Book Club For Masochists: A Readers Advisory Podcast

This episode we’re talking about Nature/Outdoors Non-Fiction! We discuss armchair travelling, whether olden days explorers were idiots, manliness, and how trees communicate! Plus: Meghan tells us about when she was a fantasy character and birds ate out of her hands. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration by Edward J. Larson Robert Scott was the explorer who was married to Matthew’s friend’s ancestor H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oce

This episode we’re talking about Tabletop Games (including board games, card games, and role playing games)! But first we spend six minutes talking about long-distance winter driving… Once that’s out of the way we discuss social media for playing card companies, co-operative games, low-cost entry to gaming, and more. Plus! Matthew talks too much about everything. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Games We Discussed This Month Snakes and Ladders Snap Magic: the Gathering Risk Settlers of Catan Dungeons & Dragons Jurassic Central Park: “A diceless RPG whose central mechanic is eating chicken wings and pretending to be a dinosaur in New York.” Call of Cthulhu Pandemic Betrayal at House on the Hill Ex Libris Bring Your Own Book Tsuro Flash Point: Fire Rescue Carcassonne Lasers & Feelings Magic &

In this episode: Political Thrillers, are they even real? At the very least we think they’re terrible! Plus: Weird politics, macho men being manly, drinking lots of coffee, secret tunnels, and more! [Also: Anna and Matthew sound...not great this episode due to microphone issues. This will be fixed for future episodes!] You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth The Affair by Lee Child All Fall Down by Ally Carter The President is Missing by Bill Clinton,  James Patterson, and David Ellis Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews Call for the Dead by John le Carré House of Cards by Michael Dobbs Other Media We Mention The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez Hark, a vagrant by Kate Beaton The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson The Big Lebowski (Movie) The Wes

This episode we talk video games! We discuss taxonomies of birds, when is a game not a game, defining soup and sandwich, and the gamification of everything. Plus: We really indicate our ages by mentioning our first exposure to video games. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books Games We Discussed Lego Dimensions Pokémon X and Y The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Katamari Damacy Spyro the Dragon Mass Effect Jet Grind/Set Radio Chrono Trigger (it has 13 endings) Stardew Valley Magic: The Gathering Arena Magic: The Gathering Momir Basic Wandersong Mini Metro Monument Valley Zombie Castaways The Stanley Parable Other Media We Mention Ingress Pokémon Go Fortnite Super Mario Bros. Centipede Super Mario World Sunset Riders (the cowboy game Anna played) Pokémon Sun and Moon Carmen Sandiego Logical Journey of the Zoomb

Our “genre” this month was Cheap eBooks! We talk about satire, mysteries, the appeal of short fiction, and queer Christmas romances! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month Casper Gets His Wish by R. Cooper Judge Anderson: Year One by Alec Worley Peril in Paxton Park by J.A. Whiting Kensei Tales: It's the Great Yule Cat Jamie Hattori by Jeremy Zimmerman Other Media We Mention Oz books by L. Frank Baum on Project Gutenberg Something Like Series by Jay Bell Girls by the Beastie Boys Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee World of Wakanda by a bunch of people The Healing Power of Eggnog by Jamie Fessenden Links, Articles, and Things Buy Anna’s zines! Books on my shelf that I have not read Humble Bundle Bundle of Holding The Hugo Awards Chuck Tingle A consumption of gay men: navigating the shifting boundarie

It’s one of our irregular “other media” episodes! This time we talk about French language books, dinosaurs, beetles, breakfast cereal, children’s books, and more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Media We Talked About Le bonhomme de neige * by Jo Nesbø Une longue canicule * by Anne Villeneuve Le jardin d'Amsterdam * by Linda Amyot Invasions by Calvin Gimpelevich Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal Amdiner Dhaliwal’s Instagram Last of the Sandwalkers by Jay Hosler “While there are 250,000 described species of plants, 12,000 described species of roundworms, and only 4,000 described species of mammals, there are over 350,000 beetle species described, with many more beetles yet to be discovered!” - source Plus on est de fou plus on lit The Empty Bowl podcast Which Witch is Witch podcast (Stitcher) Goo

This month we read Romance Fiction! We talk about “interpersonal attraction”, fake fan fiction, imagining the leads of romance novels look like David Bowie, spice-o-meters, the prime minister of the werewolves, and romance novels about low income housing. Plus: In the Arms of the Spider Hunk! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month (or tried to read) Duke of Pleasure by Elizabeth Hoyt ‘But his eyes were black, framed by curling lashes, and he hadn't shaved and he looked like a highwayman with cynically twisted thick lips. He looked like one of those rogues the molls in St Giles loved to sing romantic ballads about in the taverns. A man born to hang. A man born to break a woman's heart.’ ‘Hugh caught the man and had another thought, which was: Tits?’ The Maiden Lane series Alaskan Sweethea

This episode we’re talking about Travel Reading! What do we read when we travel? How do we pick which books to bring? Which fictional places would we like to travel to? And more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray Media We Mention Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed On the Camino by Jason I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason The Last Musketeer by Jason The Left Bank Gang by Jason The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic by Steven Johnson Southeast Asia on a Shoestring Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher The Literary Traveller in Edinburgh: A Book Lover's Guide to the World's First City of Literature by Allan Foster Nightwing: The New Order by Kyle Higgins and Trevor McCarthy (this

This episode we’re discussing Non-Fiction Food and Cooking books! We talk about the mystery of electric kettles, bodybuilding expertise, and fear of trying to make recipes that look like the pictures. Plus: Songs about bananas! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Robert Hamaker Books We Discuss This Month Geek Sweets: An Adventurer's Guide to the World of Baking Wizardry by Jenny Burgesse The Official DC Super Hero Cookbook by Matthew Mead Batman: Through the Genres The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast Eat Live Love Die: Selected Essays by Betty Fussell Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy an

This month we all read The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente as though we were a real book club! We talk about fairy tales, libraries, and book clubs that have met since the beginning of time. Plus: Spoilers, spoilers, everywhere! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente That’s it! Other Media We Mention The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti Six Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente Discussed in Episode 014 - Historical Fantasy Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carro

This month our genre is Nordic/Scandinavian Noir! There’s coldness and darkness in fiction, blood on snow, screaming children, and we ask (and answer) whether Iceland has pizza. Plus: Brendan Fraser in Caveman, P.I.! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jessi | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month Woman with Birthmark by Håkan Nesser My First Murder by Leena Lehtolainen Copper Heart by Leena Lehtolainen The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen The Keeper of Lost Causes (Film) Moscow Noir Akashic’s City Noir Series The Caveman by Jorn Lier Horst (plus all the rest of the William Wisting series that is currently translated in English) Suggested that you read the series in order. The first one with an English translation is Dregs Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Yrsa Sigurdardottir takes viewers on

This episode we discuss the American Library Association Annual Conference and the many galleys we got there! We talk about wrestling, ballet, leeches, cancer, demons, opium, boobs (twice!), Soviet magic, and much more. Plus: A super secret podcast guest! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | Steve Thomas from the Circulation Ideas podcast Advanced Reader Copies from ALA (Dates of publication are what we have available as of the recording of this episode and may change.) Giant Days by Non Pratt (Aug. 21, 2018) The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (Jan. 15 2019) Anna really wishes she got this one :( No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs by Lezlie Lowe (Sep. 1, 2018) Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth (Oct., 2018) DC Black Label Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and

This month our genre is Military Non-Fiction! We talk about defining war, sword fighting, genocide, and conscription. Plus: Trebuchets! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards News RJ’s Bio (and everyone else’s bios too!) Anna and Matthew will be at the 2018 ALA Conference in New Orleans! Come to our Podcast Meetup! (1-2pm, Saturday, June 23rd, at the Networking Uncommons) Books We Read This Month Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden Battle of Mogadishu (Wikipedia) Black Hawk Down (film) (Wikipedia) Firing Line by Richard Holmes A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey Philippine–American War (Wikipedia) East Timor: The Price Of Freedom by John G. Taylor Indonesian occupation of East Timor (Wikipedia) East Timor genocide (Wikipedia) Timor-Leste: what it's l

This episode we’re talking about how we ended up working in libraries, literary inspirations for our careers, and what you should think about before you decide you want a to work in a library. Plus: The Library Fairy! Excel exams! Catalogue cards! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books, Links, Articles, and Things The article from Matthew’s undergrad newspaper for which someone slept in the library (newly digitized!) The novelization of Batman and Robin that’s still in the the library Library Catalogue (and info about catalogue cards) The Music Man (the musical) Marian The Librarian CEGEP - “a publicly funded pre‑university college in the province of Quebec” The Providence Athenæum Subscription Library Anchor Archive Zine Library Discworld The Librarian This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cyb

Our genre this episode is Comedic Science Fiction & Fantasy. We talk about anachronisms, comedy in sci fi/fantasy and sci fi/fantasy in comedy, "laugh out loud" funny vs. "clever" funny, and more!  You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Read This Month Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North Choose Your Own Adventure (Wikipedia article) Nintendo Adventure Books Rutabaga the Adventure Chef by Eric Colossal Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede The cover with the ice cream Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja Scary Go Round by John Allison The webcomic The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex His tweet that was mentioned Debbie Reese's commentary posts Hark, Episode 165: Beats and Bimuelos - RJ’s podcast about holiday music where they d

A potentially controversial episode as we discuss Separating the Art from the Artist. We bring up #MeToo, library neutrality, problematic faves, and firing people out of cannons. What are your thoughts? Can you separate the art from the artist? You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray Books, Links, Articles, and Things Me Too movement Lemony Snicket > Controversy Lemony Snicket Accused of Making Lewd Comments About Female Authors Time's Up (movement) Trudeau gives Canada first cabinet with equal number of men and women Problematic Fave (Know Your Meme) “What's the situation with Tamora Pierce?” Tintin in the Congo Babar the Elephant Several pieces about Paul Pope’s sexual harassment on Tumblr Roc Upchurch Off Rat Queens After Domestic Violence Arrest Rat Queens #OwnVoices: Why We Need Diverse Authors in Children’s Literature

In this 80 minute episode we talk about Essay Collections! We get into some deep topics this time, talking about precarity, race relations, and cultural differences between Canada and the USA. We also wonder if it’s possible to find books about feminism that blow your mind when you’re already familiar with the idea. Plus! The three kinds of CanLit and knowing what a zine isn’t. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Books We Read This Month My Conversations with Canadians by Lee Maracle Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on The Decision Not To Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The TED Talk version Beyoncé - ***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul Rape Culture Is Surveilla

Our Fiftieth Episode Extravaganza is our longest episode ever! We answer your questions! We answer our questions! We talk about library fines, reading parties, stats, and much more. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jessi Here are the Bingo cards you can download! (And yes, Matthew did choose the Halloween theme for these because of course he did.) The Questions: What are your actual library jobs? Why did you start the podcast? British Columbia Library Association Readers’ Advisory Interest Group How are your genres selected? Current genre list The Readers’ Advisory Device What is the usual process for making the podcast? How do you do it from two different countries? How long does it take? We could not find the “um ah” file. Sorry! Matthew’s mom says through email: “Hi, I enjoy listening to your podcasts

This episode we discuss the genre of Southern Gothic! We talk about the “key elements” of Southern Gothic fiction (plantations, swamps, secrets, and racism), gothic vs goth fiction, vampires, rural fiction, pessimism, the fantastic, and space crystal meth. Plus: One of us is utterly baffled by the popularity of this genre and we debate the differences between swamps and marshes. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray Books We Read This Month The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin The historical Axeman of New Orleans “On March 13, 1919, a letter purporting to be from the Axeman was published in newspapers saying that he would kill again at 15 minutes past midnight on the night of March 19, but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing. That night all of New Orleans' dance halls were filled to capacity,

This episode we catch you up on what books and comics we’ve been reading and shows we’ve been watching. We discuss guitar-playing ghost talkers, being haunted by a goldfish, and Anna learns why she should never tell Matthew to “go for it” when he threatens to include old theme songs in the podcast. You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray Books We Mention Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner,  Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis (and others) Motor Crush by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill Read the webcomic version A plush dragon Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventure from Chess to Role-Playing Games by Jon Peterson (the book Matthew mentioned that talked about D&D and zines) Goin