Episode 233 - Battle of the Books 2026

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!

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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.)