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Published by Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Shelf Motivated is a library book chat podcast. Join librarians Sharon, Sarah, and Eric as they discuss books and reading, what they're currently reading and what they want to read next, book recommendations, and all things library related.
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We're back! After a break, Sharon, Sarah, and Eric are back behind the microphones to bring you episode 33 of Shelf Motivated. Come for the book chat, stay for continued discussion of a movie that Sarah says was better than the book! Here's a hint… we've been talking about this book on the pod since 2024! Sharon explores the darker end of the cozy spectrum, Eric reads one of the most popular books of the year, Sarah reads about kids books, and retired killers (not in the same book…don't worry). All this and more! Books Discussed: Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children by Mac Barnett Life In the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis Blood on the Forge by William Attaway Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell Flesh by David Szalay Too Old for This by Samantha Downing Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann trans. by Anthea Bell The Meg by Steve Alten Cozy: Secret Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams TBRs: Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout Middlemarch by George Elliot The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
'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 with us for a Winter Holiday book chat! Books discussed: A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg Advent by Gunnar Gunnarsson The Valencourt Book of Victorian Ghost Stories Volumes 1-6 Twelve Nights by Urs Faes (translated by Lee Searle) Rock Crystal: A Christmas Story by Adalbert Stifter (translated by Marianne Moore) Cozy: A Totally 80s Christmas: A Holiday Novella (Totally 80s Mysteries) by D.A. Wilkerson
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 Benjamin Myers When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson ed. by Ellen Datlow Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan trans. by Janet Hong Mother Naked by Glen James Brown TBR: A Dark Corner by Celia Dale A Helping Hand by Celia Dale House of Day and House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones Cozy Recommendation: Autumn Alibi (A Wiccan Wheel Mystery) by Jennifer David Hesse
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 Hoffman, and Dominick Grace
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 by Patrick Hastings) and his attempt to march through Middlemarch, while Sarah reads a book recommended by friend of the pod Flannery, as well as concluding her saga of Gila! by Kathryn Ptacek by giving us the rundown of the book including where to read it for free! Oh, and of course we have another discussion about The Meg (both the Jason Statham movie and the Steve Alton novel)! Books discussed include: The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam Gila! by Kathryn Ptacek Edenville by Sam Rebelein Water by Rumi trans. by Haleh Liza Gafori Garden by the Sea by Mercè Rodoreda trans. by Martha Tennent and Maruxa Relaño The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones From the Ashes by Sarah Jaffe Log Off by Catherine Cross Diavola by Jennifer Thorne TBRs Cozy: Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hogeland Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
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 good measure and you get the Shelf Motivated Summer Reading Spectacular! Books discussed: Lion by Sonia Walger Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico Lawless by Leah Litman Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz Cozy Mystery selection: Death in a Budapest Butterfly by Julia Buckley TBRs: Gila! By Kathryn Ptacek Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya
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 House with a Clock in its Walls - John Bellairs, ills. Edward Gorey Encyclopedia Brown – Douglas J Sobol Vernon Poche & the Ghosts of New Orleans – Paul Siefken Snoopers and Sneakers – Cristina Rouvalis and Lydia Wayman Waiting for the Magic – Patricia MacLachlan Painting the Game - Patricia MacLachlan The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story – Mary Downing Hahn The Beach Day – Ame Dyckman Fox the Tiger – Corey R Tabor And Then Boom – Lisa Fipps Rosie Revere, Engineer – Andrea Beaty TBR: Mary Poppins – PL Travers Two Minute Mysteries – Donald J Sobol J vs. K – Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft
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 Iris Natasha Trethewey – Native Guard John Brehm ed. – The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy Kamo no Chomei – Hojoki Roger Reeves – Best Barbarian Brandon Som – Tripas: Poems Diane Seuss – Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open To-Be-Reads: Miguel Algarin and Bob Holman eds. – Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café Anne Carson – Wrong Norma Jorie Graham – To 2024
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
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 comfort reads, stay for uncomfortable to-be-reads! This time on the podcast Sarah dives into a kids' book from the 1930s, and a book about bookshops, Eric slows down with a local writer, and a master of 20th century literary fiction, and Sharon continues her love of Laurie Lee, and books about trips, among other things. Books about libraries, a 15th century mystery, and more! Books discussed this episode: The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee The Bookshop by Evan Friss The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern TBR: Sneaker Wars by Barbara Smit The Road by Cormac McCarthy
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
This time around on the podcast we venture from 1800s Lowell Mass., to 2093 Hawaii, discuss books that feature reading the diaries of the Regency Era, books about people who want to save the old things, books that are nature writing, and more! Join us as we discuss the age-old question of why do we read what we read, along with navigating BookTube and the awards therein, and a particularly cheesy (in a good way!) cozy mystery. Books discussed include: To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy A Box of Matches by Nicholson Baker Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil Trust by Hernan Diaz Erasure by Percival Everett Ulysses by James Joyce Cozy: Cheddar off Dead by Korina Moss
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