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Cultural power couple Ainsley and Andrew Hawthorn joined me for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on beloved and problematic children's books, issues of consent in the Twilight series, why audiobooks, e-books, and graphic novels are all perfectly valid books ... and a lot of talk about Jack the Ripper that was not really about Jack the Ripper, because he gets talked about too much already.

My conversation with authors Michelle Butler Hallett and JoAnne Soper- Cook ranged widely over a lot of topics and included much classic literature, although we did make a conscious choice not to talk about Ernest Hemingway. We also discussed earning our "Lying" badge, and the way vividly written historical fiction can bring you into a time and place so clearly you can ... well, it's all in the episode title. You can read the show notes, where every book we discussed is listed, at: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2022/04/10/episode-43-we-smell-the-olives-and-also-the-public-toilets/

My first non-family, full-episode, in-person guests since March 2020 are E.B. Reid and Mark Hunter. By total coincidence, this is Episode #42 and we are talking about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy A LOT ... among other books! Please go to trudymorgancole.com and click on the "Shelf Esteem" link to read this episode's show notes because there's some COOL STUFF there in addition to the titles of books we discussed.

For our fourth Bookswap!, and first podcast of 2022, Emma and I read and discuss Throw Down Your Shadows, by Deborah Hemming, and Big Summer, by Jennifer Weiner. Our conversation jumps lightly from discussions of genre to demands that a minor character get his own spin-off. To see show notes for this and all other episodes, go to http://www.trudymorgancole,com and click the Shelf Esteem link.

For the final episode of 2021, we stay in-house with me and Emma talking about squidburgers, Robert Ludlum's thriller "The Omicron Variant," the apocalyptic loss of punctuation, and, of course, books we've read and thought about this year. The show notes, with the full list of books we discussed, can be found at https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/episode-40-all-our-quotation-marks-were-destroyed-in-the-event/

For this episode, I read a recent favourite book of Emma's, Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi, and Emma read a book that was a favourite of mine when I was around her age, Emma Who Saved My Life by Wilton Barnhardt (which I did not name her after). We discussed nostalgia, the dream of making it in the Big City, the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, whether people in their 20s care about their families or not, and the hardship of Life Before Cellphones.

In the second episode of our "BookSwap!" summer series, Trudy gets Emma to read "Ayesha at Last" by Uzma Jalaluddin, a wonderful modern day twist on Pride and Prejudice set in a Muslim community in Toronto. Emma gets Trudy to read The Natural Daughter, a 1799 novel by Mary Robinson, which is ... a buck-wild ride from start to finish. Plus, we talk about Jane Austen an awful lot for a podcast where we don't even read one of her books. Find the blog post with links to almost everything we talked about in this episode here: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2021/06/06/episode-38-bookswap-2-one-of-these-books-is-bonkers/

For the first episode in our summer series, Emma and I discussed "Normal People" by Sally Rooney, and "My Year of Rest and Relaxation," by Otessa Moshfegh. Find out which book I said I "kinda hated with the burning passion of a thousand suns"!

This month's episode, after another unplanned, COVID-inspired hiatus, is a roundup of my reading recommendations and those of three writers: Michelle Butler Hallett, Sharon King Campbell, and Bridget Canning -- plus a look ahead at my future plans for Podcasting In The Time of Covid.

For the first podcast in a long time, and a Christmas special, I gathered a collection of avid readers and talked with each of them about their favourite books to read at this time of year. From children's picture books that are "sweet, but not twee," to chilling ghost stories, to literary classics ... we discuss them all. For a list of all the books discussed in this episode you can go to http://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com

This episode starts with me rambling about how there's been no new podcast since the end of April because ... well, Covid-19, plus I've discovered I don't really enjoy recording podcasts on Zoom, so I'm rambling a bit about the future of the podcast for the foreseeable future. Then I call in my in-house book expert, my daughter Emma Cole, and we had a lively conversation about what we've been reading and how, even when we can't remember anything else about books, we're still pretty good with shapes and colours. Find the list of books we discussed here: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/episode-34-we-are-with-emma-cole/

I got three good friends together via Zoom and we talked about what we're reading during quarantine/lockdown/pandemic, how we feel about dystopian literature at this stage, and whether people will inevitably behalf like a-holes in the apocalypse. Also, we learn a new word. Check out http://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com for show notes where I list all the books we talked about.

Well, maybe it's just me who's afraid to cough. But the cough I edited out, and this whole very strange current moment in the midst of a global pandemic, definitely did come up during this episode. Do you read about plagues during a plague, or do you read to escape the current reality? My guests were two brilliant writers: Leslie Vryenhoek and Russell Wangersky. You can find links to their books, plus all the books we talked about, in the show notes at: https://wp.me/p8n9NX-fR

I had a great conversation with writer/researcher Michelle Porter, and community outreach worker/roller-derby-ist Jane Bannister. We touched on poetry, writing by indigenous writers, science fiction, and why we should not wait till we are old ladies to wear purple. (You'll need to forgive the audio quality on this one: due to a microphone error on my part there's some background noise and echo that's distracting, though my fabulous sound technician Chris Cole did a great job of cleaning it up as much as possible to make it listen-able). As always, you can find the show notes with links to all the books we talked about at: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/episode-31-we-should-start-wearing-purple-now/

Avid readers Olivia Robinson and Elizabeth Hicks join me in studio for the first podcast of 2020. As usual, we talk about what we're currently reading and the books that have shaped us in the past -- as well as giving a little glimpse into some literary pilgrimages we've taken in the past. To see the full list of books we discussed in this episode, go to http://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com

For 2019's year-end episode I invited my in-house expert on young-adult fiction, Emma Cole, so we could both sit down and talk about books we'd read and liked -- or at least had opinions about -- this year. Also about things like: how we define "young adult" literature and whether you're supposed to outgrow it, sympathetic stab wounds, what you read when you're majoring in English, and how one of Emma's best books of 2019 was written in (checks notes) 1891.

In a conversation that ranged from snails to insects to whale blubber -- yet was, somehow, all about books -- I visited with avid readers Melissa Barbeau and Lara Maynard. Be sure to check out Melissa's beautiful and critically-acclaimed novel, The Luminous Sea. To see a complete list of all the books we talked about, go tohttps://wp.me/p8n9NX-eH

My first crossover episode! Jenny Wright and Amanda Bittner, hosts of the podcast "The Academic and the Activist," come to MY podcast to talk about what they're reading now, the books that shaped their feminist sensibilities, and how Nice White Ladies are, unfortunately, gonna kill everyone (and how reading widely can help us NWLs, you know, not do that).

Librarians Leigha Chiasson-Locke and Emily Blackmore talk about their favourite kids' books, fantasy, literary fiction and so much more. Plus, we discuss the "death of books" (spoiler: they're still alive!) and why libraries are so much more than just big rooms full of books. Also, shushing. Check out the shownotes with links to books and other things we discussed at: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2019/06/21/episode-26-we-have-never-shushed-anyone/

I started talking about books with journalist Andrew Sampson when I ran across his book-focused newsletter on Twitter. That led to me inviting Andrew and his friend Nicole Boggan, who works in arts administration, onto the podcast to talk about nonfiction vs fiction, the value of being able to say "Same!" when you read a book, and the perils of choosing a novel your whole book club might hate. As always you can read a complete list of all the books we discussed at: https://shelfesteem2017.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/episode-25-we-wish-to-clarify-that-it-is-a-merman-not-a-dolphin/