Book Club Podcasts

I wanted to call attention to a couple of podcast book discussions that I enjoyed for books I read in the past few months:

→ I'm not a regular listener of the Fuzzy Typewriter podcast, but I'd heard they run a book club and had downloaded some episodes about books that I intended to read. I finally got around to listening to the discussion of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan, which I read in December.

The GOON SQUAD episode is a great conversation about the book as a whole and its individual chapters. After listening to the podcasters talk about some connections between the stories that I'd missed, I appreciated the book more than I did initially. In particular, I'm reconsidering my opinion that the book is linked short stories rather than a novel. I think A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD is definitely a book that could benefit from a second read.

I see that the Fuzzy Typewriter book club has a recent episode on HOW TO LIVE SAFELY IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE by Charles Yu, another book I read and enjoyed, so I've downloaded that episode to listen to next.

→ I mentioned that ZONE ONE by Colson Whitehead made my reading list because it was the first book club selection for one of my favorite podcasts, Bookrageous.

The episode about ZONE ONE was a fun book discussion, followed by a conversation with the author. I especially recommend the section with Whitehead to those who have read the novel. (The first section of the podcast, following the regular episode format, is a rundown of what the hosts have been reading, so isn't relevant to ZONE ONE.)

→ Unrelated to any of the above, since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd point my newer readers to a post I made a year ago that I'm still rather proud of: What We Write About When We Write About Love.

Love is tricky. Writing about it, even more so. I wish you all a Valentine's Day that's exactly what you want it to be.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Nathan Bransford writes on The Art of Being Unsentimental About Your Characters: "We writers can get really, really attached to our characters. They become almost like family members. We want the best of them. And sometimes it becomes difficult to see them make mistakes and to see their flaws and to let those bad qualities shine through from time to time. We can be far too nice to them."

→ Publishing Trendsetter offers A Publisher’s Menagerie: Stories behind Publishers’ Animal Logos. (Thanks, The Millions!)