Better the Bookshelf Podcast

Announcement - A Farewell To Podcasts by Ryan Kuether & Richard Daly

Rich and Ryan were together in Switzerland and had a chat about their 2022 book experience and podcast resolutions for 2023.

Rich and Ryan read Allison Rumfitt's trans-horror novel that Rich found as a suggestion on Twitter. Are there ties to the "Haunting of Hill House"? Should they take more Twitter recommendations? Come for their muddled cold-ridden voices, stay for the advent calendar style selection of their next book at the end.

Time for a story about a haunted house... or is it? Rich and Ryan take on Jackson's terror classic, "The Haunting of Hill House."

It's time for a heavy-hitter. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book beat Rich and Ryan down a bit, take a listen and find out why!

Happy spooky season! It's time for some H.P. Lovecraft. Let's see what monsters Rich and Ryan find lurking in the Mountains of Madness.

Let's talk about Jesus in space and aliens whose faces look like fetuses. That's right, it's time for Rich and Ryan to get into some literary science fiction.

A new book and a new co-host! Check our Rich and Ryan's meander through Amor Towles's latest book "The Lincoln Highway."

Announcement time! New bi-weekly episodes starting 5 September 2022. Welcome in the Rich & Ryan era of slightly irreverent book chats.

We are back in action faithful listeners!

Jacob and Ryan discuss Gillian Flynn's dramatic murder/trauma debut novel, Sharp Objects and make a big announcement about the future of the podcast.

Jacob and Ryan talk about another Erik Larson best seller and ties to modern politics.

Jacob and Ryan wrap up their required reading dystopian themed novels with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Jacob and Ryan discuss George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, and its themes in modern American politics, among other things.

Jacob and Ryan discuss Erik Larson's rich historical nonfiction novel about the building of Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair (World's Columbian Exposition) and the horrific activities of serial killer H.H. Holmes who used the event to find his prey.

Jacob and Ryan swoop through Maggie Smith's poetry collection on motherhood.

Jacob and Ryan have a sour conversation about Fifty Shades of Grey, with a bit of Tiger King sprinkled in.

Jacob and Ryan dive into Stephen King's "The Outsider." Read the book, watch the great HBO adaptation, or do both, and then jump in and enjoy our discussion! Stick around until the end for LOTS of upcoming books and past recommendations to help get you through COVID-19.

Jacob and Ryan talk about spies and all that entails.

The theme of depressing childhood books continues with a discussion of Frank McCourt's Pulitzer prize-winning memoir.

Jacob and Ryan discuss structure and themes of racism and violence in Colson Whitehead's most recent novel, "The Nickel Boys."

Jacob and Ryan discuss the graphic novel as a medium and get in-depth with some of their own related experiences growing up.

Jacob and Ryan yuck it up about the 2019 reading list and plans for 2020.

Jacob and Ryan read a non-fiction history of the famous 1914 Christmas truce of the First World War.

Jacob and Ryan talk about Ocean Vuong's dense prose in his debut novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous."

Jacob and Ryan try to untangle the Kraken's tentacles and make sense of what they just read.

Jacob and Ryan discuss Shute's compelling, but less than admirable, book on the impending death of the southern hemisphere by a slow-moving cloud of radioactive fallout after WW3 decimates the northern half of the earth. If a poorly written book still gives you the feels, is it a bad book? Come find out!

Jacob and Ryan read a philosophically dense, short novel by the Nobel Laureate, Albert Camus.

Jacob and Ryan discuss the dense, enlightening debut novel by Viet Than Nguyen.

Jacob and Ryan do a special YA episode over Jewell Parker Rhodes' "Ghost Boys" and have a discussion on all the troubling, timely topics woven into the book.

Jacob and Ryan read the bestselling, masterful debut novel by Lisa Halliday.

Jacob and Ryan pick up the hilarious, confounding first book of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy's five-book trilogy. (Don't panic. You read that correctly.)

Jacob and Ryan delve into Steinbeck's masterpiece, "The Grapes of Wrath," and how the themes and philosophy relate to problems we still face. They also have an announcement about the future of the podcast...

In this NSFW episode Jacob and Ryan talk about a book neither of them wanted to finish reading... and they don't mean it as a compliment.

Jacob and Ryan kick of year 2 of the podcast with Ryan's first book in his list of "I'm Embarrassed to Say I Haven't Read This" picks, which is Kurt Vonneguts war/alien/prisoner of war/time travel/PTSD/real Optometrists of Ilium New York masterpiece, "Slaughterhouse Five." Or, if you prefer, "The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death."

It's our 1st Birthday! Jacob and Ryan discuss all 30 books they read in the first year and do a bit of shuffling of their shelves. Come for the birthday cake, and then be disappointed there is no cake.

Jacob and Ryan take on a hardboiled 1930's crime novel in Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep."

Jacob and Ryan delve into the debut collection by Kristen Roupenian which contains the polarizing, viral sensation "Cat Person."

For the first ever Writers Series special episode Jacob and Ryan sit down with writer Christina Thatcher to discuss her debut poetry collection "More Than You Were."

Jacob and Ryan talk death, degeneration, religion, regret, and... sex? Roth wrote it so they have to talk about it. Get ready for a slightly more personal discussion about the tough subjects tackled in "Everyman."

Jacob and Ryan have an appropriately weird conversation about the manic first novel by Iain Banks, "The Wasp Factory."

Jacob and Ryan swim through a swift current of Jesmyn Ward's National Book Award-winning novel, 'Salvage The Bones'. We'll just go ahead and say now that this is well worth the read.

Jacob and Ryan try to sort out how a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by a Nobel winner can be so... unlikable. Buckle up for an honest discussion over this critically acclaimed work.

Jacob and Ryan kick off their Black History Month reading list with Colson Whitehead's critically acclaimed novel "The Underground Railroad."

Jacob and Ryan stay the course on Russian-themed literature for another week with the short novel, Heart Of A Dog.

Jacob and Ryan read their final book of 2018 and it's a good one! Come check out this episode over Amor Towles' "A Gentleman In Moscow."

Jacob and Ryan have a festive episode on Charles Dickens' universally loved book, "A Christmas Carol," and chat about their favorite and least favorite parts of the holiday season.

Jacob and Ryan meander through the 2018 Man Booker Prize-winning novel, "Milkman" by Anna Burns.

Jacob and Ryan take a trip through Hesse's Steppenwolf in this meandering episode. Have the guys found a new favorite book?

Jacob and Ryan get behind the wheel of a modern day ghost story with Stuart O'Nan's "The Night Country". It might be slightly macabre but it's very enjoyable. Did we just ruin our bookshelf rating again? Listen to the episode and find out!

Jacob and Ryan get into some spooky tales with this episode's reading list: Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "The Devil and Tom Walker" as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."