Another Book on the Shelf

We're getting so close to our 200th episode, but first, we have a book club episode for you. In Episode 198, we're talking about Gen's pick—Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.

Show Notes

This book felt extremely relevant to everything happening in the world these days, like oof.

Truly so many topics were covered in this book! The rise of Communism and the Soviet Union, the Spanish Civil War, the Carboniferous Era, coal mining, rose production in Colombia, and actually so much more. What a ride.

Rebecca Solnit, we are so impressed with the structuring of this book.

You can read Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language," on the Orwell Foundation website and it is very much worth the read.

Don't be surprised if Gen picks Nineteen Eighty-Four as a future book club read.

If you follow us on Instagram, you may know that we've fallen down the romance rabbit hole, so we decided that our next episode would be all about the romance genre.

After that, it's time for our 200th episode! We still can't believe it. 

Our next book club book is Jette's pick, and we're following the romance train still with In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde, which is a spin off of the extremely popular Windy City series. 

Other Books and Media Mentioned

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Trotsky (2009)

By George Orwell:

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Animal Farm

Down and Out in Paris and London

Homage to Catalonia

By Rebecca Solnit:

Men Explain Things to Me

Hope In the Dark

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

The Beginning Comes After the End

In Episode 197, we're talking about M Train by Patti Smith, one of our forever favourite artists.

This year we're making an extra effort to crush our TBRs and reading books that we both already own or have been meaning to read forever, and of course we both have more Patti Smith to read!

Show Notes

We loved this book, obviously, but we raged against the deckled edges the entire time.

Patti Smith is living the life we both want, so we're going to figure out how to do this, too.

If you haven't already, definitely read Just Kids, Patti Smith's book about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe when they were in their twenties living in New York. And then listen to Episode 159!

Patti Smith visits a few cemeteries and we were reminded of our episode about Somebody Is Walking On Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez.

Our next episode is a book club episode and we'll be talking about Gen's pick, Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.

Other Books & Authors Mentioned

Haruki Murakami

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

For Episode 196, we have another instalment in our #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt series with Slewfoot by Brom. This might be our most Bookstagram Made Me that we've ever done, because this book has been everywhere! Since we love all things witches, you know we had to read it.

Show Notes

We loved Abitha and Samson and support all their witchery.

Brom is also an artist and full colour paintings are included in Slewfoot, which was especially helpful for picturing Forest, Sky, and Creek with their strange child faces in the mouths of animals.

Brom has done film concept art for Galaxy Quest (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Scooby Doo (2002), and Van Helsing (2004). He has never taken any formal art classes.

In an effort to crush our TBR, we're reading books we both have on our shelves, and so for our next episode we'll be talking about M Train by Patti Smith.

Don't forget to read along with our book club book, Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit, which we'll be talking about in early May.

In Episode 195, we're officially wrapping up our 2025 reading goals and chatting about what we've been up to the last three months. (Surviving, mostly!) Lots of books are being read and writing plans are cooking! The real new year starts in spring anyway.

Show Notes

Jette is absolutely crushing her reading goals! And we both may need to update some of our Storygraph goals for 2026 because we're way ahead already.

We visited Hopeless Romantic and the Hopeless Romantic/Little Ghosts crossover store at Union Station in the last few months. If you're in Toronto, we definitely recommend checking them out! It turns out horror and romance are a perfect pair.

Since we have a Romance episode coming up at the end of May, we tried to curb our romance talk, but we will be doing a deep dive soon enough!

In our next episode, we'll be talking about Slewfoot by Brom as part of our #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt series, since we've been seing it everywhere!

After that, we're attempting to tackle our TBRs and reading M Train by Patti Smith, which we both have physical copies of. That episode will be out April 29.

And don't forget to read along with our current book club, Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.

Books & Authors Mentioned

The Windy City Series by Liz Tomforde

Elsie Silver

A Five Letter Word for Love by Amy James

Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James

This Is a Safe Space by Lucinda Berry

Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age by Sophie Ansari, Nava Kavelin, and Penn Badgley

Rebel Blue Ranch Series by Lyla Sage

Soul Searching by Lyla Sage

Playing for Keeps series by Becka Mack

When We Spoke to the Dead: How Ghosts Gave American Women Their Voice by Ilise S. Carter

Wells Ranch Series by Bailey Hannah

Silver Pines Ranch Series by Paisley Hope

All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles

Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan

Passing by Nella Larson

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin 

The Fountain by Casey Scieszka

Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Game Changers Series by Rachel Reid

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

In Episode 194, we chat about the YA graphic novel Mamo by Sas Milledge. It's her debut graphic novel, originally released as a five-issue miniseries and follows hedge witch Orla O'Reilly, as she and local Jo Manalo try to fix the chaotic magic in Heresden.

Show Notes

We first came across Sas Milledge's work in the graphic novel adaptation of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, which we talked about in Episode 180. 

The next instalment of The Raven Cycle adaptations, The Dream Thieves. is coming out August 4.

Orla O'Reilly is giving Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park, which of course we loved.

It turns out that the Jim Hensen project Sas Milledge worked on, was in fact Labyrinth related. She was one of the illustrators for Beyond the Goblin City, a graphic novel collection of short stories that take place in the world of Labyrinth.

She also worked on The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel for DC Comics.

Other Works Mentioned

Junior High by Tegan and Sara Quin, illustrated by Tillie Walden

The Night Eaters by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda

In Episode 193, we're talking about our latest book club selection—it's Jette's pick, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. There's so much going on in this book in the best possible way and we're ready to go read everything Tokarczuk has ever written.

Show Notes

Olga Tokarczuk has won numerous prizes for her work, including the Nobel Prize for Literature.

We would also like to live in the woods and study astrology and translate Blake and attend the Mushroom Pickers society ball.

Shout out to St. Hubert chicken. IYKYK.

In our next episode, we'll be reading the graphic novel Mamo by Sas Milledge, who also illustrated the graphic novel adaptation of The Raven Boys.

Our next book club book is Gen's pick, and we'll be reading Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit. We'll be talking about it on May 11.

Books by Olga Tokarczuk

Mr. Distinctive 

House of Day, House of Night

The Empusium

Flights

The Books of Jacob

In Episode 192, we're once again teaming up with one our favourite local indie publishers, Coach House Books. This time we're reading Kate Cayley's novel Property.

Show Notes

Coach House Books has never steered us wrong. Make sure to check out their backlist, as well as their new releases and forthcoming titles.

We had a great time trying to figure out where exactly this neighbourhood in Toronto is located. And you know we clocked Nadège Patisserie immediately!

Speaking of Toronto, we're very excited to go on our next book adventure to check out the team-up bookstore in Union Station from two of our favourite indie bookstores: Hopeless Romantic and Little Ghosts Books. If you're in Toronto, this pop-up bookshop will be there until May!

And shout out as always to public libraries everywhere, and especially our very cool Toronto Public Library branches.

In our next episode we'll be talking about Jette's book club pick, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk.

Other Coach House Books Episodes

26: Paper Houses by Dominique Fortier (The one that started it all!)

51: Coach House Books Fall 2020 Releases (The Imago Stage by Karoline Georges, The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann, Fauna by Christiane Vadnais)

62: Because the Sun by Sarah Burgoyne

74: And Miles to Go Before I Sleep by Jocelyne Saucier

88: Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

117: Sing, Nightingale by Marie Hélène Poitras

128: The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird

140: Pale Shadows by Dominique Fortier

174: Born by Heather Birrell

It's February, which means it's time for our annual James Baldwin episode. This we're reading his short story collection, Going to Meet the Man, published in 1965.

Show Notes

As you might have noticed, we could talk about Baldwin for hours, so let us know your favourite James Baldwin books! 

We spent a good chunk of time before recording trying to figure out why we didn't have a James Baldwin episode in 2022 and we have no answers. We were sure we had done one every year since reading Another Country, but apparently not in '22! Time is fake.

In our next episode we'll be reading Property by Kate Cayley, which is a novel recently released by our fave indie publisher, Coach House Books. 

Don't forget to read along with our book club! We're currently reading Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk and we'll be talking about it on March 4.

Other James Baldwin Episodes

55: Another Country

61: If Beale Street Could Talk

113: Giovanni's Room

141: Notes of a Native Son  

166: Go Tell It On the Mountain

Yes, we're doing it, we're talking about Heated Rivalry. If you follow us on Instagram you already know that this series has eaten Gen's brain, so it only seemed fitting that we do an official episode.

We're talking about the first two books in Rachel Reid's Game Changers series and the TV adaptation. So hop into Shane's very normal, practical car with us, we're going to the cottage.

Show Notes

This is our longest episode yet, surprising precisely no one, because Gen physically can't shut up about these boys.

Are we going to end up doing an episode on the rest of this series? Probably. Will we wait for Season 2 to drop? That depends how soon we get it.

This show is so Canadian. We're so proud.

The seventh book in the series, Unrivaled, (yes, another Ilya and Shane book!) drops on September 29 of this year. Pre-orders are already open, but if you go here, you already know that.

Canada Dry forever, especially the mini cans.

Our next episode is our annual Jame Baldwin episode. This year we're talking about his short story collection, Going to Meet the Man.

And don't forget to read along with our book club pick, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk.

Books in the Game Changers Series by Rachel Reid

1. Game Changer

2. Heated Rivalry

3. Tough Guy

4. Common Goal

5. Role Model

6. The Long Game

7. Unrivaled (Forthcoming September 29, 2026)

It's 2026 and we're back with our first episode of the year! As always, it's a book club book, and we're talking about Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. We had a great time discussing the screenplay style in this one and all the layers of meaning that Yu is playing with throughout the story. 

Show Notes

Are there other books like Interior Chinatown? If you have any recommendations, let us know because we absolutely loved it!

Our Kobos continue to hang on to life, but we wouldn't be mad if we had to get new ones. #TheKoboLife

It's Jette's turn to choose a book club book, and she's decided we'll be reading Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. We've both seen her books everywhere, what with being a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and all, and we can't wait to see what this one is all about.

In our next episode we'll be discussing the book and tv show that has taken over not just Gen's brain, but perhaps our collective societal brain. Yes, we're talking about Heated Rivalry.