468 Chekhov Becomes Chekhov (with Bob Blaisde...

In mid-December 2025, the world was shocked by the horrible and tragic news that beloved film director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Singer Reiner had been murdered at their home. In this episode, Jacke and Mike celebrate Reiner's amazing run of indelible films in the 1980s an ...  Show more

The Ancient Greek historian and general Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE) called his history of a war between Athens and Sparta "a possession for all time." More than 2,400 years later, his work is still essential reading for anyone interested in the morality of war and the nature of p ...  Show more

What a delight this was, to talk to my friend Walt Hunter about the marvelous Gwendolyn Brooks poem "kitchenette building." Walt is an associate professor and the Chair of the Department of English at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of two books of criticism: Fo ...  Show more

The Palace of Dreams is a novel from 1981 that is ostensibly set in the 19th century Ottoman empire, but the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare cleverly smuggles in thinly veiled criticism of the totalitarian state presided over by Enver Hoxha. The book was duly banned shortly after p ...  Show more

The Landlady by Fyodor Dostoyevsky audiobook. Genre: drama In The Landlady, Fyodor Dostoyevsky draws listeners into the foggy courtyards and cramped rooms of St Petersburg, where a lonely young intellectual, Vasily Ordynov, searches for cheap lodging and a quiet place to work. He ...  Show more

From exile in Siberia to the novels which set a template - Rana Mitter and his guests Alex Christofi, Muireann Maguire, Claire Whiteheadand Viv Groskop look at the life and writing of Fyodor Dostoevsky (11 November 1821 – 27 January 1881).Crime and Punishment published in 1886 wa ...  Show more