Welcome to Top Shelf Reads, on this episode we review the books A Passage North and Firekeeper’s Daughter and discuss our opinions on assigned reading in school.

00:00 -- Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley Review
02:50 -- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
04:03 -- Dark Star Trilogy by Marlon James, a Release Update!!
05:55 -- A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam Review
19:55 -- Discussion: Assigned Reading in School:

• What did we like about assigned reading in school?
• What did we dislike?
• If we could, how would we like to improve the educational reading experience for youth?
• What makes a book worthy of study?
• What books would we like to revisit from school? Do we plan to do so?
  
  
  

Welcome to Top Shelf Reads, on this episode we chat about the Booker Prize 2021 longlist and newer books Naomi is keen to read. We also welcome you to our physical and figurative bookshelves via a tour of superlatives.

00:50--Booker Prize 2021 Longlist
39:52--New books on Naomi's radar

• The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
• China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
• The Book of Ancients by Chuck Wendig
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
• The Hill We Climb and Other Poems by Amanda Gorman
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

54:17--Discussion: Book Superlatives-A Physical and Figurative Bookshelf Tour--superlatives used:

1. most unique book 
2. book you’re most likely to reread
3. book you’re most guilty about not reading yet
4. book you’re most likely to recommend or gift to others
5. longest book
6. most nostalgic book (or book you look most fondly on that you read a long time ago)
7. most challenging
8. most addictive read 
9. least favorite book on your shelf 
10. the book you most wish was on your shelf

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On today's episode we discuss Obama's 2021 reading list and some of our favorite short stories, novellas, poems, and essays.

00:30--Obama's 2021 Reading List
13:04--Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley--reading update
16:56--Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay--final thoughts
25:22--Marlon and Jake Read Dead People (podcast recommendation)
30:43--Short-form storytelling and poetry discussion covering:

• The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
• Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
• OCD by Neil Hilborn
• The Self by Adam Zagajewski
• The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
• Crow by Ted Hughes
• Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
• 1922 by Stephen King
• The Monkey's Pay by W.W. Jacobs
• The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson
• The Minority Report by Philip K Dick
• The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
• Exhalation by Ted Chiang
• The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe
• The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• Fail Better AND Intimations by Zadie Smith
• Left Handed Commencement Speech by Ursula K Le Guin

Poetry video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arE2yyQe1PY

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On our fifth episode we chat about Nick’s recent book haul and discuss reading to expand our worldviews.

Book talk:
00:45--For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
01:20--Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
05:16--Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
12:43--The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn

Discussion topic:
16:30--Discussion on reading to expand our worldviews

Books discussed: Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, Homie by Danez Smith, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, and Beloved by Toni Morrison

Foreign films discussed: Andhadhun, Parasite, Burning, and A Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Diversity in Publishing Survey
International Booker Prize
IB English List

On today's episode Nick and Naomi discuss Piranesi at length (spoiler section tagged below so you can avoid it) and then discuss unorthodox storytelling.

00:30 -- The International Booker Prize Short List
1:45 -- At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
7:05 -- The Employees: A Workplace Novel in the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn
13:50 -- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (pre spoilers)
21:08 -- Piranesi SPOILERS
38:15 -- Unorthodox Storytelling

Eric Karl Anderson's video on the International Booker Prize winner

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@tsreadspodcast on Twitter and Instagram

On this episode, Nick and Naomi discuss the coronavirus pandemic inspired book of essays by Zadie Smith called Intimations, the new Hugo nominated novel Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, and chat philosophy. Afterwards, they discuss their reading habits.

00:30-- Intimations
11:38 - Piranessi
20:29 - Sailing to Sarantium
25:34 - The History of Philosophy
33:00 - Reading Habits Discussion

Ambient Reading Playlist
Jazz Reading Playlist
Piano album great for reading: Pianoworks by Eluvium

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Twitter: @tsreadspodcast

**Note** Apologies for Nick's sound quality--the audio recorded louder than normal and affected the sound. I tried my best to balance it and will avoid this on our next episode!

On the second episode Nick and Naomi chat about their recent reads including The Lost Apothecary and Boy's Life and then discuss people based story structures using Pachinko and A Fine Balance as talking points. Enjoy.

Reading Talk:

• The Lost Apothecary--0:00
• The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August--1:45
• Boy's Life--3:40

Discussion--13:09

• Pachinko--16:15
• A Fine Balance--28:38

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On TSR's pilot episode Nick and Naomi discuss what books they've been reading lately and then discuss their personal reading tastes.

Reading updates:

• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - 1:35
• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - 11:30
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - 14:10

Our reading tastes - 20:40

Books discussed during this segment include Wolf Hall, Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, The Count of Monte Cristo, Pachinko, Black Leopard Red Wolf, Song of Achilles, House of Leaves, Flowers for Algernon, Full Body Burden, Stamped from the Beginning, Stoner, and A Heart So White