Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

Hosted ByAnna Ferri

A Readers’ Advisory Podcast about becoming better library staff by reading books we hate!

Every month we read books from a new, randomly picked genre; then on the podcast we discuss our reading choices, experiences, opinions, appeal factors, and other related topics as friends and library workers.


All Episodes

Episode 209 – Design

 It’s episode 209 and time for us to talk about the genre of Design! We discuss graphic design, interior design, the line between design and art, fonts, kerning, footnotes, and more! Plus: Anna talks about evidence synthesis and search design!…

Episode 208 – 2025 Reading Resolutions

It’s episode 208 and time for us to talk about our Reading Resolutions for 2025! We discuss our love of spreadsheets, the churn of books in public libraries, literacy, unschooling, and more!  You can download the podcast , find it on , or get…

Episode 207 – Monster Romance

 It’s episode 207 and time for us to talk about the genre of Monster Romance! We discuss what counts as a “monster,” massive hogs, Beautify and the Beast, listening to audiobooks at 3.5x speed, and more! You can download the podcast , find…

Episode 206 – Cultural Studies

It’s episode 206 and time for us to talk about the genre of Cultural Studies! We discuss bureaucracy, affluenza, dinosaurs, Dungeons & Dragons, Batman, The Fast and the Furious, and more! You can download the podcast , find it on , or get it…

Episode 205 – Favourite Reads (and Media) of 2024

 It’s episode 205 and time for us to talk about our favourite reads of 2024! We discuss fiction and non-fiction books we read for the podcast, plus comics, videos, music, and more! You can download the podcast , find it on , or get it through …

Episode 204 – Cozy Fantasy

It’s episode 204 and time for us to talk about the genre of Cozy Fantasy! We discuss what makes something cozy, romantasy, breakneck cozy fantasies, how much fantasy people need in their fantasy, and more! You can download the podcast , find it on ,…

Episode 203 – Dark Academia

 It’s episode 203 and time for us to discuss the genre of Dark Academia! We discuss aesthetics as genres, cosplaying as academics, anti-intellectualism, the differences between Canadian and American university experiences, and more! You can…

Episode 202 – A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

It’s episode 202 and that means it’s time for our One Book One Podcast Battle of the Books episode where we discuss A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher! You can download the podcast , find it on , or get it through or your…

Episode 201 – Weird West

 It’s episode 201 and time for us to discuss the genre of Weird West! (Just in time for Halloween!). We talk about the potential temporal and geographic restrictions on western fiction, folklore and tall tales,  You can download the…

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