The Beach, the Book and the Best Book Podcast

If you were stranded on a desert island, what books would you take? Or so the old question-trope goes.

Since it is 2026 and most desert islands have been bought up by tech billions, who could—or would--want to go there and read? Seems it is time for an update for the old trope which now might go like this: "If you were stranded on a quiet, sunny beach, what book podcast would you listen to?"

With June's arrival and the beach calling out for books to be read, my first stop on the way to summer reading is the book podcast. Since 2004, when podcast tech was popularized, book podcasters have been chatting about books and recommending them to book lovers for summer and all year round. All this book-love comes to us via 1000 plus podcasters in the US alone and continues to engage us and our literary habits without annoying ads, or a big PR push for sales, or even Oprah. Just books.

Recently, I spoke with my favorite book podcaster, Will Cooper, of Books and More, about this divine threesome: the book and the podcast and the listener.

Will, an author from California, said the match is great because the work of a podcaster is easy to do. This is actually no easy thing for Will to say, who is by day Senior Vice President, Legal and Corporate for Fortinet. By night, Will is a podcaster and also a journalist, and he is also co-author of the thriller A Quiet Life, with Michael McKinley, author and CEO of BookGo.

For Will what is actually very easy is producing and hosting a book podcast. "There are no barriers. People want to talk and they want to talk about books." And they are regularly chatting with Will, who has hosted 100 podcasts over the last year. To do it, Will works with a very open format, allowing for book chat to run for 15 minutes or up to an hour, and for the podcasts to drop every few days—even several at a time--as opposed to fitting his podcast into a regimented half-hour time slot which drops every week.

And what also makes podcasting easy for Will is being a brainy guy. "Being an attorney is my day job, and I keep that separate from my other professional activities, from my journalism, from writing books, and also the podcast Books and More. But I certainly have learned a lot from being a lawyer, so that informs my books, like my most recent book, the legal thriller: The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld."

For most writers, Will notes, there are many barriers to becoming a published author. "It is hard in the same way it is really hard to get a movie made, which takes hundreds of people and millions of dollars to do. With the podcast there's no barrier to entry." Will then adds, "Once you get going, all the momentum is in your favor, so podcasting for me has been a real joy, and a big part of why has just been all the momentum in favor of the people that are creating podcasts and really making them happen."

And podcasts, Will adds, support authors by bringing in more readers. Podcasts are a heavenly match for discussing books because people who write or read books are keen to cast off the solitude of reading a book and talk about it. And when it comes to chatting, most readers and authors, given their literary love, are usually quite articulate. All you need to do is to toss in a few good questions and, voila, you have a book podcast.

Another reason Will began his podcast was to have a chance to speak with his own literary heroes. Will tapped one such hero to join him on his podcast: Brian Garner, the American legal scholar and editor of Black's Law Dictionary since 1999. "Brian is a major mentor of mine," Will explains, "and he's a legal author. He wrote several books with Justice Scalia and many others. I actually interned for Brian, but hadn't connected with him in years, and so having him on was a joyful occasion, just to reconnect and talk about books."

When I asked if there were any tough shows, any authors who were unforthcoming, Will said no. "It's a pretty casual show, and I keep it that way on purpose." He follows the writer's lead and speaks about what the author wants to talk about and so it is all always forward motion.

But sometimes it can be a challenge to get authors on the podcast, especially if they are popular. "I'd love to get Andrew Sean Greer, who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, the Pulitzer Prize-winner, Less," says Will with a wistful sigh. Greer is probably very busy these days with a new novel coming out next week, Villa Coco. As Greer has yet to join Books and More, his new book will be joining Will this summer on a quiet, sunny beach.

As for Greer, if you read this, you can contact Will and enjoy his engaging and wide-ranging podcast–as we all can–at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/books-and-more-with-william-cooper/id1812487408

Other favourite book podcasts for summer reading:

What Should I Read Next, with the genial host Anne Bogel, author and creator of the popular blog Modern Mrs. Darcy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-should-i-read-next/id1073499086

Any time of year, I adore listening to the kind, caring Amy Shannon and her book podcast Amy's Bookshelf. You can also hear all about BookGo books on her podcast: https://amysbookshelfreviews.com/podcast

If you love poetry, be sure to give a listen to the sage and soulful poet and podcaster Sharon Israel on her podcast, Planet Poet: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sharon-israel-voice-lesson-post-traumatic-press-2017/id477719156

Did I miss your favorite book or poetry podcast? Let me know and I'll give them a shout out: info@bookgo.pub