Just In Case We Die
In 2006, Quintessence Editions Ltd. published a book entitled "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". Edited by academic Peter Boxall, this list was a curated selection of novels deemed "essential" for literature lovers. Over time, as books were added and removed to accommodate new tastes, the list has continued to grow into subsequent volumes. As of today, there have been 1,316 novels included in the list. Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca will attempt to read and discuss every single one of them. Sort of.
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Average duration
- 67 minutes
- Episodes
- 54
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
#1,275 "Where Angels Fear To Tread" by E. M. Forster
It would stand to reason that a writer that has led an interesting life could write an interesting novel.
Unless you’re E. M. Forster.
If you’re him, you would lead an interesting life an…
August 2025 -- Bonus Episode ("Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives" by David Eagleman)
What happens when we die? Do we exist in an ethereal plane that cannot be perceived by human conscience? Are we forced to spend eternity as the background characters in another person's…
#409 "In The First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
In 1967, Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn edited his new novel down from 96 chapters to 87 chapters in the hopes that a censored version would be more palatable to Soviet publisher…
July 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Mike Trippiedi)
In Champaign, Illinois– the city that serves as the home base for this podcast– there is a man named Mike Trippiedi. He is an award-winning filmmaker, an accomplished stage actor and di…
#932 "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion
It's June! This means that we discuss a book hand-selected from the list by Rebecca.
The last time she did this, she selected The Book of Illusions, a novel she had never read that was w…
June 2025-- Bonus Episode (Literary BBQ)
It’s summertime!
That means beautiful weather, afternoons at the pool, and maybe some time to relax and catch up on our ever-growing TBR piles. It also means, however, that things are go…
#564 "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" by Tobias Smollett
The first movie released in the DVD format was the 1996 disaster film Twister.
Bullfrogs never sleep.
The nation of China is credited with the invention of ice cream.
Africa is the only co…
May 2025 -- Bonus Episode (National Short Story Month)
Remember last year when we decided to celebrate National Short Story Month by discussing six short stories hand-selected by the cast? Well, we had so much fun last year that we decided …
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers -- Veto #2
So what happened was this . . . At the end of the episode on “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo, the random number generator gave us #355. The book corresponding to this number was “Emma” …
April 2025 -- Bonus Episode (National Library Week)
Did you know that there is a library in Oslo doing quite possibly the coolest literary event that we have ever read about? Too bad none of us will be alive to experience it!
It's Nationa…
#1157 "The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien
A nameless narrator commits a murder. As a result, he must traverse an absurdist landscape of two-dimensional buildings, bumbling police officers, and philosophical meanderings about bi…
March 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Independent Bookstore Crawl)
On Saturday, February 22, 2025, Rodney and Aaron spent a rather brisk winter day wandering around the town of Rockford for an annual event called The Independent Bookstore Crawl. It's l…
#677 "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo's epic novel of the French revolution is inarguably a classic. Originally published in 1862, it has endured and rightfully been considered one of the greatest novels of all …
February 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Love and Romance)
This week’s episode is a milestone for us, as it is the first episode of our third season. Our very first episode premiered in February of 2023. Here we are– two full years later– with …
#338 "Drop City" by T. C. Boyle
T. C. Boyle has written nineteen novels. He is the celebrated author of more than 150 short stories. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award and been shortlisted for the National Book Award. …
January 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Adaptation)
Some of the greatest movies ever made started out as novels. A vast majority of contemporary stage plays started their life as a book. Written prose have proven to be a wellspring of in…
#1,088 "Sorrow of Belgium" by Hugo Klaus
The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Klaus? No one here has ever heard of it. No one here has ever even heard of the author. This book was approached with a high degree of trepidation.
As it wo…
December 2024 -- Bonus (National Read A New Book Month)
It's Christmas time!
But it's also National Read A New Book Month!
Which do we celebrate? It seems strange to make a big deal out of reading new books since the majority of novels the ran…
#1,000 "Remembering Babylon" by David Malouf
The book for November provides a great opportunity for listeners to engage with the cast. They are urging someone out there to read this book and then email them to explain why they bel…
November 2024 -- Bonus Episode (The Art of the Ending)
The bonus material this month has its genesis in the book discussion from last month. You may recall that Rodney and Rebecca were less than pleased with the ending of The Curious Incide…