Chapter 2: The Luggage of an Optimist 
Innocent Smith becomes a boarder at Beacon House, unpacks his eccentric belongings, and initiates a picnic on the roof! 

From July 21st through August 28th, we’re taking a break from our usual weekly book reviews and instead I’m reading aloud the complete novel Manalive by G. K. Chesterton! Chapter readings will be posted twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you haven’t yet listened to my review of Manalive, just check out Episode 26 of Season Two. 

Thank you to all who've joined the Unknown Friends community on Patreon! I love getting to share extra content with you there. Learn more at www.patreon.com/unknownfriends, where you can explore the different ways to join as a patron and get access to bonus content like free books and monthly preview episodes. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my weekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

Manalive, Chapter 2, by G. K. Chesterton

In The Return of the King, we witness the blossoming of virtues that were just seeds at the start of the trilogy: simple hobbit virtues of humility, tenacity, hopefulness, and, above all, faithful friendship. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E15: The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings, Bk. 3), by J. R. R. Tolkien

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote his celebrated Foundation trilogy in his twenties, as he worked for the US Navy and toiled through graduate school. The trilogy was inspired by Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and explores Asimov's innovative concept of "psychohistory." 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E16: Foundation (Foundation, Bk. 1), by Isaac Asimov

In Book 2 of Asimov's trilogy, new threats arise to Hari Seldon's Foundation. First a general of the fading Galactic Empire and then a mutant known as The Mule jeopardize Seldon's plan to maintain civilization in a barbaric universe. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E17: Foundation and Empire (Foundation, Bk. 2), by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation develops psychology into a science of mind control, giving its members enormous power all across the galaxy. Unfortunately, freedom and individuality must be sacrificed to achieve such power. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E18: Second Foundation (Foundation, Bk. 3), by Isaac Asimov

First staged nearly 2500 years ago, The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragic dramas written by Greek playwright Aeschylus. As the only tragic trilogy that survives from the Hellenistic world, The Oresteia gives us insight into the structure and style of ancient theater. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E19: Agamemnon (Oresteia, Pt. 1), by Aeschylus

The second play in the Oresteia introduces our title character Orestes and complicates the trilogy's themes of revenge and justice. Can righteous motives, or even a command from a god, ever justify murder?

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E20: The Libation Bearers (Oresteia, Pt. 2), by Aeschylus

The fierce Furies are transformed into "the kindly ones" in The Eumenides, the play that not only concludes the Oresteia on a hopeful note but also features the first-ever jury trial in recorded Western literature. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E21: The Eumenides (Oresteia, Pt. 3), Aeschylus

Starting with the 1938 publication of Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis turned science fiction upside-down with his Space Trilogy. He rejected the evolutionary, dehumanizing trends in sci-fi and offered instead a worldview that acknowledges the inherent value of all created beings. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E22: Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, Bk. 1), by C. S. Lewis

Dr. Ransom's adventures and spiritual education continue in Perelandra, book two of C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy. He voyages to the Edenic planet Venus where he must wage spiritual and physical war against the forces of evil. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. 

Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson 

Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions 

Email me: kittywham@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!

S3E23: Perelandra (Space Trilogy, Bk. 2), by C. S. Lewis

That Hideous Strength, the last volume of Lewis's Space Trilogy, takes an unexpected turn after the first two books and explores a philosophical argument Lewis had previously expounded in The Abolition of Man. Nonetheless, the novel is primarily about human relationships, especially marriage. 

I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com.

You can get in touch with me by email at kittywham@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening!

S3E24: That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Bk. 3), by C. S. Lewis

"Reading brings us unknown friends." (Honoré de Balzac) 
Rachelle Ferguson from Kittywham Productions discusses classic and contemporary literature in her book review podcast Unknown Friends.

Manalive, Chapter 2, by G. K. Chesterton

Unknown Friends

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