12 episodes

We’re never going to have enough time to read all the books we want, but hearing about them from an interesting person is its own valid form of experiencing their stories. Turek Books invites comedians and writers on as guests to grab a few books off their shelves that they really want to tell the world about. 

The compelling nature of chatting about the books we read becomes a springboard to revealing ourselves. The show’s subject matter ranges from inspirational favorites to petty grievances with all kinds of layers peeled back in between. Mostly, each guest returns to the good reads, those ones we can’t forget that rattle our souls for the better. 
 
Joshua Turek is a comedian, poet, and factotum whose viral rants on social media have found a home talking about his great passion of reading books. Turek Books Podcast, because all the clever names were already taken.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Turek Books Podcast Ninth Planet Audio

    • Comedy

We’re never going to have enough time to read all the books we want, but hearing about them from an interesting person is its own valid form of experiencing their stories. Turek Books invites comedians and writers on as guests to grab a few books off their shelves that they really want to tell the world about. 

The compelling nature of chatting about the books we read becomes a springboard to revealing ourselves. The show’s subject matter ranges from inspirational favorites to petty grievances with all kinds of layers peeled back in between. Mostly, each guest returns to the good reads, those ones we can’t forget that rattle our souls for the better. 
 
Joshua Turek is a comedian, poet, and factotum whose viral rants on social media have found a home talking about his great passion of reading books. Turek Books Podcast, because all the clever names were already taken.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Dolphins Might Be Aliens with Bridey Elliott 

    Dolphins Might Be Aliens with Bridey Elliott 

    Actor and Sundance Festival Filmmaker, Bridey Elliott joins Joshua to discuss self help, the people who believe dolphins are aliens, NASA experiments gone wrong, and how Bridey throws away every journal she ever finishes. Their book conversation ranges from parasocial relationships, a lesbian psychosexual love affair in the novel “Big Swiss” to the short fiery life and memoir of author Cookie Mueller, all the way out to the spiritual watery depths of a dolphin lover named Joan Ocean who Bridey went and visited in Hawaii after reading a book featuring her. They also read listener book recommendations at the end! TW: Book plot description of Big Swiss briefly mentions SA
    Books Talked About Include:
    Five Personality Patterns byt Steven Kessler
    Voices in the Ocean by Susan Casey
    Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller Memoir
    Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
    Kinship with All of Life J. Allen Boone

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 59 min
    Love in the Time of Tolstoy with Jeff Loveness

    Love in the Time of Tolstoy with Jeff Loveness

    "Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" writer Jeff Loveness (Rick and Morty, Jimmy Kimmel Live) brings our biggest stack of books yet and talks with Joshua about everything from Anthony Bourdain books to the Teenage Bible. He and Joshua bring the same final novel of Tolstoy, "Resurrection" and joke about the time they bro'd out at the Alamo Theater and watched the emotionally heavy movie "Past Lives". Joshua also gives a sneak peek at his soon to be released poetry book "On the Outside Looking Up" and reads two book recommendations written in from listeners of the show! 
    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 1 hr 11 min
    The Joy of Trees and Spider Aliens with Kurt Braunohler

    The Joy of Trees and Spider Aliens with Kurt Braunohler

    “Bananas Podcast” co-host and voice on BOB’S BURGERS, stand up comedian, Kurt Braunohler joins Joshua to talk about how his kids read more than him by virtue of them exhausting him. The two discuss their shared love of trees prompted by book “The Overstory” that Kurt says is one of his all time favorites even if he hasn’t finished it yet. Their conversation ranges from a book about dishwashing to imagining Raymond Carver’s stories as cartoonishly overwritten without his famed editor Gordon Lisch. They also discuss the stunted feelings of the cursed white male rugged individualists and CIA interference in U.S. art institutions and literature. Ultimately, it’s about reading what you love, no matter if it’s spiders in outer space science fiction or 70’s NYC musician junkie memoirs.
    Books talked about include:
    “What People Talk About When They Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver
    “The Overstory” by Richard Powers
    “Dishwasher” by Pete Jordan
    “I Dreamed I was a Very Clean Tramp” by Richard Hell
    “Children of Time” by Adrian Tchaikovsky

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 55 min
    "Life Wants You Dead" with Evan Waite

    "Life Wants You Dead" with Evan Waite

    “Family Guy” writer/producer Evan Waite joins Turek Books to talk about his time writing for “The Onion” and his new book “Life Wants You Dead”. Evan and Joshua bond over used book sales at libraries and avoiding social media witch hunts. Evan talks about how reading “48 Laws of Power” was the impetus to creating a writer’s group at the Strand Bookstore in New York City. He also discusses making the leap from teaching English in China to finding his way into comedy writing. And how he drew inspiration in penning his book about fear from a book about the inner workings of New York City.
    Books talked about include:
    THE WORKS: ANATOMY OF A CITY by Kate Ascher
    LIFE WANTS YOU DEAD by Evan Waite
    THE STENCH OF HONOLULU by Jack Handy
    WATCHMEN by Alan Moore
    FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson
    AMERICA by Jon Stewart and team
    IS THIS ANYTHING? by Jerry Seinfeld
    48 LAWS OF POWER by Robert Greene

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 1 hr 13 min
    Every Book is a New York Times Bestseller with Ali Macofsky

    Every Book is a New York Times Bestseller with Ali Macofsky

    Comedian Ali Macofsky joins Joshua to talk about both being child actors and Jeanette McCurdy’s bestselling book about that life “I’m Glad My Mom is Dead”.  Longtime friends, they discuss growing up in Southern California and Steve Martin being a magician at Disneyland. Their conversation threads through subjects like public transportation, stand up comedy, old substance slang like “crank”, and reaching out to people you admire on Instagram.
    Books Talked About Include:
    “Born Standing Up” by Steve Martin
    “I’m Glad My Mom is Dead” by Jeanette McCurdy
    “The Maid” by Nita Prose
    “Crank (Trilogy) by Ellen Hopkins
    “Trees of Santa Monica” by George Hastings

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 55 min
    A Fine Cry, Long and Loud with Ellory Smith

    A Fine Cry, Long and Loud with Ellory Smith

    Emmy nominated writer and comedian Ellory Smith joins us to talk about being a George Saunders superfan and trying to identify the hypocrisy of the world as a means of illuminating a better one. She and Joshua get into conspiracy theories about hippies and PETA, Toni Morrison and Magic Bullet blenders. Their conversation ranges from nature reclaiming Chernobyl to the graffiti artists doing the same to the abandoned high rises in downtown LA. This conversation skips the small talk and goes right into grief, the world’s problems, and how literature gets us into reflecting on what’s right and wrong in our own lives.
    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 55 min

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