"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber (1939)

We're officially in a rut—three middle-aged white men in a row, all deeply unsatisfied with their lives. James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) gave us a protagonist who escapes into elaborate fantasies (complete with Sam's failed attempts at "pocketa pocketa pocketa" sound effects), but we couldn't help asking: why should we actually care about Walter Mitty? Here's a guy with every advantage and agency to actually do something with his life, but instead he just... daydreams about it. We wrestled with whether his fantasies are poignant or just kind of frustrating, debated the story's surprising staying power in pop culture, and somehow ended up talking about Star Trek—because of course we did. Thurber's prose is deceptively simple, but underneath it all, we're left wondering is this a story about the universal human need for escape, or a very specific kind of privilege?   Get the book: Support your local bookstore or grab it through Bookshop.org link Next episode: "Such a Pretty Day" by Dawn Powell (1939)  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review—it really helps other exhausted parents find us!**