RuthAnn Deveney from the Diverse Books Club gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her group’s themes and book picks, her love of spreadsheets, and her Philly-specific sandwich recommendations. Plus: What will Frank say (or not say) when he goes…

All the complexities of the city so nice, they named it twice! Frank goes deep into nostalgia territory, digging up childhood memories, classic accents, and urban anxieties. Gwen follows with a real-life tale of greed and gumption at a famed NYC hedge…

Gwen asks, “Is this poem about God?” and Frank is (nearly) brought to tears as they untangle the divine and the bawdy (and naughty) in two John Donne poems. Luckily Dr. Carolyn Broomhead joins them for some much needed poetry therapy. Together they trave

It’s World Read Aloud Day, and Gwen and Frank are hearing voices from ghosts and robots. But they still manage to keep it together to recommend some books and play an extra round of their guessing game.

Books and reading are the foundation of any library but your local librarian is doing so much more: computer help, test prep and yes, even knitting.

IS Margaret Atwood a bad feminist? Yeeeeeesh, we don’t know. Frank and Gwen talk about the allegations against Aziz Ansari and then, thankfully, move onto books: nonfiction about young immigrants from El Salvador and a novel about a sci-fi dating experime

This week, Gwen and Frank take on books ranging  from the collapse of modern civilization to a murder “how-done-it” told exclusively from the point of view of a perspicacious fetus.  Get the full list of books discussed at www.nypl.org/podcast.

Want to broaden your reading horizons this year? Librarian extraordinaire Meredith Mann joins Frank and Gwen to debate the pros and cons of annual reading challenges. Plus: secret database magic, sci-fi written by robots, and our favorite British bakers.

Pam Nogales, a Ph.D. candidate at New York University, joins Gwen and Frank to talk about her newest class for Jefferson Market University—the free classes at Jefferson Market that are taught by college professors and open to everyone. They talk the his