40 episodes

A random book, a different subject, Elton wades into each one sharing the best of what he discovers, and uncovers in each volume. Ludicrously sardonic, dark, funny, and with topics ranging from UFOs, to time travel,...to the science behind "evil", there's never a dull moment.

It's time to enter this endless library, and see where it takes you...

Elton Reads A Book A Week Elton Edgar

    • Comedy
    • 4.6 • 10 Ratings

A random book, a different subject, Elton wades into each one sharing the best of what he discovers, and uncovers in each volume. Ludicrously sardonic, dark, funny, and with topics ranging from UFOs, to time travel,...to the science behind "evil", there's never a dull moment.

It's time to enter this endless library, and see where it takes you...

    *NOT SPONSORED BY COCA COLA! - A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney by Andy Rooney

    *NOT SPONSORED BY COCA COLA! - A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney by Andy Rooney

    Grumpy Genius? Hilarious Curmudgeon? You Decide! We Dissect Andy Rooney

    Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a 70-year-old man with a microphone? This week on Elton Reads A Book A Week, we delve into the life, career, and written word of the iconic (and sometimes infamous) Andy Rooney.

    Through the exploration of his book "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" we'll get to the bottom of questions like: Was he a grumpy genius who held a mirror to society's quirks? Or a hilarious curmudgeon who made us laugh at the absurdity of the everyday?

    Join us as we unpack:


    Rooney's Rise to Fame: From WWII reporter to newspaper writer to "60 Minutes" curmudgeon, we explore his unlikely path to superstardom.
    The Power of the Postscript: We dissect Rooney's signature segment and analyze its enduring comedic appeal.
    Love Him or Hate Him? The Legacy of Andy Rooney: We debate his impact on journalism and comedy, and ask: is his brand of humor still relevant today?

    Prepare for laugh-out-loud moments, insightful commentary, and a healthy dose of nostalgia. This episode is perfect for anyone who remembers tuning in for Rooney's signature sign-off, or anyone who simply enjoys a good rant (or ten).

    So, grab your pipe and slippers, and get ready to reminisce about the man who wasn't afraid to tell it like it is!

    Plus, special guest Lemon McNally joins Elton to deliver a closing monologue called "Whiskey!"

    GET THE BOOK HERE: A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney by Andrew A. Rooney

    CONTRIBUTE HERE:

    Elton Reads A Book A Week Patreon

    SOCIALS: All the social media links here!

    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com

    [[[[FOR SOURCES JUST EMAIL AND ASK]]]]

    MUSIC: "Apero Hour", "Backbay Lounge", "Intractable", "No Good Layabout"

    Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/



    [APOLOGIES SECTION] Elton would like to apologize to the following people, places, and things: Albany, NY, newborns, WWII veterans, unicorns, leprechauns, special needs folks, Haagen Daz...again, and everyone and everything else I might have missed.



    A special thanks to: Jenna Fischer and Diedrich Bader.


    ---

    Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week/message

    • 1 hr 43 min
    "Try a f*cking Dazzler!" Before The Chop by Henry Rollins

    "Try a f*cking Dazzler!" Before The Chop by Henry Rollins

    In this episode we explore the life and writing of a founding father of hardcore punk, Henry Rollins. A man that dove head first into his life and has become...almost everything. He's a punk rock and music legend, a movie start, writer, television host, a producer, DJ, a reporter, an interviewer, and so, so much more.
    We'll also delve into one of his books and along the way discover the greatest neighborhood ever imagined, how to seize life's reins, and beat the hell out of ice cream store customers. Join me for "Before the Chop III" by Henry Rollins, I promise you'll never look at circumcision the same way again.

    You heard me.

    GET THE BOOK HERE: Before the Chop III Kindle Edition

    BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR HERE: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/eltonreadsabookaweek https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week
    SOCIALS: ⁠https://linktr.ee/EltonReadsABookAWeek ⁠
    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com
    MUSIC: "Bass Vibes", "Walking Along"
    Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Melo Rock 4 by Sascha Ende
    Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/346-melo-rock-4
    License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
    Melo Rock 7 by Sascha Ende
    Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/362-melo-rock-7
    License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

    APOLOGY SECTION: Elton would like to apologize to the following people, places, things, etc.: Häagen-Dazs, Henry Rollins for the awkward picture, punk rock fans, circumcisions', Paul Simon, Henry Rollins, all of music.

    ---

    Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week/message

    • 1 hr 33 min
    "Hell Lemons!" - 'Christine' by Stephen King

    "Hell Lemons!" - 'Christine' by Stephen King

    Welcome to 1978! The year of Garfield, Van Halen, Lego, and a murder mobile named "Christine. In this episode humor meets horror as Elton embarks on a comedic journey through the pages of Stephen King's iconic novel, 'Christine.' Buckle up for a rollercoaster of killer laughs, and deadly driving as he explores the eerie world of a possessed car with a wicked sense of humor. Good. God...with the puns. Discover Elton's unique take on the classic thriller, as he delves into a devilish story with a touch of dark absurdity laced witty commentary, hilarious anecdotes, and side-splitting insights. Whether you're a die-hard Stephen King fan or just looking for a good laugh, this episode promises entertainment, factoids and that are equal parts spooky and hilarious. Tune in and get ready to laugh your way through the supernatural twists and turns of 'Christine'!

    GET THE BOOK HERE: https://amzn.to/3rabgAD
    BECOME AN Elton Reads A Book A Week CONTRIBUTOR HERE: https://www.patreon.com/eltonreadsabookaweek https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week

    SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/EltonReadsABookAWeek

    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com

    SOURCES:

    Stephen King has spent half a century scaring us, but his legacy is so much more than horror
    Stephen King: his childhood, his family, what scares him

    Stephen King - The Author

    Stephen King revealed the one thing that scares him more than anything else

    The Tough Childhood In Stephen King's The Shining

    Stephen King, The Art of Fiction No. 189

    INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN KING ONCHRISTINE

    THE TRAGIC REAL-LIFE STORY OF STEPHEN KING

    Stephen King Wiki : Christine

    Stephen King Biography

    75 Facts About Stephen King

    ...apparently taken from a Cinefantastique article in the Feb 91 issue.

    Rereading Stephen King: week 15 – Christine



    APOLOGIES SECTION: Elton would like to apologize to the following people, places and things: Stephen King, Ruth King, David King, People that are gray flannels, and people that are regular flannels (may war never find you). Also, Portland, Maine, V8, Hawaiian Punch, grandmothers, and cheese.

    A special thanks to Jenna Fischer and Diedrich Bader


    ---

    Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week/message

    • 1 hr 41 min
    "WTF Charles!" Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    "WTF Charles!" Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    Great Expectations, the story of a boy who turns into a man while being surrounded by a**holes, gets the Elton Reads A Book A Week treatment! Join Elton on a trip down Dickensian way before meeting up with a prime example of Victorian drama. It's weirder than you think.



    The life of Charles Dickens starts like many did in the Georgian Era of England's history...crap. He was a sickly kid from a big, poor family. Then, as he got older and his entire family was thrown in debtor's prison, he was factory bound. There he learned to love to hate every day! Later, he learns to spin sh*t into gold. Listen for more...



    Thank you for listening!



    GET THE BOOK HERE: https://amzn.to/44H2ZT5



    BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR HERE:

    https://www.patreon.com/eltonreadsabookaweek

    https://anchor.fm/elton-reads-a-book-a-week

    FOLLOW THE PODCAST HERE: https://linktr.ee/EltonReadsABookAWeek

    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com

    SOURCES: https://exec.typepad.com/greatexpectations/what-is-a-gentleman.html

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17017791

    https://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/debtors-prison/#:~:text=It's%20called%20the%20Debtors'%20Prison,them%20to%20be%20held%20here.

    https://www.charlesdickenspage.com/dickens-and-the-theatre-moskovitz.html

    https://thebookhabit.co.uk/2018/11/07/literary-lifestyles-the-writing-habits-of-charles-dickens/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20ensure%20that,keep%20track%20of%20his%20story

    https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/night-soil-men-victorian-era-poop

    https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2012/11/30/today-in-history-charles-dickens/34378631007/

    https://dickenssociety.org/archives/1630

    https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/dickens-quarterly

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Dickens-British-novelist



    THE APOLOGIES SECTION

    Elton would like to apologize to the following people, places, and things: The Dickens Family, Karl Marx, Victorian & Georgian eras of English history, El Debarge, Boys II Men, Lionel Richie, Portsmouth England, and English dentists.



    A special thank you to Jenna Fischer and Diedrich Bader


    ---

    Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week/message

    • 1 hr 41 min
    *PATREON PREVIEW* Those Jovial Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse - Part 1

    *PATREON PREVIEW* Those Jovial Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse - Part 1

    As a little break in the booky-book episodes I thought I'd kick out something different. Here's a preview of a series I'll be putting on Patreon. It's a limited series about The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse meeting every Saturday to end the world as, you find out, they've been doing for millennia...and still haven't done it. This is the first of a lot of Jovial Horsemen scripts I wrote years ago. Enjoy the free preview, folks! Oh, when posted on Patreon, everything is ad free, including these.



    Also, there's a little slider at the bottom when I post these that lets you call an upload a "bonus." I'm going to try it. I don't know what's going to happen, so...hopefully it all works out. If not, I'll change it back...if I can. Fingers crossed.



    Let me know what you think! I'll include a poll via Spotify to let me know directly...or email me at: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com OR via any of the social media things. You can also contribute to the pod via Patreon! Help me produce this thing! Thanks you for listening...


    BECOME AN Elton Reads A Book A Week CONTRIBUTOR HERE: https://www.patreon.com/eltonreadsabookaweek

    AND/OR https://anchor.fm/elton-reads-a-book-a-week

    SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/EltonReadsABookAWeek

    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com


    ---

    Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elton-reads-a-book-a-week/message

    • 26 min
    "Von-BEES-mark" Ariel by Sylvia Plath

    "Von-BEES-mark" Ariel by Sylvia Plath

    Content Warning: Suicide

    This episode discusses suicide and may be distressing for some listeners. If you or someone you know is struggling, seek help from a mental health professional or a helpline in your country, which can be reached by dialing 988 if you're in the United States or if you're online via https://988lifeline.org/

    You are not alone, and support is available. Listener discretion is advised.



    Elton as he explores the life and tragic end of Sylvia Plath, her work, her impact, and especially her book "Ariel", considered by many to be one of the greatest poetic works of the 20th century...and all while running into so many inexplicable bee coincidences. So, so many bees. Oh, and laughs, there's a couple of those too.



    GET THE BOOK HERE: https://amzn.to/43Bidbd

    BECOME AN Elton Reads A Book A Week CONTRIBUTOR HERE:

    https://www.patreon.com/eltonreadsabookaweek

    https://anchor.fm/elton-reads-a-book-a-week

    SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/EltonReadsABookAWeek

    EMAIL: eltonreadsabookaweek@gmail.com



    SOURCES:

    https://allpoetry.com/All-The-Dead-Dears\

    Otto Plath

    https://dbpedia.org/page/Otto_Plath

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/17/sylvia-plath-otto-father-files

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-5491.1995.tb00545.x#:~:text=2%20Her%20father%2C%20Dr%20Otto,of%20German%20and%20Polish%20parents.

    Aurelia Plath

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelia_Plath#:~:text=Aurelia%20Plath%20was%20born%20in,Bachelor%20of%20Secretarial%20Sciences%20(B.S.S.)

    Sylvia Plath

    https://www.wnyc.org/story/full-bio-sylvia-plath/

    https://lithub.com/on-sylvia-plath-and-the-many-shades-of-depression/

    https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/literary-musings/sylvia-plaths-suicide-note-death-knell-cry-help/

    http://dublinbees.com/sylvia-plath-and-the-bees/#:~:text=She%20had%20taken%20up%20beekeeping,born%20there%20in%20January%201962.

    https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,913753,00.html

    https://daily.jstor.org/sylvia-plaths-ariel-50-years-later/

    https://theconversation.com/how-sylvia-plaths-secret-miscarriage-transforms-our-understanding-of-her-poetry-173813

    https://archive.org/details/the-dedalus-book-of-literary-suicides-dead-letters-lachman-gary-z-lib.org/page/n131/mode/2up?view=theater&q=oven

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539515/

    https://www.geniuses.club/genius/sylvia#Collegeyearsanddepression

    https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/literary-musings/sylvia-plaths-suicide-note-death-knell-cry-help/

    https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2020/1103/Red-Comet-is-the-biography-Sylvia-Plath-has-always-deserved

    https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/b/the-bell-jar/sylvia-plath-biography

    https://historycollection.com/34-facts-that-make-us-fall-in-love-with-tragic-author-sylvia-plath/12/

    https://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Plath-Sylvia.html

    https://ssristories.org/sylvia-plath-maybe-it-was-just-the-drugs-mctaggart/

    https://lithub.com/a-new-monumental-biography-shows-plath-as-a-woman-of-her-time/

    https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/sylvia-plath

    https://zigzageducation.co.uk/biography/timeline/plath

    https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/14/archives/the-girl-who-tried-to-be-good.html

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sylvia-Plath

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/12/sylvia-plath-s-ariel.html

    https://literariness.org/2018/02/18/sylvia-plath-poetry-and-survival/#:~:text=Some%20critics%20have%20seen%20her,for%20her%20own%20inadequate%20marriage.

    https://www.stylist.co.uk/people/sylvia-plath-the-life-of-a-tortured-poet/17027

    https://www.academia.edu/33232495/What_were_the_significant_effects_of_Ted_Hughess_approach_to_the_editing_of_Sylvia_Plaths_Ariel_collection_of_poems_following_her_death



    APOLOGIES SECTION: Elton would like to apologize to the following people, places and things: Bee keepers, the people of Germany, anyone with an authentic German accent, ghosts, Hillary Clinton, underground boxers, and aerial antennas.



    A special thanks to Jenn

    • 1 hr 32 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
10 Ratings

10 Ratings

Turnface08 ,

Such a Cool Concept!

I love the idea of getting the cliff notes of a book in a narrative/storytelling type way. It’s a fresh idea that has made me want to pick up the books that are brought to life.

Would definitely recommend!

Edgar Thompson ,

He made it weird.

Everyone should listen to every one of these episodes twice, no...no...three times, then tell everyone else about them and tell them to do the three time thing. Then, when everyone in the world does the three time thing...world domination.

A great listen, tell a friend. I'm partial.

GrillMasterFlex ,

What a great idea!

This is such a unique podcast! Really entertaining no matter who you are, would rate it 10/10 if I could!

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