What to listen to right now XXXII: Other People Podcast with Brad Listi

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I'm on the reg with podcast listening. Got some on the iPod for walking the dogs. Got some on the iPod for hitting errands around town. Got some on the iPod for mowing the grass even though everyone says this is horrible for my ears.

One thing I didn't have on the iPod regularly were literary podcasts. I tried Silverblatt but couldn't stay awake while driving. I tried some Bat Segundo, but that guy asks very, very, very specific book questions – full of spoiler alerts & mess like that.

I'd about settled into the Three Percent podcast put out by an editor at New Directions and Open Books, but it's a lot of foreign stuff I didn't quite get (maybe I should try harder to get it).

But there's been a new entry. Other People Podcast by Brad Listi. Brad is from The Nervous Breakdown and does it right. He talks to novelists about writing. He talks about their personal quirks. He touches a bit on their books, but if you've never read their books, you can still hang. Instead Listi brings personality to writers, whether it's getting at Emma Straub's baked goods habit, Jonathon Evison's toilet habits or Blake Butler's insomnia habit.

I started with Other People on Blake Butler's episode, became enchanted, found some other writers I knew, and am now moving over to the writers I don't know, just because Brad uncovers all types of literary life marginalia that brings comfort to us amateurs who wonder if we're doing it right.