In this recap episode, we’re discussing Volume One, Chapters 1-9 of Jane Austen's Emma. We take a deep dive into Emma Woodhouse's world, examining her relationships with key figures like Miss Taylor, Mr. Woodhouse, and the insightful Mr. Knightley. We explore how Emma's interactions with these characters set the stage for her matchmaking adventures.

As we continue through the chapters, we meet the wider community of Highbury, including the mysterious Frank Churchill and the charming Harriet Smith. Emma's matchmaking ambitions quickly take center stage, leading her to meddle in Harriet's love life and sparking a significant conflict with Mr. Knightley. We analyze Austen's use of narrative techniques, and discuss the importance of riddles and social expectations in the novel.

In a special bonus segment, we preview our upcoming Footnotes episode, where we compare and analyze the opening lines from all six of Austen's most famous novels. If you're interested in more literary analysis and Austen insights, be sure to check out the full episode and head to patreon.com/novelpairings for exclusive content!

As a reminder, we’ve historically shared these “big book readalong” recap series in our patreon community, but to celebrate five years of podcasting, we’re sharing it on the public feed! We’re so excited to have all of you reading with us. To grab our reading schedule, go to our instagram page @novelpairingspod for our pinned post or subscribe to our free weekly substack newsletter where you’ll get reminders and announcements.

Welcome to our Spring Season! We're reading Emma by Jane Austen as a community, and we hope you will join us. Listen to today's introduction to hear why we love this novel, how we approach readalongs and recaps, and what to pay attention to as you follow along.

To get maximum delight this season, join our Patreon community for classes and conversation, plus special Footnotes episodes.

Here's the reading schedule:

• March 4: Introduction

• March 11: Volume 1, 1-9 or Chapters 1-9

• March 18: Volume 1, 10-18 or Chapters 10-18

• March 25: Volume 2, 1-8 or Chapters 19-26

• April 1: Volume 2, 9-18 or Chapters 27-36

• April 8: Volume 3, 1-10 or Chapters 37-46

• April 15: Volume 3, 11-19 or Chapters 47-End

And here are our recommended texts:

• The Annotated Emma

• Vintage Classics

• Patterned Vintage Classics

• Penguin Clothbound Classics

• Rifle Paper Co. + Puffin in Bloom

• Oxford Classics

We’re back and kicking off 2025 with our annual Superlatives episode. Today, we’re excited to highlight stand-out books from 2024. We’ve got eight superlatives lined up that highlight our favorites, least favorites and everything in between. Plus, we’re looking back on our podcasting journey through 2024 and give you some behind-the-scenes insight to our reading lives. Stick around because we’ve got two big announcements to wrap things up!

Special Announcement (Timestamp 58:20)

Link to Announcement video on Patreon

Books Mentioned

The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

James by Percival Everett

Martyr by Kaveh Akbar

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

The Wedding by Dorthy West

Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-Zi Yang

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

Emma by Jane Austen

Say You’ll Be Mine by Nayina Kumar

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Quarterlife by Devika Regge

Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Sandwich by Katherine Newman

Blue Sisters by Coco Melores

Also Mentioned

Classics We Love & Loathe Episodes

Fiction Matters Paperback Summer Reading Guide

Liz Moore on New York Times Podcast

As the summer reading season comes to a close, we’re turning our eyes to fall. With Chelsey on maternity leave, we’ve made some thoughtful adjustments to our plans and structure here at Novel Pairings. Our goal is to ensure that we stay connected and continue to foster the amazing community we’ve built together. The best way to stay connected this fall is through our Patreon community; we’re excited about the bonus episodes, discussion based classes and book club events we have planned!

On today’s episode, we revisit last summer's buzzy book reviews from our Patreon archives. Each summer, we sit down for a conversation where we share our thoughts on the latest buzzworthy books we've read. Today, we're re-airing last summer's discussion on popular titles, which features some unconventional opinions on well-known works.

Follow us on Instagram @novelpairingspod and subscribe to our newsletter at novelpairings.substack.com.

Books Mentioned

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’ Donaghue

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Congratulations, the Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Loot by Tania James

Also Mentioned

Our Town on YouTube

Chelsey's Recipe for a Summer Romance Reading Guide

Sara's Reading in Public newsletter on long books and active attention

In today's recap episode, we discuss Book One of The Custom of the Country (that's chapters 1-10 if your book is not divided into books). This episode includes detailed discussion of the plot and characters introduced in this first section of the novel, so spoilers abound. We discuss our initial impressions of the unforgettable character that is Undine Spragg, how well this book would translate to the screen, a close read of a mythology reference, and what we've learned about parenting from this portion of the novel because we desperately want to avoid raising Undines!

Some more background on this episode: twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every book we read, we dust off our English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes.

We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.

If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables.

Books Mentioned:

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Eloise at The Plaza by Kay Thompson

Also Mentioned:

Gossip Girl

Today’s episode is a special one! Twice a year, we choose a big bucket list classic to read together as a community. For every big book we read, Chelsey and Sara dust off their English teacher skills to break down plot, themes, style, and more in recurring recap podcast episodes.

We have our Big Book Summer Read Along of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables on the horizon and we’d love for you to join us! We do know that it can be hard to sign up for a subscription community if you don’t know what you’re getting so we wanted to give you a taste for what we do in our Patreon Classics Club by putting two of our recent recap episodes here on the main feed. Over the winter months, we read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and we think it would make for a great summer read if you haven’t read it yet.

If you love these two episodes, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/novelpairings. Enrolling at the $10 Literature Scholar level will get you access to the rest of our Custom of the Country recap series, the corresponding classes, our entire Odyssey recap series from last summer, and all of our previous bonus episodes and class recordings. Plus, you'll get access to our current summer recap series of Les Misérables.

In today's first recap episode, we discuss the introduction materials from the Penguin Classics (Sofia Coppola & Sarah Blackwood) and Scribner (Brandon Taylor) versions of the text. You do not need to read the intros in order to listen to this episode. Future recaps will include plot spoilers, of course, but this introduction episode is completely spoiler-free! We discuss initial impressions of the introductions, lenses and questions for guided reading, literary relevance and contemporary comparisons, and three big things to look for as you read.

Books Mentioned:

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Also Mentioned:

The Buccaneers

Bridgerton

The Gilded Age

Downton Abbey