7 Bookish Podcasts to Fill Up Your TBR List

I’m almost always listening to something. Occasionally it is music, but more often than not my listening time is split between audiobooks and podcasts. I’m subscribed to a lot of podcasts that focus on a variety of topics, but one theme that I’m sure none of you would be surprised to see in my podcast app is that I listen to a lot of shows about books and reading.

I love bookish podcasts for two main reasons. For one thing, I love the feeling of camaraderie that I get as I listen to other people talk about books and readerly topics that I relate to. And the second reason is that podcasts are a fantastic place to get recommendations for new books to read and new readers to follow/connect with.

Related: 8 Bookstagram Accounts to Follow

Today I’m sharing seven book podcasts that bring a lot of joy to my life. Most of these I listen every single week and never miss an episode, but there is one that I listen to more selectively for the sake of time. I’m also including a short list at the end of podcasts that are not specifically focused on reading, but from which I often get good book recommendations.

As a means of loose organization I listed them in order of which day of the week each show drops on, not in order of favoritism.

Bonus listening tip: I listen to all my podcasts at 1.5 speed. You can get so much more listening time in that way.

My Favorite Reading Podcasts:

Currently Reading — Drops on Monday // Typical Length 40-55 minutes

This is probably the one I most look forward to every week. Meredith and Kaytee (and more recently Mindy) are such a delight and I love the way they bring their honest thoughts about the books they love and the books they don’t. They start each show with their bookish moments of the week, then each share a couple of books they’ve been reading recently. Then they usually do what they call a ‘bookish deep dive’ into a reading related topic, and end about every other episode by pressing a book into their readers hands.

What Should I Read Next — Drops on Tuesday // Typical Length 35-50 minutes

For me, WSIRN is podcast zero. It’s literally the first podcast I ever listened too and is still one of my top sources for new book recommendations. A typical show looks like host Anne getting to know a little about her guest and their reading taste as they tell her three books they love, one book they don’t, and what they’ve been reading lately. Armed with that information, Anne recommends three books she thinks her guest might like to read next.

He Read, She Read — Drops on Tuesday // Typical Length 35-45 minutes

In their own words, Chelsea and Curtis are ‘a couple of married bookworms’ and I love listening to them share what they’ve been reading. They have very different reading tastes from each other, which makes for great discussions, especially when they do a buddy read together.

Novel Pairings — Drops on Tuesday // Typical Length 45-60 minutes

This podcast is hosted but Chelsea from He Read, She Read, and her friend Sarah. Since they are both literature teachers they have a shared interest in classics and how they pair with more contemporary titles. Their discussions are thoughtful and fun, and they are both very gentle in their criticisms and enthusiastic with their praise.

Sarah’s Bookshelves Live — Drops on Wednesday // Typical Length 40-60 minutes

Sarah started out as a book blogger and now has a podcast named after her blog. A typical episode looks like her and a guest discussing three old books they love, three new books they love, and one upcoming release they are excited about. My favorite part of the show is when they play ‘Rate It’, a game in which Sarah asks her guest bookish related questions and they can answer only with 1 or 5 stars, nothing in between.

One Great Book — Drops on Friday // Typical Length 9-12 minutes

This is a short and sweet podcast hosted by Anne Bogel from What Should I Read Next. In just about ten minutes she highlights one particularly great book that she wants to recommend to readers at large. I’ve picked up a couple of the books from this podcast and enjoyed them.

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books — Drops daily // Typical Length 20-40 minutes

This is the one that I listen to unpredictably. Since she releases an episode every single day, the daily time commitment intimates me and I am not subscribed. Instead I go in once or twice a week and pick out a couple of episodes that sound the most interesting and listen to those. The host, Zibby, is a fantastic interviewer so every episode I’ve listened to has been great.

Book Adjacent Podcasts:

A Rough Draft Life — the hosts of this podcast, Lindsey and Kristi, are both authors, so while they usually don’t specifically discuss book related topics, reading and writing come up often by virtue of being something they have in common.

The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast — Craig interviews leaders from every sphere of business and ministry in a monthly podcast and I’m almost always inspired to pick up a book that his guest either wrote or recommended.

The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey — Jamie does weekly interviews women of faith who have a story to tell, and just like Craig’s podcast, her guests often have great book suggestions.

The Lazy Genius — Kendra is such a delight and I want to be like her when I grow up, so I always pay attention when she mentions I book she really enjoyed.