There's a park in New York that made me believe in places again. Denis took me there — both in this episode, then eventually in person. Gorman Park. It starts as a playground and opens like a wardrobe into music, languages, soccer games, and the kind of quiet joy you don't expect to find tucked between apartment buildings.

Denis Gorman is a native New Yorker, a sports journalist, and the kind of man who reads All the President's Men like it's scripture and The Godfather like it's family history. In this episode, we talk about legacy, loyalty, sports as storytelling, and how books anchor us when the world tries to shake the ground out from under us.

I promised I'd go visit that park, not because it was beautiful, but because it meant something to someone who trusted me with their story.

And I'm so glad I did Books Mentioned: Born to Steal by Gary Weiss The Conspiracy to End America by Stuart Stevens Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor by Andrew Kirtzman Losing the Edge by Barry Meisel All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein The Godfather Series by Mario Puzo Pain Hustlers by Evan Hughes Wall Street vs. America by Gary Weiss The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman Patrick Roy: Winning. Nothing Else by Michael Roy Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power by Anna Merlan Murder on K Street by Margaret Truman Daniel We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism by Andy B. Campbell Confidence Men by Ron Suskind Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy by Elizabeth Williamson The Storm Is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild Jewish Space Lasers by Mike Rothschild

This week on Shelf Lives, we meet Tim—a 45-year-old veteran, psychology grad student, medieval reenactor, and unintentional philosopher—who once read He Died with a Falafel in His Hand because the font was Comic Sans and stayed for the truth.

In an hour that spans stroke survival, speculative fiction, and parenting rituals involving 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tim opens up about the books that shaped his life—from Starship Troopers to Stranger in a Strange Land, and the one quote that keeps him moving even when his legs want to quit: "I seem to recall something about never letting go."

This episode is for anyone who's ever loved a book their daughter didn't get, ever felt like they owed a teddy bear a future, or ever stared down a rationalist identity forged in the pages of Heinlein and Sagan. It's about the books we reread, the dragons in our garages, and what it means to become the kind of man who walks into a bookstore and lets the universe decide.

And yes, there's a cat. And yes, you might cry. And no, The Silmarillion still isn't finished.

Books Mentioned: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Starship Troopers (1997 film)

1984 by George Orwell

You Will Go to the Moon by Mae & Ira Freeman

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 film)

After America by John Birmingham

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

The Works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

The Hawking Index (HI)

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis

He Died With a Falafel in His Hand by John Birmingham

Neon Leviathan by T. R. Napper

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The Once and Future King by T. H. White

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Mages by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

Glory Road by Robert Heinlein

Okay, so here's the thing—

When this podcast started, I tried to whisper like grief wore a turtleneck. But that's not me. I'm a hospital worker who sings Moana to sick kids and ugly-cries to WrestleMania replays. This podcast? It's not curated. It's not scholarly. It's me trying not to explode—one story at a time.

And this one? This one's for anyone who's ever laid in bed and heard their own guilt out loud—like a heartbeat. Like a memory. Like a warning.

Tonight, I read The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (with a cameo from a well-timed thunderstorm).

It's what happens when Catholic guilt mainlines espresso and starts monologuing with a God complex.

We talk allegory, heartbeats, Finch, Randy Savage, and how, honestly, I think the work printers might be the real villain.

So— Tighten your ribbon. Stay curious. Stay heroic. And remember: even Poe had panic attacks. Especially Poe.

In this iconic episode of Shelf Lives, we talk with Karen, a Canadian Library Technician! In what is arguably the perfect intersection, we cover everything from Austen, Burnett, and Carl (Sagan!) @RavynReads on socials! Works Mentioned: "The Priory of the Orange Tree" by Samantha Shannon "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery "Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien The Works of Jane Austen "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte "The Secret Garden" by Francis Hodgson Burnett "A Little Princess" by Francis Hodgson Burnett "Legends and Lattes" by Travis Baldry "The Martian" by Andy Weir "Persuasion" by Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen "The Speckled Band" by Arthur Conan Doyle "Jane of Lantern Hill" by Lucy Maud Montgomery "Aurora" by Kim Stanley Robinson "The Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g "Lost Moon" by Jim Lovell

In this episode of Shelf Lives, I interview Reno V of the Comic Dissection Podcast & Judgmental Horror Junkies. We cover comics as literature, horror movies, one wild week for the Shelleys, our types of humor, the Great Muta, the US as a soft power institution (which...hasn't aged great), and tremendous amounts of nostalgia.

Check out Reno and Cecilia here: Comic Dissection Podcast – Apple Podcasts

I'm @RavynReads on socials

Books mentioned in the episode: "Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: the Clone Saga" by Marvel, Terry Kavanaugh "Until I Meet My Husband (僕が夫に出会うまで)" by Ryousuke Nanasaki (七崎良輔) "Dracula" by Bram Stoker "My Struggle" by Karl Ove Knausgård "Drummer Hoff" by Barbara and Ed Emberley "Tales From Outer Suburbia" by Shaun Tan "A Portrait of Yo Mama as a Young Man" by Andrew Barlow & Kent Roberts The Goon Show ("The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler (of Bexhill-on-Sea") by Spike Milligan "Sandman" by Neil Gaiman "Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World" by Matt Alt "Paradise Lost" by John Milton "Samson Agonistes" by John Milton "Spy Vs. Spy Omnibus" by Antonio Prohias "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel "Everything's Eventual" by Stephen King "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan

Because...we could all do with small woodland creatures discovering Archimedes Principle right now....Acorn-medes... @RavynReads on socials

In this episode, we return to John Keats with "Bright Star" And I try to keep it mysterious, except it's in the title of the episode. Sherlock Holmes, I am not. Thanks for listening, I'm @RavynReads on socials if you'd like to get in touch.

I'm terribly sorry about that pun. Today we return to Yeats and the Wild Swans at Coole! @RavynReads on the socials.

Seriously, the clam chowder's getting cold...

@RavynReads on socials

Happy New Year! Today, I read "To Autumn" by John Keats. Today is also a reminder that Autumn is the best season...don't @ me. But if you'd like to @ me, I'm @RavynReads on socials