Beyond the Shelves: Reimagining the Classics

Beyond the Shelves: A Podcast from the Des Moines Public Library

On the newest episode of Beyond the Shelves, Jes and Sarah find new versions of old classics they want to recommend for their listeners, including the best readalikes for books like The Great Gatsby, 1984, Moby Dick, and more.

Show Notes What They're Reading

• Jes
  • Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante
  • Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV, by Emily Nussbaum
  • We Used to Live Here, by Marcus Kliewer
• Sarah
  • A Fate Inked in Blood, by Danielle L. Jensen
  • Winter Lost, by Patricia Briggs

Classics, Reimagined CLASSIC TITLE UPDATED CLASSIC The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald Normal People, by Sally Rooney Lord of the Flies, by William Golding String Follow, by Simon Jacobs The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder Of Mice and Men, by Jon Steinbeck The Sweetness of Water, by Nathan Harris 1984, by George Orwell Chain Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger Martyr, by Kaveh Akbar To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens Walden, by Henry David Thoreau Upstream, by Mary Oliver David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Bulletin

• Former president Barack Obama's Summer Reading List
• The It Ends With Us press tour controversy
• Authors sue Claude AI chatbot creator Anthropic for copyright
• The Pairing controversy