--- description: Find out why "Slate's Audio Book Club" is on TIME's list of the 100 best podcasts of all time. title: 'Slate's Audio Book Club' Is on The 100 Best Podcasts of All Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte61a3e74c77a10aa/6998c87525f3ee83f0644da6/Best-Podcasts-2025-Slates-Audio-Book-Club-067.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 23, 2025 # Slate's Audio Book Club Great minds read great books by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/) ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent  **_Pop Culture_** The ideal book podcast serves two purposes: Helping listeners find good books to read and offering an intelligent discussion of the books’ highs and lows once we've finished them. _Slate’s Audio Book Club_ offered the perfect balance of literary picksdu jour and old classics. A rotating group of Slate's editors and writers debated the merits of novels ranging from [_The Underground Railroad_](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4I81fM3Wq9KNNxVRH8KR3z?si=199a6f02599448eb "undefined") to [_The Odyssey_](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1xzuZ2nOm6fBa8X7lCWNqp?si=78666a1b8e524e22 "undefined"). Listening was akin to eavesdropping on a book club of a bunch of ex-English majors who actually read the assignment instead of showing up to drink wine. I still delve into the archives on occasion when I'm in a reading rut to look for inspiration. Ever since the podcast sadly aired its last episode in 2018, I have been on the hunt for a book podcast with its candor and range. Interviews with authors can be enlightening but often leave little room for critique. And in a landscape of niche book podcasts that focus on specific BookTok-inspired subgenres, there’s nothing quite as engaging as this old stalwart when it comes to seeking out good reads. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303119/slates-audio-book-club/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303119/slates-audio-book-club/"},"headline":"Slate's Audio Book Club","datePublished":"2025-07-23T11:13:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:52:05.970Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303119/slates-audio-book-club/","keywords":["podcasts","list","Podcast","Special Project"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte61a3e74c77a10aa/6998c87525f3ee83f0644da6/Best-Podcasts-2025-Slates-Audio-Book-Club-067.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"creator":"Eliana Dockterman","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte61a3e74c77a10aa/6998c87525f3ee83f0644da6/Best-Podcasts-2025-Slates-Audio-Book-Club-067.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/podcasts/","name":"podcasts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303119/slates-audio-book-club/","name":"Slate's Audio Book Club"}}]}] ```