Friday, November 4, 2016

Book Podcast Crisis Part 1: The Readers

My Favorite book-conversation podcast, Books on the Nightstand, ended their several-year-run in July of this year.

Unfortunately, I had been listening only about six months, so I felt particularly disappointed they were ending, as well as robbed that I hadn't experienced more of them in the earlier years. The hosts were good enough to recommend a few other podcasts, which I decided to give a try. I was mostly left wanting.

Here is the problem: I don't care about the hosts' private lives. I don't care about their struggles, time constraints, or what their cat did last night. I don't want to know about their politics, a bumper sticker they saw, or what their kids are wearing for Halloween. I want to hear about books, authors, book events, and all things bookish. That's hard to find!

In an effort to spare you the pain, I am going to give you my take on several of the more popular bookish podcasts. Let me hear from you on your likes and dislikes!

The Readers podcast is up to episode 161 and is hosted by Simon and Thomas. Here is the summary of their Halloween episode: Thomas and Simon have a chat about what scares them, with a few spooky tales along the way, and which books they would recommend for other people to read as well as sharing the books that they would like to be reading this Halloween…

And therein lies the problem. I don't care what scares Simon and Thomas. I don't want to hear spooky tales. I do, however, want to know which books they would recommend for Halloween. In a podcast that is 45 minutes in length, there is not enough return on my investment of listening through rambling to get to the bookishness.

Here is another thing I didn't like: Thomas mentioned the novel "American Psycho". At the mention, Simon said, "Oooh, that's not scary, that's just vile." There are certainly books for which I didn't care, however, I would prefer not to have negative commentary to this extent. Especially about a book that is a violent commentary on how capitalism can create a monster. That alone garners a look.

So, I crossed this one off.

Next up: All The Books

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