Crack The Book: A Beginner's Guide to Reading the Great Books

Cheryl Drury
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Confused by Confucius? Daunted by Dante? Shook by Shakespeare? I get it! I'm Cheryl, a reader exploring the world's most influential books one episode at a time. I don't do lectures, and I can't do jargon. But we do have friendly conversations about why (and whether) these books still matter. Each episode, we tackle a great book or two—The Divine Comedy, The Canterbury Tales, The Odyssey, The Prince—unpacking the big ideas, memorable moments, and surprising ways these stories connect to life today. If you've ever thought "I should read that" but didn't know where to start, you're in the right place. Subscribe to Crack the Book. Let's find out what's inside.

  1. 1D AGO

    Let's Go! Season Three Kick-Off

    Welcome to Season 3 of Crack the Book! In this episode: A quick review of big events that happened during the break— Ted Gioia agreed to an interview! I share some of our back-and-forth from our email “interview”/exchange.The podcast What Should I Read Next invited me to be a guest. As a long-time listener to this podcast, it was incredibly exciting.I gave an in-person talk (my first!) with a friend about “Reading as a Superpower.” Stay tuned for more about that. Then we talk a little bit about how this season is going to go, reading groups of related books as units. Right now, that looks like— British History and Fiction: in preparation for my upcoming trip to YorkshireThe Illiad/Odyssey/Aeneid as a trilogy: revisiting my new love of epic poetry, just in time for this summer’s big movieChildren’s Books: the “right books” that every kid should read, and the ones that especially shaped me and a few friendsOnce-a-month Shakespeare! Last year I felt like I conquered Shakespeare, or at least figured out how to read him without it seeming too onerous. We are keeping that going with one Shakespeare a month, on the last Tuesday. Next week we hop right in with Henry IV, Part 1. Thanks as always for listening! LINK The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r The Ted Gioia Interview One of the "Movie Lists" I mentioned What Should I Read Next, Episode 523 Theology on Tuesdays CONNECT To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ Like what you heard? Buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/crackthebook LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    29 min

  2. MAY 12

    I Get Knocked Down...and I Get Up Again. Week 17: The Golden Ass [REPLAY]

    While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2. Season 3 starts May 19! This week, we take on Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, a hilarious surprise from Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course. Written in the mid-300s A.D., this is the very first Latin prose novel, penned by Algerian-born Apuleius. Lucius, our hero, is a young man who meddles in magic, transforms into a donkey, and embarks on wild adventures before returning to human form. We were so captivated that note-taking fell by the wayside, much like with Herodotus’ Histories. This rollicking tale, brimming with late-Roman-Empire themes, proved both hilarious and profound. Unlike Aristotle’s structured tragedy guidelines (see Week 5's Poetics), The Golden Ass defies unity of action, place, and time, weaving a tapestry of digressions and sub-stories. Lucius’ transformation serves as a spine for tales like “I heard…” or “So they told me…,” echoing the nested narratives of The Odyssey and The Aeneid. The standout sub-story is the myth of Cupid and Psyche, the earliest known version, which stunned us as the inspiration for C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. Its late appearance for a myth feels significant, reflecting a decadent, fatigued Roman worldview. Fortune, personified as in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, reappears, underscoring this era’s preoccupations. Sarah Ruden’s translation is a triumph, preserving Apuleius’ puns, alliteration, and bawdy humor. This farce, second only to Lysistrata in humor, is delightfully NSFW, with outrageous scenes that shocked even our son Jack. Ruden notes comparisons to modern humorists like Wodehouse or George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series, and we see parallels to Forrest Gump—Lucius stumbles through events without driving the plot. The book’s influence extends to A Confederacy of Dunces, sparking new reading threads for us, exactly why we joined this course. Join us next week as we travel east and read The Arabian Nights. LINK Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r CONNECT To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ Like what you heard? Buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/crackthebook LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    29 min

  3. MAY 5

    Born in the U.S.A. Week 39: A Handful of 19th Century American Writers [REPLAY]

    While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2. Season 3 starts May 19! Week 39 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course takes on nineteenth-century American literature. To my surprise, this became one of the most enjoyable weeks so far. I went in dreading familiar names and old high-school resentments, but came out newly energized. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (chapters 1–6) was funny, humane, and immediately engaging. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and “The Raven” used ornate language to heighten unease, while Emily Dickinson’s poems felt weightless and startlingly modern. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden was quotable and provocative, if ultimately grating, and Herman Melville surprised me most of all: Bartleby, the Scrivener lingered with quiet power, and the opening of Moby-Dick left me eager for more. This week revealed a real shift in voice and sensibility—and changed my mind about American literature. I’m looking forward to going back and reading more, but first we need to move on to Week 40 and Russian Literature! LINK Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r CONNECT To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ Like what you heard? Buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/crackthebook LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    33 min

  4. APR 28

    Everything's going to be okay. Week 25 (2): Dante's Divine Comedy, Paradiso [REPLAY]

    While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2. Season 3 starts May 19! My son Jack is back as we discuss Paradiso, Jack's favorite part of Dante's Divine Comedy. I absolutely love getting to chat with him again (see a couple of earlier episodes linked below). We talk about why he loves Dante in general, and Paradiso in particular. Highlights include: Dante's bravery (or chutzpah!) in writing his poetry and scholarly works in Italian rather than Latin;Who Dante is for (spoiler--it's for YOU), and why (the title of this episode is a big hint!);How people of different ages see Dante in a different light;Why a map of Heaven is really hard to draw, especially compared to Hell and Purgatory. Jack wrote his thesis on part of the Divine Comedy, and he has a lot of experience in the classroom with Dante, so he brings a lot of his knowledge to expand on what we've been talking about for the last two weeks. This episode forms a kind of trilogy on Crack the Book: two weeks ago we discussed Inferno, and last week my friend Lisa and I covered Purgatorio. It's my hope that these three podcasts will inspire you to pick up your own copy of the Divine Comedy and jump in. Season 3 is coming May 19! LINK Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) Crack the Book, Inferno Episode Crack the Book, Purgatorio Episode Jack's Episode About Boethius Jack's Episode About the Odyssey CONNECT The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    42 min

  5. APR 21

    Fate Up Against Your Will. Week 26: Shakespeare's Hamlet, MacBeth and King Lear [REPLAY]

    While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2. Season 3 starts May 19!

    39 min

  6. APR 14

    CtB Replay: Wouldn't It Be Good (To Live in Their World?). Week 30: Cervantes' Don Quixote and Moliére's Tartuffe [REPLAY]

    While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2! This week we pair two early-modern comedies that show how laughter can reveal truth. But first, we do a quick review of European history, looking at France, Spain, Italy and England, trying to place the things we're reading inside history. (I knew next to nothing about Spain at this time so it was really helpful for me!) This is a replay of one of my favourite episodes, episode 32. New episodes out May 19th! Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605) introduces a middle-aged dreamer who decides to become a knight-errant, setting out with his baffled squire Sancho Panza to defend honor and right wrongs. The famous windmill scene is only the start of his misadventures. Quixote is absurd yet strangely noble—so devoted to his ideals that he reshapes reality around them. His neighbors burn his books, a shepherdess defends her independence, and somehow, amid the chaos, it’s all deeply human. Molière’s Tartuffe (1664) offers lighter, sharper satire. The pious fraud Tartuffe charms his way into Orgon’s household, scheming for both wife and wealth while the women—wife, daughter, and maid—quietly outsmart him. The play’s snappy dialogue and quick pacing make it pure joy, right up until its too-neat royal ending. Both works explore self-delusion and sincerity, showing how belief, hypocrisy, and humor can coexist. This week’s music—Spanish piano by Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados—was the perfect accompaniment: bright, bold, and unexpected. We'll be back next week with a look at The Prince (Machiavelli) and The Social Contract (Rousseau). See you then! LINK Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link) CONNECT The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    33 min

  7. APR 7

    Right Here, Right Now. Looking Back at Season 2–and Ahead to Season 3!

    After a year of reading through Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities list, I’ve finally reached the end. How surprising that it doesn’t feel like an ending at all! This final episode is less about individual books and more about what the project revealed over time: how we read, how we think, and how we change. Having finished, I genuinely believe in occasional deep projects, for a variety of reasons. I offer a wide variety of ideas for proceeding, the mechanics that make it possible. For me, that included physical books, note-taking, weekly writing. I also share how those habits shaped not just my understanding of the texts, but my ability to engage deeply with them. Along the way, I developed better reading and study skills, gained confidence, and discovered unexpected joy, patience, and even peace in sustained intellectual work. There were highs (Aristotle, Shakespeare, poetry) and lows (a few truly painful reads, and moments of doubt about the project itself). But even the difficult parts proved valuable. Most of all, this year confirmed something I didn’t fully believe before: reading widely and seriously can change you. Not all at once, but steadily, quietly, and for the better. The happiest news? This isn’t an end. We are just getting started! Season Three starts May 19. LINK Season Three Questionnaire Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link) CONNECT The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    29 min

  8. MAR 31

    Once in a Lifetime. Week 52: Stories about Humans with Didion, Butler, Wallace and O'Brien

    ***Please fill out my podcast questionnaire!! Thank You!!*** Week 52 and, somehow, the end of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities project. We've got time to process all the emotions next week. For now, on to the readings! This final week brings together a really cool set of 20th and 21st century works—Octavia Butler, Joan Didion, Tim O'Brien, the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, and David Foster Wallace—all circling what Gioia calls “untenable situations.” How do you find your way through a problem that seems to have no exit? Butler’s "Bloodchild" is visceral and unsettling, asking what we owe the people we love. Didion’s "The White Album" treats memories as snapshots, raising questions about how we make sense of a life at all. O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried" explores both physical and emotional burdens, especially the pull of home. The Big Book is strikingly direct: change begins with honest self-confrontation and surrender. And Wallace—unexpectedly one of my favorites of the whole year—follows a drifting young man who stumbles into meaning, not heroism, but something smaller and real. Together, they offer a glimpse into what it means to be a modern human. But here's a spoiler: I don't really think it's all that different than it ever was. Come back next week for the season finale and a wrap-up of the whole project! LINK Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link) CONNECT The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com. Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTEN Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

    29 min
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About

Confused by Confucius? Daunted by Dante? Shook by Shakespeare? I get it! I'm Cheryl, a reader exploring the world's most influential books one episode at a time. I don't do lectures, and I can't do jargon. But we do have friendly conversations about why (and whether) these books still matter. Each episode, we tackle a great book or two—The Divine Comedy, The Canterbury Tales, The Odyssey, The Prince—unpacking the big ideas, memorable moments, and surprising ways these stories connect to life today. If you've ever thought "I should read that" but didn't know where to start, you're in the right place. Subscribe to Crack the Book. Let's find out what's inside.

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