HeyJaredPaperback Friends
This podcast is my dream, and a space to celebrate the wonder of books. I find inspiration, comfort, and awe in the pages of a great story. Books have a unique power, and I’m here to share it with you.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 11
- Latest publication
- Sep 11, 2026
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- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 3, 2026
Latest episodes
Episode: 106 – [Review] Moral Ambition (opens the original)
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Can ambition be moral? In this episode, I review Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman—a book arguing that too many of us spend our lives chasing status instead of solving meaningful problems. We talk about how Bregman builds his case through history and biography, why his arguments are surprisingly compelling, and whether he succeeds in answering the biggest question of all: What do you actually do after hearing the call to make a difference? Type: Review | Book: Moral Ambition | Writer: Rutger Breg
Episode: 105 – [Review] Butcher's Crossing (opens the original)
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What if the wilderness doesn't destroy you—but reveals who you really are? This week on Paperback Friends , we return to John Williams to review Butcher's Crossing , the novel that came before Stoner and helped establish Williams as one of the great overlooked American writers. We follow Will Andrews as he abandons his comfortable life for a buffalo hunt deep in the American West, only to discover that the greatest struggle isn't against nature, but against himself. A quiet novel about the wilde
Episode: 104 – [Review] The Old Curiosity Shop (opens the original)
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Charles Dickens really is a master of craft, and padding a novel. The Old Curiosity Shop is also one of the most exhausting books I've read for the podcast. In this episode, I take a baseball bat to Dickens' fourth novel while examining why it feels so painfully slow, melodramatic, and padded – there is a very specific reason for it! It's still Dickens though, so it can't be that bad can it? Ask Oscar Wilde... Type: Review | Book: The Old Curiosity Shop | Writer: Charles Dickens
Episode: 103 – [Review] The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (opens the original)
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We’re diving into Ursula K. Le Guin for the first time on Paperback Friends with The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas . It may be one of the shortest stories we’ve covered, but there’s an awful lot packed into those few thousand words. Le Guin’s writing is secondary to the question she builds the story around. Omelas is a perfect utopia, but its happiness depends entirely on the suffering of one child. What makes the story so clever is how quietly Le Guin turns that premise back on the reader, for
Episode: 102 – [Review] Artificial Condition (opens the original)
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We’re back with Martha Wells and The Murderbot Diaries! I really enjoyed All Systems Red, and Artificial Condition continues to show me why I like this series so much. Wells's writing is remarkable restraint, building a surprisingly complex world without drowning the story in unnecessary detail. The corporate politics, world-building, action, and Murderbot itself all work beautifully together. This is another excellent entry in a series that has quickly become one of my easiest recommendations.
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