It’s November! The month I (Payton) have eagerly awaited all year! It’s the month we read WHITE NIGHTS by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in partnership with our friends at Fiction Distilling, who recently released their first vodka inspired by the classic novella. In this first episode of the month, Amy schools us all on the long 19th century and the literature it birthed. We discuss this pivotal period of history and where Dostoyevsky stands in the context of Enlightenment, industrialisation, liberalism, and revolution, and we get a wee bit existential towards the end. Do you think free will exists? Did Dostoyevsky think so? Comment your thoughts below and tune in again next week to help us figure that out.

🎤🎸 BOOKS & BANGERS Live Show: Amy & Book Club are excited to host our very first live show, featuring music from special guests and local indie rock band, Mass Wisteria! Join us on the 25th of November for hot takes, games, live music and more: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/books-bangers-amy-book-club-tickets-1999979053186?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

MENTIONS

BOOKS
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Dracula by Bram Stoker
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Stranger by Albert Camus
War and Peace by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

AUTHORS
Charles Dickens
Brontë sisters
Jane Austen
Thomas Hardy
Zola
Victor Hugo
Gustave Flaubert
George Eliot

OTHER
English Literature in Context edited by Paul Poplawski (textbook)
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen
Anna Karenina (2012 film)
War and Peace (2016 miniseries)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006 film)

RECOMMENDED YOUTUBE VIDEOS
Learn more about Dostoyevsky's life and philosophy here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmSdxZpseY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykz6Cq9IJPU

LINKS:

• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndBookClub
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandbookclub 
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on TikTok: @amyandbookclub
• Join the Amy & Book Club: Amy & Book Club 
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor 
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is “Same Old” by Mass Wisteria. Listen to their music on Bandcamp.