Booking for Truth

Photo Credits:

• “Booking for Truth Cover” is a derivative of “Real Gabinete Português de Leitura 10“by Donatas Dabravolskas, downloaded from Wikimedia Commons on 2/17/25, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 International.
• Magnifying Glass element is “Magnifying_Glass” by Dan Pelleg downloaded from Wikimedia commons on 2/18/2025, and is used and licensed under Public Domain

Audio Credits:

• Music was clipped from “Lullaby to Nightmares” by NiGiD and licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0.
• First page turn Sound was shortened “Page_Turn_25” by Koops and licensed under CC BY 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International
• Other page turn sounds were from “Turning Book Pages” by sophiehall3535 and licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal
• TV Static Sound was clipped from “tv_static_from wtic_in_1957” by Joe DeShon and licensed under CC BY 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International

Booking for Truth would feature full episodes devoted to examining books across all spectrums of literature, from genre, to time period, even fanfiction! The emphasis would be on creating a place for discussing different themes, ideas, and messages in these works as well as getting to share personal feelings on the stories as well. Ideally, it would function as a more approachable way to use more academic lenses over texts that get overlooked as only being a part of pop culture or ‘low’ culture. In discussing books, it isn’t always about what’s ‘right’, it’s about being able to back up your idea with something from the text. This stemmed from the fact that when I read a book I am often taking notes and pulling everyone I know into a discussion about the novel, willing or not! Since the new Hunger Games book is coming out in March, I’ve been working through a reread of the series. This series shows the impacts of war, trauma, and authoritarian rule on children while still being Young Adult. Therefore, The Hunger Games presented a good subject for this idea of looking at novels and really getting in the weeds of what the author was saying and what we walked away with.

When listening to other podcasts to compare how they started, many of them include a one-line zinger from later on in the episode early on to hook the listener; but they also often have the music fade in with their intro and then fade out. I looked for music with a more somber feeling since talking about books can be fun, but the subject matter of Hunger Games is more serious, so I wanted that investigatory, mysterious feeling behind the music. Since this was short, I jumped straight to the intro, and had the music fade in and out behind me. I wanted to use a crisp page turn to match the tag line, “leave no page unturned.” I also used the page turn to indicate the next “chapter” of the podcast was starting, as it reminded me of listening to audiobooks on tape when I was a kid, and when it would play a sound to let you know to turn the page. That way sections of the podcast could be broken up more distinctly. The last sound effect I added was the TV static in the background when talking about Suzanne Collins’ inspiration for writing The Hunger Games. I like it when podcasts add some sounds to help draw my attention to the circumstances of what they are saying, and I thought it might be a good way to put the image of a TV in the minds of listeners as they consider what competing images of reality TV and war might look like in their own minds. I ended up leaving a lot of space between phrases when I recorded to make it easier to edit later (or so I thought). I actually ended up having to cut a lot of dead air so that it moved a little more quickly along; pacing myself when talking is something I’ve had to work on in real life, and this assignment proved I’ve still got some work to do!

Tags: podcast