Book Club for Masochists: a Readers' Advisory Podcast

It's episode 234 and time for us to talk about Novels in Verse! We discuss rhyme, meter, interiority, whether any of us understand poetry and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards What Book Should We Read? (Click to vote by July 31st...

It's episode 233 and time for Battle of the Books 2026! Which book will we all read and discuss? You decide! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards What Book Should We Read? (Click to vote by July 31st!) Algospeak: How Social M...

It's episode 232 and time for us to talk about coming of (old) age!  You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tried to…) The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie Real Estate by...

It's episode 231 and time for us to talk about Sapphic Horror! We discuss which monster is the most sapphic, unrealistic reality TV shows, and how queer a book has to be to count as sapphic. You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwar...

It's episode 230 and time for us to talk about media we've been enjoying! We discuss music, video essays, movies, comics, books, crafts, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We're Enjoying: Matthew The Music...

It's episode 229 and time for us to talk about Media Criticism. We talk about what counts as media, the challenges of writing about emerging forms of media, how we interact with criticism, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | J...

It's episode 228 and time for us to talk about Computers and Computer Science books! We discuss technology, digital humanities, coding, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tried to…) Track Change...

It's episode 227 and time for an emergency backup episode! This episode is the audio version of "Utterly Unfamiliar and Downright Detestable" a presentation we gave for the 2022 Ontario Library Association's RA in a Day event. There's also a video version on our YouTube channel. You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast d...

It's episode 226 and time for us to talk about our 2026 Reading Resolutions! We discuss reading books, not reading books, quitting reading books, throwing books in the garbage, and more! Plus: Oh no, the passage of time! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte |...

It's episode 225 and just in time for Valentine's Day we talk about Queer Romance! We discuss what counts and doesn't count as romance, ice hockey, regency, spies, demons, and more! Plus: Matthew reads a book he actually likes, Jam reads a book they dislike, and a fairly large chunk of the episode wasn't recorded and had to be edited around! Guess what parts were re-recorded! You can download the...

It's episode 224 and time for us to talk about History books! We discuss queer history, local history, spies, roads, colonialism, and more!  You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tried to…) Lapêche : A histo...

It's episode 223 and time for us to discuss our favourite reads (and other things) from 2025! We talk vampires, monster romance, cultural studies, linguistics & language, and more. Plus: Guess how many of our favourite reads are actually from 2025 (it's more than zero!). You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery...

It's episode 222 and time for us to talk about books from the 1980s! Okay, I say "books" but it's really "science fiction and fantasy novels from the 1980s." You probably could have guessed that if you've listened to the podcast before. You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri...

It's episode 221 and time for us to talk about Epic & High Fantasy! We talk about maps, magic, monsters, whether Pokémon counts as epic fantasy, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tried to…) A W...

It's episode 220 and time for us to talk about the winner of our One Book One Podcast / Battle of the Books: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler! We discuss content warnings, anthropomorphising sea critters, our relationships with the ocean, salps, goldfish, whales, octopus, crabs, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it...

It's episode 219 and time for us to talk about the genre(?) of Vampires! We discuss the difference between thralls and familiars, why vampires love math, whether it's possible to not read vampire stories, how much blood is too much blood, vegetarian vampires, books that mysteriously show up on our holds lists, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through...

It's episode 218 and time for us to talk about the Book Club Books! We discuss what counts as a book club, religion, food memoirs, historical fiction, girls loving each other in 1954, the prison industrial complex, and more! Plus, we discuss geographic-specific food we miss! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast deliv...

It's episode 217 and time for our Summer Media Update! We discuss shelf trophies, sumo wrestling, Kpop Demon Hunters, blogs in book form, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tried to…) Jam Bear a...

It's episode 216 and time for us to talk about the genre of Rural Noir / Grit Lit! We discuss what counts as "rural," whether "coastal noir" is a thing, how intense these stories can be, and more! Plus: Should fiction about Gritty (the mascot) be classified as about a "real person"? You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podca...

It's episode 215 and time for our annual Battle of the Books! This year we're each pitching a non-fiction book we think we should all read and discuss and then you (our listeners) get to vote on which one! Plus! A chance for a listener to win a book! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episo...

It's episode 214 and time for us to talk about the genre/topic of Non-Traditional Storytelling! We discuss epistolary novels, novels in verse, punctuation, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards Things We Read (or tri...

It's episode 213 and time for us to talk about "Found Books,"  that is books that we've found in public little free libraries, book exchanges, and book swaps! We discuss the recently returned book cart, getting books for free, getting rid of books, and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In th...

It's episode 212 and time for us to talk about excellently complicate the non-fiction genre of Linguistics & Language! We discuss 🤔, our academic backgrounds, the power of words, accents, and more!   You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 |...

 It's episode 211 and we're talking about books and other media we've enjoyed recently! We discuss early internet chatrooms, shuttlecocks, haunted dolls, what constitutes a "banger", and more! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edw...

It's episode 210 and time for us to talk about the genre of Romantasy! We discuss romance series, happily ever afters, tropes, social media, and more! Plus, special guest romance fiction researcher Christine Larson! You can download the podcast directly , find it on Libsyn , or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matt...