Shelf Care Society by @Brian.Reads

Bestselling author and New York Times Magazine journalist Robert Kolker joins Brian Larson on "Shelf Care Society" to discuss "Hidden Valley Road," "Lost Girls," investigative journalism, family secrets, and the extraordinary human stories behind his reporting.Kolker is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection "Hidden Valley Road," which examines a family's experiences with schizophrenia and the search to understand mental illness. His bestselling true crime book "Lost Girls" investigates the lives of women connected to the Long Island serial killer case and was adapted into a Netflix film.In this conversation, Brian and Bob explore the intersection of family history, genetics, inherited illness, and the responsibility of telling other people's stories. Their discussion also touches on cystic fibrosis, the human impact of genetic disease, and Brian's work with Patrick Clancy.What does investigative journalism reveal about families, grief, trauma, and the experiences that connect us? How can writers tell stories involving profound suffering with accuracy, empathy, and respect?Robert Kolker's work demonstrates why the people behind a headline deserve to be understood beyond the circumstances that made their stories newsworthy.About Robert Kolker:Robert Kolker is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the bestselling author of "Hidden Valley Road" and "Lost Girls." His reporting has appeared in The Atlantic, New York magazine, Wired, and other publications.Connect with Robert Kolker:https://robertkolker.comAbout Shelf Care Society:Hosted by author Brian Larson (@brian.reads), "Shelf Care Society" features conversations with bestselling authors, journalists, and creative voices about books, identity, storytelling, and the experiences that shape us.Subscribe to "Shelf Care Society" for more conversations with your favorite writers. Available wherever you listen to podcasts or watch.

Alex and Henry are back, and so is the author who made us fall in love with them. ❤️This week on Shelf Care Society, Brian Larson welcomes the brilliant Casey McQuiston, bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue, One Last Stop, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and The Pairing.We're celebrating all things FirstPrince, from the cultural phenomenon of Red, White & Royal Blue to Casey's highly anticipated new novella, Red, White & Royal Blue: The Private Correspondence, arriving December 1, 2026.What does happily ever after actually look like for Alex and Henry? Through handwritten letters, personal memories, and glimpses of their future together, Casey returns to these beloved characters as they navigate love, marriage, family, and growing older together.We also chat about the upcoming Prime Video movie Red, White & Royal Wedding, writing queer joy, and what makes fictional characters feel like lifelong friends.It's a conversation full of laughter, heart, and plenty for longtime fans to get excited about.📚 Preorder The Private Correspondence, available December 1, 2026: https://www.caseymcquiston.com/books🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UHjmfue62UASpecial thanks to Ginni Media for making the studio such a warm and welcoming place to record.Follow Shelf Care Society wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone who loves Alex and Henry as much as you do.Come for the books. Stay for the conversation.

V.E. Schwab joins Brian Larson (@brian.reads) for a conversation about “Victorious,” the epic conclusion to the Villains trilogy and the ending readers have been waiting more than a decade to see.V and Brian talk about returning to Victor Vale, Eli Ever, and a world that has evolved alongside its author; what it takes to finish a story thirteen years after it began; and how Schwab thinks about ambition, morality, obsession, and the complicated people we cannot stop rooting for.They also get into the books that stay with us long after we finish them, the strange experience of watching beloved characters become part of readers’ lives, and what it means to build a career while continuing to take creative risks. Plus, Brian shares why Schwab’s books, including “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,” became especially meaningful to him during a transformative period in his own life.“Victorious” is available now wherever books are sold.Follow Shelf Care Society on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for more conversations with the writers and storytellers shaping what we read next.Come for the books. Stay for the conversation.

Actor, author, and musician Bethany Joy Lenz joins Brian Larson on Shelf Care Society for a candid conversation about storytelling, reinvention, and learning to trust your own voice.Bethany takes us inside “The Betrayal of Cora Wexford,” her latest novel, and the process of building a story around complicated women, secrets, loyalty, and the choices that can change the course of a life.She also reflects on the unexpected turns of her own career, from “One Tree Hill” to becoming a bestselling memoirist with “Dinner for Vampires,” and what it has meant to tell increasingly personal stories on her own terms.Brian and Bethany talk about writing across different forms, the freedom that comes with fiction, the relationship between creativity and identity, and what she has learned about starting over when the life you imagined changes.Plus: the books that have stayed with Bethany, what she looks for in a great character, and a lightning round about reading, writing, and the stories she cannot stop thinking about.Come for the books. Stay for the conversation.Follow Shelf Care Society on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and follow Brian at @Brian.Reads.

#1 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune joins Brian Larson on Shelf Care Society for a wide-ranging conversation about love, mortality, queer storytelling, and the books that stay with us.TJ takes us inside “We Burned So Bright,” his moving novel about an older queer couple facing the end of the world, and the questions at its heart: How do we make a life matter? What do we owe the people we love? And when time is running out, what is actually worth holding onto?They also talk about revisiting “Murmuration,” the evolution of TJ’s writing across his career, queer representation and responsibility, and the possibility of seeing more of his stories adapted for the screen. Then TJ previews “The Stars Look Like Home,” his forthcoming novel (available January 12, 2027) told from the perspective of a dog, and a story about grief, belonging, companionship, and finding your way home.Plus: the books and writers that shaped TJ, what more than 40 books have taught him about being an author, and a lightning round that goes delightfully off course.Come for the books. Stay for the conversation.Follow Shelf Care Society on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and follow Brian at @Brian.Reads.

In this episode of Shelf Care Society, I’m talking through some of the books I can’t stop thinking about, from major new novels by Min Jin Lee, Barbara Kingsolver, Hernan Diaz, and V. E. Schwab to Robert Kolker’s extraordinary reporting on a family confronting inherited dementia and Ted Scheinman’s deeply personal account of electroconvulsive therapy.And about halfway through the episode, we take a detour: I sit down with comedian Taylor Tomlinson on the eve of the launch of her first book, “Actually, Nevermind,” to talk about what she’s reading on tour, the book that kept her awake until 3 a.m., audiobooks, creativity, and the writing book she has returned to again and again.Books discussed in this episode:• “American Hagwon” by Min Jin Lee• “The Vanishing Family” by Robert Kolker• “Ply” by Hernan Diaz• “Victorious” by V. E. Schwab• “Partita” by Barbara Kingsolver• “The Betrayal of Cora Wexford” by Bethany Joy Lenz• “Luna, Phoenix, Queen” by Julie Orringer• “Public Access World” by Jane Schoenbrun• “Jolt: My Electric Journey Out of Darkness” by Ted Scheinman• “Music Against the Night” by Yiyun LiPlus, in my conversation with Taylor:• “Actually, Nevermind” by Taylor Tomlinson• “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin• “Fruit Fly” by Josh Silver• “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron• “Walking in This World” by Julia CameronCome for the books. Stay for the conversation.

Seventeen years after “The Help” became a publishing phenomenon, Kathryn Stockett is back with “The Calamity Club,” her sprawling, funny, devastating new novel and a #1 New York Times bestseller.Kathryn joins Brian to talk about what really happened during those 17 years, including false starts, losing her publishing home, finding the editor who helped her see the book clearly again, and the moment she discovered the disturbing history that ultimately became one of the novel’s driving forces.They also get into Depression-era Mississippi, compulsory sterilization and the eugenics movement, creating the unforgettable 11-year-old Meg, writing women who refuse to fit neatly into society’s expectations, queerness in the 1930s South, the influence of Kathryn’s rebellious mother, and why she bought an old Victrola while researching the music of the period.Plus, Kathryn shares the “YES! moment” that helped unlock the novel after years of work.“The Calamity Club” is available now wherever books are sold.

Josh Silver joins Brian Larson on “Shelf Care Society” to talk about “Fruit Fly,” his buzzy adult debut, available now.Josh takes us inside the darkly funny, deeply unsettling novel about Mallory Maddox, a blocked writer who goes looking for her next bestseller and finds Leo, a young gay man struggling with addiction whose life she begins turning into material.Together, Brian and Josh dig into some of the biggest questions behind the book: Who gets to tell whose story? What does “authentic” storytelling actually mean? And when does fascination with someone else’s pain become exploitation?Josh also opens up about his own sobriety, his years working as a mental health nurse, the complicated relationship between addiction and social media, and why there is no single path to recovery. They discuss queer representation in publishing, the rise of “MM” fiction, the influence of R.F. Kuang’s “Yellowface,” and why Josh completely rewrote the ending of “Fruit Fly” just before the book went to proofreaders.Plus: Malala Yousafzai posting about the book, its whirlwind success, and what Josh can share about the A24 television adaptation.“Fruit Fly” by Josh Silver is available now wherever books are sold.

Jodi Picoult has spent more than three decades writing directly into some of the most complicated questions of our time. In this episode of Shelf Care Society, Brian sits down with the #1 New York Times bestselling author to discuss her 30th novel, "Hollow Bones," a haunting, deeply researched story set against the legacy of September 11 and arriving September 15.Jodi shares the anonymous PostSecret confession that sparked the novel, why she became fascinated by the question of someone using 9/11 to disappear, and how correspondence with an incarcerated mother led her to research postpartum psychosis in extraordinary depth.The conversation gets especially urgent as Brian and Jodi discuss the real-world case of Lindsey Clancy, the profound differences between postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, the ways women can fall through gaps in the healthcare system, and what happens when serious mental illness collides with the criminal justice system.They also talk about the erosion of America's public-health infrastructure, conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, why fiction can sometimes reach people when political arguments cannot, and Jodi's continued fight against book bans.Plus, longtime Picoult readers will want to hear why she decided to bring back Jesse Fitzgerald from "My Sister's Keeper," what happened when Jodi took a real polygraph test for research, and the remarkable moment early in her career when she nearly gave up writing and applied for a job at Home Depot.It's a conversation about grief, truth, motherhood, public tragedy, the lies we tell to protect the people we love, and the extraordinary power of fiction to open a door where an argument cannot."Hollow Bones" by Jodi Picoult is out now!

R.F. Kuang joins Brian for an intimate conversation about Taipei Story, her shortest and perhaps most personal novel yet. She shares how the death of her grandfather and a disorienting summer in Taipei first inspired a collection of private notes, written during a period when grief had left her feeling incapable of writing, and how those fragments eventually became Lily Chen’s story.Rebecca discusses writing an intelligent but imperfect Gen Z protagonist without condescension, the shame that can surround losing a heritage language, and why language is not something inherited through blood, but a connection that can be rebuilt. She and Brian also explore the ways different languages shape our understanding of time, memory, identity, and belonging; Taipei’s complicated meaning as a place of cultural homecoming; generational trauma and family silence; and the responsibility writers assume when portraying communities beyond their own experiences.The conversation also turns to the decline of sustained reading, Rebecca’s embrace of digital minimalism, and what educators can do to help students rediscover the pleasure of sitting with a challenging book. Finally, Rebecca shares the music she listened to while writing Taipei Story, her favorite Chinese idioms, the books she recommends for escaping a reading slump, and an early glimpse at the historical and artistic questions driving her next fantasy novel.