Sophomore Lit

John McCoy and a guest host read books you might have been assigned in high school, or college, or other stuff you might have read when you were a kid. The theming is loose!

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Latest Episode: August 26, 2026

194 Choose Your Own Adventures

Host John McCoy with Ross Cleaver

What’s life without choices? How about books that are nothing but choices? Ross Cleaver discusses the choose-your-own genre with examples from both the U.S. and the U.K.: Edward Packard’s The Cave of Time (1978) and Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (1982).

Previous Episodes

August 5, 2026

193 Poe and Doyle: Dupin vs. Holmes

Host John McCoy with Jacob Haller

Which detective is better, Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes? I mean it’s obviously Holmes but that won’t stop Jacob Haller discussing two genre defining stories, Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) and Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (1892).
July 14, 2026

192 Hamlet

Host John McCoy with Tim Read

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our podcasts. First-time co-host Tim Read discusses William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, Hamlet (c. 1600).
June 8, 2026

191 Asterix and Cleopatra

Host John McCoy with Ross Cleaver

Zut alors! Ross Cleaver returns to discuss the totally historically accurate Asterix and Cleopatra (Astérix et Cléopâtre) by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (serialized starting in 1963).
May 20, 2026

190 The Wheel on the School

Host John McCoy with Jill Hoffman

Storkin’ it up! First-time co-host Jill Hoffman discusses Meindert De Jong’s Newbury-winning book, The Wheel on the School (1954).
May 1, 2026

189 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Host John McCoy with Jelani Sims

Jelani Sims returns to talk about Mildred D. Taylor’s heartbreaking Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1977).
April 15, 2026

188 Archy and Mehitabel

Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy

boss these podcasts are getting out of hand the other day i heard dan mccoy and his much older brother discussing archy and mehitabel by which i mean the column by don marquis that started in 1916 and then was collected into a book if you could call it that in 1927
March 26, 2026

187 The Apology

Host John McCoy with Marina McCoy

Love of wisdom means never having to say you’re sorry. Professor Marina McCoy joins her husband to discuss Plato’s The Apology (c. 399-90 BCE).
February 26, 2026

186 “Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman

Host John McCoy with Daniel Heddendorf

First-time co-host Daniel Heddendorf joins in to discuss clocks and jellybeans in Harlan Ellison’s short story, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965).
February 13, 2026

185 The Third Policeman

Host John McCoy with Shaenon K. Garrity

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Flan O’Brien’s enigmatic The Third Policeman (written 1940, published 1967).
January 8, 2026

184 I am the Cheese

Host John McCoy with Matt Skuta

Hope you’re not lactose intolerant! Matt Skuta returns to discuss John Cormier’s I am the Cheese (1977).

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