The Reader and the Writer

Welcome to our first episode of Beloved, by Toni Morrison. In this episode, Shari and Rhea introduce their four week reading of this powerful novel by way of poetry. Rhea discusses how poetry has helped her digest the intensity of the narrative by reading poetry along the way. They talked about Morrison as a writer, her beliefs about fiction, narrative, and the participatory compact she makes with the reader. Rhea explains how her regular process for reading has drastically adjusted with reading this novel, and why this new approach feels like the right one for now. They discuss memory as a narrative device: how memory functions in Beloved, how it is the subject matter within the story, now it is guiding the story’s structure, how it is a theme, and how Morrison is using memory as a theme to explore other big ideas. And they talk about memory as it relates to language: how language and memory both reside in our bodies, how this shows up in the characters, and what it means for us as readers moving forward into Morrison’s world of Beloved. Show Notes:* Toni Morrison essay: “Memory, Creation, and Writing” * The Source of Self Regard* African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and SongIf you’d like to go deeper into this week’s reading, or want some help as you discuss Beloved with a friend or reading group, here is a PDF of this episode’s outline and detailed book notes. Finally, look for Rhea’s Beloved Reading Guide to drop soon!Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, please ❤️ it and share it.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to our final episode on Anne of Green Gables! In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the Scripture in these last chapters, hidden in plain sight. They talk about how this Great Conversation serve the narrative turn of the novel toward its fullness: in Anne’s character, and as a human being into wholeness. They talk about the way ambition seems to be the theme-thread running strong through this last section of the story, in the same way imagination, goodness, and romance occupy important roles in other sections of the story. They talk a long time about the role nature plays through all of Anne of Green Gables, and the fundamental role it’s meant to play in our own lives. They talk about the role of imagination in faith, hope, and love, desires, duty, and knowing our place as sons and daughters, not orphans or slaves.Finally, we ended with two questions we invite you to consider and contemplate over the next several days:* In this season of life, what is Anne inviting you to see? To believe?* How then will you live?As a bonus to celebrate R&W’s reading of Anne of Green Gables, we’re attaching this episode’s outline for your personal use, whether to spend more time with Anne on your own, or in your book club, homeschool group, and more. Later this year, The Reader & Writer will be sharing our episode outlines regularly for all our paid subscribers. But for now, it’s free. :)Our next read is Beloved, by Toni Morrison. Our first episode will air the last week of May. In the intervening weeks, look for some bonus episodes on all things literary, great and small alike. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this post, give it some ❤️ and share it with others. The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

“Dear me, it’s only been three weeks since she came, and it seems as if she’d been here always. I can’t imagine the place without her.” —MarillaWelcome back to Anne of Green Gables. In this episode, Shari and Rhea spend time discussing our narrator: When does she pop out from behind the book to talk to us? What effect does this have on our experience of the story? Our feelings about the characters? They also talk more about the imagination, and how critical it is to develop our imaginations, especially as it relates to the life of faith. They talk about romance, not the “kiss, kiss” kind, but rather romance in the grander sense. Finally, they ask whether or not Anne’s extreme emotion, imagination, and romance are hyperbole if it truly is Anne bringing all that is in her to bear in every joy and despair, with no real in-between’s.Rhea’s amazing Anne of Green Gables Reading Guide is available! You can find it here:Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you like this post, please ❤️ it and pass it along.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Middlemarch! In this episode, Shari and Rhea think long and hard about our narrator: by what tactics is she (he?) getting us to see? Where are our eyes turned? On what do we gaze? And how does this gaze serve Eliot’s purposes for expressing her greater themes? They also talk about the symmetry in the story lines of Book Three, and the elegant arc they make. Of course, they discuss details: Fred Vincy’s extreme self-centerdness, Lydgate’s dunce-headedness, and poor Dorthea’s hopes of matrimonial bliss being popped so soon. They argue over passionately discuss whether Rosamond is manipulative or innocent in her pursuit of Lydgate. They bring up that tricky narrator again, and how we are given the turn in their relationship: from careless flirting to holy matrimony. They continue to scratch their heads over the British class system and where exactly every person and trade fits in. And furniture… What is up with this continual mention of furniture?? Finally, they take in the title of Book Three, Waiting to Die, and consider the full scope of its meaning.Show Notes:What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, by Daniel Pool. (Rhea referenced)R&W Outline for Middlemarch, Book Three (Available for a limited time to all subscribers. Will go behind paywall mid-year). Great for use with:* Personal Study* Book Groups* Homeschool Supplement* Upper Level High School Curriculum SupplementThanks for listening to this edition of The Reader & the Writer! If you like this post give it some ❤️ and pass it around.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

“Order is indeed the dream of man, but chaos, which is only another word for dumb, blind, witless chance, is still the law of nature.” (p. 191)Welcome back to Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner. In this episode, Shari and Rhea talk (somewhat obsessively) about Charity Lang and her extreme need to control, and how it affects, well, everything! They talk more about Larry, the long-view narrator, the various narrative techniques Stegner uses through him, and how it continues to impact our understanding of Charity, Larry, both marriages, and the friendship at the heart of this story. They talk about the farce of control itself—how very little we actually have—what makes a person decide he or she has “no choice” but to sacrifice for the sake of another, and what it looks like to bend and not break. Oh, and they talk about the continual Eden imagery: Adam and Eve, and that damnable lurking snake.Next week will be their fourth and final episode with Crossing to Safety. Show note:Here is the quote Shari was talking about from Madeleine L’Engle’s book, Walking on Water (in reference to bringing order from chaos):Leonard Bernstein tells me more than the dictionary when he says that for him music is cosmos in chaos. That has the ring of truth in my ears and sparks my creative imagination. And it is true not only of music; all art is cosmos, cosmos found within chaos. At least all Christian art (by which I mean all true art, and I’ll go deeper into this later) is cosmos in chaos.—Madeleine L’Engle (p. 8)Thanks for reading The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode please give it ❤️ and share it with others.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we do, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to R&W’s next 2026 read: Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. In this episode, Rhea and Shari discuss the powerful beauty they see already this story of the mundane that makes both marriage and friendship lasting and gold. They talk about Stegner’s great influence on the American literary canon—both through his own work, and his teaching of those literary giants who followed him, Shari’s personal favorite being Wendell Berry. They spend a long time talking about the 1st person long-view narrator, and the effect it has our view of the story itself, the characters, and the events being narrated. They talk about the ways they see the themes of the story: marriage, friendship, and vocation, already being expressed and given foundation in these early chapters. And they wonder how all three will survive and thrive over the course of the decades to follow.Below is a link to Rhea’s reading guide for Crossing to Safety. Please do check it out. She has some great stuff in it!Also, here is the full poem by Robert Frost that inspired Crossing to Safety’s title:I Could Give All To Time– A Poem by Robert FrostTo Time it never seems that he is braveTo set himself against the peaks of snowTo lay them level with the running wave,Nor is he overjoyed when they lie low,But only grave, contemplative and grave.What now is inland shall be ocean isle,Then eddies playing round a sunken reefLike the curl at the corner of a smile;And I could share Time’s lack of joy or griefAt such a planetary change of style.I could give all to Time except – exceptWhat I myself have held. But why declareThe things forbidden that while the Customs sleptI have crossed to Safety with? For I am There,And what I would not part with I have kept.Thanks for listening to this edition of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, hit the ❤️ button and share it with someone!The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to our final episode of Frankenstein. In this episode, Shari and Rhea revisit the nesting narrative, also called framing. They examine each frame through the lens of several different themes and motifs. They ask what ideas they see repeatedly, and how the characters express the various themes. They talk about Shelley’s exploration of love through the pairing of different characters together, and how Victor and the Creature combine in such a way that desecrates love as well as one another. They discuss the significance of names in Frankenstein, and the extra-significance of the De Lacey family at the center of the story. And they circle back around on earlier discussions about creators and creations, not taking responsibility for what we make, not “killing our darlings” when we should, and the ways we end up with monsters of our own making.Journal Prompts for Frankenstein:Rhea had some excellent reflective questions we didn’t have time to discuss. I (Shari) would like to offer them here as journal prompts in case you’d like to do some final noodling over Frankenstein. * On Creation: What does Shelley want me to notice about creation? About my relationship with creation? My responsibility to creation? My responsibility to what I create?* On Companionship: What does Shelley want me to notice about companionship? About my expectations about companionship? My responsibilities within companionship?* On Love: What does Shelley want me to notice about love?We’d love to hear your thoughts or discoveries on any of the above. And if Frankenstein spurred you on to consider other big ideas, please share these, too!Our next slow read is Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner. We will be reading it over four weeks. Our first episode will drop March 10th. No new episodes will air between now and then. Great time to catch up on your Middlemarch reading!If you need a refresher of our 2026 reading list, you can find it here:Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this post, give it some ❤️ and share it with a friend, enemy, or frenemy.We’re not picky.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to R&W’s second episode of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. In this episode, Shari and Rhea dive deeper into the complexities and questions begged by the nested narrative style of the story, Shelley’s use of nature as a metaphor and motif, the use of counterpoints in every character as they relate to Victor, the many Great Conversations embedded in Volume 2, a continued study of humans’ duties toward the works of our hands, and their severe discomfort at the Creature’s lack of a name.The final Frankenstein episode will air Tuesday, February 10th. (This is one week off the original reading schedule, due to inclement weather.) Here is a link to Rhea’s Frankenstein Reading Guide:Thanks for listening to The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, show it some ❤️ and share it with a friend.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we do, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Middlemarch! In this episode, Shari and Rhea lay the groundwork for R&W’s first yearish-long read. They discuss the author, George Eliot, the origin story of Middlemarch, and all the things they will be looking for while they read. Oh, and they try and figure out exactly what “provincial” means.To find the reading schedule, bookmarks, and other resources mentioned in the podcast, visit R&W’s Middlemarch page:For a list of R&W’s entire 2026 year of reading click here: Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, ❤️ it and share it with a friend.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

It’s hard to believe, but it’s time for the last episode of 2025.In this episode, Rhea and Shari ask each other questions about all things R&W and books this 2025. They talk about those most memorable scenes, where they found the Great Conversation most compelling in the books they read, what story most convicted them, reminded them of who they are, and surprised them by its beauty. They discussed Shari’s MFA work and how it’s informed her labors with novel writing and R&W. They talked about what they thought they did well this first full year of R&W’s existence, and what they hope to do better in 2026. And, of course, Rhea got bonus points for the best question ever: Which two characters from any of the books we read this year would you like to see married? Oh wow… What would you say??On a personal note:Rhea and I are beyond grateful for all of you who’ve journeyed along with us this 2025. We began doing this thing a year and a half ago out of our shared love for literature and the sheer fun we have when we’re together talking about the books we’re reading. Your own love of literature and participation with us here spurs us on to continue nurturing and growing the literary work we’ve begun.2026 is already shaping up to be our best year yet (not so hard considering we’re not even two full years old)! If you haven’t seen the R&W 2026 Reading list in order, be sure to check it out:R&W’s first book is Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Below are the dates and reading schedule:* January 20: Frankenstein - Volume I* January 27: Frankenstein - Volume II* February 3: Frankenstein - Volume IIIThe first year-long|background read is Middlemarch, by George Eliot. Below are the first few episodes related to that book:* January 13: Welcome to Middlemarch* February 6: Middlemarch - Book 1* March 6: Middlemarch - Book 2See you next year! Until then, read wide, read well, and live always in witness to the Great Story.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Klara and the Sun. In this episode, Shari and Rhea have a LOT to talk about, beginning and ending with the troubling Frankenstein-esque turn this story has taken. They discuss faith v. rationality and the irony that a lot of faith is needed to believe in rationality. They discuss blobs and boxes and shapes in general as a motif. They discuss the Bubble Game, eyes as the window to the soul, and hedges v. fences. They discuss the mothers, Helen and Chrissy, as counterpoints of one another, and what drives each one to act as she does. They discuss Rick and Josie’s plan. They discuss Advent, Mary, courageous surrender, and what happens when waiting becomes unbearable… and all these things from a place of knowing now what Mr. Capaldi’s “portrait” of Josie truly is.Next week they will finish the book.Resource mentioned in this episode:* Rhythms of Faith, by Claude Atcho. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent. —Leo TolstoyWelcome back to our year-long read, War and Peace. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the way the novel is moving from story to essay, from narrative to critique. And yet, there is still much to discuss: why Tolstoy is so harsh on historians, why Kutuzov gets such a short exit, how the scenes of military camp life serve to illustrate Tolstoy’s essays, how Pierre can no longer see an aim now that he has faith, and how Natasha gains her life back and further gifts Pierre a depth to his by recounting Andrei’s final days. And all of this they consider in light of the quote on greatness above.For our history loving listeners, below is the link to Matthew Long’s post from his Substack, Beyond the Bookshelf, that Rhea mentioned near the end of the podcast. Matthew is doing a deep dive into the Civil War next year. He has a his study schedule, reading guide and timeline all mapped out, and has shared it for anyone who’d like to follow along:Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you like this episode, ❤️ it and pass it along.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we do, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe

It’s that time again! The Reader & the Writer’s annual Big Draw Episode! In this bonus episode, Rhea and Shari draw for and decide the books they will read in 2026. Prior to the episode, the ladies decided they wanted to read books from the following three genres: love story, gothic, science-fiction/magical realism. Beyond the books they drew on air, they preselected two authors from their 2025 books to re-read (different book, of course). They also preselected another book by an author that was a “must read” for both of them. It was great fun to record!The R&W books for 2026 are listed below (not in order). But, still listen to the episode! It’s just plain fun. :)The Reader & the Writer 2026 Book List:* Lila, by Marilynne Robinson* Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry* The Constant Nymph, by Margaret Kennedy* Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner* Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery* Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley* Beloved, by Toni Morrison* A History of the Island, by Eugene Vodolazkin* Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne* A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller (added after the episode)R&W Long-Long Reads:* Middlemarch, by George Eliot (Jan - Aug)* Harry Potter Series, by J. K. Rowling (Sep - Mar 2027)Stay tuned for exact editions we will be reading from, if that’s something you care about. It’s not necessary, however, as long as you’re reading from an unabridged edition. Get excited! It’s time to buy books and start reading!! :DThanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, ❤️ it and share it.The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, become a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe