Podcast Favourites

01.20.2015 by Nicola //

If you pay any attention to Reading Week, you’ll have guessed some of my favourite podcasts by now.

I’ve been an avid listener for well over a year now, and while I’ve shared some favourites before in the posts Top Bookish Podcasts and Further Adventures in Podcasting, my tastes have changed and my library has grown.

So, favourites!

As I mentioned in last year’s post, some bookish podcasts I enjoy are Literary Disco, Books on the Nightstand, and Book Riot.

I also enjoy the usual suspects, which I’m kind of assuming you’ve heard about. The public radio darlings of podcasting: This American Life, Serial, RadioLab, and the new NPR show Invisibilia. They’re all great, but allow me to introduce your ears to a few you may not have heard about yet.

Reply All

PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman produce Reply All, kind of a spin-off from their previous On the Media public radio show called TLDR (which also has a fantastic archive that’s worth listening to).

Reply All a storytelling show in the vein of This American Life, getting to the bottom of internet events through human interest stories.

The podcast came around in late 2014 after they were poached by Alex Blumberg of Start Up (which I also enjoy!) as part of his new and growing podcast empire, Gimlet.

Reply All is around 20 minutes a pop, but with stories so engaging and such seamless storytelling that they seem to flash by in 5. After being frustrated by their necessarily spotty TLDR upload schedule, I’m so happy these guys have become weekly podcasters.

Longform

Along with their beautifully curated website and future-of-RSS app, the guys at Longform have put together a brilliant podcast which now spans over 124 episodes.

There are three hosts: Longformers Aaron Lammer and Max Linsky, and Atavist co-founder Evan Ratliff. They take turns to interview journalists – largely from the New York media scene – about their work, processes, and recent stories.

I spent a lot of time scouring the archives of this show, and lately have found myself listening mostly to episodes with journalists I’ve heard of and/or admire, and all of the ladies. I guess women are better at elucidating analyses of their own work. Credit to these guys for parity.

Either way, here are some of my favourite episodes to get you started: Susan Orlean (the reason I found them); Alex Blumberg; Anne Helen Petersen; Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah; Katie JM Baker; Margalit Fox; Wesley Morris; Tavi Gevinson; Molly Young; Alice Gregory; Meghan Daum and Edith Zimmerman.

You Must Remember This

Film historian and former LA Times critic Karina Longworth began You Must Remember This – an historical storytelling podcast – as kind of an experiment. Now it’s full time and part of the Infinite Guest network – another place to find some interesting cultural podcasts.

The show bills itself as containing the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century, and it runs the gamut from classic Hollywood stars to forgotten gems to mid-1990s memories. I love Longworth’s languid delivery and pepperings of acted dialogue.

Some of my favourite episodes are (The Printing of) the Legend of Frances Farmer; The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapters 1, 2 & 3; and Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol.

Call Your Girlfriend

Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow’s takes on life and the media, basically.

They’re great, just go and listen to it already.

Death Sex & Money

Another public radio show, the topics of Death, Sex & Money are pretty self-explanatory.

The show airs on WNYC and is hosted by Anna Sale, who seems thoroughly delightful. Episodes deal with one, two or all of the title issues, sometimes focussing on star guest individuals and other times on a range of people who have submitted their stories through open calls.

Aaaaand…. Introducing Bookish Blether!

If you made it this far, congratulations! You’ll be one of the first to know that I’m launching my own podcast!

My brilliant friend Holly and I are embarking on a new podcast project called Bookish Blether. It’s a fortnightly podcast about books and reading, and we’ll also be discussing longform articles and other book-related topics in the near future.

Click here to listen to Episode 0 and subscribe before Episode 1 drops this Wednesday!

You can also learn more about us on our Bookish Blether Twitter and Tumblr pages, and by email.

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What are some of your favourite podcasts? Drop me a comment below or tweet me @robotnic with your picks!

Reading Week #29 – Distinctly Unspooky

10.31.2014 by Nicola //

A distinctly unspooky but still pretty scary pumpkin. Thanks, internet.

Happy Hallowe’en!

Worry not, there’s no kitschy spooky shit here.

I spent last weekend in London and much of the week working til dark, so here are a few Internet snippets and a handful of awesome podcasts links for you to enjoy.

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

An Isaac Asimov essay on creativity has been unearthed and published for the first time. He asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”

The author of a One Direction fan fiction that got 1 BILLION hits on Wattpad got a 3-book deal and a movie deal. Not bad, eh?

Race the Tube: Glasgow Style. Nevermind the guy that beat the Clockwork Orange from Buchanan Street to St Enoch Square (a 58-second ride); this dude has the right idea. (Okay spoiler alert it’s a Tennant’s ad. Clever, but.)

–– DIGITAL ––

It’s been a podcasty week, so it has.

Maria Popova on the Tim Ferriss podcast. He’s kind of a blowhard but I’ll deal for the nerdy work process chat.

Mallory Ortberg on Reading Lives. She reads in the shower?!

Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic also has some tips for binge podcast listening.

Serial is quickly becoming one of my most anticipated podcasts each week. (Mine and everyone else’s.) Although I have to agree with this point…

The problem with Serial is the guy sounds perfectly content to hang in jail so the stakes are low, low, low.

— Jessica Stanley (@dailydoseofjess) October 27, 2014

–– ON PAPER ––

This week I finished reading Under the Skin for tonight’s book club. And oh, how it deserves a faithful adaptation. It has themes and character development and everything! I may even get around to his new book soon.

Also, please make this happen.

Who will pay me to edit "Best Internet-Era Nonfiction 2004-2014," an anthology feat. digital & print work? I pledge to include a token man.

— ann friedman (@annfriedman) October 28, 2014

–– &c. ––

An uncomfortable read about the trial of skinniness in the New Inquiry: You’re Right, I Didn’t Eat That.

Canadian radio journalist Jian Ghomeshi has had some serious allegations brought against him this week. I’ve enjoyed his work on Q for some time. Now 8 or 9 women have come forward. One of his friends was pretty blunt about it, saying: “Jian Ghomeshi is my friend, and Jian Ghomeshi beats women”.

What have you been reading this week?

Further Adventures in Podcasting

05.14.2014 by Nicola //

Earlier this year, I blogged about my Top 5 Bookish Podcasts.

Since then I’ve become even more of an avid podcast listener, and have been branching out into other subjects.

So here are a few more recommendations for you podcast fiends.

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Longform Podcast

1. Longform

If you like author events, and you like non-fiction and journalism, you’ll like Longform.

The Longform podcast is co-hosted by the two guys who founded the website, Max Linksy and Aaron Lammer, and Evan Ratliff from Atavist. They introduce each episode, taking turns interviewing journalists and other longform non-fiction writers.

My interest in this podcast is pretty well documented – as you’ll know if you’ve seen any of my Reading Week link posts. It turns out that journalists really enjoy talking about their work, and I really enjoy listening to them talk about their work.

Top tip: Listen to the women and Eli Sanders first – they’re all the most interesting.

Subscribe via iTunes or find episodes on the Longform website.
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New Yorker Out Loud podcast

2. The New Yorker: Out Loud

My next pick is fairly similar in style, like a more polished Longform, but centred around specific stories. It’s a weekly podcast which takes one of the top stories from the current issue of the New Yorker and posts a discussion by its author around the topic.

Since I recently received a digital New Yorker subscription for my birthday and don’t always get around to reading much of it, this is a great way to either get a taster of the longer pieces or to engage further with the ones that have already passed.

It’s also often another opportunity to hear from great writers who have featured on Longform – like the recent episode with Ariel Levy.

Subscribe via iTunes.
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No Such Thing as a Fish podcast

3. No Such Thing as a Fish

Only QI would think to have such an intriguing podcast title. This is a great example of an enterprise using its ‘ends’ or process as a way to create a piece of fun and interesting content.

In a way you’d be smart to keep it a secret – there’s nothing more deflating than firing out one of your best trivia facts and someone coming back with, “That was on QI, wasn’t it?” Regardless, I’m telling you about it. It’s a round-table with a handful of the QI Elves, who give their top 10 facts of the week, with plenty of digressions along the way. It’s a tidy half-hour, and good fun to tune into while walking or doing the dishes.

Subscribe via iTunes, on SoundCloud, or the QI website.
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You Must Remember This podcast

4. You Must Remember This

This charming and brand new podcast from Karina Longworth is like a musty Old Hollywood biography in audio form.

It’s billed as a storytelling podcast exploring”the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century”. And it’s just marvellous.

Longworth made these pretty much for herself during a working lull where she was spending more time promoting recent work than writing new stuff. A feeling many of us know all too well. She put that creative energy to great use, writing and performing these fantastic narrative pieces brought to life with snatches of expert interviews and music. She’s a first-time podcaster, so the audio is a little uneven in the first episode, so be patient with that – but damn, it’s quite a first attempt!

Subscribe via iTunes or hit up the Tumblr for downloads and show notes.
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Hello Internet podcast 5. Hello Internet

Another new one to me. In which your friendly internet education-meisters CGP Grey and Brady Haran talk about things and stuff – mostly of the kind that concerns internet creators.

After an initial run of 10 episodes, Grey posted a video today saying that they’re extending the run for 10 more. So far I’ve enjoyed their chats about copyright, work-life balance, and feedback on feedback.

Give it a listen on iTunes or tune in with random video inserts on YouTube.

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Which podcasts do you like to listen to? Throw me your recommendations!