Another Book on the Shelf

It's time for another hang out episode! In this episode, Gen and Jette talk about what they've been up to and what they've been reading (actually so much!). We may be ready for fall already, but we're making the most of summer while it's still here. Show Notes Check out our latest blog post, Top 7 Most Anticipated Books for Fall 2023 The new show on Netflix about the Sacklers a...

In Episode 126, Gen and Jette team up with indie publisher Stelliform Press. They generously sent us a copy of their recent release Sordidez by E.G. Condé, which follows different members of communities trying to survive in a world ravaged by war and climate catastrophe. Show Notes We first heard about Stelliform Press at last year's Word on the Street festival. They publish stories that centr...

It's time for another round of #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt! Actually, it was mostly BookTok this time. We're finally diving into one of Colleen Hoover's books. Verity has been all over Instagram and TikTok, and when friend of the pod Kattie read it, we knew it was time. We had a lot to say about this one. Let us know where you fall on the CoHo books – love or hate? We want to know. Show Not...

In Episode 124, Gen and Jette talk about The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder. This was Jette's pick for our book club and we loved the dystopian vibes and talking all about memories. Show Notes Yōko Ogawa has won every Japanese literary award, including the Akutagawa Prize and Yomiuri Prize. Playing It Cool is a 2014 film starring Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Michelle M...

Gen and Jette up their CanCon for Pride this year with Junior High — a middle grade semi-autobiographical graphic novel from Canadian musical duo Tegan and Sara, with the illustrations of Tillie Walden. Show Notes Tegan and Sara's memoir High School was released in September 2019 and has since been turned into a TV series on Amazon Freevee. We've never heard of this show or Amazon Freevee,...

In Episode 122, Gen and Jette keep up their CanCon with a discussion of Canadian authors. Show Notes If you're unfamiliar with CanCon, it's the stipulation that all Canadian media contain a certain percentage of content produced, written, etc. by Canadians. It turns out we have a lot of episodes about books by Canadian authors (though not 35% as dictated by CanCon...we're working on it...

In episode 121 Gen & Jette sit down for Another Cup of Tea and a spring hangout. We're talking all about what we've been reading lately and what we have planned for the coming months. Show Notes If you're in Toronto on May 27 & 28, be sure to stop by the Word On the Street festival . Find out more about Gen's upcoming summer retreats . Our next episode (for real this time)...

In Episode 120, Gen and Jette dive into the latest book club pick and talk all things writing with The Writing Life by Annie Dillard. This one has been on Gen's list for a while and the consensus it that it should be required reading for any writer or artist. Show Notes You can sign up for Gen's writing and yoga retreat here: Fort Erie July 17-20 & The June Motel in PEC September 8-10...

The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram , TikTok , and Twitter or email us at hello@anotherbookontheshelf.com . We’d love to hear from you! Sign up for our newsletter and add us to Pinterest !

In Episode 118, Gen and Jette continue their series #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt with Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It takes place in a Tokyo cafe that allows people to time travel...though there are a few rules. We're always suckers for a time travel story and immediately fell in love with this one. Show Notes Before the Coffee Gets Cold actually began as a stage ply and was a...

In Episode 117, Gen and Jette discuss a new release from Coach House Books — Sing, Nightingale by Marie Hélène Poitras, translated by Rhonda Mullins. We always love the unique books from Coach House, and this one is no exception. Show Notes Obviously we talked about Paper Houses by Dominique Fortier (also translated by Rhonda Mullins). The books we read from Coach House never fail to make us looks...

In episode 116, Gen and Jette sit down with a cup of tea for a casual chat about what they've been up to and what they have planned for the spring, and of course what they've been reading. Show Notes Gen is co-hosting two yoga and writing retreats in the summer — one in Fort Erie and one in Prince Edward County — find out more about them at Wild Wandering Creations . Next time you're in Boston, ma...

In Episode 115, Gen and Jette talk about Jette's most recent book club pick — Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. How have we gone 115 episodes before doing a Didion episode? I know, right. While Jette can't remember where the idea for this book as her pick even came from, she's glad she picked it. This collection of essays from the 1960s, mostly focusing on California, makes it clear why...

In Episode 114, Gen and Jette read the latest novel from Elissa R. Sloan, Hayley Aldridge is Still Here . The novel follows the life of former child star Hayley Aldridge as she tells her story and works to get out from under a conservatorship that she's been in for a decade. Sound familiar? Sloan draws on the real life stars of the '90s and early '00s and slots Hayley's story seamlessly into that...

In Episode 113, Gen and Jette return to one of their all time favourite authors, James Baldwin. We're finally talking about Giovanni's Room, probably Baldwin's most well known novel. Get ready to be devastated and blown away by Baldwin's writing all over again. (No, we'll never get over it. Yes, we will continue to ramble our glowing praise.) Show Notes: Did anyone out there read any James Baldwin...

In Episode 112, it's time for another instalment of our unofficial graphic novel book club — this time with Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. We cover volumes 1 & 2 (with little sneak peeks at volumes 3–5) of this supernatural noir thriller from one of the most celebrated duos in graphic novels today. Show Notes Ed Brubaker has won a whopping 7 Eisner Awards for his work, which includes...

In Episode 111, Gen and Jette talk about their most recent book club book, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. It's a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft's short story, "The Horror at Red Hook" that subverts the xenophobic message of the original tale. Show Notes: We fell down a Lovecraft rabbit hole that made us realize how little we know about him (and how many references we probably missed in th...

It's our last episode of 2022, so we're taking a look back at our reading and writing goals for the year, as well as looking ahead to 2023. Show Notes: We may have dropped the ball on 52 Weeks of Short Stories, but that doesn't mean we won't try something new in 2023. The Artist's Way, anyone? Jette is so close to being done her graphic novel script! Gen finally finished the first draft of her YA...

In Episode 109, Gen and Jette discuss Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. We absolutely loved this one and are now planning on reading everything Emezi has written, including Bitter, the prequel story to Pet. Show Notes: This episode is in keeping with our annual December tradition of replacing a discussion about a certain series featuring a certain boy wizard in favour of queer, and especially trans, stories....

It's November, aka National Novel Writing Month, so in episode 108 Gen and Jette talk all things writing! We get into the projects we're currently working on, the ones that have fallen by the wayside (ahem, 52 weeks of short stories), and what we're doing to cultivate a writing routine. As always, we come away with some fresh inspiration and creative spark. Show Notes We were bright eyed and bushy...

In Episode 107, Gen and Jette discuss their latest book club book — How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown. This was Jette's pick and we had a great time nerding out about all things space. Should we become astronomers? Show Notes The trans-Neptunian objects discovered by Mike Brown and his team include Quaoar, Sedna, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Is there actually a ninth planet...

It's almost Halloween! Which means episode 106 is dedicated to all things spooky — specifically Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'Edera, and Miquel Muerto. And we're welcoming guest and friend of the pod, Mike Storey, to talk all things horror and graphic novels. Show Notes Mike is well-versed in the horror genre and is also an artist. It was so much fun to have hi...

It's time for a fall hang out episode, which means it's also our podcast anniversary! We're celebrating 4 years of awesome books, reading discoveries, and so much more. In four years, we've recorded 105 episodes that have listeners in over 70 countries, and we're pretty proud of that! A huge thank you to all our listeners who've been with us over the years, and a welcome to all our new listeners!...

Inspired by Jette's recent blog post , we dive into some of the books we should have read by now—whether it's because they touch on current issues or because they've been on our shelf for ages. Turns out we have a lot of these books, so we made a pact to read at least one book from our list before the end of this year. Listen to find out which ones we chose! Books & Authors Mentioned Parable o...

In Episode 103, Gen and Jette dive into Gen's book club pick - How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. After seeing this book everywhere and reading so many rave reviews of Chee's work, we knew we had to read it. Obviously, we are now obsessed. An amazing read if you do anything creative. We're both now headed into Autumn feeling inspired and ready to write and create and more. S...