Books · Novel Pairings
by Novel Pairings
Welcome to Novel Pairings, a podcast dedicated to making the classics readable, relevant, and fun. As two nerdy bookworms, we appreciate the role of classic lit, but we but we won't get too academic about it. We'll talk about the books we love and the books we loath, and help stock your TBR pile with old and new reads for every literary taste.
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Where Novel Pairings ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 9, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Novel Pairings is my favorite resource when I see the same titles over and over on bookish social media. This podcast is the right level of nerdy to challenge, but not overwhelm and helps me get the most out of my reading life.
If you love classic books you’ll be in heaven listening to this podcast. But even if you’re not into classics, there’s so much more here. The premise is pairing classic books with contemporary literature and they do a great job with that. If you’re an English major at heart, they have classes. They have reviews of new “buzzy” books (and I appreciate that they give an honest opinion rather than toning it down to avoid offending someone). There’s also a book club which relates to a theme (we’re currently reading British social satire books), guest speakers…something for everyone! I’ve been listening to their podcast and Patreon episodes for a year and a half so this review is long overdue. I look forward to listening each week and hope to be listening for a long time to come.
This podcast is the best! It strikes the perfect balance between feeling like you’re chatting about books with friends, getting recommendations from well-read book lovers, and being back in your favorite English class. Every episode is an absolute delight, and although I’m not the biggest classics reader, I enjoy every conversation Sara and Chelsey have and take something new away whether I’ve read the book or not. I’d recommend this podcast to anyone who misses English class, proudly considers themselves to be a bit of a nerd, and appreciates genuine, comfortable conversation about books with other book lovers. Thank you, Sara and Chelsey!
This is a lovely balance of interesting (but not pedantic) discussions of books and culture in general by two very intelligent young women who know their stuff. There’s a nice friendly vibe and pleasant humor between them that gives the listener a feeling of hanging out with real people who happen to know a tremendous amount about literature in many forms. I especially appreciate the lack of controversy. It’s relaxing and entertaining at the same time. Glad I found it!
This is the second time I’ve followed the show, because I love reading, and I love what these hosts are trying to accomplish. I think they are great at what they do as far as the content goes. But I wish there was better editing or more preparation on the hosts part. It sounds like there is just so much dead space while they think about what to say and constant uses of “umm” and “like” that is really hard to listen to. I came back to this podcast after about a year thinking that maybe that would have been addressed by this point and sadly it is still very present. And for those reasons, despite the fact that I love what they’re saying, I can’t handle how they are saying it. I really hope that the reviews like mine are given some attention. I would love to come back in another year and find that these issues have been addressed because I really do want to listen to this show and what they have to say.
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
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Daily updated Apple Podcasts rankings for the United States.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of Novel Pairings, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
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