The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell's! [Teaser]

Summary

Summary of "The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell's! [Teaser]"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Book Riot - The Podcast
• Host/Author: Book Riot
• Description: Hosted by Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky, Book Riot's podcast delves into the latest happenings in the literary world, including new releases, adaptations, and industry events. As North America's largest independent editorial book site, Book Riot offers a diverse range of media catering to varied readers across all genres.
• Episode: The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell's! [Teaser]
• Release Date: March 18, 2025

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1. Introduction and Live Recording Overview (00:00 - 01:31)

The episode begins with Jeff O'Neal providing a brief introduction to the teaser recording from their live session at Powell's Books (P.O.) in Portland, Oregon. He mentions that the full live recording is available exclusively to Patreon members, encouraging listeners to join the Patreon community to access the complete episode and support the podcast.

Notable Quote:

Jeff O'Neill (00:00): "Everybody. What you're about to hear is a sample of our live recording at PALS last week... You get all of my and Rebecca's picks... Thanks to everyone who came out or sent someone recommended a show to us."

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2. Live Recording Commencement (01:31 - 02:08)

Rebecca Schinsky officially welcomes the live audience and the remote listeners, highlighting the advanced quality of AI-generated applause used during the recording. She sets the stage for the night's agenda, which involves discussing the top recommendable books of the century.

Notable Quote:

Rebecca Schinsky (01:35): "I'm Rebecca Schinsky and we're coming to you from P.O. in Portland, Oregon... We're live at Palace. We have so many friendly faces and people who are so warmly invited us today."

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3. Defining "Recommendable" Books (02:08 - 04:21)

Jeff and Rebecca delve into their criteria for selecting "recommendable" books, distinguishing them from personal favorites or "best" books as listed by sources like the New York Times. They emphasize that recommendable books are those that are widely appealing, engaging, and suitable for gifting or recommending to a broad audience, without necessarily being universally beloved by the hosts themselves.

Notable Quotes:

Rebecca Schinsky (02:09): "What we're actually doing. So I just explained to the crowd here how this is going to work. These are the 20 most recommendable books of the century so far."

Bob (03:07): "Recommendables. Like, it's good and you can recommend it to a lot of people... What's not necessarily safe but what do we think is widely appealing."

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4. Selection Process and Audience Interaction (04:21 - 05:25)

The hosts discuss their method of compiling the list, which involved each submitting their top 10 books to a coworker to identify overlaps without knowing each other's choices. This approach adds an element of surprise and diversity to the selected books. They also touch upon the challenge of gauging audience reaction in a live setting versus remote listeners.

Notable Quotes:

Rebecca Schinsky (04:21): "I want you to do a four quadrant kind of thing where it's interesting, you get through the pages and it kind of means something and maybe it does something a little bit different."

Bob (05:21): "And they're not in any particular order."

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5. Featured Book: "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson (05:25 - 07:20)

The first book unveiled from their list is "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson. Both Jeff and Bob express deep appreciation for the novel, highlighting its emotional depth and engaging narrative style. The book is described as a series of heartfelt letters from an aging pastor to his young son, exploring themes of love, legacy, and the human condition. The hosts commend the book for its accessibility despite its potentially heavy themes, making it a quintessential "recommendable" read that encourages personal reflection.

Notable Quotes:

Bob (05:26): "We might get through this two minutes without either of us crying."

Bob (05:50): "It's set in a small town in Iowa... written as letters to his young son about his life... It's super engaging."

Jeff O'Neill (07:15): "It's just lovely and beautiful and so readable and will give you or anybody that you recommend it to a lot of opportunity to reflect on your own life."

Rebecca Schinsky (07:20): "I really did not know this was going to be the first one."

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6. Emotional Resonance and Host Reactions (07:20 - End)

As the discussion on "Gilead" concludes, Rebecca and Bob share their emotional responses to the book, with Rebecca admitting to having cried before the segment. The hosts' genuine reactions underscore the book's powerful impact, reinforcing its status as a highly recommendable read.

Notable Quote:

Rebecca Schinsky (07:15): "Rebecca, I swear to God, I'm so sorry."

Bob (07:20): "I really did not know this was going to be the first one."

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Conclusion

This teaser episode of "The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell's!" offers listeners a glimpse into Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky's thoughtful approach to curating a list of recommendable books. Through engaging discussions and heartfelt reflections, the hosts demonstrate their commitment to providing valuable literary recommendations that resonate with a wide audience. While this teaser covers the initial part of the live recording, Patreon members can access the full episode to enjoy comprehensive insights and additional book discussions.

For more updates and to support the podcast, visit bookriot.com or search for the Book Riot Podcast on Patreon.

Transcript

[Jeff O'Neill]

Everybody. What you're about to hear is a sample of our live recording at PALS last week. If you are a member of the Patreon, it's already there. Can listen to the whole thing. If not, this is a taste and an inducement to see if you will consider joining the Patreon as a paid member. Really means a lot to us. Get a good motivation to try stuff out, keep the community growing and subsidize a lot of what we do here on the podcast you can find us patreon.com BRpodcast you can just search Book Riot Podcast if you want to do that live in the room. Audio here sounds better than our antidote, I'd say. Still moves around a little bit in the full episode. You get all of my and Rebecca's picks. You also hear my kids at the end some live Q and A with the audience joking around and having a really good time. Towards the end, the mic starts moving around the room and you may have to strain a little bit to hear. But I thought it would include all that audio. Again, this is on the Patreon feed for the full audio for those that want to hear it. Thanks to everyone who came out or sent someone recommended a show to us. Means a great deal. We had enough fun that we're going to be thinking about doing some more in various places. So podcastookriot.com if that's the kind of thing you'd be interested in in maybe New York in the fall, maybe Portland again. I don't know. We're not a huge enough show. We can get anyone in any necessary city to come, but we're going to think about it. So appreciate you all listening, subscribing, sharing and letting us do this all the time. Okay, here we go.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Guess we're going to do this now. All right, this is the Book Riot podcast.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm Jeff O'Neill.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm Rebecca Schinsky and we're coming to you from P.O. in Portland, Oregon. You know that AI generated applause. Sounds so real. It's really good stuff at this point. So for those of you listening at home, we are live at Palace. We have so many friendly faces and people who are so warmly invited us today. Here's how the night is going to work. We're going to try to remember that we are podcasting for thousands of people and not the folks here. I'm so focused on you guys that I forget that podcast is theater of.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The mind and we need to talk.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

About what we're actually doing. So I just Explained to the crowd here how this is going to work. These are the 20 most recommendable books of the century so far. We stole this from the New York Times, sort of, kind of. And we each submitted our list of 10 to our co worker and she saw if there was any overlap and.

[Jeff O'Neill]

We had some switches out.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We do not know what each other picked. So that's part of the fun here. We're going to go turn by turn. We have our two minute timer. For those of you listening at home, I have asked the people. Boy, show of hands is really going to work on a podcast.

[Bob]

Oh, yeah, this is really good.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. Well, we'll have to give a sort of quantum qualitative description of the hand showing of that. And then we're going to go through and then we might do a little Q and A at the end that can be related to what we picked or whatever. So if you've got one in the chamber for us, we can move and do a little few. Phil Donahue. Mike. That's how old I am. Sorry, that's really like carbon dating myself to make a reference like that. All right, with that, Rebecca, we're going to talk about what recommendable means to us and how we kind of went about this.

[Bob]

So you said we kind of stole this from the New York Times. And I think kind of is the right adjective there because they did, you know, the best books of the century so far. Of course we did our own versions and we talked about it on the show. But if we think best is not necessarily the same as recommendable and your favorites aren't necessarily the same as recommendable. Like, I see a lot of nodding heads. So I think everybody here is thinking of a book you love that you're like, how the hell would I tell someone else that they need to read this? So those are the ones we're not talking about. Like, that's the whole. There's a whole section of our favorites that we're not going to talk about. Recommendables. Like, it's good and you can recommend it to a lot of people. I think that means it's some. Maybe it's fun to read. It's probably pretty quick, it's engaging and interesting. It doesn't have to be easy, but it probably has to have very little to no like really difficult subject matter or something that would be painful for people to read or traumatic for them to read. So we're staying in a zone of like, what's not necessarily safe but. But what do we think is widely appealing? So that maybe you haven't read some of these. But also people who are in this room are pretty likely to be the ones that like at the holidays, your friends are like, yeah, what book should I read for this person? What book should I read? And we want to help you guys stock up on your selections.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And we're not looking for. Everyone loves a beach read. No beach read. Slander coming out of this mouth at least into a public microphone. So we want a little more meat on the bone at least. I should speak for myself here. I want you to do a four quadrant kind of thing where it's interesting, you get through the pages and it kind of means something and maybe it does something a little bit different. So it's not going to be just that you can inhale. That's a different kind of argument.

[Bob]

There was a debate in my house about whether the Da Vinci Code should be on this list.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And you lost that argument to Bob. Is that what happened?

[Bob]

Well, I'm not revealing, but it's not.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Did he make a pitch for Master and Commander? But he's like, you know, he really didn't. He didn't.

[Bob]

Bob did not make it. Pitch for Master and Commander. I think he knows that's a niche. That's a niche interest.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. And for. Did some of yours, do you have like. I have got a couple that's like four. It might be recommendable for this kind of person or this kind of reader. So they're not all for everyone? All the time.

[Bob]

Yes.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

With all that, would you like to stand up and Vanna whiteed a little bit over there and see how we can pull one away.

[Bob]

And they're not in any particular order.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So we're just not. No longer.

[Jeff O'Neill]

They are just going to start.

[Bob]

Oh my God, we're starting.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Was this the one?

[Bob]

No, but we're starting with Gilead. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I can't believe that's to the timer.

[Bob]

Okay, sorry. Okay, so this is in the category of books that Jeff and I call Old Men Waiting to Die. And it's maybe our mutual favorite book ever. We might get through this two minutes without either of us crying.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I cried beforehand.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I took care of that.

[Bob]

It's set in a small town in Iowa. It's about a pastor of a small church who's in his later in life. He's in his 60s or 70s. He's fallen in love kind of by surprise with a younger woman. They have a small child. And he is realizing and kind of sitting with the reality that he's not going to live for most of this child's life, and that his young son is going to know a lot of life in the world without him. And it's written as letters to his young son about his life, about what he has seen in this small town, what it means to be a person who lives in the world. I'm, like, getting goosebumps thinking I can't look at you. No, no, no, sorry. We're getting. It's good. We're just, like, ripping the band aid off. We're getting this one done first. And I think this book just, like, really sits in everything I want from recommendable because it sounds like Oldman Waiting to Die should be a tough hang, and this is not a tough hang at all. A book written as a bunch of letters can be challenging to get into, but it's super engaging. You sink right into it. A book about a religious person might not be that inviting to everybody, but here you really just have to believe that, like, something in life is sacred or special in some way to tap into it. Man. It's just lovely and beautiful and so readable and will give you or anybody that you recommend it to a lot of opportunity to reflect on your own life. Like, what do I want to be able to put in the story of my life at the end? What do you hope your legacy will be for Jeff? It's also in the Fathers and sons, man.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Rebecca, I swear to God, I'm so sorry.

[Bob]

I really did not know this was going to be the first one.