RECOMMENDATIONS: Tree’s Favorite Bookish Podcasts

In 2020 when I was working from home I became a podcast girlie. To be fair, I listened to podcasts when I was in high school (before they were everywhere), but when I was in college, the only one I kept up with went on hiatus I said goodbye to podcasts. But in 2020 I was having a hard time focusing on work and was getting tired of my favorite music that I went looking for some new podcasts. And went overboard. Many were not bookish (lots of Bachelor podcasts) and there were many I only listened to a few episodes of or stopped listening once I went back into the office, but I still wanted to share my favorite bookish podcasts that I still listen to.

This list isn’t in a particular order regarding my most favorite, but it is listed in the rough order of how long I’ve been listening to them.

The Stacks
Host – Traci Thomas

Traci focuses on discussing books written by people of color and other marginalized identities and has so many authors on her show. Most of her episodes are interviews, but every month her and a guest pick a book to read together and they have a conversation about it. What stands out to me is the questions she asks, they are always interesting and lead to such insightful conversations. I often put on an episode having no idea who the author is, only to want to read their book. I also learn a lot from this podcast. Not always about books or writing, but often topics come up that make me think.

I’ve been listening to The Stacks on and off for years at this point. I started with her first episodes and listened to 1 – 7 in one day. Then I went back to the current episodes. I think listened to almost all of her 2022 episodes. What I love about her show is I often learn about books that I would never have heard about otherwise.  I always love her Favorite Books of the Year Episodes (see 2022 here), but all of her conversations are excellent.

Fated Mates
Hosts – Jen Prokop & Sarah MacLean 

Jen and Sarah talk everything romance on their show. They are so knowledgeable about the romance genre and its history that I am constantly learning things in their episodes. They do a mix of recommendations by tropes, read alongs, and have been doing interviews with influential people from the romance genre which they call Trailblazers. The first season of their show is them reading all of Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark Series, which is a paranormal romance series.

I’ve been reading adult romance since 2017ish, but listening to this podcast has made me appreciate the genre so much more. My TBR is always growing while listening to this show. I love basically all of their episodes, but I really loved their conversation with J.R. Ward and I haven’t read a J.R. Ward book before!! (I am hoping to change this after this convo). I think I started listening to them with their 2021 (?) New Year’s Eve Episode, which is always one of their more unhinged episodes so I truly dove into the deep end here.

Plus, Sarah MacLean is one of my favorite historical romance authors and it’s fun to hear her talk about books. Whenever she has a release Jen “hosts” the episode and interviews Sarah like she is a guest.

The Thing About Austen
Hosts – Zan Cammack & Diane Neu

This show is excels in how specific it is. They discuss very items/things in the Jane Austen verse and analyze their significance to the novel, Jane Austen, or history as a whole. I am a super basic Austen fan and have only read three of her books so a lot of the episodes go over my head or I just don’t listen to, but I always learn so much while listening to these episodes. I also love that they are short.

When I was rereading Pride & Prejudice it was very entertaining to listen to the episodes that focused on that book because it was very fresh in my mind. Their recent episode on Mrs. Reynold’s House Tours (IYKYK) was so entertaining.

Plot Trysts
Hosts – Meg & Laine 

Each of the episodes focus on a romance novel, mostly historical romances, but they dabble in other subgenres. They break down the book into categories and their discussions go from there. They analyze the synopsis and write their own with a random number of words which is such a creative way to start their episodes/conversations.

This one is a very new to me show, but I have really enjoyed listening to their episodes on the books I’ve read.  There episodes are also pretty short which I also appreciate. My favorite episodes so far have been the ones on Lisa Kleypas’ The Hathaway Series because I lowkey agree with a lot of their comments. But also they have read more Kleypas than I have and thus could comment on how these books compared to her other books which added to my understanding of the series as a whole.

Romancing Your TBR
Hosts – Caroline (Salty_Caroline_Reads on IG) & Hannah (FringeBookReviews on IG)

This is a newer podcast and it mildly unhinged (in the best way) and I’m excited to see where they go. They have recommendation episodes and deep dives into specific books. Hannah and Caroline are friends and have an excellent hosting chemistry.

I mainly listen to them for their historical recommendations because clearly I need more of those on my TBR. They also read a lot which means my TBR is growing with very episodes. I recently read The Stand Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau, which Hannah recommended, and I loved it so much. They also inspired me to read Get Thee Off My Lawn because they did a whole episode on this novella and I wanted to listen to it.

Happy to Meet Cute
Hosts – Courtney Kae & Falon Ballard

Another new podcast! I am fans of both these authors so when they announced a podcast I was excited. They talk about writing, other media they are loving, and have author interviews. 

I’ve enjoyed their episodes so far and can’t wait to see them find their groove in the podcasting space.  My favorite episode so far has been their interview with Suzanne Park. As a disclaimer, both of these authors follow me on Instagram, but this is not sponsored lol.

Do you listen to any bookish podcasts?

Thanks for reading!

xoxo, Tree