Jane Austen set out to write a novel with an anti-hero: “A heroine whom no one but myself will much like,” she wrote about her goals for the book, so why is Emma so lovable? Of course, we couldn’t discuss this enjoyable book without spending time on the equally lovable film adaptations. Chaos reader shouts out a podcast, because, well… chaos.

This week, Jay goes rogue and chooses a whole trilogy of books as the next entry on his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. He and Stacey discuss the theology behind what Pullman never meant to be young-adult literature, even if the main characters are young people. The page-turning fantasy novels are a very engaging delivery device for a iconoclastic consideration of religious belief. Chaos reader checks in with a new-to-her book of poetry.

Something in the King Arthur canon was bound to make it onto Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language, and this week Jay and Stacey discuss the linked novellas that comprise this modern classic, the historical influences on White and the new takes that make this novel officially Lovable. Chaos Reader finally gets reading again with one of the New York Times best fiction books of 2024.