Logo

    Hardcore Literature

    Welcome to your new favourite book club. If you enjoy deep dives into the greatest books ever written, you will love Hardcore Literature. Provocative poems, evocative epics, and life-changing literary analyses. We don’t just read the great books - we live them. Together we’ll suck the marrow out of Shakespeare, Homer, and Tolstoy. We’ll relish the most moving art ever committed to the page and stage from every age. Join us on the reading adventure of a lifetime.
    en-gb72 Episodes

    People also ask

    What is the main theme of the podcast?
    Who are some of the popular guests the podcast?
    Were there any controversial topics discussed in the podcast?
    Were any current trending topics addressed in the podcast?
    What popular books were mentioned in the podcast?

    Episodes (72)

    Ep 67 - How to Create a Powerful Daily Reading Practice

    Ep 67 - How to Create a Powerful Daily Reading Practice

    If you're enjoying the Hardcore Literature Show, there are two ways you can show your support and ensure it continues:

    1. Please leave a quick review on iTunes.

    2. Join in the fun over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club: patreon.com/hardcoreliterature

    Thank you so much. Happy listening and reading!

    - Benjamin

    Timestamps:

    • 0:00 a powerful morning reading practice
    • 2:00 on staying consistent with your habits
    • 7:00 how I structure readings of scripture
    • 8:00 my meditative reading of Moby Dick
    • 9:00 reading imaginative literature scripturally
    • 10:00 speed-reading vs subvocalisation
    • 11:00 on rereading resonant passages
    • 12:00 theatre of the mind & simple contemplation
    • 13:00 imagination, empathy, applying the senses
    • 14:00 threefold present & eternity in the text
    • 16:00 mindfulness in our everyday lives
    • 17:00 future as string of present moments
    • 19:00 good material for the reading practice
    • 20:00 from Aurelius to Rilke & Tolstoy
    • 22:00 how the practice differs from reading
    • 24:00 how Virginia Woolf read great literature
    • 25:00 why I love reading difficult books
    • 26:00 reading as conversation & act of love
    • 27:00 the ease and joy of the daily practice
    • 28:00 the four steps of my reading practice
    • 32:00 practice walkthrough with Tolstoy
    • 33:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage One
    • 39:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage Two
    • 45:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage Three
    • 48:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage Four
    • 52:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage Five
    • 56:00 Tolstoy's Wisdom: Passage Six
    • 59:00 let us know about your practice

    Ep 66 - The Bookish Q&A Show (Coffee with Hardcore Literature)

    Ep 66 - The Bookish Q&A Show (Coffee with Hardcore Literature)

    If you're enjoying the Hardcore Literature Show, there are two ways you can show your support and ensure it continues:

    1. Please leave a quick review on iTunes.

    2. Join in the fun over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club: patreon.com/hardcoreliterature

    Thank you so much. Happy listening and reading!

    - Benjamin

    Timestamps:
    • 0:00 expressing my gratitude for you
    • 3:31 how to find meaning in our lives?
    • 20:44 advice on keeping a commonplace book?
    • 27:00 your thoughts on French Literature?
    • 32:37 your favourite films and shows?
    • 40:42 entry recommendations for big classics?
    • 45:20 your process for making connections?
    • 51:30 a master plan behind the syllabus?
    • 53:15 can you riff on Tolstoy’s sense of love?
    • 58:35 how to love someone for who they are?
    • 1:03:40 character names in Shakespeare?
    • 1:06:05 three writers you would have coffee with?
    • 1:07:48 what is your literary guilty pleasure?
    • 1:09:00 what is the greatest decade ever for novels?
    • 1:11:00 what podcasts do you enjoy listening to?
    • 1:13:17 are you concerned about artificial intelligence?
    • 1:19:30 a difficult dilemma: rereads or new reads?
    • 1:22:10 what are your favourite Japanese works?
    • 1:24:20 interest in a behind-the-scenes show
    • 1:25:00 tell us more about Shakespeare’s audience?
    • 1:30:59 supposedly great books that are overrated?
    • 1:33:16 how to deal with feelings of overwhelm?
    • 1:39:10 do books appeal to different temperaments?
    • 1:41:47 your elevator pitch for getting into literature?
    • 1:46:55 what are the essential book club lectures?
    • 1:52:30 recommendations for book club newcomers
    • 1:53:00 talking about the questions for the next show

    Ep 60 - The Tragedy of Macbeth (Shakespeare)

    Ep 60 - The Tragedy of Macbeth (Shakespeare)

    Dear Lovers of Great Literature —

    Thank you so much for listening to the show. If you would like more Shakespeare discussions, we have a library of lectures, guided readings, and bookish content at the Hardcore Literature Book Club at Patreon.com/HardcoreLiterature

    We are currently reading through the complete works of Shakespeare over the course of the year, and the discussion is incredibly rich and exciting. 

    In our back catalogue, we also have a deep dive lecture series into twelve specially curated masterpieces from William Shakespeare. This includes banquets of blood like Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, and sparkling comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing.

    In addition to Shakespeare, we have extensive lectures for writers like Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky,  Cervantes, Jane Austen, Cormac McCarthy, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, and many more.

    Across the course of 2023, we are journeying through War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, Orlando, The Count of Monte Cristo, Invisible Man, The Lord of the Rings, the short stories of Alice Munro, Jane Eyre, Paradise Lost, Gravity’s Rainbow, and much more.

    You will be warmly welcomed to our little literary oasis!

    Happy reading, and have a lovely day.

    - Benjamin