outside of a dog

Welcome to Halloween in December, when we discuss Mary Shelley's classic horror tale, its take on science and queerness, and why we wouldn't want to snuggle up to Lord Byron.

Things are getting craaaazy in corona lockdown as we discuss depictions of mental illness, horror and bad ideas for a date.

A little pandemic doesn't keep us from podcasting! Other stuff did. But we're back, discussing last year's Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk's most celebrated novel Flights. We talk about its obession with human bodies, traveling and the rights of the orcish worker.

To end the year on a festive note we discuss a Christmas classic by one of the most highly esteemed writers in the English language. We talk religion, politics and corpse eating rats, so basically the same topics as at Christmas dinner with your family.

We live in the end times, so it's only fitting that we talk to dytopian fiction scholar Annika (https://twitter.com/mydystopias) about Margaret Atwood's groundbraking novel, its chilling realism, its flaws, and why some merch is just in bad taste.

Many people call Fitzgerald's magnum opus THE Great American Novel. Reason enough for us to talk about its treatment of its female characters, the American Dream and why we can’t stop saying “old sport”, old sport.

We discuss whether Ripley is evil, and if yes why Highsmith’s portrayal of his evil is so remarkable. We also talk about queerness, la dolce vita and Boris Johnson.

We discuss the book that kept Jonas away from the podcast for two years. It features Henry VIII, rises to power, falls from grace and fluids from unspecified orifices.

After a very, very minute break, we are back to discuss Emily Brontë's storm-tossed novel and the unreliability and unlikability of its characters.

In our next minisode, we talk about Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, their sadness, their indebtedness to H.C. Andersen, and their autobiographical nature.

As we are reunited in Dublin's fair city, we discuss the works of one of its most famous literary sons, its morals, its aestheticism and why Wilde rulez.

A brief appraisal of Edgar Allan Poe's classic spooky poem.

We dive into Pynchon's paranoid world of conspiracy, madness and of course... mail delivery.

Making America great again is not a novel idea, as we see in Ayn Rand's gigantic tome. We talk about its merits (few), its fans (lots) and why we personally never found out who John Galt actually was.

Belated Halloween greetings from us, as we discuss the grandfather of modern vampire literature, its documentary style and its deep-seated fear of foreigners, women, homosexuality and basically everything else

Unfortunately not able to give you a proper episode on Zadie Smith's novel, we still talk about it a bit, do a bit of housekeeping and tackle the two most blighted things we could imagine: technical issues and the Irish *shudder*

Following countless teenagers over the past 65 years, we talk about JD Salinger's only novel, its unique voice, its New York setting and wanting to slap the whiny out of Holden Caulfield.

We discuss Rabelais' satirical masterpiece, in all its gross, fascinating and surprisingly relatable aspects.

The most mature and most challenging play by contemporary drama's most prominent voice, Crave gives us opportunity to talk about character identification, the definition of drama and whether Aleister Crowley was a Satanist.

While you might say we talk about nothing every time, this episode we discuss it as a parable, as a book for adolescents and whether nihilists have to be assholes.

Remembering the late Umberto Eco's breakthrough novel, we discuss medieval theology, postmodern philosophy and why Sherlock Holmes sucks so very much

We conclude our Shakespeare Sonnet series by discussing how troubled the author's love life seems, what the Sonnets gain by being read in context, and why you should always read the footnotes.

The Fair Youth and the Dark Lady come head to head, as we discuss Sonnet 144 and its soap-opera love triangle, continued misogyny and allusions to STDs.

Realistic declaration of love or negative putdown? Sonnet 130 has us puzzling its ambiguities as well as its self-reflexivity.

The first of our chosen sonnets directed at the "Dark Lady", 129 offers a merciless portrayal of sex as something dirty and shameful, destroying the illusions of love.

Taking a step back, we see whether Sonnet 56 is the better and more realistic appraisal of love as something simultaneously wonderful and horrible.

Talking about one of Shakespeare's most popular poems, we argue whether this is a shallow crowd-pleaser or another anguished study in self-doubt.

Discussing Sonnet 78, we talk about the mysterious "Rival Poet" and how jealous Shakespeare can be

Continuing the bleakness of the previous poem, we try to find a glimmer of hope and romance in Sonnet 65.

Entering the "dark" 60s, Sonnet 64 presents us with a depressing view on mortality and transience.

Moving on to Sonnet 53, we see how Shakespeare chafes against the rigid formality of classical ideals.

One of the saddest sonnets, 89 showcases Shakespeare's ability to find beauty in breakups.

Discussing Sonnet 23, we find out that even Shakespeare sometimes didn't find the right words.

In our next mini episode, we see why Sonnet 20 is "so gay" and "so dirty".

To mark the 400th year of his passing, we discuss our 14 favourite Shakespeare Sonnets, starting with the classic: Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day"

Discussing a more recent must-read book, we enter Emma Donoghue's Room, where we talk about its surprising intellectualism, its heartbreaking family relations and why Jonas loves God so much.

It gets dark, mysterious and cynical as we investigate Raymond Chandler's legendary debut novel, discuss whether Philip Marlowe is like Batman and solve the case of the blatant misogyny.

We discuss what is often described as the First Novel in English and try to unravel what this moniker means culturally, socially, spritually and boredom-ly.

One year of Outside of a Dog! This demands a celebration - and we celebrate by looking back, self-referentially discussing our past episodes, add what we neglected to talk about so far and generally pat our backs while smoking figurative cigars.

We hitch a ride to Douglas Adams' sci-fi classic, discussing its absurdity, its humour, and unavoidably the life, the universe and everything.

Are we living in Orwell's dystopian nightmare or was he just a bitter old misogynist who hated the NHS?

In the last episode of 2015, we discuss one of the year's most celebrated publications, Miranda July's debut novel, and argue about its quirky characters, its hipster cred and who of us is the bigger hypocrite (Spoiler: we both are).

In the second part of our Harry Potter crossover, the Dogs and the Science Beasts cover the series' depiction of death, its characters growing up and the future of Potterworld.

"Yer a million dollar merchandising enterprise, Harry"

We discuss wether Bechdel's epochal graphic novel about childhood, memory and discovering one's identity is actually worth reading. A little hint: It is!

Come with us into the uncanny world of arbitrary justice, paranoia and fat policemen who steal your breakfast.

Halloween is over, but the scary stuff isn't. We read one of the most important works by the grandfather of horror literature, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, and talk about its scariness, its world-view and the all-important difference between Great Old Ones and Elder Things.

Join us on our journey to medieval Scotland, where witches, war and really on the nose imagery haunt the mortals.

all the silly things we said about the Scottish Play in previous recordings, the full episode comes out on Halloween

We go beyond the "chick lit" label and read Jane Austen's first novel, discuss its social and cultural scope and why Willoughby is a fuckboi.