Shelf Esteem

Michelle Butler Hallett and I take a deep dive into the recent movie adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Along with obsessively analyzing every aspect of the book and movie we talk about the process of adaptation itself, as well as about Madeleine L'Engle, Ava DuVernay, Star Wars, and what SHOULD have happened to Charles Wallace.

Book reviewer Jean Graham and publisher Amanda Will joined me in the studio to talk books. We covered a lot of local books and invoked The Sacred Name of Michael Crummey several times - as well as the names of f Kathleen Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes, and others. We also diverged into Stephen King and other horror novels, TV and movie adaptations of books, social history, and whether kids' books are objectively better today than when we were young.

It's Valentine's Day, romance is in the air, and romance novelists are in the studio! Victoria Barbour and Melanie Martin stopped by and we chatted about romance novels (theirs and the ones they like to read), historical fiction, and obsessive googling while watching The Crown. They also talk about how romance is more than just the sterotypes of ripped bodices and bare-chested heroes. To see their recommendations, go to www.trudymorgancole.com and click the Shelf Esteem link.

Award-winning writers Terry Doyle and Susie Taylor joined me in the studio to talk about some of our favourite books of 2017 as well as our all-time favourites, what we're looking forward to reading next, and why at least two of us do not want to read a story where anything bad happens to a dog. Some of us, however, consider bats fair game and do not care what happens to them.

Local writer and actor Paul Rowe, and his partner Mona Rossiter, sometime local politician, political organizer, and activist, dropped by the studio to talk about the books they have read and loved. Turned out a lot of them -- more than I would have expected -- were by writers named Richard. Check out the full list of books we discussed at http://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com

Local authors Jamie Fitzpatrick ("The End of Music") and Kerri Cull ("Rock Paper Sex") dropped in to talk about what we're reading lately, how we choose books, whether you can trust the books you love, and why I have such weird issues about monkeys.

Librarians Cindy Foote, Renee Farrell, and Krista Hart joined me to talk about books they're reading and books they've loved, as well as giving us a glimpse into the secret lives of librarians.

I guess a spooky episode about horror books might be appropriate to release at the end of October, but I can't do that because I DON'T READ SCARY BOOKS. Instead, you'll get me talking about what I've been reading lately, then a lively and funny discussion between me and my daughter Emma about young adult novels, diversity and representation in YA fiction, and why most (but not all) novels by YouTubers are lame.

Airdate: October 1, 2017. An Anglican priest, a Pentecostal post-graduate student, and a Seventh-day Adventist novelist walk into a basement studio. And they talk about the books that have guided, inspired and challenged them along their spiritual paths. Yes, we all read Mere Christianity when we were teenagers and it changed things for all of us ... but what's been on our bookshelves since then?

Airdate: September 17, 2017. I invited up-and-coming Newfoundland writers Bridget Canning, author of The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes, and Sharan Bala, author of the upcoming The Boat People, to the studio to talk about books we love, books that shaped us as kids, and why you should be careful what you say around writers -- we're always taking notes.

Air date: September 3, 2017. Shannon Sullivan and Sarah Aubert came to talk about what they're reading and especially about fantasy, a favourite genre for all three of us. Don't be misled by the episode title: we talked about lots of positive, inspiring, encouraging books. But we also talked about Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire.

Air date: June 11, 2017. Andreae Callanan and Diana Daly came to the studio to tell me (and you!) all about their intersectional feminist book club. The conversation ranged from feminism, to books, to the need for women to run for St. John's City Council, to, oddly enough, skin care. And if you're not sure what "intersectional feminist" means, then you'll definitely want to listen to this.

Airdate: May 28, 2017. Actors/comedians/writers Berni Stapleton and Amy House came by the studio to talk about what we're reading, whether or not we think of ourselves as "readers," and what it means to be "women of a certain age" in our culture. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

Airdate: May 14, 2017. For Mother's Day, I invited another book-loving mom, Martha Muzychka, along with her son Nick Gushue, to talk with me and my daughter Emma Cole about what we're reading now, what we read with our kids when they were younger, why every YA novel has to include romance and be set in a school, and what could have improved the Hobbit movies (see episode title).

Airdate: April 30, 2017. Today's episode finds me hanging out with three of my best friends: Jennifer Morgan, Tina Chaulk, and Lori Savory. We talk about facing down your fears as a writer and why it might be easier to do that if you've already written a bestseller; about the books we read as kids and how many of them were available in the library near Tina's home in Aspen Cove, and, inevitably, Anne of Green Gables.

Air Date: April 9. 2017. Award-winning playwrights and short-story writers Robert Chafe and Megan Coles apologized repeatedly for straying into theatre-talk when we started talking about books. The conversation was wide-ranging and lovely, and we uncovered the real reason for Newfoundland's rich literary culture, as well as establishing the fact that Robert Chafe does not, in fact, have all the answers. Check out the book list from this podcast at http://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com

Air Date: March 24, 2017. Writers Michelle Butler Hallett and Christine Hennebury came to the Shelf Esteem studio to discuss historical fiction, how storytelling helps us rehearse for our lives, why Orwell's 1984 is always relevant, why everyone is so obsessed with Shakespeare, and how Harriet the Spy shaped our lives as young writers.

Air date: March 12, 2017. Elayne Greeley and Lynne Sheppard dropped by to talk about dystopian fiction, book quotes that become part of your family vocabulary, and books you try to get everyone else to read. We learned that Elayne is in love with Anthony Doerr (in a literary sense), Lynne is in love with a book by Salmon Rushdie, and I am not in love with dystopia. Also, all the characters in Fall on Your Knees are really unhappy people.