Episode 144 - What is a Book?

Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

This episode we’re discussing “What is a Book?” Is it our most self-indulgent episode yet? We don’t know, but we do know that the conversation gets pretty existential at times and we talk about what “reading” means, whether something stapled can be a book, and the ephemeral nature of everything.

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Other Media We Mentioned

• Building Stories by Chris Ware
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Wikipedia)
• Lightspeed Magazine
• Highlights for Children (Wikipedia)
• The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (Wikipedia)
• Supercrash by Yves Bourgelas
• Asterix the Gaul by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
• Naruto, vol. 1 by by Masashi Kishimoto
• Wolverine #900

Links, Articles, and Things

• Episode 143 - Amish Romance
• Just Plain Wrong
• Podcasters Panel: A Glimpse Behind the Microphone
• Down Time with Cranston Public Library - 93 - Is Wordle a Video Game?
• Library of Congress ebooks collection
  • Two-Fisted Librarians
  • Two Fisted Library Stories
• Weight and Switch (TVTropes)
• Livejournal (Wikipedia)
• Bande dessinée (Wikipedia)
• Does This Comic Have Staples?
• A survey of the state of research data services in 35 U.S. academic libraries, or "Wow, what a sweeping question"
• Uncan - Mid Boss (licensed under: CC BY-NC)

22 Coming of Age books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

• Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
• Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono, translated by Emily Balistrieri
• In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming
• A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
• Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
• Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
• Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
• Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
• Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
• Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
• The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
• Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth

Give us feedback!

• Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, March 1st when we’ll be discussing the genre of Anthropology Non-Fiction!

Then on Tuesday, March 15th we’ll be talking about bookish food/drink (Mixing Food, Drinks, and Books)!