Just In Case We Die
In 2006, Quintessence Editions Ltd. published a book entitled "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". Edited by academic Peter Boxall, this list was a curated selection of novels deemed "essential" for literature lovers. Over time, as books were added and removed to accommodate new tastes, the list has continued to grow into subsequent volumes. As of today, there have been 1,316 novels included in the list. Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca will attempt to read and discuss every single one of them. Sort of.
Episodes
71 episodes
May 2026 -- Bonus (Knife: The Attempted Assassination of Salman Rushdie)
On Sunday, May 3, 2026, The Davis Theatre in Chicago had a single screening of Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, a new film by Academy-Award-winning director Alex Gibney, as part of the annual Doc10 Festival. This film is ...
"Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr -- Veto #4
Once upon a time, Aaron recommended a novel he had recently completed to Rebecca, citing it as his favorite novel of 2021. Already familiar with the work of the author, Rebecca jumped right in, despite Aaron’s misgivings about the science-ficti...
April 2026 -- Bonus Episode (Spring Cleaning)
Last year, for the bonus material in April, Just In Case We Die celebrated National Library Week with a lively discussion about some of the unique things libraries are doing all around the world. The year before that, the cast celebrat...
"A Brief History of the Dead" by Kevin Brockmeier -- Veto #3
Back in January, the random number generator gave us #1, 167. This number corresponded to a Cuban novel by Guillermo Cabrera Infante entitled Three Trapped Tigers. None of the cast had heard of it.Research ensued, and the follow...
March 2026 -- Bonus (Women's History Month)
It occurred to the crew here at Just In Case We Die that a vast majority of the broadcast space is devoted to male authors. It would seem that the editors of the original list didn’t have as many women writers that they found to be “es...
#1,264 "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Watchmen is, without question, the most unique book to be up for discussion on Just In Case We Die. Of all the tomes to ever appear on the curated list, Watchmen is the only comic book. Originally released as twelve i...
February 2026 -- Bonus Episode (J. R. R. Tolkien)
It is February 2026. This means that this is the first episode of the fourth season. It also means that Rebecca has a pre-arranged prior commitment and cannot join the cast for their bonus discussion.While the cat’s away . . .This...
#1,123 "Surfacing" by Margaret Atwood
The final episode of the third season features one of the world’s most successful writers. The author of novels, short story collections, works of nonfiction, children’s books, and comics, Margaret Atwood has been topping bestseller lists and w...
January 2026 -- Bonus (Haruki Murakami)
If there is one thing that everyone here at Just In Case We Die can agree on, it’s this: Haruki Murakami is one of the greatest contemporary storytellers. Japan’s best-selling novelist, Haruki Murakami has made an international name fo...
#1,235 "Vernon God Little" by DBC Pierre
This month’s book up for discussion involves one of the strangest novels to ever be featured on Just In Case We Die. It’s a crass, vulgar, and irreverent commentary on American media wrapped up in a misguided and confounding alle...
December 2025 -- Bonus (National Read A New Book Month 2)
Remember last December when the crew at Just In Case We Die celebrated the holidays and National Read A New Book Month by combining both into one gift-giving effort? Well, they decided to do that same thing again (even if two ...
#343 "A Dry White Season" by André Brink
André Brink’s A Dry White Season is a great example of the sort of novel Aaron, Rodney, and Rebecca are describing when they classify a book as “essential.”First published in 1979, this thought-provoking story recounts the journ...
November 2025 -- Bonus (Purging of the TBR)
All three cast members of Just In Case We Die are acknowledging that their accumulation of books has gotten out of control. The to-be-read piles get increasingly more problematic. This is not a problem that appears to be remedying itse...
#577 "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" by Italo Calvino
It's Aaron's turn to handpick a book from the list, and he selected Italo Calvino's 1979 post-modern masterpiece. This novel is one that he has admired for more than a quarter century. In fact, he's been trying to foist it on Rebecca seemingly ...
October 2025 -- Bonus ("Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir)
When it turned out that maybe Aaron and Rodney might be able to convince Rebecca that not all science-fiction was a waste of her time, Aaron recommended Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. It was a gamble, to be sure, because this is a Scie...
#97 "Barabbas" by Pär Lagerkvist
Pär Lagerkvist, the recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Literature, was not a writer that had ever been in the to-be-read piles of any of this podcast’s participants. All three of them, though, were affected by this novel’s message. This shor...
September 2025 -- Bonus (Banned Book Trivia/Revision of the List)
All three members of the cast are in different locations this month, so our bonus discussion might seem a little lackluster.There are, though, three excellent reasons to give this one a listen:You will learn all kinds of new ...
#1,275 "Where Angels Fear To Tread" by E. M. Forster
It would stand to reason that a writer that has led an interesting life could write an interesting novel.Unless you’re E. M. Forster.If you’re him, you would lead an interesting life and then write a real clunker about despicable ...
August 2025 -- Bonus Episode ("Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives" by David Eagleman)
What happens when we die? Do we exist in an ethereal plane that cannot be perceived by human conscience? Are we forced to spend eternity as the background characters in another person's dreams? Do we have to exist eternally seeing ourselves fro...
#409 "In The First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
In 1967, Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn edited his new novel down from 96 chapters to 87 chapters in the hopes that a censored version would be more palatable to Soviet publishers. It was not.In 1968, he was able to successfully g...
July 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Mike Trippiedi)
In Champaign, Illinois– the city that serves as the home base for this podcast– there is a man named Mike Trippiedi. He is an award-winning filmmaker, an accomplished stage actor and director, and the author of three novels. He also happens to ...
#932 "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion
It's June! This means that we discuss a book hand-selected from the list by Rebecca.The last time she did this, she selected The Book of Illusions, a novel she had never read that was written by a novelist she admires. She took ...
June 2025-- Bonus Episode (Literary BBQ)
It’s summertime!That means beautiful weather, afternoons at the pool, and maybe some time to relax and catch up on our ever-growing TBR piles. It also means, however, that things are going to get chaotic around here– prepping for trips t...
#564 "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" by Tobias Smollett
The first movie released in the DVD format was the 1996 disaster film Twister.Bullfrogs never sleep.The nation of China is credited with the invention of ice cream.Africa is the only continent with land in all four...
May 2025 -- Bonus Episode (National Short Story Month 2)
Remember last year when we decided to celebrate National Short Story Month by discussing six short stories hand-selected by the cast? Well, we had so much fun last year that we decided to do it again!This year, Rodney actually chooses a ...