Bookshelf Remix

We are back with more Emezi coverage! The magic in "You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty" is all about stringing that grief up like a canopy of wedding rings... If you know, you know. And if you don't know, go read this book immediately! Our fawning knows no spoiler bounds.

CN for discussions of: death, grief, biphobia, aggression

Buy the book

Are your ready for a psychoanalytic and gushing recap of a queer YA magical realism novel? Well, it doesn't matter because we are gifting you our review of Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore. Come for the Latinx non-binary teen representation, stay for the crip mutual aid.

Book recommendations:

Élaina recommends

In this episode, Élaina and Eva wade into the crocodile-infested waters of “Jawbone”, the horror novel by Mónica Ojeda, translated from Spanish by Sarah Booker. Set in Ecuador, this gothic coming of age tale is as mesmerising as it is disturbing. And, of course, as former teenage girls who now teach the youth, your hosts have THOUGHTS. This was a fun one (and a dark one), y’all.

As always, this podcast is spoiler-FULL.

CW: Body horror, blood, kidnapping, torture

Books mentioned in this episode (these are affiliate links to Bookshop.org and if you buy something using them the podcast will receive a small commission):

We invite you to enter the wholesome and delightful world of “A Snake Falls to Earth”, the YA fantasy novel by Darcie Little Badger. Witness Élaina as she revises her analysis live on air and bask in Eva’s joy at the excellent snake and ace representation.

Books mentioned in this episode (these are affiliate links to Bookshop.org and if you buy something using them the podcast will receive a small commission):

In this episode, Élaina and Eva discuss the gothic novel “The Piano Room” by Clio Velentza. We go into detail on this Faust retelling set in 1970s-1990s Hungary and Eva shines with her psychoanalytic insights on umlichkeit, or the Freudian “uncanny”. Listen and learn (in the most fun way, obviously).

As always, this is a spoiler-FULL podcast

Thank you to Fairlight Books for Élaina’s advance paperback copy.

CW: murder, abuse and neglect

Books mentioned in this episode (these are affiliate links to Bookshop.org and if you buy something using them the podcast will receive a small commission):

“The Piano Room” by Clio Velentza

“We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson

*Season 3 of Bookshelf Remix enters the scene to the sound of fanfare and golden trumpets*: We’re back with a brand new season, brand new lineup, and brand new co-host, Eva Sprecher! Join Eva and Élaina to discuss “Gold Diggers” by Sanjena Sathian as they live their best, gold-laden, literary life. We didn’t plan it this way, but it turns out this discussion is the anchor for the whole season, so don’t skip it!

As always, this podcast is spoiler-FULL.

CW: Discussions of suicide, substance abuse, and mental health crisis

Books mentioned in this episode (these are affiliate links to Bookshop.org and if you buy something using them the podcast will receive a small commission):

Visiting from the land of @bookedsolidpod and @woqmpod, Sariah has joined Élaina to read "The Perishing", a historical speculative fiction novel by Natashia Déon. As season 2 of Bookshelf Remix wraps up, Élaina is very tired and may or may not have completely misread a significant portion of the book. But, fear not, Sariah (and Google) is there to keep her on track and much fun is had.

Ok, we are going with back-to-back loved reads! In this episode, Élaina discusses The Street by Ann Petry with fellow podcaster Jack Davidson. The Street is a realist drama written and set in 1940s Harlem, NYC. But really, it is a masterful and bejeweled offering of complicated characters and systemic stakes. It’s a must read and belongs on every high school syllabus. Warning: The Street reads like a thriller with a twist ending, so you may want to read it first before listening to the episode. However, it is so rich that being “spoiled” is not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Because Harlem is on Lenape land, we would like to encourage you to donate to the Lenape Center: https://www.nyfa.org/fiscal-sponsorship/project-directory/view-project/?id=L3600

CW: Discussions of systemic racism, misogyny, violence against Black people, attempted sexual assault, and murder.

You can follow Jack on Instagram @goodeveningjack and you can find his The Vampire Diaries fan recap podcast TVD JK @tvdjk_pod.

In this episode, poet Liv Mammone joins Élaina to discuss the genre-breaking offering that is Carmen Maria Machado’s “In the Dream House”. We talk about what it means to consume someone else’s trauma narrative as “art” and the fact that Machado seems to have created her own planetary system.

CN: This book is about Machado’s experience in an abusive queer relationship and Liv shares some of her own experience in a toxic relationship, so please make sure you take care of yourself if you choose to listen to this episode.

Also, we do go on a tangent about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Disney queer villains and Dickens, but I swear it is all relevant and all in service of celebrating this excellent memoir.

You can find Liv on Facebook under Liv Mammone or on Instagram  @mammoneliv. You can also find Game Over Books on all social media.

In this episode, Élaina is joined by psychoanalyst, social care scholar, and fellow bookstagrammer Eva A. Sprecher to discuss “The Panopticon”, a YA novel by Scottish author Jenni Fagan.

There were unfortunate technical issues with Élaina’s microphone, which means that the audio quality is not up to the usual Bookshelf Remix standards. But we hope you will stick it out if only to listen to Eva’s insightful analysis.

CN: Self-harm, death by (accidental) suicide, tocix relationships, adult-minor relationships, substance use and abuse, and kidknapping.

You can follow Eva on Twitter @EASprecher, on Instagram @windup_book_chronicles, and on Researchgate.

In this episode, Élaina discusses The Other Black Girl, a social horror thriller by Zakiya Dalila Harris, with Sarah Winkler and Ben Winkler, the hosts of the What’s New Nancy Drew? and A Swift Review podcast.

SPOILER ALERT: We discuss the whole book including the plot twist pretty early on.

CN: Discussion of gaslighting, non-consensual experimentation on humans, and violence against Black people

This episode marks a new era of Bookshelf Remix. Sophia has a new full-time job (congratulations!) and has decided to step back from the podcast (sad). But this means Élaina will be joined by wonderful guest hosts each episode to discuss a new book.

You can follow Sarah and Ben’s podcasts on Twitter:

In this episode, Sophia spills the tea on why authors translating their own books is problematic, Élaina googles “pushing daisies” in French, and we both discover why Whereabouts bothers us so much as a book!

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

Élaina and Sophia read a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with mixed results. In this episode, they cover Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, with Élaina reading it in the original Italian under the title Dove mi trovo.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In the second installment of our coverage of Anna K. by Jenny Lee we stacked one soapbox on top of the other and our teetering up there. This episode is pretty much sliced in the middle with the first part discussing misogyny and the second part discussing race in this book. We read it so you didn’t have to.

CW: Racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, sexual content, explicit language

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

We’re back, y’all! In this episode, we discuss Anna K. by Jenny Lee, a contemporary YA adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Full disclosure, this book made us angry, so feel free to skip it if you loved it because we have a lot to say.

CW: Misogyny, sexual content, racism, homophobia

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

When I'm not reading books, I'm watching Gilmore Girls. So it is my pleasure to announce Women of Questionable Morals:

It’s time to share our feelings about season 1! We read so many good books and we truly went on a journey.

Errata: In this episode, we use the wrong pronoun for Akwaeke Emezi in passing. Emezi uses they/them and we apologise for this slip-up.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

It's our season finale! In this episode Elaina and Sophia wrap up their discussion of Love After the End, a Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Anthology edited by Jacob Whitehead. They discuss climate change and land sovereignty, and later their favorite subject colonialism and space exploration. Buckle up, because it's an hour long special surveying the full array of short stories from this Lambda Award winning novel.

Sophia reads to her plants and admits being afraid of anthologies, Élaina waxes poetic about “reading practices”, and we all discuss the impact of reading Love After the End (edited by Joshua Whitehead) and the radical statement that is writing utopias when you live in a dystopic world.

In Part 2 Sophia and Élaina discuss the community that surrounds Vivek and the way living his and later her truth creates a chosen family; Osita’s toxic masculinity in relation to his queerness; Nnemdi living her truth, her friends finding their authenticity, and the many facets of “the death” of Vivek Oji.

CW: homophobia, ableism, intra-family relationships, transphobia

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In Part 1 of their coverage of Akwaeke Emezi’s “The Death of Vivek Oji”, Élaina and Sophia confront their limits as readers and discuss the benefits of reading a book that is not written for them. Oh, and get ready to break down the violent structure of normativity in this novel (because we know how to party).

CW: homophobia, ableism, intra-family relationships

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In this episode, Élaina and Sophia explore the different personalities of the boroughs and reflect on the role of Staten Island in the plot. They consider the instability of race in the U.S. and how Jemisin's book plays with that history. And, as always, Élaina and Sophia share their thematically related book recommendations as they wrap up their discussion of this genre-bending novel. 

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

Élaina and Sophia find a book they disagree about! In a debate between a New Yorker and a non-New Yorker about a plot that revolves around the incarnation of New York, these two nerds bring out their respective expertise to discuss N.K. Jemisin’s “The City We Became”.

In this episode, Élaina and Sophia tackle the second half of Kevin Kwan’s latest beach read Sex & Vanity. They discuss old New York blue bloods and Lucie's struggle to fit into the upper-middle class white side of her family; Lucie’s new, social climbing love interest; and what reading a novel with a mixed-race heroine meant to them.

Please note that this is a spoiler-FULL podcast that discusses the plot and themes of the books we cover, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, go read “Sex and Vanity” and come back to hear our commentary.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In this episode, Sophia and Élaina discuss the breath of fresh Amalfi Coast air that is Kevin Kwan’s latest book “Sex and Vanity”. Between revelling in Kwan’s playful writing style and the political value of having an Asian male love interest, they explore many facets of one of the two beautiful locales in this book: Capri.

Please note that this is a spoiler-FULL podcast that discusses the plot and themes of the books we cover, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, go read “Sex and Vanity” and come back to hear our commentary.

CN: Discussions of racism, colonialism, and oral sex.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In this episode Élaina and Sophia wrap up their discussion of “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. They deep dive into mushroom plot points, land ownership, and female property ownership in the novel.

Please note that this is a spoiler-FULL podcast that discusses the plot and themes of the books we cover, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, go read “Mexican Gothic” and come back to hear our commentary.

CN: Discussions of rape, sexual assault, genocide of indigenous people, and colonial violence.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.

In this bonus episode of Video Remix, Élaina and Sophia discuss the 2015 Guillermo del Toro movie "Crimson Peak" and compare it to "Mexican Gothic". Which one is better? Will Élaina be angrier at del Toro's lighting choices or at the absence of vampires from this plot? Listen to find out.

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This is the one that starts it all. Élaina and Sophia introduce themselves and dive into the book that prompted the birth of this podcast: “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. In this first of two episodes devoted to “Mexican Gothic”, the nerdy duo discuss their relationship with gothic fiction and what they thought about this book in particular.

Please note that this is a spoiler-FULL podcast that discusses the plot and themes of the books we cover, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, go read “Mexican Gothic” and come back to hear our commentary.

CN: Discussions of rape, sexual assault, genocide of indigenous people, and colonial violence.

Please rate and review Bookshelf Remix wherever you listen to podcasts as this helps other people find the show.