Shelf Care Society by @Brian.Reads

Brian Larson
  • 5.0 (20)
  • Books

Shelf Care Society by @Brian.Reads is the podcast for readers who treat their TBR ("to-be-read") pile as part of their self-care routine. Hosted by Brian Larson, each episode brings you into intimate, curiosity-driven interviews with authors, artists, activists, and culture-shapers who are asking better questions about ambition, creativity, identity, belonging, and what it really takes to build a life that feels like yours. Expect thoughtful storytelling, big ideas made personal, & the occasional moment that cracks something open. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts & join the Society.

  1. 1d ago

    Raphael Montes: Dinner, Death & the Deliciously Twisted

    What happens when four broke roommates in Rio de Janeiro discover that wealthy strangers will pay an obscene amount of money for the ultimate forbidden dining experience? Brazilian bestselling author Raphael Montes joins Brian for a deliciously dark conversation about The Secret Dinner, his wildly entertaining new thriller about friendship, greed, desire, addiction, and a supper club with one very horrifying secret. They talk about the real Rio behind the novel, writing characters who keep crossing lines they swore they never would, Dante’s queerness and recovery, the uneasy relationship between appetite and morality, and why a book about cannibalism can also be very, very funny. Editor Ryan Doherty joins the conversation to tell the story of acquiring The Secret Dinner at auction, the moment in the manuscript that made him know he wanted to publish it, working with translator Zoe Perry, and bringing one of Brazil’s biggest thriller writers to a new audience. Come hungry. Maybe don’t ask what’s for dinner.

    Raphael Montes: Dinner, Death & the Deliciously Twisted

  2. Aug 10

    André Aciman on Elio, Oliver, and Returning to "Call Me By Your Name"’.

    Nearly two decades after “Call Me By Your Name” first introduced readers to Elio and Oliver, André Aciman is returning to their story in an entirely new form. In this episode of Shelf Care Society, Brian sits down with André Aciman to talk about “Call Me By Your Name: The Graphic Novel,” illustrated by Sarah Maxwell. They explore what it means to revisit such an iconic story years later, how illustration can make Elio’s interior world visible in ways prose cannot, and the moments from the original novel that take on new life on the page. André also reflects on desire, memory, love, and why Elio and Oliver continue to resonate with readers across generations. Plus, the conversation turns to one of the novel’s most enduring passages: the extraordinary conversation between Elio and his father about love, loss, and allowing yourself to feel deeply. “Call Me By Your Name: The Graphic Novel” is available August 11 wherever books are sold.

  3. Aug 3

    Richard Russo on Under the Falls, Hometown Secrets, and Writing a Thriller

    Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo joins Brian to discuss his propulsive new novel, Under the Falls. Set in the fictional upstate New York town of Stone Mountain, the novel follows a famous musician returning home to a community shaped by old secrets, economic decline, the opioid epidemic, and a devastating accident. Russo shares how the story began as a television pilot, why he ultimately transformed it into a novel, and how he brought the momentum of a thriller to the deeply human, character-driven storytelling readers have come to love. They also discuss the complicated pull of our hometowns, the moral ambiguity of survival, Jason Isbell’s influence on the book, and the pivotal moment that helped Russo understand what kind of writer he wanted to become. Under the Falls is available August 11 from Knopf and wherever books are sold.

    Richard Russo on Under the Falls, Hometown Secrets, and Writing a Thriller

  4. Jul 27

    Ben Reeves on “Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt,” Writing Death with Tenderness, and the Small Moments That Make a Life

    Brian sits down with Ben Reeves, author of the extraordinary debut novel “Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt,” a tender and deeply human story narrated by the personification of death. Ben shares how the idea for Travis, a lonely and benevolent version of death, first came to him while watching his children play at the zoo, and why he wanted the novel to focus not on the finality of dying, but on the beauty, pain, and specificity of being alive. They discuss the intimate stories woven throughout the book, Travis’s quietly nuanced sexuality, the compassionate portrayal of addiction and sobriety, and the symbolism of restored photographs and mayflies. Ben also reveals why Barnes & Noble prompted a last-minute cover change, how Kurt Vonnegut inspired the novel’s title, and why readers have begun sharing their own experiences of grief and loss with him. Finally, Ben reflects on his personal “Yes! Moment”: choosing to stop what he was doing and play with his children, a decision that reminded him that a life is not made only from weddings, publications, or other major milestones. It is made from the ordinary moments we choose to notice before they disappear.

  5. Jul 19

    Matthew Quick on "Dad, Love, Me," Sobriety, and Forgiving the Unforgivable

    New York Times bestselling author Matthew Quick joins Brian for an intimate conversation about Dad, Love, Me, his deeply personal debut memoir written as a letter to his ailing father. Matthew opens up about growing up with an angry and withholding parent, carrying his father’s critical voice into adulthood, and achieving extraordinary literary success while privately struggling with depression, addiction, and creative paralysis. He discusses getting sober, turning to Jungian analysis, and moving closer to his parents after his father was diagnosed with dementia, hoping to find some form of connection before time ran out. Together, Brian and Matthew explore father hunger, wounded masculinity, the inheritance of shame, and the complicated work of forgiving someone who never learned how to love you well. It is a candid and ultimately hopeful conversation about ending generational cycles, choosing compassion without denying the past, and discovering that healing does not always arrive in the form we expect.

  6. Apr 30

    Cecily Mak on Going Alcohol-Free, Finding Clarity, and Living "Undimmed"

    Cecily Mak joins Shelf Care Society for a deeply thoughtful conversation about alcohol-free living, unwanted habits, and the clarity that becomes possible when we stop dimming ourselves. Cecily is the author of Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits, a founding General Partner at Wisdom Ventures, a breast cancer survivor, mother of two, and an advocate for a more honest public conversation about alcohol and health. In this episode, Brian and Cecily discuss how her thirty-day experiment to go alcohol-free changed her life, and how habits like drinking, scrolling, overworking, or staying constantly busy can become “dimmers” that keep us from fully feeling and fully living. They also talk about family history, AA, meditation, found time in sobriety, Big Alcohol, breast cancer, and why Cecily’s Eight Awarenesses offer a more spacious and compassionate path toward freedom. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered what might become possible if they stopped reaching for the thing that helps them escape and started listening to the life waiting underneath.

  7. Apr 20

    Kerry Docherty on "Selfish" & The Permission to Want More

    What does it really mean to be “selfish”… and why are so many of us afraid of it? This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Kerry Docherty, co-founder of Faherty and author of Selfish, a sharp, deeply personal memoir about unlearning the roles that keep us small. We start where the book does: on a therapist’s couch, where Kerry and her husband are negotiating Kerry's salary. From there, we unpack the invisible contracts so many of us inherit around marriage, work, ambition, and worth and what it takes to break them. We also discuss "soul contracts"! In this conversation, we get into: Why “selfish” might be the most misunderstood word in personal growthThe cost of being the reliable one in every roomHow ambition shifts when you stop performing for approvalWhat it looks like to rewrite your role inside a marriage, a family, and a businessThe uncomfortable decisions that actually change a lifeThis is a conversation about telling the truth, even when it disrupts everything around you.

  8. Apr 14

    Tayari Jones on "Kin" & Letters & The Bonds of Family

    What do we owe the people who made us? This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Tayari Jones to talk about her stunning new novel, Kin, an Oprah's Book Club selection. Tayari has a way of writing families that feel both intimate and expansive. In Kin, she turns her attention to legacy and inheritance through the lives of two girls, Niecy and Annie, and the bond that connects them across time. I take a shot at providing an overview of Kin—and Tayari reacts! We discuss what it means for a novel like Kin to resonate at this moment, and why stories about family, history, and inheritance continue to find us exactly when we need them.

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About

Shelf Care Society by @Brian.Reads is the podcast for readers who treat their TBR ("to-be-read") pile as part of their self-care routine. Hosted by Brian Larson, each episode brings you into intimate, curiosity-driven interviews with authors, artists, activists, and culture-shapers who are asking better questions about ambition, creativity, identity, belonging, and what it really takes to build a life that feels like yours. Expect thoughtful storytelling, big ideas made personal, & the occasional moment that cracks something open. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts & join the Society.

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