In short
Intro/“Start Here” welcome to Zero to Well-Read, explaining the podcast’s mission to help listeners catch up on widely discussed books they may have missed.
Guests
Jeff O’Neal (from Book Riot) and Rebecca Schinsky, long-time hosts who’ve discussed books on the internet for nearly 15 years.
Key claims
The show provides context, history, cultural moment, and honest takes on how books hold up; it’s not gatekeeping and aims to make listeners feel included.
Notable examples
The Great Gatsby, Twilight, Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie, The Secret History, Judy Blume, plus Shakespeare, Brontë, and other canonical classics, award winners, cult favorites, and viral sensations.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:02Jeff O'Neal:That's the sound of zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and the power to burn body fat. Storm, energy for life. Storm Energy Blend helps boost metabolism, which in combination with exercise and a healthy diet helps burn fat. This product alone does not produce weight loss. Individual results may vary.
0:16Rebecca Schinsky:Hi, I'm Jeff O 'Neal from Book Riot.
0:17Jeff O'Neal:And I'm Rebecca Schinsky. This is Zero to Well Read. It's a podcast about all the books people talk about like everybody's read them, even though most of us haven't.
0:26Rebecca Schinsky:We've been talking about books on the internet for almost 15 years together. And in that time, we've heard from a lot of readers who feel like they missed the window. The books they were supposed to read in high school, the classics that kept coming up in conversation, the prize winners they always meant to get to.
0:42Jeff O'Neal:That feeling of being on the outside of a book you're supposed to know is exactly why we made this show. Each episode, we take on one of those titles and we give you everything you need. The context, the history, the cultural moment it came from, and our honest takes on how it holds up.
0:56Rebecca Schinsky:We cover a lot of ground, the canonical classics, your Shakespeare's, your Bronte's, your great American novels, the 20th century heavyweights that reshaped what fiction could do, the award winners that dominated the conversation for a year and then somehow slipped away.
1:11Jeff O'Neal:But it's not all old, serious books. We also love a cult favorite with an obsessive fandom and a surprisingly complicated legacy. the genre books that turned out to be more interesting than their reputation would have you believe, and the viral sensations that made 50 million people suddenly care about a story.
1:27Rebecca Schinsky:We've done The Great Gatsby. We've done Twilight, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, The Secret History, and Judy Blume. Books that will be taught in universities forever, and books that sparked major pop culture moments.
1:39Jeff O'Neal:And the thing they all have in common is that people talk about them like their shared cultural touchstones, but not everybody has actually read them, and that's why we're here.
1:47Rebecca Schinsky:We're not gatekeepers. We're not here to make you feel bad that you haven't read something. We genuinely love these books, even the ones we have complicated feelings about. And we love talking about them with people who are curious and ready to explore.
2:00Jeff O'Neal:So every episode is part literary deep dive, part cultural history, part two friends who have strong opinions and the occasional hot take.
2:07Rebecca Schinsky:We'll tell you what's great, what's overrated, what's weirder than you expected, which is all of them, and why any of it still matters.
2:14Jeff O'Neal:So if you've ever wanted to walk into a conversation about books feeling like you really belong there, if you like book club and you miss English class, this is the show for you.
2:22Rebecca Schinsky:New episodes drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to Zero to Well Read wherever you get your podcasts.
2:27Jeff O'Neal:And if you're not sure where to start, don't worry. We'll tell you exactly what you need to know.
From the publisher
Part book club, part English class, Zero to Well-Read is a podcast about everything you need to know about the books you wish you’d read.
Each week, hosts Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky take on a new title, from classics you should have read in high school to major prize winners and cult favorites to modern hits.
We believe being well-read is about more than just the classics, so we've dissected The Great Gatsby and One Hundred Years of Solitude, sure, but we've also explored The Secret History and Hamnet. Our syllabus has included Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Judy Blume, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, and, of course, some Shakespeare. And did you know the hit film One Battle After Another was based on a book? We did, and we made an episode about it, too (that's Vineland by Thomas Pynchon).
In each episode, we'll give you everything you need to know about a must-read book, including:
What it's about: The basics of the plot and characters.
Vibe-check: What it feels like to read this book and whether it’s for you.
The Discourse: Diving into the commentary and controversies surrounding the book.
Hot takes: Our honest, unfiltered opinions.
Cocktail Party Crib Sheet: Three key takeaways to make you sound well-read at your next dinner party.
Follow the show to receive a new episode every Tuesday.
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