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Welcome back to this regular-ish peek over my shoulder at the bookish media that’s been tickling my fancy. Today is a mixed bag of stuff I’m really quite jazzed about, things that have kept me grounded in what felt like a whirlwind of an August and early September. There are scams, there are dragons, there are puppets, and even some witches! I hope these podcasts, shows, books, and more bring you a slice of joy this week.
We Are Scamily
So much of true crime these days feels voyeuristic, misogynistic, and unethical, and it’s harder than you’d think to suss out which shows and books are produced responsibly with the support of the victims and their families. That’s where the podcast Scam Goddess comes in, as recommended to me by Emily Martin. Actor and comedian Laci Mosley hosts this weekly show where she and a guest host or two discuss (per the catchy-ass theme song) scams, cons, robbery, and fraud. Laci is one of the funniest people on the planet, and hearing her real-time takes on generally nonviolent and scammy crime is the antidote to the true crime ick.
Mosley has also written a book that’s part memoir, part scam deep dive called Scam Goddess: Lessons from a Life of Cons, Grifts, and Schemes and it’s out next week! The audiobook is read by Mosley and it’s just perfection. I spent most of the book laughing and then she sneak attacked me with some deep stuff at the end that had me blinking away tears. Add this to your TBR and join the CONgregation.
Did You Just Call Me a Bookworm?!
In another instance of “how did I never once stop to ponder this as a book reader,” I was today year’s old when I learned the origin of the term “bookworm.” According to this piece in Mental Floss, it used to be an insult, tantamount to calling someone useless. I am positively tickled by this description of a bookworm from a1907 Baltimore Sun column: “There is the lady bookworm known to you by sight. She is the lady of the inquisitive nose and eager eye, whose arm is usually encircling books and whose mind runs to books, not to men.” Got me there, bud!
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