    That's Classic! is a bonus series for subscribers only. Sophie and Jonty recorded this episode with Australian writer James Bradley, award-winning author of the international non-fiction hit "Deep Water," and the new novel "Landfall," backstage at the Sydney Writers Festival May 2025. More episodes in the series coming your way on Friday over the next several weeks.

    18 min
  3. Oscar Wilde 2: If Looks Could Kill: The Picture of Dorian Gray

    4D AGO

    Oscar Wilde 2: If Looks Could Kill: The Picture of Dorian Gray

    The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel, and it caused a sensation. It was used as evidence in Wilde’s trial for the crime of “gross indecency” in 1895. The conceit of the story is famous – a portrait grows old and corrupt while its human subject remains eternally youthful. But who knows what really happens in this famous modern myth? Sophie and Jonty talk about the influence of Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Jonty throws around some exciting legal phrases like the Criminal Law Amendment Act. There’s plenty of discussion of Wilde’s personal obsession with home interiors, as well as a debate about why Wilde is so indebted to Dickens when he’s always going on about his contempt for matters of morality. Find out how a novel that is quintessentially about London is also about Wilde’s Irish identity, and what kind of wallpaper Oscar Wilde had in his student digs at Oxford. As the arch-aphorist and aesthetic rogue Henry Wotton would say, this podcast episode “has all the surprise of candour,” so find out what really happens in this legendary modern myth.   Books referenced or mentioned in this episode: Oscar Wilde: A LIfe (2021) by Matthew Sturgis Sodomy on the Thames: Sex, Love and Scandal in Wilde Times (2012) by Morris B Kaplan Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” and “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” (1889) Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1838) Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864); Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870); Around the World in Eighty Days (1872) Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897) H.G. Wells The Time Machine (1895) War of the Worlds (1898) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 21m
  4. That's Classic! with Ferdia Lennon, writer of the hit debut "Glorious Exploits"

    MAY 29 · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    That's Classic! with Ferdia Lennon, writer of the hit debut "Glorious Exploits"

    A new bonus series for subscribers only, Sophie and Jonty record backstage at the Sydney Writers Festival May 2025. That's Classic! is a series of chats with popular and bestselling writers about their own favorite classics.

    15 min
  5. Classic Books vs Trump: Jill Lepore on reading her way through the first 100 days

    MAY 27

    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.

    26 min
  6. Oscar Wilde 1: The Happy Prince and Other Stories

    MAY 20

    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 Sturgis Alice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll  Children’s and Household Tales (1812) by the Brothers Grimm Doctor Faustus (c.1594) Christopher Marlowe Patience (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 Pater Social Life in Greece (1874) by John Pentland Mahaffy David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens  Hard Times (1854) by Charles Dickens Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 15m
  7. BONUS: More 'Rivals': Actor Katherine Parkinson on the joy of Jilly Cooper and playing Lizzie Vereker in the television adaptation

    MAY 16

    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.

    41 min
  8. Bollinger, Board Battles and Bonking Galore: Jilly Cooper's Rivals

    MAY 13

    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 Powell Barchester Towers (1857) by Anthony Trollope  Possession (1990) by AS Byatt Oscar and Lucinda (1988) by Peter Carey Bilgewater (1977) by Jane Gardam  Middlemarch (1872) by George Eliot Cocktail (1988) screenplay by Heywood Gould Lady in Red (1986) by Chris de Burgh Valley of the dolls (1966) by Jacqueline Susann The Bitch (1979) by Jackie Collins  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    58 min
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Trailer

4.9
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides.The Secret Life of Books is a fascinating, addictive, often shocking, occasionally hilarious weekly podcast starring Sophie Gee, an English professor at Princeton University, and Jonty Claypole, formerly director of arts at the BBC. Every week these virtuoso critics and close friends take an iconic book and reveal the hidden story behind the story: who made it, their clandestine motives, the undeclared stakes, the scandalous backstory and above all the secret, mysterious meanings of books we thought we knew.-- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio: https://patreon.com/SecretLifeofBooks528?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkinsta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shorts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Secret Life of Books
  • Show Website
    Secret Life of Books
  • Provider
    Sophie Gee

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