Publishing Details
About This Podcast
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.
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Recent Episodes
S4E2 #1,264 "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Send a textWatchmen 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.…
S4E1 February 2026 -- Bonus Episode (J. R. R. Tolkien)
Send a textIt 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…
S3E24 #1,123 "Surfacing" by Margaret Atwood
Send a textThe 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,…
S3E23 January 2026 -- Bonus (Haruki Murakami)
Send a textIf 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,…
S3E22 #1,235 "Vernon God Little" by DBC Pierre
Send a textThis 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…
S3E21 December 2025 -- Bonus (National Read A New Book Month 2)
Send a textRemember 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…
S3E20 #343 "A Dry White Season" by André Brink
Send a textAndré 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…
S3E19 November 2025 -- Bonus (Purging of the TBR)
Send a textAll 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…
S3E18 #577 "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" by Italo Calvino
Send a textIt'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…
S3E17 October 2025 -- Bonus ("Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir)
Send a textWhen 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…
S3E16 #97 "Barabbas" by Pär Lagerkvist
Send a textPär 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,…
S3E15 September 2025 -- Bonus (Banned Book Trivia/Revision of the List)
Send a textAll 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…
S3E14 #1,275 "Where Angels Fear To Tread" by E. M. Forster
Send a textIt 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…
S3E13 August 2025 -- Bonus Episode ("Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives" by David Eagleman)
Send a textWhat 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…
S3E12 #409 "In The First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Send a textIn 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.…
S3E11 July 2025 -- Bonus Episode (Mike Trippiedi)
Send a textIn 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…
S3E10 #932 "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion
Send a textIt'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…
S3E9 June 2025-- Bonus Episode (Literary BBQ)
Send a textIt’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…
S3E8 #564 "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" by Tobias Smollett
Send a textThe 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…
S3E7 May 2025 -- Bonus Episode (National Short Story Month 2)
Send a textRemember 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…
Frequently Asked Questions
Just In Case We Die has published 66 episodes since February 2023, covering topics in Arts, Books.
Just In Case We Die is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 1h 7m.
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