The Digested Read podcast

4.8 (13)
ARTS

A podcast version of John Crace's wickedly satirical Guardian column, lampooning the literary style of leading authors by summarising their books in five minutes

12/31/2015

EL James: black and blue and read all over? – books podcast

John Crace whips through the lastest instalment of EL James’s sado-masochistic bestseller, Grey, and asks if it’s time to apply the safe word

14 min
12/30/2015

Michel Houellebecq: profane or prophetic? – books podcast

John Crace squashes Houellebecq’s Submission and asks whether the sacred monster of French fiction is just making trouble for its own sake

17 min
12/29/2015

TS Eliot: beyond commentary? – books podcast

John Crace puts the annotated editon of the Nobel laureate’s poetical works through the wringer and assesses the stature of the modernist master

16 min
12/28/2015

Kazuo Ishiguro: roaring giant or sleeping dragon? – books podcast

John Crace boils down The Buried Giant and asks whether this genre-bending quest novel is destined for the halls of glory or the mists of forgetfulness

16 min
12/25/2015

Harper Lee: a happy return to Maycomb? – books podcast

John Crace puts the squeeze on Go Set a Watchman, and considers its effect on the author’s reputation

15 min
01/02/2015

Hillary Clinton: the big reveal? – books podcast

John Crace digests Hillary Clinton’s latest autobiography, and picks it over for clues to vital questions – what does she really think of Obama?

12 min
01/01/2015

Haruki Murakami: Cult of the colourless? - books podcast

John Crace digests Murakami's latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, and wonders if the bestselling Japanese author has bleached the life out of his fiction

10 min
12/31/2014

Val McDermid: Jane Austen's equal? - books podcast

John Crace digests Val McDermid’s update of Northanger Abbey, and asks if her attempt to square up to Austen’s gothic melodrama is fine or foolhardy• More digested reads podcasts

12 min

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4.8

out of 5

13 Ratings

The Digested Read by John Crace

04/16/2012

Billi

Deeply smart, funny, true. We love you, John Crace. More more more Digested Read! PLEASE UPDATE THIS PODCAST. ITUNES? GUARDIAN? PLEASE!
Excellent but not updated enough !!!!

04/27/2010

ReeinUSA

This is one of my favouriote podcasts, just wish that they updateded it more frequently. I read Crace's coloumn in The Guardian but hearing him read it with his own nuances is so much better - PLEASE PLEASE update !!!
Funny, skillful satire!

07/08/2009

amaglin

Even when you aren't familiar with the classic and modern books being satired, you feel familiar with them after you've heard John Crace's "digested" version of them. When you are, in fact, familiar with the book that's being skewered, it's even more hilarious!
Worthy of its own podcast

04/01/2009

yes, my name is nick

I was wondering where the D.R. went on the Guardian Books podcast. Ah ha! I hope the Guardian posts his hilarious versions of 'Biggles' and 'The Shack' on this podcast. This podcast is truly a treat and, in some cases, far better than reading the book itself. Abridged or digested books are nothing new, but most of them take a dull book and distill its most dull aspects. Not here. Mr. Crace chooses to focus mostly on literary hubris and media marketing blather, along with a pun or two (is there such a thing as a good pun?), and the result is very enjoyable listening.

A podcast version of John Crace's wickedly satirical Guardian column, lampooning the literary style of leading authors by summarising their books in five minutes