Podcasts are something I never thought I’d be into. I’ve always thought of myself as a very visual and active learner who struggles with just audio as I get distracted with what to do at the same time as listening because I can’t focus on purely audio so I’ve never really given podcasts a fair chance. Recently however, I changed that and wow am I glad! I still have to be doing something while I listen – for example, at my current job we spend quite a while cleaning after the shop shuts, so that’s perfect. Walking or doing my make up are another couple of times I like to listen and can focus. So if you struggle like me with just audio, maybe try listening while doing something else which doesn’t need much focus!
I’m going to do a series of posts on podcasts; recommendations, reviews, read-alongs, those sort of things. First up has to be the whole reason I decided to give podcasts a go; Banging Book Club!
If you don’t know, Banging Book Club is a podcast by Hannah Witton, Lucy Moon and Leena Norms. The three of them are friends and YouTubers who I think seem like brilliantly funny, clever and charming individuals. You may have seen our recent posts about Hannah as both Sarah and I have read her debut book, Doing It! and reviewed it on here. Earlier this year, I went to her live show tour for Doing It! where I met Hannah and Lucy beforehand and Sarah met Hannah at YALC this year so she’s been pretty present on this blog lately!
Banging Book Club focuses on books about gender, sexuality and sex. They have a yearly reading list which you can join in on and listen to the podcast review about it at the end of the month. The current read for September is The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides so the review will be up at the end of the month. Last month, the book was new release, The Gender Games by Juno Dawson.
Another thing I love about this podcast is sometimes they have guests with them for the recording. Juno Dawson was involved in a live recording (which sadly I couldn’t go to!) about the book. There was also a live recording about Hannah’s book and I think there’s plans for more live events in the future! Other past guests include fellow YouTubers, Shan Boody, Riyadh Khalaf and Ash Hardell. The guests are always well chosen and really great additions to the episodes, adding extra insight and different points of views.
Their monthly minisodes are also wonderful; a little shorter than regular episodes, the minisodes often focus on a topic discussed in earlier book reviews, such as Sex, Dating and Disabilities after their read of A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Bernard. There are also topics such as the importance of intersectional feminism and a minisode on Riyadh’s BBC Three series, Queer Britain (which is honestly brilliant and I highly recommend this too – watch here!)
The first episode I listened to was the review of one of my favourite books, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire-Sáenz. It is such a great episode and they brought up points I hadn’t thought of, elaborated on ones I love to discuss and made me want to reread it even more than usual! I say this all the time but please read this book if you haven’t! It’s so pure and amazing. Then listen to this podcast episode!
You can listen to the Banging Book Club podcast on iTunes and if you follow their Twitter you can find links to other sites where you can listen to the podcast on as well as the reading list for 2017!
I also really recommend giving Lucy, Hannah and Leena’s individual YouTube channels a go. I love watching their videos and I think they have really interesting conversations and content – I’m particularly invested in Hannah’s deliberation of whether to do a Master’s degree or not. I recently dropped out of a very theory based one but I’m interested in doing a more practical film production one in the near future and I’ve been having a little research about it!
The links to their Twitters and channels are below! Let me know in the comments if you listen to any bookish (or non-bookish) podcasts and if you have any recommendations please let me know!
Leena Norms – Twitter – YouTube
Hannah Witton – Twitter – YouTube
The Little Contemporary Corner 