Best podcasts for book lovers

Reading is a solo sport. Talking about what you've read isn't. The best podcasts for book lovers solve the quiet loneliness of finishing a great novel with no one around who's read it, turning every walk or commute into a bookish conversation with people who actually paid attention.

This list covers how readers actually use bookish podcasts: finding the next good read, understanding the one you just finished, arguing about the canon, and staying in touch with new releases.

TL;DR

• What Should I Read Next? is the best show for personalised book recommendations
• The New Yorker Fiction Podcast pairs a contemporary author reading a classic short story with a thoughtful post-reading discussion
• The Book Club from Goalhanger digs into iconic novels with historical context and is available on Podtastic
• If Books Could Kill is the funniest way to spend 75 minutes dismantling airport-bestseller non-fiction
• Backlisted brings overlooked older books back into conversation with real literary weight

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What Should I Read Next?

Anne Bogel's long-running show has a clean format: a guest names three books they love, one they hate, and what they're reading now. Bogel then gives them three personalised recommendations. That's it, and it works.

The consistency of the format is what makes it addictive. You learn to read the patterns in other people's tastes, and after a few episodes you start keeping your own three-books-I-love list in the back of your head for whenever a friend asks for a recommendation.

• Best for: finding your next book, especially when you're in a reading slump
• Standout features: the three-book format, genuinely thoughtful matching, huge back catalog
• Considerations: the pace is quiet; listeners who want sharper literary debate will find it mild

The New Yorker Fiction Podcast

Each episode of The New Yorker Fiction Podcast pairs a contemporary writer (Zadie Smith, George Saunders, Tessa Hadley, etc.) with a short story they've chosen from the magazine's archives. They read the story aloud, then sit down with the magazine's fiction editor Deborah Treisman to discuss it.

The format is luxurious in a way few podcasts attempt. You get a full short story (which is rare in audio) and then 20 to 30 minutes of literary conversation with someone who knows how fiction is actually built. It's the closest thing to a graduate seminar on short fiction you'll find in your headphones.

• Best for: serious fiction readers, short-story fans, writers
• Standout features: full story readings, writer-on-writer conversations, Treisman's deft editing questions
• Considerations: no set publishing schedule; new episodes appear when they're ready

The Book Club (Goalhanger)

Dominic Sandbrook and Tabitha Syrett host The Book Club, a weekly deep dive into iconic novels with an emphasis on the historical and cultural context behind each one. The show is produced by Goalhanger (the same British outfit behind The Rest Is History) and carries the same erudite, chatty tone.

Recent episodes have tackled Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Secret History, and Hamnet, each handled with the kind of patient curiosity that makes even books you've read before feel fresh. The show is available on Podtastic, which is useful if you want AI-generated topic breakdowns to navigate longer episodes.

• Best for: readers who want literature and history in the same conversation
• Standout features: historical context, genuine chemistry between hosts, weekly publishing cadence
• Considerations: heavier on British and canonical fiction than contemporary American

If Books Could Kill

Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri take one airport-bestseller non-fiction book per episode (Freakonomics, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Malcolm Gladwell's greatest hits) and subject it to rigorous, frequently hilarious critique. You don't need to have read the target book to follow along; the hosts walk you through it in enough detail to make you feel like you did.

The show is about methodology as much as entertainment. The hosts are relentless about citations, weak causal claims, and the gap between what a book argues and what its evidence supports. It's funny, but it also trains a kind of sceptical reading muscle that sticks.

If Books Could Kill is available on Podtastic, which means you can browse recurring topics across the back catalog and jump to the episode on whichever bestseller has been bugging you for years. It's the show to reach for when you want rigor and laughter in the same 75 minutes, and the hosts don't pretend to be neutral, so expect strong opinions and salty language throughout.

Backlisted

John Mitchinson and Andy Miller, joined by a rotating cast of writer guests, resurrect older books that have faded from general attention. Each episode focuses on one novel, memoir, or story collection; the guest picks the book, and the three of them discuss it across 90 minutes to two hours.

Backlisted is where to go if your reading has gotten stuck on recent prize shortlists and you want to rediscover what's been there all along.

• Best for: readers in a contemporary-fiction fatigue, fans of the British literary scene
• Standout features: carefully chosen guests, long-form format, genuinely deep book knowledge
• Considerations: episodes are long and assume you care about the book enough to spend two hours on it

LRB Podcast

The London Review of Books has been a serious literary magazine for 50 years, and its podcast extends that register into audio. Episodes feature conversations with authors and critics, essays read aloud, and short lectures on specific writers or movements.

The LRB Podcast treats readers as adults and assumes a baseline of literary curiosity, which turns out to be exactly what a lot of serious readers want.

• Best for: committed readers, literary criticism fans, academic-leaning listeners
• Standout features: stellar essay readings, rigorous critics, eclectic topic range
• Considerations: tone is scholarly; casual listeners may find individual episodes demanding

Between the Covers

David Naimon's Tin House show sits in between the academic rigor of the LRB and the approachability of What Should I Read Next? Each episode is a one-to-one conversation with a novelist or poet, usually running 90 minutes and going far deeper than the usual press-tour interview.

Naimon is an exceptional interviewer. He's read every book his guests have written, quotes specific passages, and asks questions that force real answers. The result is the closest thing to a masterclass on craft you can get without enrolling in an MFA.

• Who it's for: readers who love writing craft, aspiring writers
• Episode shape: patient long-form interviews, cross-genre range, meticulous preparation
• Listening note: slower release schedule, so long episodes work best for uninterrupted listening

The Stacks

Traci Thomas hosts The Stacks, a weekly book-chat podcast with a particular focus on Black writers, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction that's actually worth your time. The show mixes author interviews, book-club episodes where the whole show discusses one title, and short recommendation episodes Thomas calls "Short Stacks."

Thomas is direct about what she thinks works and doesn't work in a book, which is still surprisingly rare on bookish podcasts. You'll finish an episode with specific next-reads and a sense of which new releases are actually worth your money.

• Best for: readers who want opinions with teeth, contemporary fiction and non-fiction fans
• Standout features: monthly book-club episodes, sharp author interviews, direct recommendation style
• Considerations: weekly cadence but episodes vary in length, so queue management helps

Bookwild

Bookwild, hosted by Kate Hergott and the Bookwild Collective, sits at the intersection of reading and real life. Episodes range from literary thrillers and speculative fiction to harder conversations about faith, trauma, and identity, with regular curated reading lists woven through.

The show is available on Podtastic, which makes it easy to browse recurring topics if you want to find episodes on particular themes (race, spirituality, genre fiction) without scrolling through every episode.

• Best for: readers who want thoughtful discussion that extends beyond the book into the world
• Standout features: curated seasonal reading lists, candid thematic conversations, cross-genre coverage
• Considerations: some episodes get into heavy territory; check descriptions if that's not your mood

How we chose

We prioritised shows that genuinely read the books they discuss, have hosts with professional or deeply practised credentials, and span multiple reading moods. Every show has enough back catalog to give you weeks of listening. We filtered out celebrity bookshelf tours, influencer unboxings, and anything where the host clearly hadn't done the reading.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best book podcast for finding your next read?

What Should I Read Next? is the most reliable for getting genuinely personalised recommendations. The Stacks and Between the Covers are better if you want opinions that tell you whether a specific new release is worth reading. For broader discovery, our guide on how to find new podcasts has strategies that work for books too.

Are there book podcasts that read the book to you?

The New Yorker Fiction Podcast reads a full short story each episode. LRB Podcast regularly features long essay readings. Full-length novels are typically a job for audiobooks rather than podcasts, though a few serialised audio-drama projects come close. If you want ideas for listening at speed to cover more books, our podcast speed listening guide covers the trade-offs.

Can I listen to book podcasts while I'm reading?

Generally not the same book. Two streams of language at once is harder to follow than it sounds. Book podcasts work best as a separate reading activity: use them for the books you've already finished, the books you're deciding whether to start, or the ones you want context on. Then read in quiet.

How do I keep up with multiple book podcasts without falling behind?

Subscribe to fewer than you think. Three weekly shows fills your listening time faster than you'd expect. If you want to keep up with more, use a podcast app with queue management and speed controls, and see our guide to podcast queue management for how to structure listening so you don't accumulate a backlog.

Listen smarter with Podtastic

Get more out of your new podcast picks. Podtastic is a fully featured podcast player for iOS and Android, built around Pod-telligence — a set of AI features that helps you get more out of every show:

• Smart Summaries — AI summaries of every podcast and episode so you know what's coming before you hit play
• Smart Topics — key topics surfaced across your favourite shows so you can jump straight to what matters
• Smart Playback — your queue fills itself based on what you actually listen to
• Jump Ahead — automatically tightens gaps and pacing so episodes flow naturally

Join the waitlist at podtastic.app to get early access.