Shelf Life

Fleur Macdonald

5.0 (2)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED WEEKLY

You're listening to Shelf Life, the new podcast that goes through the keyhole to examine the bookshelves of the bold, the beautiful and the bookish - and find out what their selection says about them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

04/22/2025

Shelf Life: Guy Hayward

Guy Hayward is the co-founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust; half of musical comedy double act Bounder & Cad; and creator of ChoralEvensong.org. He is the co-author of Britain's Pilgrim Places. Guy's introduction (2:20) Books on the bed (3:15) The personal and the professional (4:06) Slightly Chilly Man Festival (4:20) Promoting pilgrimage in Britain (9.20) How Guy got into pilgrimage (11:05) Why pilgrimage was outlawed in England (13:55) Reading differently (14:40) Roman dream temples (15.45) The symbolism of the Green Man (17:45) St George and the dragon and what it means in the modern world (19:30) God is an octopus and the childlike fascination of being back in nature (23:40) Britain's magical places and the connection with your consciousness (27:10) Hobgoblins and Christianity (33:10) Why pilgrimage is part of nature (35:30) Reading List The Gentle Art of Tramping by Stephen Graham Initiation Into Dream Mysteries by Sarah Janes The Green Man by William Anderson and Clive Hicks Storyland by Amy Jeffs A Philosophy of Walking by Frederic Gros Plants of the Gods by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann How to Read The Landscape by Patrick Whitefield Nature Works: Activating Regenerative Leadership Consciousness by Giles Hutchings Wayfarer by Phoebe Smith God by David Bentley Hart God Is An Octopus by Ben Goldsmith The Britannias by Alice Albinia The Spine of Albion by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare The Confessions of a Psychedelic Christian by Sebastian Gaete Thanks to exec-producer Melissa Fitzgerald and to Me For Queen for the splendid theme music. Thank you both for the support. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

40 min
03/04/2025

Shelf Life: Anna Kloots

Anna Kloots is a writer based in Paris. You may follow her on Instagram @annakloots already, more than half a million people do. Anna's introduction (1:55) Miette's introduction (2:40) A measly bookshelf for a writer (4:35) Why books are meant to be given away (6:10) Doggy interlude (6:38) Books mirroring life (7:54) How divorce prompted her to write (9:18) The meaning of magic (10:14) The book to read if you are at a crossroads (11:28) The next best North American divorcé in Paris (13:08) Back to The Alchemist (14:30) At the pool at 10am, drinking wine (16:30) Finding humour in the darkest of times (17:10) An excerpt which hits her readers hard (18:40) Does improving yourself mean saying yes or no more? (20:30) Meeting readers at book readings (23:12) The power of a book (23:40) The only time colour-coded bookshelves are OK (25:20) Why audiobooks make you fitter (26:45) Favourite memoir of all time (27:20) The book she lost in the divorce (28:20) Can writers go too far? (32:40) Paris good stuff (34:00) Don't give up on your good ideas (35:28) Is it odd to not like fiction? (36:25) The literary dealbreaker. Reading list: The Diary of Anaïs Nin by Anaïs Nin Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life by Cleo Wade Psychopath Free by Jackson MacKenzie The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho The Measure of My Powers by Jackie Kai Ellis Budapest from Assouline The Michelin Guide France Born Standing Up by Steve Martin Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey David Sedaris On Writing: A Memoir by Stephen King Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero by Amanda Kloots and Anna Kloots My Own Magic: A Reappearing Act by Anna Kloots The Little(r) Museums of Paris: An Illustrated Guide to the City's Hidden Gems Harry Potter by JK Rowling All the Light We Cannot See and Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley Huge thanks to exec-producer Melissa Fitzgerald and to Me For Queen for the splendid theme music. Thank you both for the support. Additional music: Inspire by Wavecont | https://protunes.net/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

40 min
02/18/2025

Shelf Life: Ewen Macdonald

Ewen is twelve years old. He is a keen scientist and ceramicist. He enjoys reading dystopian fiction. Introduction (2:10) Concerns for mental health (2:50) Organising principles, or lack of them, of the book shelf (3:48) Favourite dystopian fiction and Katniss Everdeen (4:15) Surprise guest coming up in Season 3 (5:50) Philip Pullman's novellas and needing more time for reading (6:40) The point of no return in Animal Farm (7:35) Why David Walliams is a literary dealbreaker (10:00) A Hollywood movie in a book (11:20) Contemporary classics that you should read (12:15) Reading list: Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins The Firework-Maker's Daughter and Clockwork, or All Wound Up by Philip Pullman Harry Potter by JK Rowling Animal Farm by George Orwell Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan The Rain by Virginia Bergin The Undying of Obedience Wellrest by Nicholas Bowling Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 min
01/31/2025

Shelf Life: Andrew Mueller

Andrew is a rock critic, travel writer, foreign correspondent, radio host, and author. He mostly works for Monocle radio. Find him on Twitter @andrew_mueller and recently on BlueSky. [2:12] Andrew's intro [4:07] The book he picked up at a bus stop that changed his life [7:30] Are conservatives more funny? [8:08] The troll who left his basement [9:10] Why American culture is the best [13:50] Does humour date? [14:49] The time he was sort of cancelled [16:15] Women writing about war [18:18] Meeting the pilot who bombed Hiroshima [21:57] The Pub Landlord [25:50] The Flashman Papers [28:55] Unorthodox ways of telling history and Laurent Binet [32:35] The supreme pleasure of correcting the official record [33:36] Australian rules football and what it says about Australian culture [39:43] The literary dealbreaker [41:04] His favourite self-help book. Reading list: Andrew Mueller - Carn: The Game, and the Country That Plays It P. J. O'Rourke - Holidays in Hell Christina Lamb - Our Bodies, Their Battlefield Julie Wheelwright - Sisters in Arms Samantha Power - A Problem from Hell Paul W Tibbets - Return of the Enola Gay Francis Wheen - Karl Marx Laurent Binet - HHhH Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run George MacDonald Fraser - The Flashman Papers Thanks to exec-producer Melissa Fitzgerald and to Me For Queen for the theme music. Additional music: Legendary Epic Heroic | Heroic by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

46 min
08/09/2024

Shelf Life: Demi Anter and Pip Finkemeyer

Double whammy on Shelf Life this week: Demi Anter is a spoken-word poet and Pip Finkemeyer is a novelist. Demi and Pip are leading a writing class on fact and fiction on August 13 in Berlin, and on August 21 in London. Interests include erotic fiction, their favourite sad girl novelists and how fact and fiction often intermingle in their own work. Ex-boyfriends beware. Reading list: Their own work Small Machine by Demi Anter and Sad Girl Novel by Pip Finkemeyer; A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin; Know My Name by Chanel Miller; everything by John Berger, Maggie Nelson, Sally Rooney, Lydia Davis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

48 min
05/17/2024

Shelf Life: Nicholas Bowling

Nicholas Bowling is a Costa-shortlisted author, bookseller and former Classics teacher. Interests include Norse mythology, dead people, writing. Find him on Twitter: @thenickbowling A reading list: His own books Witchborn, In the Shadow of Heroes, Song of the Far Isles and The Undying of Obedience Wellrest. Find out more here. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, Tales of Norse Mythology by H. A. Guerber, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke; Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by Kathryn Harkup, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Dog of the South by Charles Portis, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and anything by Cormac McCarthy, Virginia Woolf, Homer. Shelf Life is presented and produced by Fleur Macdonald; exec-produced by Melissa Fitzgerald; while the music is by Me for Queen - thank you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

48 min
05/10/2024

Shelf Life: Teo van den Broeke

Teo van den Broeke is a style journalist and author. He's also editorial director for Soho House. Sign up for his newsletter too. A reading list: His own book The Closet, Toast by Nigel Slater, How Not To Be a Boy by Robert Webb, Glorious Rock Bottom by Bryony Gordon, Pour Me by AA Gill, Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. Inside Vogue by Alexandra Shulman, The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake, The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley, Anna by Amy Odell And anything by Douglas Stuart, Donna Tart, Hillary Mantel, Roald Dahl, Rosa Rankin-Gee, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwen, William Boyd, Alan Hollinghurst, Hanya Yanagihara, Philip Pullman, Toni Morrison etc. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

41 min
05/02/2024

Shelf Life: Tomiwa Owolade

Tomiwa Owolade is a writer, critic and author of This is Not America. Find him on Twitter: @tomowolade A reading list: His own book: This is Not America Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Black and British by David Olusoga The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest by John Updike The War Against Cliché by Martin Amis Models: Attract Women Through Honesty by Mark Manson And of course anything by Christopher Hitchens, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison etc. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

37 min

8 Episodes

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

You're listening to Shelf Life, the new podcast that goes through the keyhole to examine the bookshelves of the bold, the beautiful and the bookish - and find out what their selection says about them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creator

Fleur Macdonald
Years Active

2024 - 2025
Episodes

8
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Fleur Macdonald
Show Website

Shelf Life