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| This edition of What We're Reading is actually all audio — recommendations from Michael Barbaro and his colleagues at "The Daily" podcast. Let us know what you think at wwr@nytimes.com. |
| And if you love podcasts, consider joining The New York Times Podcast Club. |
 Some of "The Daily" team at work in the studio: from left, Rachel Quester, Michael Barbaro, Lisa Tobin, Theo Balcomb, and Andy Mills.
James Nieves/The New York Times |
| Tell You What |
| The team of "The Daily" is constantly listening to audio. But since the show launched four months ago, our listening material has mainly consisted of Michael Barbaro's voice in our headphones as we make the show all day and night. |
| These are some of the podcasts that have inspired us, and that we return to — when we catch a break. |
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| Lisa Tobin, executive producer: "The Beginning of Now," from "This American Life." |
 Al Drago/The New York Times |
| "The Daily" aspires to bring narrative into the news — and the big model is, of course, "This American Life." My favorite episodes break from storytelling to take on more timely and relevant stuff. |
| I don't think anyone has done a better job than Zoe Chace at covering conservatism and the forces that led to President Trump's election. This recent episode revisited a 2014 congressional race upset — involving immigration, right-wing radio and Steve Bannon. This kind of blow-your-mind, how-did-I-not-know-that context sets exactly the bar we are aiming for. |
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| Theo Balcomb, senior producer: "Mitski," from "Song Exploder." |
 Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| In the world of beautifully produced podcasts, "Song Exploder" is the beacon. Short version: It's a show that dissects a song. Long version: It's a show filled with serious lines of honesty, cinematic production and peeks inside the creative process. |
| I can't stop talking about this episode. Mitski, a singer-songwriter, delivers the most succinct, thoughtful explanation of the American dream that I've heard. This is what the podcast is best at: surprising you with hidden details in lyrics and melody you thought you knew well. |
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| Andy Mills, producer: "Julia," from "Heavyweight." |
 Eduardo Munoz/Reuters |
| Jonathan Goldstein climbs inside the stories that shape people's lives to see if he can help them create better endings. In this episode, he and his friend Julia try to confront the cruelty of her eighth-grade bullies and a moment she regrets of not standing up for herself, only to end up finding something deeper and more surprising. I listened to it under an umbrella walking around N.Y.C. in the rain, thinking of all the complicated strangers I pass every day. We are all such a mess. |
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| Lynsea Garrison, producer: "The Living Room," from "Love + Radio." |
 Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times |
| I've listened to this episode several times since I first heard it in my apartment living room in Washington, D.C. A woman's new, young neighbors never shut their curtains, which is the start of a one-sided relationship. Some call it voyeuristic and creepy, yes. But it's also a story of watching two people from their beginning to their end. It was a resonant tale for me, living in a city where we share walls and windows but are isolated and separate. And podcasts that deal in the currency of discomfort and uneasiness are some of the best — and most honest — out there. |
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| Rachel Quester, producer: "Lovebirds," from "First Day Back." |
 Marcus Yam/The New York Times |
| How do you come back from the worst thing you've ever done, especially when you don't remember doing it? Together for 13 years, Lucie and Gerry were the epitome of a loving couple — until she found Gerry in their home with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. The police believe she's the only one who could have pulled the trigger, but Lucie doesn't remember any of it. This does a masterful job of bringing the listener inside their world, while exploring a central mystery — self-forgiveness. |
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| Michael Barbaro, host: "Monday, April 24, 2017," from "The Daily." |
 Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times |
| Wait, can I recommend one of our own? Here goes: Three weeks before James Comey was fired by President Trump, we set out to tell the story of how this one man had put himself at the center of two investigations — one of Hillary Clinton, the other of Donald Trump — that transformed the presidential election. We wondered: What makes Comey tick? Why did he make the decisions he made? And was he, in the end, a hero or a villain? The resulting story, masterfully narrated by our colleague Matt Apuzzo, is a powerful exploration of what happens when biography, ego and a historic election collide. |
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| Edited by Andrea Kannapell |
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