When someone recommends you a book, you start on the first page and read through to the end. Same with movies. Same with tv shows. Because that’s just the way those things work.
But podcasts don’t always work that way. Recommending a podcast is kind of like recommending a musician. There’s an entire catalogue of content, and it’s hard to know where to begin. Do you start with the first episode because that’s the beginning? Or with the last episode, since it’s the newest and (probably) the most polished? With the most critically acclaimed episode? The most downloaded?
When I recommend a podcast to someone, I try to recommend a specific episode. Something that I think captures the general feel of the podcast at it’s best. So that’s what I’ll aim to do here.
Being Canadian, it seems fitting that the first episode I cover here is from a new Canadian podcast: Love Me.
Love Me is a podcast about love. Shocking. But not just R&B song love, or cheesy rom-com love. Love Me aims to tackle all the messy aspects of human connection and interaction. From complicated friendships to family interactions, to classic long-distance heartache.
The first episode, At A Loss For Words, is broken into three parts.
The first is an audio adaptation of Ella Frances’ book Lost in Translation. It’s a series of words in various languages with specific meanings and no direct English translations.
The book covers words of all meanings, but this audio adaptation focuses specifically on those that describe the varying stages of relationships: the Farsi word for the twinkle in your eye when you first meet someone; the Italian word for tenderly running your fingers through the hair of somebody you love; the Korean word for the subtle art of listening and gauging someone’s mood.
It’s a must-listen for anyone who loves words and language as much as I do.
The second part tells the story of a couple who falls in love through Google Translate. It’s based on the autobiographical book Irritable Hearts by Mac Mclelland. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t say more than that, but if you’re craving more about the story after listening, definitely give Mac’s book a read; it’s beautiful.
The third part is a fictional conversation carried out by computer voices (weird to hear at first, but stick with it – it gets less distracting as you go). It’s loosely based on poetry by Kelsey Walsh and explores those intricate feelings we all have but aren’t able to articulate.
You can find this episode of Love Me on all the usual podcast apps, or on their website.
1 comment
Amazing suggestion. I loved loved the first episode. Thank you !