Shelf-Involved Podcast: Recent Episodes
Shelf-Involved
We’re back with one of our last episodes of Shelf-Involved (for now). We’re taking a break and will be back in a few months with a new podcast, Hardship & Hemlock: Revisiting the Dear America Series, focusing on a middle grade series that has has a hold on us since age 8. We’re really excited to get into these books and see what has (and has not ) held up. Look for a feed drop for the new show in the next few months.
This week we’re talking about teen chefs, a title that was meant to never see the light of day, but here we are. Teens who cook, teens who are good at cooking—we don’t know. But we love these books, for reasons both delicious and personal.
We’re back to talk about your favorite hot topic: cancel culture! Does it exist? Is it bad? Does it happen to teens? Let’s get into it.
This week we're talking about the first book in our Season 5 Book Club: Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. This incredible memoir, that reads more like an epic, is unbelievable, and we think everyone should read it.
This week we’re talking about climate change in YA, otherwise known as climate fiction—Cli-Fi, if you will. It’s a cool fun topic! Get excited. But seriously, we actually really enjoy the thoughtful ways these books deal with a reality that’s pretty hard to not think about it.
This week, it’s just Emily! We’re trying something new this week that we’re calling Close Reads. And Emily is talking about one of her favorite books, but not in an effort to get you to read it. We’re getting a bit more personal with this series, opening up about why our favorite books mean so much to us, how our conception of them has changed over the years, and of course, the vast power of stories.
This week we’re talking about what ifs in YA — sliding doors, alternate timelines, the flip of a coin, we want it all. And the books we talk about do really interesting things with this beloved trope
Way back in season 3 we gave you a list of our favorite spooky YA books, and now we have a whole new set of recommendations to get you in the spirit of spooky season. We love these books and even if you're not a horror fan, there are a few lightly-spooky, not too intense options on the list. And one that we both absolutely had to stop reading late at night and made us never want to go camping again.
This week we're talking about grudges and the way this is used as a satisfying (and redemptive) plot device in YA.
This week we’re talking about teens abroad! We’re looking at studying abroad and the interesting fish out of water trope combined with being a teen in decidedly adult situations. How thrilling! We also talk about the delightful ways in which this subgenre has developed and become more grounded in recent years.
We’re back for season 5 (what? how?). And we’re here, of course, with a list of all the books we read over the break that we’ve been dying to talk to you all about.
It's our last episode of season 4! But before we go on break and read things other than YA (but let's be honest, still lots of YA), we're here to give you a whole list of books to keep you busy this summer. You know how much we love a seasonal read.
This week, we’re catching up again and reading Francesca Lia Block’s cult classic, Weetzie Bat. This book was a wild ride, and some things we loved and others we weren’t too thrilled about.
This week we’re talking about purity culture in YA and barely concealing our rage about how this culture, specifically in the Christian church, harms young people, especially girls and queer kids. It’s bad! We have a lot of thoughts, and we get into a little bit why this is such a personal issue for us. As always, we have some great thought-provoking books to share with you.
This week we're talking about our favorite Shakespeare retellings in YA. These are stories that have retold for hundreds of years, but our favorites are (unsurprisingly) the ones that put a spin on the narrative and place the marginalized or ignored characters center stage (get it, because Shakespeare was a playwright? I'm so sorry). We love the Bard, but also he wasn't great and it's good for us to admit that.
We’re back with our final book club discussion of season 4, and we’re so excited to talk about Nina LaCour’s latest novel, Watch Over Me.
This week we're talking about some of our favorite books where the main character is an athlete. We think this is super interesting, and it inherently plays into all sorts of things like class, privilege, and more. And Kenzie gets in her feelings about the belonging that comes from being a part of a team.
This week we’re talking about disability representation in YA. Most of these books are own voices stories about disabilities both visible and invisible, and we learned a lot about the harmful effects of casual (and overt) ableism and the importance of this kind of representation. As always, if we missed a big one, send us your recommendations!
This week we're talking about comedy in YA, and not just hilarious books but books that deal significantly with comedy as an art form. We're talking teen stand-ups and improv summer camps, and Kenzie reveals her deep obsession with comedian memoirs.
This week we’re talking about food in YA and how we love learning about characters, families, and cultures through the food they make. We also talk about why we love this so much and how food in YA has changed over the last ten years and memorable food moments from books when we were kids.
We're talking some of our favorite stories of heartbreak in YA. Almost all YA books have that moment, that chapter near the end of the book where the main character has no friends, no love, real dark night of the soul stuff, but in this episode, we're looking specifically at stories that deal with the aftermath and consequences of real, lasting heartbreak. These books are sad, and we're only a little bit sorry about it.
This week we’re talking about the American dream, the idea that America is the place where your dreams of success and prosperity will come true if only you work hard enough. We think this idea is only true/accessible for select few Americans, and we look at a few YA books that dismantle this idea.
We're here with a list of some seriously excellent fantasy novels from a diverse group of YA authors. We think there's so much to be gained from fantasy stories that are a departure from the traditions of the genre (we're looking at you, old white men from England), and these are some of our favorites.
This week we are talking about inclusive romances, just in time for the end of inside season! It’s cold! Stay inside and read these books that we promise will warm your heart. In this episode, we’re looking specifically at books featuring protagonists and love interests that have traditionally been excluded from the romance genre. Of course, they are also books that we love a lot.
We’re back with another book club episode discussing one of our favorite books of 2020. Sia Martinez is a gorgeously written, genre-bending work of genius. The pitch for this book might seem like there's too much going on, but we promise that Gilliland is a master, who expertly weaves in different genres and plot lines and delivers a complex and unforgettable story.
What do we love almost as much as teens who murder? It's teens who get framed for murder! We think this element is the ultimate high-stakes plot point in a YA mystery, and you know how we feel about YA mysteries.
This week we’re talking about one of the classic tropes in YA: teens choose a college! We’re looking at some books that approach this trope from new angles and talking about why we like to see this in books so much.
This week we’re catching up with Twilight! Neither of us have read this book and we have…thoughts. We were prepared to like this book. We love romance! We love paranormal! We are decidedly not highbrow. But while we don’t want to make fun of this book (we actually really liked some of the writing, and we think people who make fun of YA for being frivolous or fluffy are lame!), we had real issues with the romantic relationship and how it was portrayed. TLDR; Kenzie thinks Edward should be in jail.
We're back and ready to talk about all the books coming out this year that we are anxiously awaiting and some trends we see coming down the YA pipeline.
We’re excited to talk about our top ten books of the year. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: bad year for the world, great year for books. We hope you get some good reading recommendations from this list.
This week we’re talking about one of our favorite things: seasonal reading! And we’re here with another round of reads perfect to lose yourself in during Indoor Season. We thought it was time to revisit this because we have some great books to add to this list.
This week we’re discussing Punching the Air by Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi. This incredible novel in verse tells the story of a wrongfully incarcerated teen and his experience in the juvenile criminal justice system.
This week we're talking about dark fantasy in YA! We're discussing why we're so drawn to this genre and how we've seen YA fantasy evolve in recent years. And as always, we talk about a lot of books.
This week we’re talking about a classic story trope — victories, triumph, winning the big game, etc. This trope has seen many variations over the years, and no surprises, the most recent way that YA has turned it on its head and given us the happily-ever-afters we deserve makes us very happy.
This week we're talking about Jewish representation in YA and why we think this growing subgenre is so important. We love reading about teens from other cultural and religious backgrounds, and the books on this list are excellent.
This week we are reading Walter Dean Meyer’s iconic novel Monster, which tells the story of a teenage boy wrongfully incarcerated. This book came out almost 20 years ago, but it remains incredibly relevant and powerful. We loved this one.
We’re talking about YA books that deal with voting and feature politically active teens! This has been a trend in YA for the past few years, and we’ve really enjoyed these books for a few reasons.
This week we're talking about YA books that deal with class dynamics and the important aspects of representation surrounding this. We're seeing this so much more in YA and we have a lot of thoughts on this one.
This week we’re talking about immigrant stories in YA and how important these stories are for understanding other cultures and the realities that so many immigrants face. This list is not exhaustive, but these are some of our favorite books we’ve read about immigrant experiences in YA.
This week we’re talking about drag culture in YA. This is a growing trend in YA, and we think it’s such an interesting vehicle to explore identity, confidence, and unique corners of the queer community.
This week we’re talking about a favorite setting in coming-of-age-stories: summer camp. We have our own camp experiences, and we have, as always, many thoughts on why this is such an effective and fun to read setup for a YA novel.
We’re so excited to talk about our first book club pick of the season, Again Again by E. Lockhart. We’ve been a fan of E. Lockhart’s for a long time, and this newest release blew us away. Spoilers ahead for a not-so-spoilery book. We hope you enjoy the discussion.
This week we’re talking about some of favorite trans characters in YA. This is still a wildly underrepresented group in YA, but we’ve seen some great books come out recently and are super excited to talk about the good representation and #ownvoices stories we’ve seen.
This week we're talking about mythical creatures! Vampires, sirens, chimaera, all of them! We really enjoy reading about fantastical elements grounded in real world and contemporary settings and all of the interesting implications of having humans interact with.... non humans.
This week we’re talking about dark academia, a favorite sub genre of ours that we sum up not so elegantly as “boarding school murders.” But really it’s a fascinating genre full of power dynamics and examinations of the class system and we are extremely here for it.
We’re back and so excited to be talking about YA for our fourth season! We’re still living that socially distanced life and recording from our separate houses in Portland, but talking to each other through the phone about books is a salve to this weird, weird time. In this episode, we’re talking about our favorite books we read during the break.
It’s our last episode of season 3! And we want to leave you with summer reading recommendations. But in light of everything that’s happening in our country and the continued violence perpetrated against the black community, we wanted to take an opportunity to elevate black voices. So our reading recommendations for you today are all black authors. We love these books, and we hope you do too. Check out the show notes on our website if you’re looking for more suggestions.
This week we’re talking about friend breakups in YA, a new trend we’re seeing and loving! We think these breakups are so formative and often times more heartbreaking than romantic breakups, and we have a lot of thoughts on these types of stories.
This week we’re talking about YA books with excellent squads, groups of friends where each character is fully realized and the group as a whole is incredibly memorable despite not being the center of the story. It’s hard to pull off and it’s one of our favorite things to read!
This week we’re back with the final book in our Book Club series. We’re talking about Saba Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes, the first book in a fantastic series that will finish this year. Like with all our Book Club discussion episodes, light spoilers ahead.
This week we’re talking about magical realism and the roots in the Latinx community and the way the genre has evolved and sometimes been misconstrued. We are not experts in this genre, but as always, we want to learn, so if you have suggestions for us, please write to us and let us know!
This week we’re talking about a genre we may or may not have made up! We’re looking at books where the main character, in order to process grief, sets out to figure out a mystery involving the person they lost. It’s fairly common in YA and we love to see it.
We’re back with a recap of what we’ve been reading (and watching and listening to) during our podcast break, which timed up with, you know, a global pandemic. Strange times, and if you’re not reading right now, no judgement. But if you’re looking for some comfort or some escapism to get you through these days, we’ve got suggestions.
This week we’re discussing the next book in our book club series, With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. To get in on the next book club discussion, visit our website at shelfinvolved.com/bookclub.
This week we’re talking about meet cutes, a classic rom-com trope that we think matters even more in the context of a book. We’re talking about our favorite ones, twists on the trope, and why we care about this plot device so much.
This week we’re talking about YA characters with secrets. We’re focusing on books where the main character has a secret from everyone else in the story, but the reader is in on it. It’s an interesting (and common) plot device, and we talk a lot about how important stakes are to this device and why it’s so great when it’s done well.
We're back with another episode in our Catching Up series and discussing the classic coming-of-age novel from Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle.
This week we’re talking about teen pregnancy in YA. We’re narrowing it down to books about characters who go through an entire pregnancy and deal with the aftermath of either motherhood or adoption, to keep the scope of our conversation focused.
In a follow-up to our Bad Boys episode, this week we’re talking about Bad Girls. It tends to be a more complicated (and rare) trope with girl characters in YA, and we’re very interested in the reasons behind that.
This week we’re talking about royalty in YA, specifically books where normal characters meet/fall in love with royals. We are extremely here for this trope, probably because of our shared tweenhood obsession with The Princess Diaries.
We’re thrilled to be back for another episode in our Book Club series. This time we’ll be discussing All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, which we think should be required reading.
This week we’re talking about books with survival narratives––characters in life-threatening situations who have to use survival skills. We’re fascinated with this type of book and get into why this is appealing for so many readers and how it contributed to the widespread popularity of dystopian fiction.
We’re back and ready to kick off a new year of reading and celebrate 100 episodes of Shelf-Involved! Thank you for listening in and making this so enjoyable for us. We both want to be more intentional about diversifying our reading lists this year, so we came up with this challenge. Head to our website or our Instagram for a graphic of the 2020 reading challenge.
It’s our favorite time of year! The time where we manage (sort of) to narrow down our ten favorite YA books published this year. If you’re overwhelmed by the volume of buzzy great YA that’s getting published each year, this list is a great starting point. Also we’re sorry (but also not) for how much we sigh with love and say “so good” in this episode. We really love these books.
This week we’re talking about how toxic masculinity is represented in YA. We had to work a little hard because YA is full of soft, soft boys (which we’re obviously here for) but we really love these stories and the journey of these characters as they wade through problematic socialization and pressures to present their masculinity in a specific and harmful way.
This week we’re talking about winter books, the type of book you want to curl up under a blanket and read, but they’re also books that are not Christmas books. You know we love those too, but we wanted to offer some variety in your cozy season of reading.
This week we are so excited to talk about one of our favorite tropes, chosen ones. We tried to keep our book list short because there are so many series and books that have dealt with this and we predictably had a lot of thoughts.
It’s another week in our Book Club series, and we’re super excited to talk about the newly released YA thriller from Jennifer Donaldson, I Know You Remember.
For the full schedule of our upcoming Book Club picks, be sure to check out our website shelfinvolvedcast.com
This week we're talking about third culture kids in YA. These are stories about children of immigrants who don't fully fit into their parents' culture or the American one they grew up in. We find it all really fascinating to see different stories and backgrounds represented in these books, and we hope you do too.
This week we're talking about platonic friendships in YA. We focus on books where the friendship relationship is central to the plot and also books that make you think the characters are going to fall in love, but really they're just the best of friends. Friendship love is real love too, and we're here for it.
This week we're catching up with the first in a classic fantasy series, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. This was a brand new book for both of us, and while we enjoyed it overall, we both were regretting not reading it as actual children.
This week we’re talking about books set in Portland. It’s where we live, and it’s fun to read books about your city. But more than that, we’re interested in specific settings in books and what it means to read a book about a place you know well.
This week we’re talking about graphic novels with a super exciting guest, 2020 debut graphic novelist, Breena Bard! Breena is a friend of ours and we’re super excited to have her on the show as our graphic novel authority. We talk about a lot of books in this one, so check out our show notes on our website (shelfinvolvedcast.com) for an extensive list.
This week we’re talking about bad boys with hearts of gold and why this trope remains so prevalent in YA. We talk about why we like it, why we don’t, and why we’re excited to see this trope flipped on its head more in the genre.
It’s spooky season, readers! So we’re here to talk to you about the YA horror that we love. And if horror isn’t your thing, we’ve still got some books on this list that we consider “horror-lite” and we think you’ll still totally enjoy.
This week we’re talking about internet culture in YA, mainly focusing on our weird era of social media and fame being much more widely accessible than it has been for previous generations. And we're agreed, fame is bad for children. We accidentally talk about Harry Styles a tiny bit. We're not actually sorry though.
This week is our first discussion in our new Book Club series! We are excited to be talking about a book we loved that came out earlier this year, Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum. Spoilers ahead! For the full schedule of our Book Club picks, check out our website.
This week we're talking about Sci Fi in YA. We're not experts in this subgenre, but we are excited to talk about space adventures and aliens, and we held back and included only one joke about Zenon Girl of the 21st Century. As always, please send us your top YA Sci Fi recommendations.
We are super excited to talk about sex positivity in YA. We are less than excited to apologize for the weird audio quality on this week's episode. We had a technological mishap that affected two recordings. I know, we're bummed about it too. Regardless, we loved talking about this topic.
This week we're talking about bottle episodes, or rather "the spirit of the bottle episode" and the way this plot device that we love gets translated to novel form.
This week we're talking about YA books written by two authors, mostly in the form of dual narrators (which you know we love), but also some more unique examples. Kenzie frequently refers to this idea as "dual narrators" because she couldn't be bothered to remember the name of the episode. Disregard and enjoy.
We're back! Welcome to season 3, let's kick things off by talking about time loops. It's time travel but for normies. Stay tuned for news on things coming up this season.
It's our last off season episode, and we can't wait to be back NEXT WEEK with season 3! We have a lot of exciting things in store for this next season and we're thankful that you keep tuning in. This week we're talking about books perfect for summer reading but also make you think and delve into heavier subjects.
For this off season episode, we're excited to welcome friend of the podcast, Alex! Alex is talking about his favorite YA book, a classic that we should all read: Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. We have one more off season episode next week, and then we'll be back with season 3. Stay tuned!
We're back with more summer reading recommendations, this time with the lighter books that make you happy. The books you can lay around with on a glamorous beach vacation (as we are all wont to take) and it won't bum you out.
We're back with another mini off-season episode, this time with long-time friend of the podcast, Colleen. Who's with us today to enthusiastically yell about some YA books she loves.
We're back for our off-season! We miss all you lovely listeners already, so we're back for the month of July with some mini-episodes. Our third season will kick off at the end of August. Until then, we hope you enjoy our recommendations for summer reading. This episode, we're talking about escapism for summer reading vibes.
It's our last episode of season 2, so we're talking about paranormal YA: vampires, zombies, ghosts, all of it. Kenzie wants more zombie books, so if you know of them, tell us on Twitter @shelf_involved
We've both spent the past few weeks in reading slumps, the awful time when nothing grabs your attention, reading becomes like a chore, and you forget how great it can be. So we're doling out advice on how to overcome your slumps, some genres to avoid, and of course the tried and true method of reading an old favorite. May your slump be busted, dear reader.
This week we're talking about addiction in YA, specifically, teen protagonists who are dealing with their own addictions and how we've seen this talked about recently in the genre.
This week we're catching up, a series we do where one of us reads a book they missed out on reading in their teen years. This week, Emily reads Gossip Girl. She's an avid fan of the show but sadly missed out on the debauchery and scandal as an actual teen.
This week we're talking about pretentious teens, the ones that are too smart and too witty to be real, and why we think declaring those teens to be nonexistent is not helpful. Also, let's be honest, teens that are funnier than we are are fun to read, so, surprise: we love them.
This week we're talking about near historical fiction, it's like regular historical fiction, but less war and famine and disease, generally. We're looking at books set mainly in the late 1970s through the early 2000s.
This week we're talking about the quintessential YA trope: star-crossed lovers. YA is rife with these sad love-sick teens, and you know we love them all.
We talk about how it's hard to find a fantasy novel without this type of love story and also the creative ways we've seen this done in YA contemporary.
Tell us your favorite star-crossed pairs on twitter, as usual, @shelf_involved.
This week we're talking about our favorite YA books set during that terrible/wonderful time of transition, senior year. Of course, we love these books. What's not to love? Rites of passage, big life choices, PROM. (Kenzie loves a prom scene). As always, tell us your favorite senior year books.
This week we're talking about a newly released novel that totally took us by surprise. This is one of those books that you just want to hug after you finished. The writing is incredible, authentic and immersive and the plot of a competitive teenager turned pariah turned LARPer was too good. Enjoy the conversation about Mariah MacCarthy's SQUAD.
This week we're talking about our favorite siblings in YA as we revel in a library of YA that's no longer solely comprised of only children and absent families. Full disclosure: we spend a good amount of time talking about how much we love novels that focus on twin relationships.
This week we're talking about the mean girls of YA and why we find this trope so compelling. We think there are almost always good things to be gleaned from humanizing a victim or a terrible person. Tell us your favorite mean girls in YA on twitter, as per usual.
Find us on twitter @shelf_involved
This week we're talking about travel books, and because we want to dedicate a whole episode to road trips, we're focusing this one on international travel. This is a fairly popular trope in YA, and many of the novels have similar setups, but a recent favorite read of both of ours had a really unique setting and reason for travel, and we were excited to contrast it with the other travel books we love.
Tell us your favorite travel-centric YA novels on twitter @shelf_involved
This week we're going to try to collect all of our thoughts and feelings about Leigh Bardugo's masterful Grishaverse into one episode. You've probably heard us talk about these books before, but with the recent release of a new series in the universe, we needed to clarify what it is that we find so brilliant and immersive about the rich world she's created.
We kept it spoiler free so that everyone can enjoy these books and the conversation.
Find us on twitter @shelf_involved