Episode 32
Shelf Motivated
‘Tis the season! It’s time for another Shelf Motivated end of year holiday extravaganza! Come for the time-tested classics… stick around for the Victorian Ghost Stories and Folk Horror adjacent seasonal reads. Sarah discusses a stone-cold Christmas Classic… and also a book by LM Montgomery that technically takes place during the winter for part of it. Sharon gets into the ritual of reading when it’s cold outside, and like the Ghost of Holiday Podcasts Past, revisits some titles we discussed on early holiday episodes. So, grab a holiday cookie or two, a warm beverage, and hunker down...
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Episode 31
Shelf Motivated
Happy Spooky Season! This year on the Shelf Motivated Spooky Season Spectacular Special we get into a few classics of American horror from the 1970s, some folk horror, some horror anthologies, and a few British books that are horror adjacent. Come for the horror, stick around to hear Sharon talk about literary fiction that has ghosts, and Sarah take one of her all-time favorite writers to task! Break out the candy! Books discussed: Hide by Kiersten White The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty Cuddy by...
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Episode 30
Shelf Motivated
Even if you aren’t a comics reader, come for the graphic novel chat, stay for the dive into a hyper-local figure who changed the face of comics and publishing forever! This time on the pod we sit down with MLPL Clerk Chris Lutes and talk all things graphic novels and comics. Chris is a graphic artist and has had experience in comic shops and bookstores before coming over to Library Land… and he gave us homework! We discussed a BUNCH of books this time around, but we really dive into: Life Drawing by Jamie Hernandez Friday by Ed Brubaker Jim Shooter: Conversations ed. by Jason Sacks, Eric...
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Episode 29
Shelf Motivated
Come for the Summer Reads, stay for a chat about college kids and if they’ve ever actually read books, and more talk of The Meg! This time on the podcast the crew tackles “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books,” an article from the Atlantic by Rose Horowitch, as well as our usual book chat. Eric takes credit for a worldwide resurgence of popularity in short stories citing the Shelf Motivate bump (a thing he made up that minute), Sharon reads a book translated from Catalan, and a perfect summer read set in Cumbria! Eric talks about his quest to read Ulysses (this time guided...
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Episode 28
Shelf Motivated
It’s Summer Reading season! You know what that means…beach reads, sunshine, and good times! So of course, on this episode of Shelf Motivated you’ll hear about: Late capitalism and the Potemkin City Limits of the Ikea apartment, books about the Supreme Court, supermarkets, Multi-Level Marketing, a collection of poetry by a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant and Pulitzer Prize winner, and tales of Sarah’s missed opportunities as a grocery store manager! Add a wildly expensive horror novel hardcover edition, and of course… Proust. Throw in a cozy mystery about a Hungarian Tea House for...
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Episode 27
Shelf Motivated
Summer 2025: KEEP READING FUN! This episode, join us as we talk reading with MLPL Children’s Librarian Elizabeth! We talk about what we read as kids and discuss our childhood public libraries. We also chat about current, classic, and local children’s books, audio books, Summer Reading, and more. And in a bit of personal librarian anthropology, we track Eric’s love of the Cozy Mystery, and Sarah’s love of Horror. Come for the book chat, stay for the mantra – Summer 2025: KEEP READING FUN! Books discussed: All Ears - Stewart Gibbs Ferris - Kate DiCamillo Boy 2.0 - Tracey Baptiste The...
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Episode 26
Shelf Motivated
Come for the second-ever GUEST on Shelf Motivated and stay for the poetry! In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Shelf Motivated crew invited local poet and force behind Mt Lebanon Public Library’s own poetry writing group, The Nebby Poetry Society, Angela Petsis to sit down and chat about poetry with us. We share some of our favorites, read a few poems, and share some notable to-be-reads. Happy National Poetry Month! Books discussed: Mary Olver - Devotions Maja Haderlap – Distant Transit Katrina Porteous – Rhizodont Peter Gizzi – In Defense of Nothing Louise Gluck – The Wild...
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Episode 25
Shelf Motivated
Celebrate Small Press Month with us on Shelf Motivated! Come for the strange coming of age stories, stay for the 500-page Icelandic translation that features a gravestone with a Kierkegard quote, and a playlist! Sarah talks about Teethmarks on my Tongue by Eileen Battersby from Dalkey Archive Press, Eric talks about some of his favorite small presses in general, and Sharon talks about Your Absence Is Darkness by Jon Kalman Stefansson from Biblioasis. TBR Killoyle: An Irish Farce by Roger Boylan Appalachian Spring by Marcia Bonta
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Episode 24
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...
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Episode 23
Shelf Motivated
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...
info_outlineCome 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