# Close Readings

A podcast by London Review of Books. Close Readings is a multi-series podcast from the London Review of Books. Two contributors explore areas of literature through a selection of key works, providing an introductory grounding like no other. Listen to some episodes for free here, and extracts from our ongoing subscriber-only series. How To Subscribe In Apple Podcasts, click 'subscribe' at the top of this podcast feed to unlock the full episodes. Or for other podcast apps, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadings RUNNING IN 2026 'Who's afraid of realism?' with James Wood and guests 'Nature in Crisis' with Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith 'Narrative Poems' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'London Revisited' with Rosemary Hill and guests Bonus Series: 'The Man Behind the Curtain' with Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones…

Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LRB7524563961

## Latest episodes

- [The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/8ccc13fd5080) (2026-10-24, 53 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7488770626.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism’ by Thea Riofrancos](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/ed12307638d0) (2026-10-21, 24 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2254311043.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Shyness and Dignity’ by Dag Solstad](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/41bb09345a33) (2026-10-14, 25 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2584214243.mp3
- [London Revisited: The Monster](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/4e69bce79041) (2026-10-08, 27 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB5459624793.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘Amours de Voyage’ by Arthur Hugh Clough](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/8dc97d0e64ce) (2026-09-30, 14 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2424379418.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right’ by Alex Roberts and Sam Moore](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d11e68f03a28) (2026-09-20, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9160783077.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism?: ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/c574e76d665f) (2026-09-15, 22 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB1054082932.mp3
- [London Revisited: Coffee, Satire and Bubbles](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/e1394e0b0d18) (2026-09-07, 25 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB4745241731.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘Childe Roland’ and ‘The Pied Piper’ by Robert Browning](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/44b78056f56a) (2026-08-31, 19 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB4318602138.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Lessons for Survival’ by Emily Raboteau](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/00b0a92a5cac) (2026-08-24, 13 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB4819146185.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Pnin’ by Vladimir Nabokov](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/8869fb8dbd2f) (2026-08-17, 24 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB4677564060.mp3
- [London Revisited: Pepys, Plague and Fire](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d84ba2ed65b3) (2026-08-10, 25 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB8847155110.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ by John Keats](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/cc4056f1281b) (2026-08-03, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB5124187138.mp3
- [The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/581d8a457a6e) (2026-08-02, 36 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3323232435.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Impasse’ by Roy Scranton](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/60ffc41469be) (2026-07-26, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6486503165.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Seize the Day’ by Saul Bellow](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/aedfffd87f59) (2026-07-20, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2296189927.mp3
- [London Revisited: The Road to Civil War](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/a173067064c1) (2026-07-13, 27 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB5407230114.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘The Ruined Cottage’ and ‘Michael’ by William Wordsworth](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/1e527530e2eb) (2026-07-05, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9810103882.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/77aebe725b27) (2026-06-28, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7268637575.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Voyage in the Dark’ by Jean Rhys](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/451fd5d0eb15) (2026-06-22, 21 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6503269767.mp3
- [London Revisited: Shakespeare’s City](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/530322d5c2d6) (2026-06-15, 18 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3882564685.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/3c475b6dc3b6) (2026-06-08, 15 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB1844728317.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Is a River Alive?’ by Robert Macfarlane](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/8ef294a7874c) (2026-06-01, 15 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB5463364738.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Mrs Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/f4528e5025b7) (2026-05-25, 22 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3457426545.mp3
- [London Revisited: The Protestant Capital](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d3869e64b414) (2026-05-18, 22 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB1117005207.mp3
- [What do you think of Close Readings?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/367ea70d4b74) (2026-05-16, 1 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2372659892.mp3?updated=1778910364
- [Narrative Poems: ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ by Robert Burns and ‘Peter Grimes’ by George Crabbe](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/962f323caec5) (2026-05-13, 22 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2617973703.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: 'Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth' by James Lovelock](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/80c9e4a93c32) (2026-05-04, 29 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB8800215843.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ by Leo Tolstoy](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/bd6a06d9b0ce) (2026-04-27, 24 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6859274394.mp3?updated=1777043447
- [The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d5c40f65dac1) (2026-04-24, 36 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB1192355861.mp3
- [London Revisited: Plague, Rebellion and Guilds](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/8e2961e81846) (2026-04-20, 28 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB8791693244.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/658388b4ea06) (2026-04-13, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6499622777.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘The Burning Earth’ by Sunil Amrith](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/302f1179dc91) (2026-04-06, 13 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7608009680.mp3
- [Who’s afraid of realism? Three stories by Anton Chekhov](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d913309b7068) (2026-03-30, 24 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7727064784.mp3
- [London Revisited: The Medieval Capital](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/69b02854869b) (2026-03-23, 25 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB1232480507.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: ‘Paradise Lost’ (Book 9) by John Milton](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/df18163a2a7c) (2026-03-16, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6228821944.mp3?updated=1773668156
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Blue Machine’ by Helen Czerski](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/c4e3434ee71b) (2026-03-09, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3637432336.mp3?updated=1772643010
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Notes from Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/136c53e03ac4) (2026-03-02, 21 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3551522043.mp3
- [London Revisited: Mosaics, Archers and a Walled Garden](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/226251541207) (2026-02-23, 19 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2129891313.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: 'Venus and Adonis' and 'The Rape of Lucrece' by William Shakespeare](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/3d66837e6d6c) (2026-02-16, 20 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3491707927.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘The Light Eaters’ by Zoë Schlanger](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/e4cc988843ec) (2026-02-09, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9356174872.mp3?updated=1770597157
- [Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert (part two)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/c3ae9547775e) (2026-02-02, 11 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB6191946595.mp3
- [London Revisited: Roman Beginnings](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/d34f721d8c40) (2026-01-26, 23 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9222631163.mp3
- [Narrative Poems: 'Hero and Leander' by Christopher Marlowe](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/5e8ee0d8d709) (2026-01-19, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9792034740.mp3
- [Nature in Crisis: ‘Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/6b1269c2f4ad) (2026-01-12, 16 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9227259169.mp3?updated=1768174062
- [Who's afraid of realism? 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert (part one)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/7c0b1d2cc45d) (2026-01-06, 22 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2213551943.mp3?updated=1768300362
- [The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/49723d5404ca) (2025-12-31, 65 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3993235380.mp3?updated=1767176960
- [Novel Approaches: ‘New Grub Street’ by George Gissing](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/c1c2fe43930b) (2025-12-29, 18 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB2542742128.mp3
- [Novel Approaches: ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/4bcd1c040a86) (2025-12-24, 35 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB3507841396.mp3
- [Love and Death: Samuel Johnson, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Mick Imlah](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669485143/aa09af9b313e) (2025-12-22, 17 min): audio https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB9988165432.mp3

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.