Friday, January 5, 2024

Best of 2023 — Podcasts

 My top picks from podcasts I discovered last year. As always, they may be old, but my listening was brand new in 2023. In no particular order. Links are in the podcast name.

Fr. Mike Schmitz guides you through the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church in 365 episodes, providing explanation, insight, and encouragement along the way.
Like the Bible in a Year podcast, this is chock full of Father Mike Schmitz's explanations that help us see how the Catechism applies to everyday life. He doesn't dodge the touchy issues, because the Catechism doesn't. But his explanations help to explain the logic and love that is behind all the Church's teachings. I have thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Podcaster Erik Rostad started Books of Titans as an experiment to discover how to read more books and remember what I read. I enjoyed the past episodes I tried as he was really good at pulling out big ideas from each book and often would find them connecting to other books in unexpected ways. 

In 2023 he began a project to read the Great Books and see the wisdom of the ages and the cultural influence they have imparted. Not only has Erik been discussing the ancient books but he has paired them with more modern works which help give context. Erik is a thoughtful reader and it is fascinating to hear him go through these books. His goal is to finish by 2030. Read more about that project here.

How to Eat an Elephant
A Little Book Club for Large Books
 

Of course, as the saying goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Podcasters Ian, Emily, and Megan do a great job of reading five chapters a week and looking at them indepth. So far they've read War and Peace and Les Miserables. It's thanks to their discussions that I made it halfway through War and Peace last year before deciding I'd read as much as I needed to and dropping the book. It wasn't them, it was just that I'd read all I needed to of War and Peace. However, they are engaging and thoughtful and I'll be on board the next time they pick up a long read that is on my list.

Anupama Chopra, founder & editor of Film Companion, is a film critic, television anchor and book author. She has been writing about Bollywood since 1993. Here you can find all of her reviews for movies from across the globe.
I discovered this when browsing through Evergreen Podcasts listings. Anupama Chopra gives just the succinct yet personal reviews of new Indian films that help me know whether or not to put movies on my list. So far, her tastes and ours match up very well. 

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