Book Club for Masochists: a Readers' Advisory Podcast

What Book Should We Read? (Click to vote by July 31st!)
Anna's Pick - Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic (2025)
Matthew's Pick - Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023)
Jam's Pick - Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (2025)
Meghan's Pick - The Forest of a Thousand Eyes by Frances Hardinge (2025)
Listen to Episode 233 - Battle of the Books 2026 to hear what we had to say about each of the books!

It's episode 234 and time for us to talk about Novels in Verse! We discuss rhyme, meter, interiority, whether any of us understand poetry and more!
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards
What Book Should We Read? (Click to vote by July 31st!)
Listen to Episode 233 - Battle of the Books 2026
Things We Read (or tried to…)
Goodlord: An Email by Ella Frears
Dreaming of You: A Novel in Verse by Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Dear Mothman by Robin Gow
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The Call-out: A Novel in Rhyme by Cat Fitzpatrick
Here Is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan
The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead
Other Media We Mentioned
The Bronze Horseman by Alexander Pushkin
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei: How a Chinese Poem Is Translated by Eliot Weinberger
We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov
Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers
Finding Baba Yaga: A Short Novel in Verse by Jane Yolen
Beowulf
Project Hail Mary (film)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Aniara (film)
Aniara: A Revue of Man in Time and Space by Harry Martinson There are two different English translations!

Links, Articles, and Things
Metre (poetry)
Episode 182 - Lyric Poetry
Concrete poetry
Iambic pentameter
We should be excited that spoken word is reinventing literature
Selena
Tejano music
Epistolary novel
List of countries by tertiary education attainment
Stacey Kade (S. A. Barnes)
Tommy Pico
17 Novels in Verse by BIPOC Authors:
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
The Fragments That Remain by MacKenzie Angeconeb
Eureka by Victoria Chang
The Last One by Fatima Daas, translated by Lara Vergnaud
The Emperor's Babe by Bernardine Evaristo
Syncopation by Whitney French
King of the Neuro Verse by Idris Goodwin
Beaver Hills Forever by Conor Kerr
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại
Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Here Comes the Dogs by Omar Musa
The Perfect Nine: the Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Ain't Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds with artwork by Jason Griffin
Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Death's Country by R. M. Romero
Saints of the Household by Ari Tison
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, join our Discord Server, or send us an email!
Join us again on  Tuesday, August 4th when we'll be talking about the genre of Celebrity Memoirs as suggested by Kjs4658
Then on August 18th, we'll be giving our summer media update.

It's episode 233 and time for Battle of the Books 2026! Which book will we all read and discuss? You decide!
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards
What Book Should We Read? (Click to vote by July 31st!)
Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic (2025)
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023)
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (2025)
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes by Frances Hardinge (2025)
Runners Up
Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women by Victoria Smith (2024)
How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom by Johanna Hedva (2024)
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (2018)
Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas (2024)
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva (2026)
Cannon by Lee Lai (2025)
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky (2023)
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz (1995/1998)
Stoner by John Williams (1965)
Other Media We Mentioned
Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
How to Read Now: Essays by Elaine Castillo
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America edited by Lee Child and Laurie R. King
Miike Snow - Genghis Khan 
007 First Light
You Only Live Twice
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Redshirts by John Scalzi
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
Links, Articles, and Things
Episode 215 - Battle of the Books 2025
Episode 220 - How Far the Light Reaches
Volcano Lair (TVTropes)
Vancouver SkyTrain
Matthew's favourite Vancouver SkyTrain update YouTube channel
15 Adventure Fiction Books by BIPOC Authors:
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
So Wild a Dream by Win Blevins
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
God's Country by Percival Everett
Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey
Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo
Escape from Baghdad by Saad Z. Hossain
A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Barren Grounds by David Robertson
Travelers Along the Way: a Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi
Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith
The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, join our Discord Server, or send us an email!
Join us again on  Tuesday, July 7th when we'll be talking about Novels in Verse!
Then on Tuesday, August 4th we're discussing Celebrity Memoirs! (As suggested by Kjs4658.)

It's episode 232 and time for us to talk about coming of (old) age! 
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards
Things We Read (or tried to…)
The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Real Estate by Deborah Levy
Becoming Crone by Lydia M. Hawke
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
The Correspondent by Virgina Evans
Shadow Life written by Hiromi Goto, illustrated by Ann Xu
Other Media We Mentioned
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Kanehito Yamada
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
The Witches Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera, art by Michael Avon Oeming
Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives, by Bruce Grierson
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Links, Articles, and Things
Irene Adler
Library of things
Commercial Drive
Gavel
UBC University Mace
UBC Macebearer
10 Coming of (Old) Age by BIPOC Authors:
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis
Mr Katō Plays Family by Milena Michiko Flašar, translated by Caroline Froh
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto, illustrated by Ann Xu
The Unbroken Coast by Nalini Jones
Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall
Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell
In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, join our Discord Server, or send us an email!
Join us again on Tuesday, June 16th, when we'll each be pitching a book we think we should all read and you get to vote on which!
Then on Tuesday, July 7th we'll be talking about Novels in Verse!

It's episode 231 and time for us to talk about Sapphic Horror! We discuss which monster is the most sapphic, unrealistic reality TV shows, and how queer a book has to be to count as sapphic.
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards
Things We Read (or tried to…)
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
Night's Edge by Liz Kerin, read by Chase Sui Wonders
Extasia by Claire Legrand
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Moonflow by Bitter Karella
This World is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
The Scourge Between the Stars by Ness Brown
The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png
Other Media We Mentioned
Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire edited by Amber Dawn
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
When I Arrived at the Castle by E.M. Carroll
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories edited by Alan Ryan (contains Carmilla)
Why was I invited to Beast Studios? by Folding Ideas
Beast Games 2 Strong/Smart: an Exhaustive Review by Folding Ideas
Killing Eve
18 Sapphic Horror by BIPOC Authors:
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses
Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado
A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui
Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris
But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo
The Salvage by Anbara Salam
The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Chlorine by Jade Song
The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan
We Don't Swim Here by Vincent Tirado
She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, join our Discord Server, or send us an email!
Join us again on Tuesday, June 2nd we'll be talking about "Coming of (old) age," suggested to us by Meghan's mom.
Then on Tuesday, June 16th, we'll each be pitching a book we think we should all read and you get to vote on which!