In this episode series, Odd Reader Out, one or two of your Shelf Respect hosts will take a literary concept the other host or hosts are unfamiliar with and attempt to entice them into jumping on the bandwagon. In this installment, Knox is walking Erin and Jamie through one of his favorite reading experiences: short stories. 

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates (text in full) The Wondering Years: How Pop Culture Helped Me Answer Life's Biggest Questions by Knox McCoy All Things Reconsidered: How Rethinking What We Know Helps Us Know What We Believe by Knox McCoy I've Got Questions: The Spiritual Practice of Having It Out with God by Erin Moon Knox's Substack: Binge Thinking Erin's Substack: The Swipe Up Cathedral by Raymond Carver Florida by Lauren Groff Preorder The Frenzy by Joyce Carol Oates  A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com

Spring has sprung and we're tackling all the new books coming out in April, May, and June of 2026. Get your TBRs ready.

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Five stars, please and thank you. (Even if that's not where you listen. No rules, just right.) Our List of Snake Draft Picks on Bookshop.org (this isn't just to get your money. It's so you're not spoiled in the show notes) Sign up to be notified about Erin's upcoming Common Ground Pilgrimage trip for Hamnet. Whistler by Ann Patchett The Correspondent by Virginia Evans Son of Nobody by Yann Martel The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu American Fantasy by Emma Straub Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com Knox McCoy on Substack  Erin Moon on Substack Jamie B. Golden on Instagram

What's your spring reading vibe? What's the best first kiss you've read in a book? Which new books do you have your eye on?

We draw for spots and snake draft the worst (OR BEST) toxic fictional romances. These are love stories where suffering is marketed as soulmates.

Our Bookshop Shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/shelfrespect Toxic Romance Snake Draft List of Books Mentioned Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com Knox McCoy on Substack  Erin Moon on Substack Jamie B. Golden on Instagram

We collected spicy takes from readers on Instagram and we decide whether those opinions will be burned or blurbed. 

Join 3,300+ Hardbacks on Patreon. Those readers get exclusive episodes like our Shelf Reflections series where we talk about what we've been reading, Building a Literary Villain, Odd Reader Out where two of us explain an unfamiliar concept to the third. Plus, our 2025 Book Superlatives and much more. Two exclusive episodes added every month.

Use code BATEDBREATH now through March 6 to save 90% on your first month of Hardbacks. That's only $0.70 at patreon.com/shelfrespect. 

The Popcast Flavor Town: Book Edition A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Sunnie Reads Book Club RFK, Jr. and Kid Rock Get "Active" and Eat "Real" Food video The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley Book of the Month (not an affiliate link) I've Got Questions by Erin Moon (sexy under the dust jacket) Knox's paperback books: All Things Reconsidered and The Wondering Years Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman Magnetic Bookmark on Etsy Annie B. Jones Olivia Dade books Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model documentary One to Watch by Kate Staymon-London  Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com Knox McCoy on Substack  Erin Moon on Substack Jamie B. Golden on Instagram

Welcome to the first public episode of Shelf Respect. We've been doing this for six months over on Patreon and now it's time to have the best of both worlds. We'll have new free episodes twice monthly.

This is a Snake Draft episode where the three of us slither through all the words and phrases we'd like to remove from all future books.

All our book lists are always found on Bookshop.org. Support indie shops!

Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com Knox McCoy on Substack  Erin Moon on Substack Jamie B. Golden on Instagram

This is a an example of our premium content you can find on our Shelf Respect Patreon. *originaly published in October, 2025

We asked our Hardbacks to air their grievances about fiction and they answered. LOUDLY AND WITH FEELING. They shared the details, big and small, they despise in a novel. In this episode, we feature some of their complaints, as well as share a few of our own. And there's a kerfuffle about short stories.

Mentions:

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

Alchemised by Senlinyu

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain by Hannah Brown

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty

The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA

The Compound by Aisling Rawe

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Annihilation movie streaming on Paramount+

Inception movie streaming on HBO Max

50 Times Male Authors Proved They Know Next To Nothing About Women

The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder

Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

It by Stephen King

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

The New York Times Bestseller list wiki

Publishers Weekly Bestseller List

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

Our Patreon: Shelf Respect Our Instagram: @readwithshelfrespect readwithshelfrespect.com Knox McCoy on Substack  Erin Moon on Substack Jamie B. Golden on Instagram

Join us as we unpack why we launched another podcast, who we are as readers, which books define us, and what to expect at Shelf Respect. *originally published in September, 2025

Knox McCoy

Jamie Golden

Erin Moon (Elizabethe Montgomery)

Shelf Respect on Instagram

readwithshelfrespect.com

The Popcast with Knox and Jamie

Faith Adjacent

Is Pierce Brown hot?

Is our beloved Annie B. Jones a friend of this show?

Raindrop app

The Books That Defined Us On Bookshop.org

Our Free Little Library on Patreon