Baum on Books

About Baum on Books

With an eye on reviewing fiction and nonfiction that has regional resonance for Connecticut or Long Island, Joan Baum considers the timeliness and significance of recently published work: what these books have to say to a broad group of readers today and how they say it in a distinctive or unique manner, taking into account style and structure as well as subject matter.

Publisher

Joan Baum

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 May 2023

Latest episode

22 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

83 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Oct 2026

   Book Review: 'Songbook Summit'

   Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter and George Gershwin! These are just a few of the innovators of American music featured in Songbook Summit: Fifteen Pioneers of American Sound.

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Book Review: 'Sold'

   The young adult novel Sold features a first-person account of the sex trafficking world in Nepal. It’s also one of the most banned books in the United States. WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum said it’s a poetically written story of love and endurance.

3. 

   10 Sept 2026

   Book Review: 'Cool Machine'

   Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead is out with Cool Machine - the final novel in his Harlem Trilogy. Our book critic Joan Baum says it features some of the most impressive writing Whitehead has ever done.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

75

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

68

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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