You’d think that we get enough book chat over our trade counter, but we can talk books 24 hours a day. Sometimes, when we have no one to talk about books with, we have to make do with the next best thing–bookish podcasts. All the usual suspects like National Public Radio and The New York Times have podcasts that provide interesting and timely news about the publishing world. For those of us who look less mainstream for information but still want good fishing, our web editor/social media manager recommends these bookish podcasts.

Bookish-Podcasts

For the Writer Obsessed: A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment
Authors Sherman Alexie (for whom Bookmans has expressed admiration) and Jess Walter are friends and supportive of their local writing scene. A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment gives listeners a sense of the topics Alexie and Walter share in their interpersonal relationship, adds author readings, guests, advice and just enough talk about basketball, an important topic for many Arizonans.

For the Broadly Book Obsessed: The Bookrageous Podcast
The Bookrageous Podcast tagline, “Serious about books, but not exactly serious,” fits. The hosts include booksellers rather than publishers and so they talk about books that excite them rather than ones they hope to market. In some way this makes the recommendations feel more genuine. They do often talk about books that haven’t been published yet, so you will have to wait some time before you find those recommendations on our orange shelves.

For the Conflicted Book Aficionado: Dear Book Nerd
Dear Book Nerd is a bi-weekly advice show for, erm, book nerds. Hosts share their thoughts on lending books, how to pare down your library and how to be a sensitive cosplayer. Do you love your children but hate reading children’s books aloud? Dear Book Nerd can help. In a recent podcast, the hosts eloquently explain that oral history is literary history and so audio books, while not exactly the same as physical books, are still books.

For Fans of Comedic Read Alouds: Nate Corddry Presents: Reading Aloud
Adding to his total crush-worthy status in the world of comedy, Nate Corddry boldly professes his love for literature. In Nate Corddry Presents: Reading Aloud, Corddry recruits talented performers to read aloud from great works of literature. He also interviews huge influencers like Gloria Steinem.

For Booksellers and Those Curious about Booksellers: Drunk Booksellers
We were sold on Drunk Booksellers after hearing them talk about the wonders of fixtures (e.g., bookshelves) with wheels. Certainly Todd at Bookmans Mesa gets that as he’s constantly swinging shelving around to create event space. He compares the highly choreographed task to the Ice Capades. We aren’t giving up our “fixed” orange shelving just yet and we’re sure the hosts of Drunk Booksellers get that too. With the claim, “professional booksellers, casual drinkers,” the hosts share what it’s like to work behind the scenes and all the wonders that greet them when they visit other stores. And they curse–a lot.

Beyond Books Bonus: Legion of Leia
In their podcast of the same name, Legion of Leia founder Jenna Busch and writers Anastasia Washington and Sabina Ibarra take on the geeky topics that matter to everyone. The Legion of Leia mission is, “to raise awareness of the fact that women love sci-fi… and our contributions to it are out of this world.” You do not have to be a feminist to love LoL. You also don’t have to believe Rey is the sole protagonist of The Force Awakens, even though she totally is. The hosts leave plenty of space for a variety of voices and they are all ask geeky as you are.

We hope you will give a listen to one of these podcasts and we’d love to hear from you about your favorite bookish podcasts. Share your favorites in our comment section or let us know what you’d like to hear from a bookish podcast.

Post author Rebecca Ballenger is a wannabe Internet practitioner, subtly charming public school advocate and amateur communicator who asks too many questions and writes mostly about books at RebL Nation.