All Booked | My Favorite Bookish Podcasts

Reading Content Comes in Several Formats

This edition of All Booked was originally emailed to subscribers on January 17, 2023. To receive our literary newsletter in your inbox, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Hello, book lovelies!

This newsletter is going to be slightly different, because instead of talking about books, I’m going to be highlighting some of my favorite bookish podcasts. Like all of you, I love to read. But I love consuming content about reading just as much. It’s usually how I find out about the books I want to read next. It also helps me stay motivated and interested in reading. Oftentimes when I’m in a reading slump my bookish content consumption increases — it offers a nice break from reading while still staying in the bookish world. There are several formats that I use to consume reading content, but my main ones are podcasts and YouTube videos. Below, I highlight two of my favorite bookish podcasts. I have plenty more recommendations, so if these interest you, let me know and I can do a part two.

Also, this topic idea came from one of the responses from my short survey that I sent out in the last All Booked. You can still complete the survey if you’d like! I’d love to hear from you, especially on future topics or themes for these newsletters.

I am a big believer in going into a book knowing as little as possible. I try not to read too much of the synopses or reviews, since most of them over-share. My pitches below are short and sweet just for that reason.

In past All Booked newsletters if I have referenced a podcast, I was most likely referring to Books Unbound. This weekly bookish podcast is hosted by two best friends. It’s such a joy listening to both of them chat about life, books, and friendship. It’s easy to feel like you’re the third best friend joining in. Ariel and Raeleen have different reading tastes and styles and as a result they cover a wide variety of books. They introduced me to Convenience Store Woman, which kickstarted my love for Japanese literature. They also convinced me to pick up an Otessa Moshfegh book, which has lead to an unexplainable and slightly gross fascination with all of her work. Every other episode they have a book news segment, where Ariel gives up an update on any bookish things happening — movie releases, publishing news, etc. What I love most about Books Unbound is how fun it is. Ariel and Raeleen don’t take themselves too seriously, yet they both offer up great insights in their reviews. If you’re looking for a weekly bookish chat with some gal pals, this is it.

Reading the Room is a newer podcast find for me. The first episode I listened to was Jaylen Lopez’s interview with Otessa Moshfegh. I love Lopez’s style of interviewing and even if I haven’t heard of an author or book that’s featured on the podcast, I usually end up adding it to my list. The interviews are fascinating and I love learning about the creative process from the authors themselves. Lopez asks great questions and has a great variety of guests come on the show. If you’re looking for intelligent and interesting author interviews, Reading the Room is a great listen.

As always, I would love to hear from you at emily@independent.com. Do you consume bookish content? If so, what are some of your favorites? Let me know! Also if you have the time, I would love for you to take my survey.

Your smitten bookworm, Emily

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