![]() ![]() What makes Well-Read Black Girl a great listen is Edim’s thought-provoking questions. It sounds like a lot to accomplish in a single show, but Edim takes it in stride. Oh, and it wants to inspire the next generation too. The pitch? This is a show for female writers of color, seeking to elevate their voices, publicize their work and dissect their practices. Her book club, Well-Read Black Girl, started in 2015 and has since blossomed into a book, online community, and podcast. Glory Edim is always searching for a good story. You can hear the joy the hosts take from reading radiate through the airwaves - after all, serious literature doesn’t need to be a drag. And, most importantly, it’s a show packed with humor and insight. Overdue is a celebration, not a critique. Hosts Andrew Cunningham and Craig Getting have no interest in making you feel bad about your literary limitations. But if you’re feeling guilty for never finishing Middlemarch, worry not. Steinbeck, Austen - heck, have you read The Satanic Verses? Overdue is a podcast that rescues these sorts of books from your backlog, throwing contemporary literature and children’s books in with the classics, even covering high fantasy and cult favorites in the process. Whether you’re a defender of the canon or hungry for new literature, everyone has a list of books they’ve been meaning to read but haven’t quite got around to. Vitcavage is a host who believes in his show, making Debutiful a slick and rewarding passion project. Fresh voices like Brandon Taylor, Cherie Jones, and Zak Salhi remind us that great new talent is emerging every day. Sure, missing will be those pearls of wisdom that only come from writers who have been working for decades, but these newbies add an essential perspective on contemporary fiction. Listening to an interview with an author still wet around the ears is a gratifying experience. Hosted by writer Adam Vitcavage, the book podcast Debutiful is a show celebrating the strange, thrilling, and often terrifying experience of being a debut novelist. The show has moved away from interviews and book reviews to deliver stories sourced from its local community, stories like the history of Black women’s suffrage, why Brooklyn produces so many great writers, and tales from the library itself, asking that question we’ve all been dying to have answered: “What do librarians do all day?” You don’t have to live in Brooklyn to enjoy Borrowed, as each episode comes with its own curated book list, making the show not only entertaining, but a great resource while we wait for libraries to reopen. Borrowed, by the Brooklyn Public Library, does things a bit differently. Many of them are excellent, like those from the NYPL. Plenty of public libraries now have their own podcasts. Each episode explores a range of topics, digesting books and literary media with a dose of skepticism, intelligence, and irony.īorrowed, despite its name, feels original. Thanks to their industry knowledge, Book Riot approaches its subject through engaging, expansive conversation. The show is hosted by the editors of Book Riot, a pair that clearly know their Cusk from their Chbosky. Book Riot: The Podcast avoids both of these traps, making me wonder why so many other shows get the formula wrong. What better way to find your next great read? With all of this in mind, here are the best book podcasts to get you excited about reading.īook podcasts tend to have two main problems: on the one hand, they can be rambly and unfocused on the other, they can be so specific that their discussions become dry. As well, book podcasts allow us glimpses of other people’s shelves, creating a sense of community with readers that we’d never otherwise meet. Rather than dwell on tired formats, we should tune into the shows that make us feel zealous about reading. Just as reading shouldn’t be a chore, neither should listening to a podcast. To remedy this, some podcasts begin with an enticing conceit - Book fights! Desert island novels!- but these ideas are often revealed as gimmicks. And many shows feature the same guests promoting the same books. Author interviews, although inspiring, quickly become repetitive. But for all the choice, the book podcast genre is starved for innovation. Indeed, many of us love talking about books just as much as reading them, which helps explain why podcasts about books are so plentiful. For a solo pastime, reading can also be a rather social activity. ![]()
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