Sign In

It’s Lit!

It's Lit!

Add Show to Watchlist
A series of smart, funny video essays from PBS Digital Studios about their favorite books and why they love to read. Host Lindsay Ellis delves into topics like the evolution of YA, how science fiction mirrors our own anxieties, and why the book is sometimes just a _bit_ better than the movie.

Where to Watch It’s Lit! • It's Lit!

13 Episodes

  • When the Book is Better than the Movie
    E1
    When the Book is Better than the MovieWhich is better, the book or the movie? Explore the question with host Lindsay Ellis.
  • The Evolution of YA: Young Adult Fiction, Explained
    E2
    The Evolution of YA: Young Adult Fiction, ExplainedWhere did YA come from, and how did it get so big? “Young Adult” fiction is a term whose meaning has varied wildly over the years. It can apply to coming of age tragedies or Serialized adventures of babysitters, or insert really dated twilight joke here. But where did this “young adult” genre come from? And why did it get so big?
  • The Evolution of Science Fiction
    E3
    The Evolution of Science FictionStories, tales, and myths from all around the world posing speculative questions around technologies have existed long before Ray Bradbury and Frank Herbert, from the time-traveling Japanese fairy tale "Urashima Tarō” to some of the speculative elements of 1001 Arabian Nights. But there are a few eras that begin to shape what we’ve come to know as science fiction today.
  • An Ode to the Romance Novel
    E4
    An Ode to the Romance NovelLove it or hate it, the romance novel is the highest grossing literary genre. Its history is long and winding (like your favorite romance novel), and romance novels are full of tropes reflected upon its history. It has been the subject of intrigue, derision, and shame in literary discourse long before the modern genre as we know it existed.
  • How Fantasy Reflects Our World
    E5
    How Fantasy Reflects Our WorldFantasy novels are more than just hundreds of pages worth of swords and magic! Okay, there's some of that. But it's also a lens to what our society finds important to our pasts, our presents, and future.
  • Why did they make me read this in High School?
    E6
    Why did they make me read this in High School?What makes a book important? Why are some books required reading in high school, while others are lost to history?
  • Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?
    E7
    Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?Despite the adage of not judging a book by its cover, there’s a lot of time, intent, and money spent creating memorable book covers. Get to know the story behind some of literature’s most iconic book covers.
  • Fear of Ghost...Writing!
    E8
    Fear of Ghost...Writing!You might being asking yourself-- Why do ghostwriters even exist? Isn’t that cheating? Isn’t literature supposed to be the result of one person’s agonizing need to create? Aren’t books supposed to be the blood, sweat, and tears of the tortured auteur? Well, the answer is more complicated than you think!
  • Who Can You Trust? Unreliable Narrators
    E9
    Who Can You Trust? Unreliable NarratorsWho is the most powerful character in fiction? Villains may doom the world, heroes may save it, but no one has more control over the plot than the narrator - expositing the who, what, where, when and how directly into the reader’s mind. But how can you tell that the person telling you the story is telling you the whole story?
  • Food & Fiction: Memorable Meals in Literature
    E10
    Food & Fiction: Memorable Meals in LiteratureFood varies wildly from place to place and from culture to culture; since humans are such sensory creatures, using words to evoke the experience of eating is an excellent way to bring a text to life.
  • Death, Personified
    E11
    Death, PersonifiedDeath as a character reveals how we process one of life’s greatest mysteries, and there’s a lot more breadth to how the grim reaper is depicted than you might think.
  • How Greek Mythology Inspires Us
    E12
    How Greek Mythology Inspires UsAncient Greek Mythology has worked its way into modern pop culture so deeply that it would be an almost Sisyphean task to compile every way it’s manifested!
  • The Beauty and Anguish of Les Misérables!
    E13
    The Beauty and Anguish of Les Misérables!Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is one of history’s most famous novels and one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history. On this special episode of It’s Lit! we explore how Les Miserable became both a national and revolutionary anthem, and so publicly adored that all 1,900 pages never went out of print.

 

  •   
  •   
  •   
  •   
  •   
  •   
  •   

Take Plex everywhere

Watch free anytime, anywhere, on almost any device.
See the full list of supported devices
    Watch It’s Lit! • It's Lit! Full Episodes Online - Plex