The reason I started the Hardcore Literature Book Review Podcast was because I couldn’t find many book review podcasts I loved.
I searched and searched, looking through all of those “Best Book Review Podcasts” and “Top 10 Book Podcasts” articles.
The same names kept coming up.
The same book review podcasts that I had tried to listen to but simply couldn’t persevere with.
The “best” and most popular book podcasts were either too stuffy and academic, focused only on regurgitating poor summaries of the books (seriously, either go to Wikipedia or read the book yourself), reading books that aren’t that great and don’t warrant deep discussions, or misreadings of great books through whatever ideological prism the reviewers wish to pervert the works.
So I started Hardcore Literature, because if there is content YOU want to see in the world, but doesn’t exist, you have an obligation to put it out there.
And if you’re interested in the topic, I promise you many more are interested in it too.
My podcast is in its infancy at the moment, and I haven’t taken a single formal ad out, so I’ve relied on people just searching for whatever book they want to listen to a review about.
To date, we’ve done deep (and long) podcast shows on Shakespeare’s Richard III, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Aristotle’s Ethics, Rumi’s poetry, Yukio Mishima and many more.
We’ve talked about how to read deeply, how to read and appreciate short stories, poetry, plays, classics, and award-winners.
And people have been emailing in saying they love the show.
But as a book review podcast host, I like to listen to book review podcasts myself and have found a few great ones I would like to recommend to you.
Online Great Books
These guys are amazing.
They are so close to my style of reading and reviewing that it might even look like I’ve copied them.
I had to listen to their 1984 and Gulag Archipelago shows just to make sure I wouldn’t duplicate anything they’ve already said.
It makes sense why we’re similar – the hosts of Online Great Books are fans of Mortimer Adler and Harold Bloom, just like myself. So that influences their reading deeply.
The problem with most book podcasts is that they do surface-level reviews, hardly touching on the book at all, and confine themselves to literary “slop” (to borrow an outrageous term from Bloom).
These guys talk about books that matter in way that matters.
They’re fun, endlessly entertaining, have nuanced thought, don’t take themselves too seriously (though they take their books seriously), and really emphasise WHY and HOW you should read with every breath.
If you want to know more about Homer, Aristotle, Tolstoy, and many more, you’d do well to listen to Online Great Books.
They even have a book club service, which I personally tried to join but unfortunately there were only American members which meant my meetings would have been in the middle of the night. Perhaps we should set up a UK/Europe-specific book club.
Either way – check them out. They’re fighting the good fight.
Book Fights with Mike Cernovich and Ben Askren
This is hands-down the best non-fiction book podcast around.
Which will come as no surprise if you’ve listened to any of Mike Cernovich’s stuff before.
Controversial, sure, but only if you have no nuance of thought.
Cernovich has teamed up with MMA fighter Ben Askren for some really deep takes on books like Sapiens, Thinking Fast and Slow, and Zero to One.
This it THE entrepreneur’s podcast.
My only criticism is that there aren’t enough episodes!
Unless you’ve done a podcast yourself, you wouldn’t know how much actually goes into shows. It’s not just the recording, but getting both parties lined up, spending the time doing the deep reading, and then getting it sounding good – all takes time.
But, hey, if the only criticism one has of a podcast is that they want more episodes, then you know you’re onto a winner.
Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast
If you want poetry specifically, and deep analysis of entire books of poems, then Frank Skinner’s podcast is your best bet.
You might be seeing a theme with my choices of best book podcasts here.
These are all chosen because the hosts love books, love talking about books, but are NOT academic.
That is not a criticism.
The last thing I want from a book podcast is for it to be academic.
The academic book podcasts add no value to the world whatsoever. At their best, they’re a boring synopsis of the work. At the worst, they are diatribes against the scapegoat gender and race. No thanks.
Frank Skinner loves poetry.
And it’s wonderful to listen to someone who loves poetry.
Check out his podcast here.
Overdue Podcast
This is one of those podcasts that appears on all the best book podcasts lists.
But it’s the best of the bunch when it comes to those lists.
I couldn’t bear listening to any of the shows on those mainstream lists.
Except this one.
The hosts have a really great chemistry.
They’re fun, off-the-cuff, informal, and they, like all the other choices on this list, simply delight in talking about books for the sheer heck of it.
They’re good company and make a perfect accompaniment for a long evening run or whilst cooking dinner.
Check their shows out here.