Shelf Motivated

Come for the discussion of romance as a genre, stick around for our first ever guest of the podcast, Flannery! We discuss romance, whatever it was that Sharon read that is arguably romance adjacent, hockey romance, jobs dealing with the genre, and much more!

Books discussed: The Mystery Guest: A True Story by Grégoire Bouillier Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman Affinity by Sarah Waters

TBR: Cozy: The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt In Search of Lost Time: Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fannone Jeffers Cuddy by Benjamin Myers

Come for the 2024 reading review, stay for what we're looking forward to in 2025! We navigate the vicissitudes of Good Reads vs a paper journal vs some kind of voice recorder that Sharon wants to utilize. Hear what Sarah calls "a Sharon book, through and through," what the elder millennials are reading, and what historical fiction that Eric loved. All this, and more as we kick off 2025!

Books discussed:

The Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte Passage West by Rishi Reddi Books we're excited about in 2025: Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown The Catastrophe Hour by Meghan Daum Cozy Mysteries to look for in 2025: Requiem for a Mouse by Miranda James The Chow Maniac by Vivien Chien

Come for the local color, stay for the HORROR! It's our annual spooky season episode, and this time around we discuss everything from classics of American lit that have a horror/gothic angle, to contemporary horror in translation, to pulp horror from the 80s care of the Paperbacks from Hell! We have a basic fall cozy, Sarah's take on one of the most anticipated books of the year (our one non-horror diversion), and plenty of to-be-reads (some horror and some not!). Break out a bag of candy and dig in! Happy Halloween!

Books discussed: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Katie by Michale McDowell The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorn The Reaping by Bernard Taylor Four by Four by Sara Mesa translated by Katie Whittemore Help the Witch by Tom Cox The Villager by Tom Cox (non-spooky season brief discussion) Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Cozy: Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay

TBR The Cunning Folk by Tabitha Stanmore Hadriana in All My Dreams by Rene Depestre translated by Kaiama L. Glover The Vegetarian by Han Kang The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

Come for memories via Istanbul, stay for satire via Norway! This time around on the show we get into the subject of re-reading, Sharon's inability to picture anyone other than David Mitchell as Proust, Eric reading a proto-cozy-thriller (and a weird book about Shakespeare for good measure), and Sarah's dawning realization that satire in 2024 reads more like… well, a regular novel. All this, the cozy corner, our ever-growing pile of To-Be-Reads, and more on Episode 20!

Books discussed:

Ghostwriter: Shakespeare, Literary Landmines, and an Eccentric Patron's Royal Obsession by Lawrence Wells The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie Cozy: The Big Chili by Julia Buckley TBR: The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser Within a Budding Grove: In Seach of Lost Time Vol. II by Marcel Proust Translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk Translated by Maureen Freely The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal Europe in Sepia by Dubravka Ugresic Translated by David Williams TBR: James by Percival Everett The Goodby People by Gavin Lambert Natural Causes by Nina Lykke TBR: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Come for the contemporary thrillers, stay for the Marcel Proust and the Teapot Dome Scandal! This time around on the podcast Sharon digs deep into Proust's Swann's Way, while Eric gets into more Dad books on the Teapot Dome scandal, along with Douglas Coupland's Generation X. So, while Sharon gets into 100-year-old 500-page books on art, life, and the mind, and Eric splits his time between weird books about Gen X and arguably weirder books on American history of the 1920s, Sarah keeps us on point with what normal people read during the summer…new thrillers!

Books discussed:

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton The Winner by Teddy Wayne God of the Woods by Liz Moore Generation X by Douglas Coupland The Teapot Dome Scandal by Laton McCartney Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay

TBRs:

Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal Emily, Alone by Stuart O'Nan The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian How To Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon King: A Life by Jonathan Eig Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey

Come for the discussion of the Jason Statham shark movie The Meg, stay for Dad Book Watch 2024! Join us this time on the podcast for Summer Reading goals (Sarah as a Book Tube judge [again!], Sharon takes on Proust, and Eric finally sets out to read Passage to India), how the youth do book groups, and much more.

Books discussed:

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing

Second Star by Phillepe Delerm

Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Modern Nature by Derek Jarman

From Punk to Monk by Ray Raghunath Cappo

You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

Cozy: A Many Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

TBR:

North Woods by Daniel Mason

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles

Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel

The Teapot Dome Scandal by Laton McCartney

This time on the podcast we span the globe! From wading into the folk tales and literary essays of Appalachia, to swimming in the waters of the Booker International Prize, books on classic American cinema, poetry in translation, and of course a cozy mystery with a glorious title.

Stick around for our ever-growing list of to-be-read books and hear about the deterioration of Sarah's email formality. It's all on Episode 17 of Shelf Motivated!

Books discussed:

John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman The House on Via Gomito by Domenico Starnone Undiscovered by Gabiela Wiener What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma The Brush by Eliana Hernandez-Pachon Daughter of the Dragon by Yunte Huang What Are People For? Essays by Wendell Berry Cozy: Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon TBRs: The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue Passage West by Rishi Reddi Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Come for the Crested Grebes, stay for the conspiracy theories! This time around on the podcast we check in with our own book-prize judge Sarah as her current Book Tube judging comes to an end, we get into the difficulty of discussing short story collections in book clubs, and broach the topic of the "glacially beautiful" in literature. Sharon provides a raft of Irish Writers for March, and Eric reads books debunking conspiracy theories, and a novel about the end of the home video rental era. Oh, and also… cats!

Books discussed include:

Long Time, No See by Dermot Healy Bliss Montage by Ling Ma Minka and Curdy by Antonia White Seven Steeples by Sara Bayme Wild Embrace by Anja Murray Trust the Process by Will Sommar Republic of Lies by Anna Merlan Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins Cozy: Magical Bakery Mysteries by Bailey Cates

TBR:

Song for a New Day by Sara Pinsker James by Percival Everett

You know what they say… "Genre, genre, genre!" Well, OK, maybe nobody is saying that, but on this episode, we discuss genre, A LOT! Come for the genre, but stick around for a check-in on Sarah's Book Tube judging, multiple literary trips to Italy, the book-as-object and how disgruntled book people get about certain things publishers do ("that should be illegal!"), analog and digital, and who gets described as "a long-winded Elizabeth Strout." Books discussed include: Grove: A Field Novel by Esther Kinsky Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri Angel of Oblivion by Maja Haderlap Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler Winter Love by Suyin Han Divine Days by Leon Forrest At the Café by Errico Malatesta The Revenge of Analog by David Sax The Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James