#101 October 2026

We've got a jam packed episode this month! Lots of reading updates, thoughts about how to review things, and whether or not to give up on a book. We also talk about how to be introduced to new authors or genres - he gateway method or the gauntlet method? Can you figure out which one is Steph's and which one is Candice’s prefered method?

Books

The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan - https://bookshelf.ca/item/rPCoGQ_-yAXSfWhTb19BXA

Cataract City https://bookshelf.ca/item/fL1Fm1B4rfFIv_zm119uiw, Saturday Night Ghost Club https://bookshelf.ca/item/rC8Hn_GwKfQhoooEndwByw, and Precious Cargo https://bookshelf.ca/item/ERwtpK2h44Boxk_mtp0QVQ by Craig Davidson

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones https://bookshelf.ca/item/rPCoGQ_-yAWduer8L5QbRw 

Anathem by Neal Stephenson https://bookshelf.ca/item/3n6y19R6HfUzUnXwBsW4gw 

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin https://bookshelf.ca/item/rC8Hn_GwKfQaZVgody-6QQ 

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggars ** November’s Bookclub pick https://bookshelf.ca/item/5Z0NmApghbwk-2s34gn4Tw 

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke https://bookshelf.ca/item/BQ7V_Xv-HECUgoQVeLwc0w 

Greenwood by Michael Christie https://bookshelf.ca/item/ssARrWrToAZ_X-g2fa7GeQ 

Strange Pictures by Ukutsu - https://bookshelf.ca/item/1sM1NJwkMQcrGmIW4b1nuw 

Hazel Was a Good Girl by Jerry C Drake https://bookshelf.ca/item/Hq3ZF19tm0rLU7zknNlDgg 

The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle by Alexandra West https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-1990s-teen-horror-cycle 

Daily Rituals: Women at Work by Mason Currey https://bookshelf.ca/item/rgHmVQkJfJ7SPJJqtSZLJQ 

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman https://bookshelf.ca/item/rC8Hn_GwKfQ5Vhsg9LljUA 

Movies

The Crazies by George A. Romero trailer https://youtu.be/HJZGab6J1bk?si=2REeAXLMWmdh-9qT

Links

The Faculty of Horror Podcast https://www.facultyofhorror.com/ 

Timestamps

Reading updates from Steph and Candice 1:00

When do you decide to not finish the book you are reading? 10:00

How to review things you didn’t enjoy 18:48

Candice’s TBR only reading update 24:00

Stranger Than Fiction Bookshelf's Bookclub November announcement 27:20

Steph’s very Canadian book suggestions 28:30

Candice’s Genre Challenge - Translated fiction 32:00

Steph’s True Crime Twin Peaks book 37:00

Horror academia and the times we live in 43:31

 

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#100 September 2026

Candice and Steph return after the summer hiatus, to celebrate our 100th regular episode of The Village Podcast! 10 years of talking books and movies and things to do around the Bookshelf.

Steph is learning to garden and Candice is learning to speak Irish. What new skill have you started learning?

Candice also updates listeners on her reading challenges.

Books

The Garden Against Time by Olivia Lang

The Way Home by Mark Boyle

Girlhood Translated by Suzanne Garfinkel-Crowwell, 

Mystery in the Title by Will and Ian Ferguson, 

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones, 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, 

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 

The Final Girls Support Group and other books by Grady Hendrix 

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin for the Bookshelf Book Club meeting October 22, 2026

Links

Another Page App - block certain apps until you’ve met your reading goal. Email us at podcast@bookshelf.ca to get a code for a Premium subscription.

2026 Genre Challenge on Storygraph

Reading Glasses Challenge on Storygraph

 

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Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

Please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Follow Candice on Storygraph

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Follow the Bookshelf on Instagram and Facebook. Stay up to date on what's happening around the store at http://bookshelf.ca and join the weekly newsletter. 

Send us an email at podcast@bookshelf.ca

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#99 June 2026

Candice watched Network and Steph is reading a book about algorithms…. The conversation veers naturally towards the almost dystopian world we live in on social media.

Join us on Wednesday June 24th at 7pm in the Greenroom, where we will discuss Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Books

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer 

The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories by Francis Stevens  

Feminist Killjoy Handbook by Sara Ahmed 

Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka 

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams 

Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Movies

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Toy Story 5

Network

The Odyssey

Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Timestamps

2:00 Candice reading update

7:00 Steph reading

16:00 Steph movie update - are we out of ideas?

25:00 Big convo about social media, algorithms and news

42:00 More reading from Candice

52:00 Update about the Stranger than Fiction Book Club

 

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Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

Please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Follow Candice on Storygraph

Follow Steph on Storygraph

Follow the Bookshelf on Instagram and Facebook. Stay up to date on what's happening around the store at http://bookshelf.ca and join the weekly newsletter. 

Send us an email at podcast@bookshelf.ca

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#98 May 2026

Have you ever read a book written in the present tense? Candice is reading one right now and it’s weird. Meanwhile Steph is watching bummers of movies with her son and reading beautiful prose.

Upcoming Events

May 8 The Lecture on Being featuring Cory Doctorow 

May 12 - 13 Forest of Reading 

May 14 Stranger than Fiction Bookshelf Book Club at 7pm in the Greenroom

Books

Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About The End of the World by Dorian Lynskey  

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin 

The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin 

Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Everyday Life by Tamar Adler 

An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler 

The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia 

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingall’s Wilder 

It’s Different This Time by Joss Richards 

The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Taylor  

Links

Little House on the Prairie Netflix series 

Timestamps

1:00 Events happening around the Bookshelf

4:40 Book Club book chat

11:15 Movie Chat

14:35 Steph’s reading update

24:35 Logging and to-do lists, with a side of self care

33:17 Remembering soap operas

35:00 More of Steph’s reading update

37:45 Candice’s reading update

 

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Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

Please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Follow Candice on Storygraph

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#97 April 2026

Steph confesses to DNFing a book she thought would be right up her alley, but she’s got other books on the go. Candice continues her monthly genre challenge with a Canadian historical fiction book. Meanwhile both have a lot to say about the end of the world.

Cory Doctorow will be in Guelph on May 8th! Buy your tickets now!

Books

The Gilda Stories by Jewell Gomez 

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Robin R Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris  

Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World by Dorian Lynskey 

Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow by various authors 

The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore 

The Laundryman’s Boy by Edward Y.C. Lee https://bookshelf.ca/item/ihViYpG-txVQzGRZSNIZMQ 

They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada by Cecil Foster 

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix 

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix  

The Troop by Nick Cutter 

Movies

The Godfather Trilogy

Hot Fuzz

Fast and the Furious series

Links

The Genre Challenge on Storygraph 

The Canadian Challenge on Storygraph 

Fable book app 

Follow Candice on Fable 

Timestamps

1:00 Steph starts by admitting to putting away a novel unfinished

7:37 The Godfather trilogy and other comfort watches

17:45 Bookclub preview chat 

26:40 Steph’s reading update

30:00 Candice’s reading update

44:33 New book tracking app!

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Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

Please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Follow Candice on Storygraph

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Send us an email at podcast@bookshelf.ca

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#96 March 2026

This month we cover the end of the world, and how sports can be beautiful. We also both watched Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie and how much we loved it.

If you want to join the Stranger than Fiction Book Club contact ben@bookshelf.ca.

Buy tickets to hear Cory Doctorow at the Guelph Lecture on Being at https://riverrun.ca/whats-on/guelph-lecture-on-being-2026/ 

Books

Born Into In: A Fan’s Life by Jay Baruchel 

Everything Must Go by Dorian Lynskey 

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese 

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson 

My Friends by Fredrik Backman 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 

Movies

Nirvana The Band, The Show: The Movie

Nirvana The Band, The Show (the webseries)

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

03:35 Steph’s reading about the end of the world

12:40 Movie time with Steph and Candice

26:44 Candice reading challenges, stories about sports

38:30 Stranger Than Fiction Bookclub book - My Friends

43:15 Enjoying the weather and the sun setting later

46:44 Cory Doctorow is coming to Guelph!

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast

#95 February 2026

Steph and Candice did not get a lot of reading done between the last episode and this, but we did watch some sports, some music, and some movies. Times are tough right now, but we agree that finding joy is an act of resistance!

Books

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon 

Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World by Brooke McAlary  

The Acts of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by John Steinbeck  

Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson  

The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel

The Future is Female Vol 2 edited by Lisa Yaszek 

Movies

A Star is Born (1976) Trailer 

The Way We Were Trailer

Funny Girl Trailer  

Cats Trailer 

Links

Bad Bunny’s half time show  

CBC Gem full Olympics coverage   

Podcamp Toronto (Feb 28 & Mar 1) 

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

02:00 Steph hosted a Super Bowl party

04:38 Candice watched some Olympics

13:00 On hyper fixation 

15:50 Movie watching - A Star is Born, Barbara Streisand, and Cats

22:38 Steph Reading - Eve and a talk on longevity

43:15 On staying social and active in February - midwinter parties

54:00 Candice’s reading update

 

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Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

Please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Follow Candice on Storygraph

Follow Steph on Storygraph

Follow the Bookshelf on Instagram and Facebook and now Tumblr!! Stay up to date on what's happening around the store at http://bookshelf.ca and join the weekly newsletter. 

Send us an email at podcast@bookshelf.ca

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This month's episode of The Village Podcast