The Reader and the Writer

Welcome back to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. In this episode Rhea and Shari have an extensive conversation about the developing, centering conflict framing the narrative; the conflict underneath it; and whether or not these two conflicts can be separate from one another. They discuss the several significant biblical allusions in this section and wonder how these might be informing the ultimate meaning of the story. They admit their late realization as to what “twenty thousand leagues” is actually referring. And, after meandering around in conversation of to seemingly disparate concerns, they land upon a question that might be at the center of what this story is ultimately saying.
For paying members, look for the outline to come out later this week.
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Welcome back to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. In this episode, Rhea and Shari continue to scratch their heads over Nemo. Who is this ever-mysterious figure?? They They discuss the narrative and wonder over the central conflict. Where is the story boiling? Who is the main character? is there a central conflict? Or simply a central question? They discuss character counterpoints, and revisit the question of freedom. They talk about isolation and the motif of time passing, and consider how these might be helping to express a deeper meaning. They talk about Twenty Thousand Leagues and the Great Conversation, especially the Great Story. Finally, they end this week’s discussion with a poetry reading: two poems they each thought of separately while reading this week’s section.
For paid subscribers, look for this week’s show outline to come out later this week.
Be sure to look through Rhea’s Reading Guide, especially the interactive map Rhea added that follows the Nautilus’s travels through the Pacific.
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked what you heard, show it some ❤️ and pass it to some enigmatic folks you know.

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Welcome to our next school-year long read, the Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling! In this episode, Rhea and Shari lay talk about their biggest excitements and apprehensions about doing a close read of Harry Potter. They lay out the reading schedule, and all the fun extras they have planned for paying subscribers. They discuss an ancient, four-layered approach to examining a literary work that they plan to bring to their Harry Potter reading, writing, and discussing. They talk about all the National Harry Potter Days to celebrate, zoom calls and chat threads to come…. And they accidentally start diving into the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
If you’d like to join in all the behind-the-scenes Harry Potter reading opportunities, be sure to become a paid subscriber. The cost is $30 or $5 a month. You can read about all our subscriber opportunities in this post.
And, if you haven’t started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, there’s no time to lose! Our first episode airs the first Friday of October (Oct. 2nd).
Here is the link to R&W’s Harry Potter Slow Read page:
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you enjoyed this episode, ❤️ it and share it with your fellow wizard loving friends!

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Welcome to our second episode of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the possibility of the characters as archetypes, Nemo as an enigma, and the idea of the places of the novel (land, sea, and Nautilus) as acting in character-like ways. They wonder about the freedom - not freedom debate Aronnax and Nemo have at the beginning of the men’s captivity, and ask the question: What is really imprisoning Nemo that he is not free from but deluding himself into believing he acting free? They talk about stories the novel is in conversation with: Oedipus and the Sphinx, and Genesis 1-3 (Is Nemo a type of Adam? Will the story lead to salvation?). They revisit Mobilis N Mobili and wonder how language and sight are acting as motifs to greater themes.
Be sure to check out Rhea’s Reading Guide for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea:
If you are a paid subscriber, look for this episode’s outline to come to you via post and email: Wednesday, September 9th. (I am hoping to make our regular posting routine).
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode please ❤️ it and share it with other science romance lovers!

The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



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Welcome to this final episode of Middlemarch by George Eliot. In this episode, Rhea and Shari discuss the arcs of the characters—in particular, they re-visit Rosamond’s arc (or not); the role of honor, duty, desire, societal expectations, and—of course—marriage and Middlemarch as the “home epic.” They talk about Eliot’s great use of irony throughout the novel, but in particular, her conversation and expression of “candour,” among Middlemarchers. They talk about the differences between how Rosamond, Dorothea, and Harriet Bulstrode each handle their “dark night of the soul,” and the final effect of each one’s suffering when the sun rises the next day. They talk at length about Eliot’s long quote from Pilgrim’s Progress in the Ch. 85 epigraph and how it brings a certain enlivening to Bulstrode’s character, and greater notes of grace undergirding the entire story itself. They go back to their beginning and look at how they might answer some of the questions they began this home epic with. Finally, they wonder what those “determining acts” are in their own lives; and the difference between an “ideal beauty” and the more remarkable, everlasting beauty found in those “un-historic acts” done by those “who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.”
Thank you so much for joining us these past eight months as we closely read Middlemarch! We do hope you’ll join us for the Harry Potter Series next!
Here is the outline for this final Middlemarch episode. It is full of discussion questions, and personal journaling and study opportunities.

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