The Slow Reader: Recent Episodes
Stephen Gower
The Slow Reader is a book review podcast that covers books I'm reading at a pace that I'm comfortable with - which is a little bit slow. Listen in if you're looking for someone who reads at a pace closer to yours!
Music in this episode: "Tree Fever" by Tha Silent Partner, from the album "Capsule Two: Plates For Nujabes (Another Platters Intermission)"
License: CC BY-NC-SA
The main review for this episode is "Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past" by Brett Popplewell. I read 8 other books between the last episode (Unreconciled) and this one. They are:
- The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson) - 3/5
- The Cartographers (Peng Shepherd) - 2/5
- Skin and Other Stories (Roald Dahl) - 3/5
- Moon of the Crusted Snow (Waubgeshig Rice) - 4/5
- Spider-Man: Life Story (Chip Zdarsky, Mark Bagley) - 4/5
- Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (Brian Daley) - 1/5
- Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Silver Surfer (Roy Thomas, Stan Lee) - 1/5
- Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White & Red (Various) - 3/5
You can read my thoughts about all of these books on my Storygraph page.
Want to get in touch with me? You can find me on these social media platforms:
- Mastodon
- Bluesky
Note: I'm most active on Mastodon.
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Find out more at https://slow-reader.pinecast.co
In today's episode, I talk about Jesse Wente's memoir Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance (Goodreads, Storygraph). Content warning: some discussion of racism.
Music in this episode:"8" by Kahwe, from Library Beats (CC BY 3.0)
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In today's episode, I review the graphic novel omnibus "Epileptic" by David B (Goodreads, Storygraph).
Music in this episode:"10" by Kahwe, from Library Beats (CC BY 3.0)
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Back for the Fall! I read and reviewed The Big Bang Theory: An Oral History by author Jessica Radloff. I enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars. Listen to hear more!
Visit the blog for more shows: https://slowreader.art.blog
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In this episode, I review Cory Doctorow's latest novel Red Team Blues, Kliph Nesteroff's We Had A Little Real Estate Problem, and some comments on my current read, Isaac Asimov's Asimov's Mysteries. Music in this episode is A Night on the Town by Stefan Kartenberg - CC-BY-NC-ND.
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For this episode I read "The Caves of Steel" by Isaac Asimov. "Caves" is a murder mystery sci-fi story, though the mystery aspect is second fiddle to the science fiction background. This was a fun book to read and I am glad Josh Wetenkamp (https://twitter.com/wetjosh, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/science-fiction-shorts/id1466031504) recommended this to me last year.
Cory Doctorow's article about "time tax":
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/10/my-time/#like-water-down-the-drain
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Welcome to 2023! In this episode I do a quick wrap of 2022 and declare my favourite book from last year, and review 4 books - including The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal.
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In today's episode I cover 5 books (4 rated, one I did not finish) starting with the most recent finished book, Bram Stoker's Dracula. This crop of books turned out to be very good.
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In today's episode, I present a review of James Rollins' 2020 novel The Last Odyssey. I have read many other books in the last 6 months but I have a lot of notes to gather before I can podcast about them. Listen on for my thoughts and review of The Last Odyssey.
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In this episode, I review Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick - but I'm joined by special guest Josh Wetenkamp! Josh and I picked this book to review late last year, and we finally got together to read it & pick it a part. Great discussion ensued.
You can find Josh's podcast on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts:
Science Fiction Shorts.
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/stephen_g
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Welcome to the 2022 Preview! Not much in the way of reviews today, but instead I outline my plan for the upcoming year in books for me. Although, I do have ONE review at the end of the show for the Star Trek: The Next Generation tie-in novel, Hearts & Minds by Dayton Ward.
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It's the end of 2021! That means it's time to finish up with the last couple of stories that I read. In this episode, a review of Darktown by Thomas Mullen, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and a reading of 2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
"Teleporter" sound effect courtesy of Freesound.org - https://freesound.org/people/blendcache/sounds/379993/
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The Only Good Indians
In this episode I talk about the books I've read since the last episode, when Patrick from the Consume Us podcast joined me to talk about a book we tried to finish by a set deadline (check out Episode 22 for the titles). I also have a more in-depth review of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.
Links to author interviews on Jays From Home:
- Andrew Forbes
- Jason Love
Books mentioned in this episode:
- The Utility of Boredom by Andrew Forbes
- Slices of Americana by Jason Love
- How Not to Diet by Michael Greger
- Life Magazine Indiana Jones 40th Anniversary Special
- The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
- Darktown by Thomas Mullen (Currently Reading)
Music used in this podcast episode:
- Mozart's Sonata No.11 performed by OnClassical
- Claude Debussy's Claire de lune performed by PINKAIDE
"Woosh" Transition SFX from Freesound.org: VS_Short Whoosh 2 by Vilkas_Sound
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In today's episode I am joined by special guest Patrick from the Consume Us podcast. We both read a book we've been pushing to get through and talk about them.
Patrick read Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange by Adam Scovell.
I read The Lost World by Michael Crichton.
We also mentioned a few other books:
- The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
- Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
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Episode Description
In today's Slow Reader episode, it's not about books - it's a bonus episode about movies! I recently watched The Rock, Dr. No, and From Russia With Love.
You can view my Letterboxd profile if you want to see more of my movie reviews - there aren't many.
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Show Notes Back again for another episode! This one is massive (relatively speaking), covering off six recently-read books:
- Murders & Mysteries in the Manitoulin District (3 stars) by Willis John McQuarrie
- Ted's Dead Head (1 star) by Paul Grover
- The Stars Now Unclaimed (unfinished) by Drew Williams
- Winning Ugly (4 stars) by Todd Radom
- A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World (4 stars) by C.A. Fletcher
- 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act (5 stars) by Bob Joseph
Currently Reading:
- The Utility of Boredom by Andrew Forbes
Jays From Home Podcast
Music used in this podcast episode:
- Mozart's Sonata No.11 performed by OnClassical
Social Links:
- Twitter: @stephen_g
- Goodreads
This podcast was mixed and edited using Reaper.
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First official episode of 2021; in this episode I talk about books that I read so far this year, including reviews for Gladiator-At-Law (Frederick Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth) and Louis Riel (Chester Brown). No plans for upcoming books just yet!
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New year, new books!
A quick episode to take a short look at the year that was (2020) and what I'm looking ahead to the year that is (2021).
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In this episode I review The Heroin Diaries and Paper Towns. I also talk about starting to re-read Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban and Ready Player One (in advance of November 24 when Ready Player Two is released).
I highly recommend following along with the podcast 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.
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In The Ever-Growing Pile, I talk about the problem I have with my "to-read" shelf and how it keeps growing. I also review Red Rising by Pierce Brown and The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
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Alternative Airwaves: https://www.alternativeairwaves.com
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Welcome back to The Slow Reader! Quite an update this time around. New this episode are some time markers if you want to jump around and listen to specific parts. No intro music this time - didn't have anything I felt fit the episode.
00:42 - What have I read since March 31? 03:55 - What am I currently reading? 05:03 - Jurassic Park Review 07:08 - What's Next? 08:07 - Wrap-Up
Books mentioned in the podcast:
- George Lucas Life Magazine Bio
- Spock, Messiah!
- One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music and Love
- Magic Time
- For Your Eyes Only (James Bond short stories)
- Shoe Dog
- Jurassic Park
- Gump & Co
- The Heroin Diaries
- Red Rising
- The Name of the Wind
- Ready Player One / Ready Player Two
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Tunnels
- Devil in the White City
- Paper Towns
- Louis Riel (Graphic Novel)
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Catching up on several books that I've read in the last two months, in addition to covering off what I'm reading now and what I'll be reading in the future. Stay safe, stay healthy!
Music: Rebels With a Cause by Renae
For more Creative Commons Tracks, visit https://www.alternativeairwaves.com or https://www.jamendo.com.
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Blog: https://www.noformatblog.ca
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My review of The MVP Machine, a book that covers the latest evolution of player development in Major League Baseball; the book is written by Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindburgh.
Podcasts mentioned in the episode:
- Pr0ductive Outs
- At The Letters - Sportsnet
- Birds All Day - The Athletic
- Birds All Day - Free Version
Music used in this episode:
- "Baseball" by Guglielmo Brunelli - Jamendo
- "Troll Baseball" by Fanny Roger - Jamendo
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Michael Ondaatje's 2018 novel Warlight is the subject of this episode of The Slow Reader. It's a difficult novel to read, but is well worth the effort.
Music in this episode is Labile Polvere by Mattia Vlad Morleo, from https://www.jamendo.com.
The full review text will be online at https://www.noformatblog.ca in a few days.
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Enter the thrilling medical world of Heads! This 1985 book by David Osborn is...not great. Have a listen for my thoughts on the book (and be warned, there are spoilers in this episode!)
The full review in text form will be posted later this week on www.noformatblog.ca.
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The wrap-up episode for The Saturday Night Ghost Club! A bit of a tweak in the format, without any specific summaries of the book. I answer some questions that I asked last episode, and set up the next book!
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I'm very excited to start a new book! This wasn't entirely intended (influenced only by when I received the book from the library), but The Saturday Night Ghost Club (by Craig Davidson) starts today with episodes 1-4, right when most other people are watching Stranger Things 3 (I've only seen the first season + the first episode of season 2 so far). This is a spooky book, and really good so far. So dive in with me!
The theme music in today's episode is titled "Hor Hor" by composer Alexander Nakarada, and is available under a public domain license.
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This bonus episode contains a full read of "Murder and Suicide, Respecively" by Ryan North, a story from the first Machine of Death short story collection! Buy the book from Amazon if you haven't ever read it before. Get in touch with me on Twitter to discuss theories about this story!
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This is it! The final episode for Gone, a novel by Michael Grant. We get some answers and everything wraps up (mostly) with only a handful of open threads for future books.
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Plenty of new information revealed in these chapters, including the cause of The Fayz! Or part of the cause. This is the penultimate episode for Gone coverage, with chapters 39 - Final coming in 2 weeks' time.
Read 'All Our Relations' by Tanya Talaga - it's a really important book that I think everyone needs to read.
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After a lengthy delay, a 12-chapter update for Gone, chapters 20-32. Things are really heating up, and if this were a movie we'd be pretty close to the third act by now. There are going to be two more episodes for Gone, before moving on to the next book. Enjoy!
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I doubled my reading output and read 6 chapters over 2 weeks. Covering off chapters 13 through 19 in this episode, things have escalated very quickly in Perdido Beach.
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Returning to Gone (Michael Grant) this week with chapters 10-12. There's a lot of new information learned in these 3 chapters. Also, this is really a slow-read. Also in this episode: re-reading Dune alongside the Dune Subreddit.
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This episode starts off my coverage of Gone by Michael Grant. I read chapters 1-9 (17% of the book). Pick up your copy of Gone from the Library or at Amazon.
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Book two of The Slow Reader: Erebos, written by Ursula Poznanski and translated by Judith Pattinson.
"It's a game. It watches you." Intriguing tag line that lead to another fun, quick read from the library.
Also discussed the podcast "Wild Thing", which you can find at https://www.foxtopus.ink/wildthing
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The first book covered for The Slow Reader: Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn. In this episode I talk briefly about the sequel to Zahn's 2017 novel, and talk a tiny bit also about Star Trek: Discovery.
This is a short episode, but hopefully future episodes will be a little bit more in depth and a little bit longer. This book has been read in full, so as to get a head start.
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Welcome to the Slow Reader, a podcast about books. I'm Stephen Gower (host of Alternative Airwaves & co-host of Futurama Pedia), and this is just about books that I'm reading. There will be light spoilers, so consider this a warning now!
This trailer episode introduces you to the concept of the podcast.
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