Lots of good books in this installment of WWLSR!!

Season 13 – November 6, 2001 to May 22, 2002

se13ep06 – Lisa leaves the Church of Springfield and embarks on a search for a religion she feels speaks to her. In the end she finds Buddhism, but first she reads a few books… Paul Reiser’s Religionhood is a play on his other three publications; Couplehood, Babyhood, and Familyhood. She also reads Zagat’s Guide to World Religions, which is not a “real” book either, Zagat’s being a source for restaurants and nightclubs the world over. Couplehood would make a funny read, apparently it starts on page 145 to give reader’s a false sense of accomplishment. Love it.

se13ep08 – This episode begins at the library used book sale where Lisa tries to rescue all the books with no homes. This is what I looked like when I was moving house last year! No titles.

se13ep14 – Homer finds an overdue library book of Classics for Children and reads it to Lisa and Bart.

In the stories Lisa plays Joan of Arc (above) and Ophelia from Hamlet (below). At the end Lisa declares that Hamlet is the “greatest thing ever written”, so let’s read it!! *selection #34* HAMLET by Shakespeare. And let’s not forget about Joan of Arc, there is a new biography of her life coming out this month: Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured by Kathryn Harrison *Selection #35*

se13ep15 – Lisa and the fam fly to Brazil to find Lisa’s lost pen pal Ronaldo. On the plane Lisa reads a book about Brazil… have you been keeping track of all the books Lisa reads on other countries?

se13ep18 – Bart starts a comic called Angry Dad based on, you guessed it, Homer. Lisa reads a copy, but sadly we can’t because it’s not real (why oh why isn’t it real?)

se13ep20 – OK YOU GUYS this episode has some biggies! Lisa pretends to be a college student to hang out with her gymnast friends and does lots of cool book-related college stuff.  Firstly, she gushes over Gravity’s Rainbow when she finds it in her friends bag *selection #36* Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Then they go to the Cafe Kafka featuring a bug man on the sign *selection #37* The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

THEN she attends a poetry reading by Robert Pinsky! *selection #38* A collection of poems by Robert Pinsky.

Finally she panics when she realizes she has been neglecting her 2nd grade homework and struggles to put together a model of the White House with matchsticks. We don’t need to read about the White House though…

se13ep21 – Lisa reads a pamphlet about the screaming caterpillar they find in the backyard. If you’re feeling under-challenged by the reading list thus far feel free to add a book on entomology. But, you know, probably nobody else will.

Season 14 – November 3, 2002 to May 18, 2003

se14ep03 – This season kicks off in the fall of 2002, and at the time I was studying art history in Europe so I didn’t see any of these episodes when they aired on TV (though honestly, I probably stopped watching it a while back, the previous season wrapping up just as I was graduating from high school). So some of these episodes were new to me which is a strange experience when you think you’ve seen them all. I HAVEN’T ACTUALLY SEEN THEM ALL. Ahhh! Anyways blah blah blah Lisa and Bart are both moved into the third grade in this episode and then begin competing with their school work. In this capture Lisa holds an untitled book.

se14ep08 – Lisa realizes how little Homer knows about her in this episode. To try to fix this Homer hires a private investigator to supply him with information about his daughter. One of the things the investigator finds is a book report by Lisa on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. *Selection #39*

se14ep09 – LISA IS A MAGAZINE RACK. In this episode Marge develops a fear of the outdoors and in order to build her confidence the family stages the Kwik-E-Mart in the living room with Bart as Apu (pretty hilarious) and Lisa as a disgruntled magazine rack (Homer then says “Look, I’m the first to admit it I don’t write good parts for women.” which I think is a great commentary on the writers out there that really don’t write good parts for women, because there are tons of them blobviously) Later she reads a magazine.

se14ep11 – Lisa and Bart do some spring cleaning in the garage and Lisa finds a stack of old books. Reading one she summons some kind of demon, but he poofs away when she shuts the book to instead read a book of mad libs.

se14ep13 – Lisa reads Modern Sandcastle magazine.

se14ep16 – Springfield Elementary finds itself the subject of a documentary filmmaker. In an attempt to improve the image of the school Skinner lures him into a staged room featuring “typical student” Lisa listening to Bach and reading a book (at the 6th grade level!) by the fire. No title.

When the filmmaker implies that Lisa has no direction she tales up astronomy, reading Ed McMahon’s Star Searcher – not a real book but a joke based on the career of Ed McMahon as host of the 1980’s talent show Star Search.

se14ep17 – Homer moves out of the house and into an apartment with a couple of gay men (one being voiced by Canadian comedian Scott Thompson of the Kids in the Hall, who I love). Lisa reads to Homer over the phone from a copy of Nancy Drew’s Clue in the Clock which she must have stolen from Mr. Burns’ house back in episode 12 of season 11 (our first repeat book!). We’ve already got this on the list, so let’s continue on.

se14ep18 – Lisa reads a copy of Let’s Go Home while the family enjoys a trip to a ranch. Initially unhappy about the mistreatment of animals on the ranch, Lisa sits on the sidelines reading a book (what she does best!)

se14ep19 – Santa’s Little Helper becomes the spoke model for Duff beer, and the original owner from the racetrack comes to claim him as his dog so he can collect the royalties. Lisa studies law books to see if there is a way to get him back.

se14ep20 – Lisa reads a book at the breakfast table while Homer mopes about his fight with Marge. No title.

Phew! More to come! Don’t think I’m slacking, I’m still working hard to bring you the beloved books from Lisa’s shelf…