Podcasts

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.  

A discussion of reading journeys followed by a productive shelf motivated month of reads with some cracked open TBR's (To Be Reads). Hooray for the cold months!

Sharon

  • A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
  • Cold Enough to Snow by Jessica Au
  • TBR: The Colony by Audrey Magee

Sarah

  • Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
  • Secret History by Donna Tartt
  • TBR: Babel R.F. Kuang

Eric

  • Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman
  • Soul Food (A Books and Biscuits Mystery) by Abby Collette
  • TBR: The Fascist Groove Thing: A History of Thatcher's Britain in 21 Mixtapes by Hugh Hodges

We discuss Colson Whitehead's John Henry Days and other books that we have been enjoying in February. 

John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead; Rattlebone by Maxine Clair; Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au; The Employees by Olga Raven, Translated by Martin Aitken; My Kind of Girl Buddhadeva Bose by Arunava Sinha; The First Edition Library Mysteries by Marty Wingate; The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley; The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

With a new year of reading in mind, we discuss our love/hate relationship with reading challenges, our best reads of 2022 and our reading aspirations for the early part of 2023.  

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery; Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro, Translated by Frances Riddle; Rent Boy by Gary Indiana; An Impossible Love by Christine Angot, Translated by Armine Kotin Mortimer; The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel; The Lighted Window: Evening Walks Remembered by Peter Davidson; The Mountain to North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Translated by Ottilie Mulzet; Chicago: City on the Make by Nelson Algren; Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly; The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman

This episode we discuss what kinds of books we read most, A Christmas Carol, reading to our partners, and our ever-growing to-be-read lists.

Rock Crystal: A Christmas Story by Adalbert Stifter (translated by Marianne Moore), True Biz by Sara Nivoc, A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonnette, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette, Twelve Nights by Urs Faes (translated by Lee Searle), The Evenings: A Winter's Tale by Gerard Reve (translated by Sam Garret).