October 30th episode! Rebecca, hearing your thoughts and opinions in their entirety was amazing. I felt empowered listening to you not letting someone else speak over you.

All of what you said on this episode about being unapologetically progressive is so refreshing it’s profound! Your program is informative and entertaining. Thank you.

As a librarian I love listening to this and being in the know about what is coming up in books. I feel like it’s really upped my game in knowing what is going on in the publishing world and I genuinely enjoy their conversations!

I used to look forward to the new episode each week. But, now that it’s multiple episodes a week the quality has gone off a cliff. I used to enjoy the friends gossiping about new books and book related news. Now their conversations are filled with insufferable interjections on how the publishing industry isn’t inclusive with regards to POC. I’d be fine if they actually gave facts or offered solutions, but all we get is “You know what, Rebecca? I don’t know.” Here’s a tip, if you don’t know what you’re talking about then don’t talk about it.

Smart, informative and funny! Something to look forward to in my downloads.

When one of the hosts pronounces the main character’s name incorrectly throughout, it detracts from the level of literary sophistication they’re trying to show.

Jeff! Shut up and let Rebecca talk! You’re rudeness by constantly interrupting her makes listening to this podcast very unpleasant.

I absolutely love this show! I look forward to every new release. It’s not only enjoyable, but as a Children’s Librarian it’s such an easily digestible way to keep up with what’s happening in the adult world of books & publishing without ever feeling like I’m doing more work. Great hosts & awesome info!

I really like this pod but holy cow does Jeff know that he just plows over Rebecca 99% of the time? I don’t know how Rebecca puts up with it. This man just talks over her constantly. Like just blatantly and aggressively. It’s genuinely wild.

IF YOUR’E READING THIS, I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE😈😈😈guess who it is. THE CARROT WHO LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY 😈😈😈by the way ignore the hate, keep making great stuff! They don’t know what they are talking about ! BYEEE

The guy talks over the woman ALL THE TIME. PLease stop this! She is more concise and knowledgeable and he just sort of free streams his thoughts.

This podcast dips too much into political culture war topics. Anyone outside of mainstream progressive politics would find their book discourse nauseating. Much better book podcasts out there, I’d recommend the Currently Reading podcast.

I have enjoyed Book Riot very much until today. Jeff and Rebecca are guilty of making uninformed assumptions without doing their due diligence on the JK Rowling issue. I recommend that you and your subscribers listen to the informative and balanced podcast: The Witch Trials of JK Rowling. It will help you speak to the issue with integrity and thoughtfulness instead of encouraging further division among all genders.

I sub and unsub here regularly because I am interested in the content which is good, but Jeff is not easy to listen to. He dismisses Rebecca’s opinions and interrupts her. Gross. Also stop dialoguing about the episode title during conversation.

I work in the industry myself and love having the inside information (and book recommendations)

To reiterate what others have said, Jeff mansplains everything, talks over Rebecca, and is overall cringeworthy. Rebecca has some good insight, but I always feel like he’s taking on some teacher role and she’s the student striving for the A. Their interactions with each other are awkward, punctuated by Rebecca’s incessant forced, or perhaps nervous, laughter. I stopped listening after they did an episode about Jewish literature, and out of the 10 books recommended, 3 were by Michael chabon. It led me to believe they’re not really up on books as much as they claim to be.

I listen to this every week. I get the bookish news I want and I love the “Frontlist Foyer” part where Jeff and Rebecca talk about the new books they’ve read. They’re unapologetically liberal, and if that bothers you, choose a different book podcast. I don’t feel like it’s too much but opinions may vary. (Lots of reviews mention that this is a turnoff.)

It is greatly appreciated when you talk about Indy authors and self publishing, even if you don’t read it. Author Craig Lefebvre

I don’t listen every week, but I like to check in to see what’s going on in the world of books. Unfortunately, some of my favorite episodes are now patreon exclusives. However, there’s still good stuff here.

I really like the concept of this podcast and much of the content is interesting and engaging. But, there are three aspects of it that I find distracting and annoying. First, the frequent hyping of the Patreon version. Second, way too much talk about movies and TV shows. Three, Rebecca’s extremely frequent forced laughter. Maybe is a nervous habit but whatever it is, it’s really distracting.

When they support murder.

I really want to like this podcast, but the hosts, especially Jeff, need more empathy, research, and listening skills. I come to this podcast wanting to learn more about books, but instead I get politics and incorrect ramblings off the tops of their head. I alas need to find a new podcast. Please research facts before they are discussed.

I’ve listened to this show since the beginning. Jeff has always been irritating, but for the last 6 months it’s almost unbearable. He thinks his little names for his own quirks are cute and funny and worth mentioning- I can assure him that they are not. If I never hear about how he won’t read a book in a series until the series is complete, it’ll be too soon. I don’t care, dude. He talks over women. He loves to bloviate. He’s overwhelmingly negative about most things but loves defending capitalism, even as he thinks he’s some kind of crusader for the left. Rebecca is great!

I can no longer listen to this. The hosts come across as self important and annoying. The amount of shade they constantly throw at Where the Crawdads Sing is just one example.

It has really gone down hill, with too much content about tv shows based on books and other non-book information. If they actually covered book news and shared their best book content again, it would be worth a listen. Sadly it’s gone from a must listen to a never listen for me.

Jeff, Please learn the correct way to use the word “I.” It is. It not “Listen to Rebecca and I ….” Weren’t you once an adjunct English professor?

As a bookseller, I find this podcast really useful. A note on the 1.23.22 episode - I loved the new Klosterman as well, but his name is pronounced with a long o. We did an event with him a few years ago.Thank you for your insights!

I grow weary. Every topic seems to be coming from a political angle. I just want to hear about books. I used to love this show. I try and listen now and end up turning it off. If I wanted to be bombarded with political nonsense I would listen to CNN.

So pretentious!! Does Rebecca have to laugh and agree with everything Jeff says? Can’t listen any more.

“Who is it that buys books? Tends to be democrats. Tends to be educated people.” — Jeff of Book Riot. I’m an independent, neither Liberal or Conservative, and even I found that statement rude and ignorant. Incredibly narrow minded thinking on behalf of Jeff and Rebecca. Reading should not always be political. This company is obviously making it political to the point they’ve lost me as a reader of their emails/blogs and listener of their podcasts. That statement passed edits. “Educated” people are usually wise and understanding. Definitely gives democrats a bad look with this comment. Off to go find a bias-free reading podcast. You’d think that would be a given, but no. I guess it’s rare now.

I’m listening to their best books of the year so far. Even when Rebecca is talking about her picks Jeff talks over her or mansplains. I wonder if they read the comments because this seems to be a common theme? Rebecca is such a smart woman and would like to hear her thoughts.

I like this podcast except for Jeff’s mansplaining. Let Rebecca speak! Her work is good- it doesn’t need editing.

I somewhat recently found out about this podcast and if you want to know what’s happening in the world of books this is the best podcast out there. You don’t get all the news about every book but they talk about the big news. There are more specific genre podcasts that probably go into more detail if you are only into a general genre but this is still a good podcast to listen to. They talk about ereaders and audiobooks good book presents and just general news so useful to know even if you just read fantasy or rom cons or mysteries.

I enjoy this show and have listened for years, but my complaint is always the same: JEFF - please, for the love of everything - STOP INTERRUPTING AND TALKING OVER REBECCA. It is really frustrating as a listener. Jeff either isn’t listening or can’t hear Rebecca when she tries to chime in. I’m inclined to think it’s the former because it seems to happen most when Jeff is on a long tangent. Please, Jeff, take a breath in the middle of the diatribes and see if Rebecca has any input. By the time he gives her a chance to say anything, he has usually moved on to the next topic. I am not alone with this feedback!

Though I really enjoy the podcast, Jeff often dominates the conversation and when Rebecca finally gets the opportunity to speak, as soon as she does, Jeff frequently interrupts her and talks right over her. It’s REALLY painful to listen to and a huge turn off.

I love this podcast when they are talking about books, authors, and publishing. But lately it’s just hour after hour of pushing their politics. I know you have to cover current cultural and political climate in the course of the topic, but it doesn’t have to be such long rants about how people in the business don’t make the choices they want them to make.

I’m a book lover, and love to know what is coming up in the book world. But I’m disappointed in a book podcast talking about limiting speech or canceling a book because they don’t like the person. Look, I don’t care that you don’t like someone, talk about books, and the news that really matters in books, not about I’m really disappointed that a book publisher is publishing a book by our former VP and that hurts my feelings. This podcast used to give good book recommendations.

Really enjoy the book talk and insights, quite likeable hosts. Enjoy less when the conversation turns to their obvious political views, which detracts from the otherwise solid podcast.

Put at least a little effort and research into it.

While the hosts mainly discuss things that are going on in the book world, they also have a ton of special features like book recommendations for special times of the year (like holidays or graduation season), best of lists, buy/sell/hold features, specific book discussions for just one title per episode, adaptation discussions, and much more! I really enjoy this podcast because it helps me to stay on top of bookish news. I really appreciate that the hosts break down the news stories and fully talk them through to both explain what exactly the story means and what their personal thoughts about it are. And of course, as an analytics person, I really appreciate that they discuss and break down statistics every now and again. If you would like to stay updated on the latest news in the bookish world as a whole, I highly recommend checking this one out!

While I love the content, I can’t get past Jeff constantly talking over Rebecca! Let her answer questions & complete her thoughts!

Is this podcast even about books anymore? This is two individuals who work in publishing that discuss the current political climate for an entire podcast.

I enjoy listening to Jeff and Rebecca, but I am a liberal boomer who is put off by their frequent condescension towards people who don’t share their generationally narrow views and put off by their occasional agist comments. In the recent episode, Rebecca gave Isabelle Allende an asterisk as she recommended her book because her feminism is old. Rebecca is where she is because of all the feminist women who came before her and did the hard work. She should respectfully acknowledge that. Isabelle Allende did not deserve an asterisk.

I’m currently listening to the Bestseller list episode, and it is so snarky and hilarious. Love this analysis and takedown of the lists. As a librarian, I found it both informative and hilarious.

I love the discussions on bookish conversation! This is the podcast I listen to first when it comes into my feed!

This is the best website but the worst podcast. They are so unbearably awkward and clueless about Black literature, like when they went on and on about how brilliant Claudia Rankine is but then clearly hadn’t read or even heard of her NYT essay about flying first-class...dude, have you actually read her work, or...? And their chemistry is dire, with Jeff droning on and Rebecca agreeing.

So overall I definitely like the show, one of the main reasons being it keeps me abreast of bookish news especially in the world of publishing which I know little about. One or two things keep this from being number one (for me) is that I get frustrated trying to find the books that get talked about or recommended on here. I listened to the armchair travel episode and was very interested in several books but had to relisten to the whole episode again to get titles and authors because they weren’t in the notes section, at least not that I could see. I also sometimes get annoyed with Jeff who sometimes talks over his cohost Rebecca and his voice tends to get a bit screechy for lack of a better term. In fairness may just be audio difficulties and at least you can tell he is passionate about what he is talking about.

I look forward to this, and the new co-host Rebecca is stellar. I’m troubled by how often the nearly always fascinating Jeff spirals into incoherence and, more troubling, seems to assume that he’s the one who is in charge, dominates the conversation, and rudely speaks over his co-host. That said, part of my fascination with this podcast is how emotionally unhinged Jeff will become on any given episode.

I love literally everything about this show except for how often Jeff interrupts or talks over Rebecca. She doesn’t seem bothered by it so I’m trying not to let it bother me, but ... something I notice often. The content of this cast and the wry but fun takes on living in the bookish world of today are both fantastic. I return time and again to this particular podcast and several other Book Riot casts as I keep up to date on bookish things while spending this lovely summer of COVID-19 between library jobs.

The Reading Lives format is awesome. I love those so much and wish I could access the archives.