Desperate Readers

XIX. Dreaming Freedom: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

As the clock strikes midnight, Saleem is born with the partition of India. Niko and Tatiana discuss the flavors of magical realism, the spread of democracy, and the power of scent as they talk about Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.

XVIII. Manuscripts Don’t Burn: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The devil comes to Moscow, and Pontius Pilate meets Jesus of Nazareth in The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Tatiana and Niko discuss magical realism and the evils of bureaucracy.

XVII. What’s your sign?: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

*MAJOR SPOILERS* in this episode on an award-winning Polish murder mystery. Niko and Tatiana discuss astrology, the ethics of hunting, and materialism in Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, about a woman obsessed with William Blake and stars observing the mysterious deaths arising in her rural town.

XVI. Purity and Perversion: Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Sensational and violent, Sanctuary was written by William Faulkner to be a "pot boiler" and make money; it ended up being the novel that brought him critical and commercial attention. Niko and Tatiana read this sensational, southern novel, and discuss the story of Temple Drake, drinking, vanity, and corruption.

XV. Will There Be Another Spring?: The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout

A little-known novel in the Anglophone world, The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout reveals the quite rebellion of a bookseller living under a fundamentalist regime. Niko and Tatiana briefly go over the history of the author and the Algerian Civil War, before diving into themes of faith, purity, and the power of books in this short but powerful story published after Djaout's assassination.
 

XIV. A Love Caught in the Fire of Revolution: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Get in your final winter reads—the podcast is covering Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. For this 20th century epic, Niko and Tatiana discuss history, life, love triangles (again), and the metaphor of snow.
Read about the translation history of Doctor Zhivago in the Los Angeles Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/giving-doctor-zhivago-another-chance/
Learn about how the CIA helped bring Doctor Zhivago to the western world: https://lithub.com/the-cia-scheme-that-brought-doctor-zhivago-to-the-world/
Technical Notes: We had technical difficulties at the end of this episode. Apologies in advance for the distorted noise at the end.

XIII. On the Horizon: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Wrapping up the mini Valentine’s day series, Niko and Tatiana read about Janie and her three husbands in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. They discuss self-fulfillment, storytelling, primordial imagery, and more.

XII. Let’s Get… Platonic?: Symposium by Plato

The second installment in the Valentine’s day series. Tatiana and Niko discuss their first text of philosophy with Plato’s Symposium. We go through the arguments of the drinking party and ask What is Eros?

XI. Violent Delights and Violent Ends: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Niko and Tatiana start their Valentine series with a classic by the bard. We discuss young love, warring families, and the colorful host of characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

X. Fire and Madness: Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Niko and Tatiana discuss beauty, delusions, violence, and heritage in Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, based on the real life burning of the Kinkakuji in Kyoto in 1950.
To find Mishima’s body-building photos posted, go to our Instagram page: @desperatereaderspod