All Books Aloud
Elizabeth and Martha are two sisters who love reading in all of its forms. Elizabeth is an academic librarian by day and fiction writer by night with a lifelong obsession with all things reading and books. Martha is a busy professional who came to her love of reading later in life, but now she’s an audiobook power user. Every few weeks we chat about the books we’re reading and delve a little deeper into a topic related to reading or publishing. We ask questions like, “Does listening to a book count as reading?” “Are genres a good or bad thing?” and “Do you finish every book you start?” If you love reading, nerding out about books, and sassy millennial hot takes, this podcast is for you!
Episodes
30 episodes
What is the IMLS and why should we care if it is dismantled?
Have you heard about the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) in the news lately? An Executive Order in mid-March ordered it be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law" and there has been a lot of conversatio...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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1:03:04
How is working in a bookstore like playing a video game? Interview with the bookseller and events manager at Fireside Books
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in a bookstore? According to Rebecca, bookseller and events manager at the independent bookstore Fireside Books, who we interview for this episode, it's a lot like playing a video game! ...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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45:25
Is reading a niche hobby?
We were planning to talk about our reading habits and rituals in this episode...but then Elizabeth heard an NPR podcast about how no one reads anymore, at the same time as Martha read multiple articles about how more people bought Rebecca Yarro...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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44:28
Is being an audiobook narrator a dream job? Interview with Laura Horowitz
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an audiobook narrator? Or is it perhaps your dream job like it is for Martha? In this episode, we interview audiobook narrator extraordinaire Laura Horowitz.Laura tells us how she got into the ...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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29:19
Fact or Fiction? It's bookish mythbusting time!
[Apologies, listeners! We're re-releasing this one because there was an audio glitch in the original episode. If you've already downloaded the episode from Wednesday, try this one instead!] Happy New Year! There are some beliefs, t...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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53:37
How was your year in reading? 2024 reading round-up
Happy Holidays! We're bringing back our year-end reading round up. Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2024, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2025. We also talk about how our conversation about goal-s...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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58:39
Looking to escape into another reality? Join us for a deep-dive into the fantasy genre!
Romantic fantasies have taken the book world by storm in recent years, but fantasy stories that allow us to break free of the rules and limitations of our own world and reality are as old as human history. We wanted to learn more about the genr...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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1:22:48
Should you join a book club?
Whether or not you'll enjoy a book club depends a lot on your reading style, habits, and preferences. But if you're interested in joining a book club, there is truly one out there for everyone - different types, communities, themes, modalities,...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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54:07
How does a little girl from Detroit become a librarian icon? Our interview with Nancy Pearl (finally!)
Season 2 is here and our first episode is a big one! In some ways, we have been building up to this moment since the podcast began: we finally chat with Elizabeth's librarian inspiration and the All Books Aloud unofficial mascot, Nancy Pearl.&n...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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1:07:42
How does a lifelong literary fiction reader end up writing a romance novel? Interview with Sarah T. Dubb, author of Birding With Benefits
In our season finale we talk with author Sarah T. Dubb about her debut novel, Birding With Benefits. It's a fun, flirty, sexy, and touching fake-dating romance novel featuring two protagonists in their 40s who fall in love while - you guessed i...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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1:06:16
Book adaptations - love them or hate them?
Is the book always better than the movie? If you had asked either of us before this episode, we both would have said unequivocally 'yes!' But our discussion showed us that this topic might actually be more nuanced than we realized. Join as we t...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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46:14
How do siblings grow up to be different types of readers? A chat with all four Brookbank siblings!
Two very special guests joined us for this episode - the other half of our sibling quartet, Bekka and Mike. Listen in as we talk about our early experiences with reading, the similarities in how our reading journeys started, where our tastes di...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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39:59
Do you re-read books?
The topic of this week's episode is one of the few book-related topics we've found where we disagree! Martha loves to re-read her favorite books, whereas Elizabeth thinks life is too short to re-tread old ground. Martha begins the episode by se...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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42:53
What's involved in translating a novel? Interview with Polly Mackintosh, French-English translator for Gallic Books
We have explored a lot of different components of the book publishing industry on the podcast, but neither of us know much about the work of literary translation. So, we were thrilled to get the chance to talk with Polly Mackintosh about her wo...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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50:41
What books do you bring on vacation?
This episode was recorded in-person and on location during our sister vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii! We kept our reading choices for the trip a secret from one another and did a live reveal, then we talked all about vacation reading whil...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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32:18
How has BookTok affected books and publishing?
Even if you don't use TikTok, you've likely at least heard of the phenomenon known as BookTok. Individual videos sometimes get millions of views, and the combined hashtags for these videos on TikTok have had hundreds of billions of views. The p...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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53:04
Is it ever okay to throw away books?
What do you do with books that you're finished with? Books you've read or don't want anymore or spilled coffee on? In this episode we discuss what makes a book valuable - to individuals and to society - and why this can sometimes result in anxi...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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48:40
What is it about romance?
Romance novels generate over $1.44 billion (with a 'b!') in revenue and are highest-earning, biggest, and fastest growing genre of fiction in the book industry. And yet, if you're a romance reader, you've probably had to defend it to someone at...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:26:20
What are book hangovers and what can you do about them?
If you're a reader, you know the feeling: you turn the last page of a book and want to cry that it's over. You immediately feel bereft. You can't stop thinking (and even talking) about the characters, the story. You wish you could turn back tim...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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45:08
Do young people still read for fun?
The idea that "the kids just don't read anymore" is a tale as old as time. And, it is something that Elizabeth decided to investigate head-on in her role as an academic librarian. The results of the research study she designed and ran, intervie...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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1:20:53
Should you set a yearly reading goal?
Happy New Year! Who doesn't love a good year-end round up?! Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2023, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2024. We discuss the pros and cons of setting reading goals, comp...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:00:14
Are books good holiday gifts?
We say yes! But there's a way to do it well. As with any type of gift-giving, there are some pitfalls to avoid... For example, arbitrarily giving a book to someone because you like it, or because you've latched on to one detail about t...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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51:00
How do you read so much?
If you're a reader, you've probably had someone ask you this question. We unpack what this question sometimes really means (How do you have so much free time? Must be nice having no obligations! I'm so busy I could never find time to read. You ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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43:55
Could reading doorways be a substitute for genres?
In this bonus episode, we talk about something that didn't come up in the genres episode but should have. It’s a concept called the four reading doorways. Could it be an alternative to genres? Nancy Pearl thinks so! Join as we talk about what t...
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Season 1
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25:46
Can you separate the book from the author?
CW: discussions of sexual assault and other crimes, racism, antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry, as well as Zionism (all in reference to books and authors from the 19th/20th centuries, rather than to current news).Can you separate ...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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51:14