A series of smart, funny video essays from PBS Digital Studios about their favorite books and why they love to read. Host Lindsay Ellis delves into topics like the evolution of YA, how science fiction mirrors our own anxieties, and why the book is sometimes just a _bit_ better than the movie.
When the Book is Better than the Movie
Jun 4, 2018
Which is better, the book or the movie? Explore the question with host Lindsay Ellis.
The Evolution of YA
Jun 26, 2018
Young Adult Fiction (YA) is dominating literature, and more young people are reading now than ever before. Lindsay Ellis explores how YA carved a place in publishing.
Why Sci Fi is a Mirror on Society
Jul 13, 2018
While science fiction is associated with Mars, robots, and cyberpunk, its origin story is shaped throughout several centuries. Check out the origin of science fiction with Lindsay Ellis!
An Ode to the Romance Novel
Jul 30, 2018
Love it or hate it, the romance novel is the highest grossing literary genre. Its history is long and winding (like your favorite romance novel), and romance novels are full of tropes reflected upon its history. It has been the subject of intrigue, derision, and shame in literary discourse long before the modern genre as we know it existed.
How Fantasy Reflects Our World
Aug 21, 2018
Fantasy novels are more than just hundreds of pages worth of swords and magic! Okay, there's some of that. But it's also a lens to what our society finds important to our pasts, our presents, and future.
Why did they make me read this in High School?
Aug 30, 2018
What makes a book important? Why are some books required reading in high school, while others are lost to history?
Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?
Nov 21, 2018
Despite the adage of not judging a book by its cover, there’s a lot of time, intent, and money spent creating memorable book covers. Get to know the story behind some of literature’s most iconic book covers.
Fear of Ghost...Writing!
Dec 7, 2018
You might being asking yourself-- Why do ghostwriters even exist? Isn’t that cheating? Isn’t literature supposed to be the result of one person’s agonizing need to create? Aren’t books supposed to be the blood, sweat, and tears of the tortured auteur? Well, the answer is more complicated than you think!
Unreliable Narrators
Dec 17, 2018
Who is the most powerful character in fiction? Villains may doom the world, heroes may save it, but no one has more control over the plot than the narrator - expositing the who, what, where, when and how directly into the reader’s mind. But how can you tell that the person telling you the story is telling you the whole story?
Food & Fiction: Memorable Meals in Literature
Jan 11, 2019
Food varies wildly from place to place and from culture to culture; since humans are such sensory creatures, using words to evoke the experience of eating is an excellent way to bring a text to life.
Death, Personified
Jan 24, 2019
Death as a character reveals how we process one of life’s greatest mysteries, and there’s a lot more breadth to how the grim reaper is depicted than you might think.
How Greek Mythology Inspires Us
Feb 7, 2019
Ancient Greek Mythology has worked its way into modern pop culture so deeply that it would be an almost Sisyphean task to compile every way it’s manifested!
The Beauty and Anguish of Les Misérables!
Apr 18, 2019
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is one of history’s most famous novels and one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history. On this special episode of It’s Lit! we explore how Les Miserable became both a national and revolutionary anthem, and so publicly adored that all 1,900 pages never went out of print.
