Top Shelf Reads

Welcome to Top Shelf Reads, on today’s episode we review Zama, Giovanni’s Room, The Deep, Ace of Spades, and The Forest of Stolen Girls. And we discuss reading fiction for the self.

3:47 -- Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (teaser impressions)
6:00 -- Ace of Spades  by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
11:06 -- Zama by Antonio di Benedetto
28:45 -- Nick teases current reads

• The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
• The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
• My Struggle series by Karl Ove Knausgaard

34:15 -- The Deep by Rivers Solomon
40:55 -- The Forests of Stolen Girls by June Hur
46:25 -- Discussion: reading fiction for the self

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Welcome to Top Shelf Reads, on today’s episode we look back on our 2021 reading year and set our reading resolutions for 2022.

02:48 -- Chatting about our holidays

• Youtube Channels:
  • KDbooks
  • Rachel is Reading
  • Paper Knot Books
• Books mentioned:
  • Persuasion
  • Giovanni's Room
  • Makioka Sisters 
  • The Morning Star
  • Chess Story
  • Independent People
  • Sleepless Nights
  • Louise Gluck Poems 1962-2012
  • A Novel by Steven More Volume 1
  • Breakfast of Champions
  • Bats of the Republic
  • The Trial
  • Zama
  • Kin by Jergovic
  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold

32:36 -- 2021 in Review

• Some books mentioned:
  • Piranesi
  • Song of Achilles
  • Circe
  • Song for the Unraveling of the World
  • Firekeeper's Daughter
  • The Employees: A 22nd Century Workplace Novel
  • A Fine Balance
  • The Rifles (Vollmann)
  • If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
  • Moby Dick
  • The Metamorphosis (Kafka)
  • The Yellow Wallpaper
  • A Christmas Carol
  • Hyperion
  • Boy's Life (McCammon)
  • Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
  • The Satanic Verses
  • The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
  • The Wizard of Earth Sea
  • Moby-Dick

01:09:41 -- 2022 Reading Resolutions

• Some more books mentioned:
  • The Conformist (Moravia)
  • Zama
  • The Door (Szabo)
  • Kokoro
  • Cat's Cradle
  • The Age of Huts
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  • Cannonball (McElroy)
  • The Peregrine
  • Parakeet
  • The Dying Grass
  • Infinite Jest
  • In Search of Lost Time
  • The Brothers Karamazov
  • The Luminaries
  • The Anatomy of Melancholy
  • XX (Rian Hughes)
  • Middlemarch
  • Lonesome Dove
  • Moon Witch Spider King
  • The Count of Monte Cristo

I'm sure I missed a few books...

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Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode, we chat about Chicago bookstores and an online book club. Nick reviews If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino and we share book gifting ideas for the holiday season. Enjoy the show!

00:55 -- Chicago Bookstore Adventures

• Afterwords
• Newberry (in library)
• Exile in Bookville (in Roosevelt University)
• Book Haul:
  • The Conformist  by Alberto Moravia
  • Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
  • The Bear by Andrew Krivak
  • Parakeet by Mari-Helene Bertino
  • This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

07:04 -- The Bear by Andrew Krivak (mini review)
10:05 -- Online book club for Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

• Blackwell's link to buy BoJ
• Book club

17:20 -- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (a review)
27:01 -- Holiday Reading Gift Guide (a discussion)

Books Discussed:

• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
• An Unapologetic Cookbook by Joshua Weissman
• Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
• The Door by Magda Szabo
• The Sailor who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
• The Employees by Olga Ravn
• NYRB
• Wizard of Earth Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Lord of the Rings by Tolkein
• The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Puffin in Bloom
• Puffin Hardcover Classics
• Juniper Gothic Horror Collection
• Blind Date with a Book

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Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode, we chat about Booker Prize news, I review The Rifles by William T Vollmann, and we discuss classic literature.

00:00 -- holiday schedule news update
2:28 -- Booker Prize 2021 news update (and winner announcement)

• Eric Karl Anderson's Booker 2021 rant
• Guardian Article

14:20 -- The Rifles by William T Vollmann (a review--or a book report?)
32:33 -- Discussion: TSR talks about the classics 

• Literature eras

Some books discussed:

• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Moby Dick
• If on a Winters Night a Traveler
• House of Leaves
• Harry Potter
• Stoner
• Speedboat
• Pachinko
• A Fine Balance
• Pride and Prejudice
• 1984
• Slaughterhouse V
• Picture of Dorian Gray
• Mrs Dalloway
• Song of Solomon
• Rebecca
• Dracula
• Frankenstein
• House of the Spirits
• Story of a Death Fortold
• Their Eyes Were Watching God
• The Metamorphosis
• The Trial
• In Search of Lost Time
• Middlemarch
• The Brothers Karamazov
• Crime and Punishment
• Madame Bovary
• Don Quixote
• The Anatomy of Melancholy
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Philip K Dick
• The Crucible
• The Scarlet Letter
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Handmaid's Tale

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Welcome to Top Shelf Reads on today’s spooky 13th episode we review Brian Evenson’s horror short story collection Song for the Unraveling of the World and Nick chats about his latest book haul.

00:58 -- Nick's Birthday Book Haul:

• If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
• 2666
• XX
• The Seven Dreams
  • The Rifles
  • Fathers and Crows
  • The Dying Grass
• Other books mentioned:
  • Rising Up and Rising Down, Carbon Ideologies, The Ice-Shirt

18:23 -- Speedboat by Renata Adler (a review)
24:50 -- Cooking Companions (story based video game recommendation)

• Manly Badass Hero YouTuber

26:26 -- Song for the Unraveling of the World (a review)

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Spoilers for our tier list rankings below....

• No matter which way we turned -A
• Born Stillborn - S
• Leaking Out - A
• Song for the unraveling of the world - A
• The second door - S
• Sisters - F
• Room tone - A
• Shirts and skins - D
• The tower - F
• The hole - C
• A disappearance - B 
• The cardiacs - F
• Smear - D
• The glistening world - B
• Wanderlust - B
• Lord of the vats - D
• Glasses - D
• Menno - C
• Line of sight - C
• Trigger warnings - C
• Kindred spirit - B
• Lather of flies - C

Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode Naomi chats about the national book award finalists, Nick reviews The Promise and The Satanic Verses and we discuss creepypasta.

00:00 -- Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
02:15 -- National Book Awards 2021 Finalists
09:15 -- Short teaser impressions about Song for the Unraveling of the World
11:52 -- The Promise by Damon Galgut (Nick reviews)
21:20 -- The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Nick reviews)

• Other books mentioned: Song of Solomon, 100 Years of Solitude, Haruki Murakami's work

36:43   -- Discussion: Creepypasta

• Candle Cove
• Annora Petrova
• NoEnd House
• Ted the Caver
• The Devil Game
• Those Dark Wells (YouTube)

Spooky YouTube Short Films (to be watched with the lights off!)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5Upq2hcOA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S51jIrunYuY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKcOTr7N4lE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08rj_ioKNSo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rcoGsxulA4

Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode we talk about the Booker Prize shortlist, chat about our new book acquisitions, and discuss reading fiction for educational value.

00:00 -- October Book Announcement and Giveaway Results
01:50 -- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Naomi reviews)
14:06 -- New mini book hauls
24:20 -- Booker Prize 2021 Short List Announcement 
31:35 -- Discussion: Reading Fiction for Educational Value

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We are asking you to help us select our October book of the month to be discussed at length at the end of October. The books are listed below. Please send an email to [email protected] with October Contest or something similar in the subject line. You may vote for one book, multiple books, or do ranked choice. Deadline for submission is Friday September 24th 2021. Best of luck!

• The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson

Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode we provide brief reviews of a few books we’ve read recently, ask you the listener to help select our spooky book of October, and discuss prioritizing the books we read.

00:00 -- Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 Winner
04:27 -- Spooky October Read Along Announcement (and giveaway!!)

• The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson

14:34 -- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirely Jackson (review)
19:04 -- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (review)
30:42 -- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Sussanna Clarke (review)
42:59 -- Discussion: Prioritizing Our TBRs and the Art of When to DNF

• Bookstores: How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content

Please submit your vote for our October book to [email protected] by Friday the 24th of September for a chance to win a copy of the selected book.

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Welcome to Top Shelf Reads. On today’s episode we juxtapose Robert Burton’s lifework, The Anatomy of Melancholy, with our discussion on popular fiction.

00:00 -- Leaf by Leaf (A BookTube Recommendation)
13:28 -- The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (an introduction)
23:06 -- Popular Fiction/Genre Fiction discussion