Happy belated International Women's Day! Enjoy Aristophanes's sex strike farce (and possibly the randiest text we've covered), 'Lysistrata' (411 BCE). We notice a dildo discrepancy, get a surprise visit from wee Donalbain, and get a LOT of translation help. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Some of you guessed correctly: For our International Women's Day episode, we'll be joining the ladies of ancient Greece on a sex strike with Aristophanes's incredibly horny comedy, 'Lysistrata' (411BC). Episode drops 11 March. Milesian dildoes at the ready!

The big play-on-words in our last text's title ('Much Ado About Nothing') is that there's an awful lot of fuss over a vagina The same is true of our NEXT text--also a play--which will drop around International Women's Day. What are we reading?

Happy Valentine's Day! If you like Beatrice and Benedick's schtick in 'Much Ado', you'll love Abby and Daniel's combative barbs. We fight about D's bad attitude, endless fart jokes, & odd directorial decisions. Let's eat HIS heart in the marketplace! Yum yum yum! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

TOMORROW, tomorrow, and tomorrow: our coverage of 'Much Ado About Nothing' comes out - including yet more dramaturgical insights.

Everyone guessed correctly! Our Valentine's Day text (replete with argument kinks, very loud balcony sex, and a whiplash-inducing strangers-to-fiancees-to-exes-to-spouses relationship) is William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Every single one of these perverts needs to GET IT TOGETHER.

It's time to guess the clue to our next episode (our Valentine's Day text--so you know it probably has *something* to do with love, marriage, and/or sex). While our next text is an unambiguous classic, an essential part of the canon ... we don't see what all the fuss is about. What are we reading?

Welcome to Season 7! Let's kick off a year of fan favourites and camp classics with our trashiest novel yet: Gaston Leroux's 1910 'Phantom of the Opera'. Abby has the time of her life, Daniel is checked out, and our new imaginary producer, Diane, keeps us on task. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

TOMORROW: If you thought 2026 already couldn't get any worse, our new series starts with Gaston Leroux's thoroughly stupid 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1910) - a rare example of a novel that's *more* incoherent and histrionic than its musical adaptation.

You guessed right! Season 7 (on camp classics and fan favourites) starts with Gaston Leroux's 1910 melodrama, 'The Phantom of the Opera'. And if you think the stage show is OTT, has an insufferable Raoul, and nonsensical plot points...then, babygirl, you better gird your loins for the original text.

Happy New Year, Shelfers! Time to guess the clue to our next episode. In S6, we saw an awful lot of attractive characters. The Duchess of Malfi, Emma Bovary, Molly Bloom, everyone in Streetcar and Fanny Hill, etc. But uggos need love, too! So for our S7 opener, I want to read about a real munter.

In our final banned book episode, we celebrate (?) Christmas with the inappropriately summery (but sufficiently maudlin) 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852). Turns out, everything we knew about this book we learned from 'The King and I' and was therefore wildly incorrect! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

We come out all guns blazing for our Christmas episode, and the final instalment of our banned books series, with Harriet Beecher Stowe's Civil War-causing/-winning 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852) - what's more, it's crammed with sizzling Quakers... Out on Wednesday!

We had a few correct guesses! Our Christmas text, which is overly sentimental and OBSESSED with Heaven, is Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852). Get ready for some vom-inducing emotional manipulation on 17 December!

Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...

Time to guess the clue to our next (Christmas!) episode. We've spent a lot of time IN Heaven on this show (Paradise Lost, Dante's Divine Comedy, etc). But I want a text that talks about Heaven even more than that. Improbably more. Exhaustingly more. Melodramatically more. What are we reading?

Happy (early) Thanksgiving, Shelfers! Don't pull a spear on or chuck a boulder at a relative. Not unless they *really* deserve it. More importantly, Happy International Men's Day: no girls allowed in our episode on William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' (1954). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

It's human nature to be a snotty private schoolboy - or so William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' (1954) tells us - and we got into the spirit of this message with plenty of quibbling over pronunciation. Episode out on Wednesday! 'One fly to rule them all, one fly to find them' etc.

Some of you guessed our clue correctly: For International Men's Day (19 November), we will be release the most laddish book we've ever read on the show: William Golding's 1954 anti-colonialist schoolboy castaway narrative, 'Lord of the Flies'. No girls allowed, and 'Sucks to your Auntie!'

Happy Halloween, Shelfers! We receive the ultimate honour (and Abby has been able to scratch this off her bucket list): a listener went as not one, but BOTH hosts for Halloween this year. Posted here with permission. Apologies that we don't have their socials--please tag yourself if this is you!

It's time to guess the clue to our next episode, which will be released on International Men's Day (19 November). For this episode, we don't want to hear a woman in our text. We don't even want to SEE a woman. And turns out, neither do any of the male characters. What are we reading?

When you're going through hell, just keep going. Or so says The Divine Comedy! Join us (and medieval heresy expert Justine) to discuss Dante (Caesar fanboy, civil engineering girlie, cringe bisxeual), and to hear Daniel's increasing anger over Abby's chosen circle. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

For our spoooooky Halloween text, we will recap Dante's Divine Comedy (major focus on the 'Inferno' section). And to help us do this, we will be joined by medieval heresy historian (and Abby's best friend/Daniel's enemy), Justine! Tune in 15 Oct. for Dante's embarrassing self-insert Bible fanfic.

We've had a lot of guesses about our clue to the next episode (a text that's both hotter than 'Fahrenheit 451' and also ice cold), but no one has come close to getting it right. Another clue: After a long hiatus, the hosts will be joined by Abby's best friend, and MEDIEVAL SCHOLAR, Justine.

Time to guess the clue to our next episode! This summer, we did a mini-season of texts that were 'Hot' (Streetcar), 'Hotter' (Fanny Hill), and 'Hottest' (Fahrenheit 451). But can we find a text that is *even hotter* than Fahrenheit 451? Or maybe it's not hot at all. Maybe it's ice cold.

'I really miss seeing racists and misogynists on TV' - verified Abby quote in Bookends 23, out today! ALSO: outtakes from the 'Catcher in the Rye' episode, erotic imaginings of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and a massive upset involving Henry Fielding. podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/s...

Daniel Jenkin-Smith, one half of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social, is a guest on @utopiaanddystopia.bsky.social. Bigger than the 1968 crossover Thanksgiving episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. Can't wait to listen! open.spotify.com/episode/3mD0... @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social @drabigailboucher.bsky.social

I should add, if you like what you hear from our guest in this episode you can follow him @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social and his podcast is the brilliant @smfmspodcast.bsky.social.

Hey, ya phonies! Enjoying back-to-school? Well, our (anti)hero sure isn't! Join us for JD Salinger's 1951 ode to teen angst, 'Catcher in the Rye'. Let's all have Buckfast at Tiffany's, put on weird hats, and argue about who has it worse in winter: ducks or fish. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

If you've been saving up your urine for a rainy day, tune in to our 'Catcher in the Rye' (1951) episode, which includes an investigation into the famous 'Hughes principle': the proposed overlap between aviation and bra technology. Taking flight this Wednesday!

A week today we'll be putting out our next episode and you can listen to me chatting about bureaucratic dystopias (and utopias) with @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social 'fame'!... I use fame in scare quotes because I know he'd want me to!

Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival

You guessed correctly! For the start of the autumn term, we're ... accidentally doing a Christmas book (look, neither of us had read this before). Join us 17 September for J.D. Salinger's surprisingly funny masterpiece of teenage ennui, ducks, and hostile cab drivers: 'The Catcher in the Rye' (1951)

Will do, and thank you! I am also a fan of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social and listened to their episode on Fahrenheit 451. My novel is (sadly) a little too relevant these days. Here's an essay I wrote about it last year before the 2024 elections. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/real-monster...

Your hosts are in the throes of prepping for a new school year, so we're going to guess the clue to our next episode a little early this time. This is another pretty obvious clue, but what better way to celebrate the new school term than with someone deciding to play hookey? What are we reading?

Join us during this heatwave for our hottest text yet: Ray Bradbury's dystopian 'Fahrenheit 451' (1953). Today we get one step closer to EGOT-ing, see more of Abby's French-Vermonter roots, and discuss some scholastic terms: fridging, Bowlderisation, and Futurismo. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

The excellent people over at @smfmspodcast.bsky.social are doing Fahrenheit 451 this month, so if you want to hear their entertaining take, you can listen to it here: open.spotify.com/episode/7npQ...

Recorded, and released, during a heatwave, we discover in this episode that high temperatures can yield provocative new visions about literature and culture. Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' (1953) - out tomorrow!

Just finished recording an interview with the super smart @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social of @smfmspodcast.bsky.social fame on the relationship between bureaucracy and utopia/dystopia! Lots of great insight and a really fun chat. Looking forward to the episode making its appearance.

Loads of people guessed correctly! Our next very banned (and, ironically, often burned) book is Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopia about the perils of anti-intellectualism, 'Fahrenheit 451'. Tune in on 13 August for a lot of histrionics about technology!

It's time to guess the clue to our next episode in our season on banned books--and this might be the most obvious clue we've ever given. Our summer texts have been getting increasingly hot. But what could possibly be hotter than our last episode, 'Fanny Hill'?

Today's episode of SMFMS Bookends is a wild ride. We reveal the podcast's best-kept secret (three years and we said nothing!), in addition to our plans to destroy every other podcast that might vie with us for your affections. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

ATTENTION ALL PERVS: our 69th episode, covering John Cleland's 1749 erotic novel 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' (AKA 'Fanny Hill'), is out now! Expect strapping footmen, polite applause during orgies, and plenty of red-hot turtlebilling! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Join us on Wednesday for our episode on John Cleland's seminal (heh) erotic work, 'Fanny Hill' (1748). In addition to lots of strange euphemisms for body parts, be prepared to learn about some bizarre sex acts, like (the maybe less dirty than originally thought) 'turtlebilling'.

What texts would you like us to cover in Season 7 (a lighter season on fan favourites)? Give your answer in our thread of polls below! And don't worry if you don't see the text you really want: we have a handful that have been requested so many times that they're already on the official S7 list!

We've had some feverish guessing of our next text and only one person got it right! For our 69th episode (nice), we'll recap what is debatably the very first pornographic work to use the novel as its form: John Cleland's 'Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' (1748). Genitals at the ready!

Time to guess the clue to our next episode! We're labelling our run of summer episodes: 'Hot, Hotter, and Hottest'. Our next episode (Hotter) covers an erotic text that is also a literary classic and a very, very banned book. What are we reading? (it is NOT 'Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life')

Join us today for our Bookends episode on 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. We've gotten a request to show Daniel's famous boots (the ones by which he was diddled by a dodgy cobbler), so here you go. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

We need your reccs! After this season on banned books, in S7 we are only covering fan favs--the (hopefully) fun, campy works of classic lit that you've been asking for. Tournament bracket poll coming later; let us know now what you want to see on it! (YES Lysistrata & Wilkie Collins are on the list)

Happy Pride, everyone! Today we look at Tennessee Williams's slutty 1947 play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. We talk po'boys, suffer through a massive recording equipment failure, and Daniel reveals himself to be both the podcast's Brando AND a thriving gay man. 🌈 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...