PODCAST · arts
Booklovers
by Jess and Joseph
Our podcast is moving to a new Spotify page . We’re pop culture obsessives, animal lovers and eaters of sandwiches (okay, that’s mostly just Jess). Our opinions and interests are wide and deep, so the podcast reflects that. We dissect old titles that need a fresh take, brand new stuff that everyone’s talking about, and off-the-beaten-path works that deserve some love. We release episodes every month or so, with some mini-episodes popping up here and there to keep you on your toes.
Episodes
-
Episode 58: Storytime
Insert description here
-
Episode 57: Rereading
Insert description here
-
Romance Redux
We’ve talked about romance novels before on the podcast, but this episode takes a different approach, because Joseph has a lot of questions about the genre.. Why do we read romance? What are the implications of the genre on readers, and how do we as a society view romance novels? For that matter,...
-
Yellowface
Who gets to tell what stories? It’s a question authors—and all of us—have grappled with for years now, and R. F. Kuang’s novel Yellowface digs into that question and pulls out a very sloppy and difficult main character. A skewering, funny, intense look at the publishing industry warts and all,...
-
Year-End Roundup
Here’s to you, 2023. A year of reading and watching (mostly reading for Rea, a LOT of watching for Jess, and the usual extensive amount of both for Joseph). We’re recapping our goals for 2023, how they went, and what we loved most in 2023. We also mention Taylor Alison Swift a lot, because we...
-
Patricia Wants to Cuddle
We found the intersection of Joseph’s conspiracy theory-addled brain and Rea & Jess’s obsession with pop culture: “Patricia Wants to Cuddle.” Our titular queen just wants what we all want: to love and be loved. So what if she’s a bigfoot? And so what if America’s biggest reality dating…
more -
True Biz
In America, only 8% of parents of deaf children wish to learn American Sign Language. A statistic like that seems unfathomable, doesn’t it? But in True Biz, Sara Nović deftly and realistically explores her main character Charlie’s world: Charlie is deaf, but but her divorcing parents, especially...
-
Catch-22
Here in 2023, everyone knows the general meaning of a catch-22. It’s a situation where you can’t win no matter what you do. You’re trapped, you’re stuck, and there’s no other option. But in 1961, when Joseph Heller’s seminal novel Catch-22 was published, there was no phrase for what it meant to…
more -
The Silence of the Girls
Mythological retellings seem to be everywhere these days. Since Madeline Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles was released in 2011, many authors—mostly women—have taken up the effort to share the untold stories of the many female, nonbinary and queer characters of ancient mythology. A shining...
-
Western, western, west
What is a Western? What is western? What is the west? All fair questions, and all hard to really define, especially when it comes to reading tastes. Thankfully, we’re getting an idea of what the new west is, complements of bestselling author C.J. Box, who joined us (!!!!) for part of this episode...
-
How to Sell a Haunted House
Hello, we’re back! After an extended holiday break, Joseph and Jess have returned to discuss the latest Grady Hendrix novel, How to Sell a Haunted House, which throws generational trauma, grief, puppets and Charleston into a blender to see what happens. Joining us for this episode is our…
more -
Magical Realism
On August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was scheduled to give an author talk at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. During his introduction, Rushdie was attacked onstage and stabbed multiple times, including in the eye, hand and chest. The surprising attack drew the spotlight back onto...
-
Disability Representation in Film: Sound of Metal and Give Me Liberty
It isn’t just rare for an Amazon film to be released on DVD, it’s virtually unheard of. So when the 2019 film Sound of Metal entered the catalog of the Criterion Collection and was slated for physical release, Jess knew we had to highlight it. Sound of Metal reflects the deterioration of hearing...
-
Piranesi
When a reader thinks about fantasy books, there are probably specific images that are evoked in the reader’s mind. Magic, for sure. Probably some dragons. Hobbits and wild mythologies. Maybe even some fairies, right? None of these things appear in Susanna Clarke’s praised and prized fantasy novel...
-
Tracy Flick Can’t Win
Even if you don’t know Tom Perrotta, chances are pretty good that you know Tracy Flick. The indefatigable class-presidential-hopeful first made her mark in the 1998 book and 1999 film Election, going toe to toe with (and ultimately taking down) the teacher that everyone loved but hated her. Now,...
-
Detransition, Baby
Detransition, Baby has become an incredibly popular book club book. How can it not be, really? It has all the great hallmarks: a dry sense of humor, creative writing style, and most importantly, messy people living messy lives. Torrey Peters’s first novel explores the sloppy quasi-triangle of...
-
Passing
Nella Larsen’s slender novel Passing was published in 1929, and has maintained a legacy of lifting the veil on the complicated nature of racial passing. When Irene encounters her friend from childhood, Clare, she’s shocked to find that Clare has made the decision to permanently pass for white:...
-
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The team breaks down Tom Ripley’s need to be accepted, the loneliness of the con artist on the lam, and Jude Law’s intense tan.
-
Devil House
Gage Chandler is a true crime writer working on his next project, that of an unsolved double homicide in the suburban city of Milpitas, California that took place in 1986. Gage is best known for his book about the so-called White Witch, a woman who slaughtered two of her high school students in…
more -
The Films of Wes Anderson
You might not know him by name, but you know the aesthetic. A soft warm filter, perfectly framed still shots, vintage-yet-modern costumes, and bubbly but moody music. Since his first film Bottle Rocket in 1996, and especially since the release of 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson has become…
more -
The Cold Millions
"All people, except this rich cream, living and scraping and fighting and dying, and for what, nothing, the cold millions with no chance in this world." So thinks Rye Dolan, the main character of Jess Walter’s seventh novel, as he navigates the wealthy world and poor underbelly of Spokane,...
-
Happy New Year!
Happy 2022! We’re taking a break from full episodes this month, but we still wanted to share what we’re rabbit holing through right now. Enjoy!
-
Our Year in Reading, Reviewed
The group discusses not a year in books but a year in reading, including reading habits, goals and tools for reading.
-
Weird Fiction
We live in a context where the boundaries of reality are constantly tested by scientific discoveries, new technologies, and attempts to describe our world. Weird fiction is a genre-spanning tendency with a long history that attests to this shifting sense of the real. On this episode, we survey...
-
Shaken, Not Stirred: The World of Bond
Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, James Bond superfan Jess is tucked into her seat in the theater with a bucket of popcorn the same size as her head, ready to watch No Time to Die. The vaunted 25th (or 27th, if you’re feisty) film in the Bond franchise has seen its release rescheduled...
-
The 2021 Eisners
We’re here with our first official mini-episode! And what better place to start than with a format that is near and dear to all of our hearts? Celebrating annual and lifelong achievements in the comics industry, the Eisner Awards have been presented since 1988 at San Diego Comic-Con (or at least…
more -
My Heart Is a Chainsaw & The Only Good Indians
Fall is in the air and Halloween is only two months away, so that means it's the perfect time to talk about horror fiction and horror movies. While we start with a general discussion of the scary stuff we love (or appreciate at a safe distance), we then turn to the author Stephen Graham Jones and...
-
Getting Into Audiobooks
One of the things all three of us have noticed over time is that a lot of readers have a question about audiobooks: Is it really reading if I’m only listening to it? Audiobooks are a format that tends to have its own stigma—that listening to a book instead of reading it with your eyeballs is...
-
Whiskey When We’re Dry
In the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, Westerns proliferated across film, television and books. Oh, the books, with their staunch brown covers, gunslingers and paint ponies, staring down the reader as though they were coming directly for us. But since then, the Western—especially the Western novel—has…
more -
The Prettiest Star
If you listened to our previous episode, during which we discussed Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir In the Dream House, then you’ve heard us talk about the importance of preserving stories, both good and bad, especially about the LGBTQ+ community. And The Prettiest Star holds a similar place in…
more -
In the Dream House
After extricating herself from a psychologically abusive relationship that lasted over a year, Carmen Maria Machado went in search of the kind of book we talk about a lot on this podcast: one that would help her process what she had experienced. But instead of finding a sea of options, as there...
-
Memorial
In July of 2020, we were all struck by Bryan Washington’s short story collection Lot, which takes readers deep into the Hispanic and Black neighborhoods of Houston, describing the lives of apartment complexes and storefronts via the people who occupy and care for them. So to prepare for Summer...
-
Borne
What does it mean to be a person? What does personhood mean? What about humanity? You might think you know, but Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Borne and its titular character are here to test what you think you believe. After finding a small pulsating blob on the side of a tremendous sleeping bear,...
-
Tenth of December: Stories
In 2013, Booklovers read George Saunders’ short story collection Tenth of December, which was considered one of the best books of the year by a number of outlets, including the New York Times, and was widely heralded as a masterwork of the format. Saunders is considered one of our greatest living...
-
Jude the Obscure
When Thomas Hardy wrote his final novel, Jude the Obscure, a reader wonders what may have been going through his head. After writing Tess of the d’Urbervilles, which shocked the Victorian England countryside, Hardy released Jude in 1895 in a serialized format. While Jude was a hit, it was also...
-
Music Writing
Music is the oldest type of media we have, both in terms of when it was probably created (40,000 years ago) and when it was first recorded (the late 1800s). Music is in the background of our lives from beginning to end: from birdsongs and train whistles to lullabies and symphonies. And as tricky…
more -
True Crime
To say that true crime is popular is to say that ice cream is popular. Sure, it’s true, but that doesn’t really cover the scope of its popularity: there are different flavors and styles that broaden its reach to just about anyone who wants a taste. In this episode, we’re discussing true crime and...
-
Deacon King Kong
The topic of this episode, James McBride’s stellar novel Deacon King Kong, explores a rara avis among book club reads: it’s funny. Not just amusing or humorous, but laugh-out-loud, tears-in-your-eyes kind of funny, and thanks to McBride’s skills as an author, Deacon King Kong is also full of…
more -
The Alex Awards
We’re shaking things up with this episode: rather than highlight a specific title or genre, we’re taking a closer look at one of very few literary awards given with the reader in mind. Every January, the American Library Association holds its Youth Media Awards, which include eighteen individual...
-
Parable of the Sower
In 1993, Octavia Butler published Parable of the Sower, a work of speculative fiction that takes place in 2024. The main character, Lauren, lives in California in carefully cultivated safety with her family in a walled-in cul-de-sac while the ravages of climate change, severe poverty, robbery and...
-
Lord of the Flies & A Children’s Bible
On this episode, we discussed Lydia Millet's prescient 2020 novel "A Children's Bible" and William Golding's 1954 classic "Lord of the Flies" as species of the survivalist novel. Along the way, we recalled our earliest encounters with Golding's novel to the best of our ability and examined both...
-
The Vanishing Half
Since its release in June, The Vanishing Half has been what feels like everywhere: atop the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers List, across dozens of Best of 2020 lists, and even on Barack Obama’s favorite reads of last year. For this episode, the team discusses highlights from the novel and…
more -
Spy Fiction with a Twist
Spy novels are driven by a set of interrelated questions: Who or what is really in charge? What is the true mission? And how will they get out of this one? On this episode, we discuss two novels with entertaining responses to these questions. Both Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht and This is...
-
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse digs into one family in one place over a span of two very different days, a decade apart. As the Ramsay family spends its day at the blustery northern shore of Scotland, family friend Lily Briscoe attempts to capture the family via painting. Ten years…
more -
The Left Hand of Darkness
51 years after its publication, Ursula K. Le Guin’s masterwork, The Left Hand of Darkness, continues to inspire and open minds across the globe for its frank explorations of gender, friendship, loyalty and patriotism. If you didn’t think all that could happen in a science fiction-adventure novel,...
-
Slaughterhouse-Five, Two Ways
There’s no questioning the tremendous impact that Kurt Vonnegut has had on writing. The inimitable author penned dozens of novels, short stories, essays and more over his life, and none is better known than Slaughterhouse-Five, the rare beloved school-assigned novel once described to Jess as…
more -
Ocean Vuong & Thi Bui
In this episode, we’re looking at two stories of Vietnamese families who immigrate to America, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. While the families are pressed into change by the Vietnam War and its impact on the country, the war itself lingers at...
-
Jonathan Lethem & Thomas Pynchon
It’s our tenth episode! We’re celebrating by discussing Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem and The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. We focus on the in-over-their-heads heroes of both novels, Lionel Essrog and Oedipa Maas, as they try to do right by people who had past impact on them.…
more -
Ill Will
Are you looking for a novel that will unnerve you and challenge you to make all of its pieces fit? Do you spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the Satanic Panic? Do you think Ohio is equal parts fascinating and terrifying? If you answered a hesitant yes to any of these questions…
more -
Romance
Romance as a genre of pleasure reading has always been looked down upon as lesser when compared to lofty genres like literary fiction and classics, but make no mistake: romance is the bestselling pleasure reading genre in publishing, and in times of crisis—from the Great Depression to the…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Our podcast is moving to a new Spotify page .
We’re pop culture obsessives, animal lovers and eaters of sandwiches (okay, that’s mostly just Jess). Our opinions and interests are wide and deep, so the podcast reflects that. We dissect old titles that need a fresh take, brand new stuff that everyone’s talking about, and off-the-beaten-path works that deserve some love. We release episodes every month or so, with some mini-episodes popping up here and there to keep you on your toes.
HOSTED BY
Jess and Joseph
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Booklovers have?
Booklovers currently has 56 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Booklovers about?
Our podcast is moving to a new Spotify page . We’re pop culture obsessives, animal lovers and eaters of sandwiches (okay, that’s mostly just Jess). Our opinions and interests are wide and deep, so the podcast reflects that. We dissect old titles that need a fresh take, brand new stuff that...
How often does Booklovers release new episodes?
Booklovers has 56 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Booklovers?
You can listen to Booklovers on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Booklovers?
Booklovers is created and hosted by Jess and Joseph.
URL copied to clipboard!