Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse
Shelf Love is about romance novels and how they reflect, explore, challenge, and shape desire. Host Andrea Martucci invites experts from a variety of perspectives to critically engaging with romance novels. Listen for discussions of individual books, genre discourse, and scholarly topics.
- Update frequency
- every 14 days
- Average duration
- 54 minutes
- Episodes
- 170
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
089. Problematizing Romance: You Can't Consume Your Way Out of Oppression
Problematizing romance: what happens when we dare to interrogate the assumptions that underlie the worlds into which we escape? Morgan & Isabeau from Whoa!mance podcast join me to discuss commodity f…
088. 9 Reasons Why Rare Romance Books Matter, with Rebecca Romney (#7 will surprise you!)
Suspend your assumptions about rare books - Rebecca Romney shares how rare book collection can be for everyone, and is a critical component of preserving romance genre history. Work by marginalized p…
087. Clutch Your Pearls & Think of New England
"Safe sex" in romance novels with Dame Jodie Slaughter, part 2. We'll finish discussing the research published in 2000 about if reading romance impacts condom usage, and then I'll share some Twitter …
086. Sex Education & Romance Novels: Not Medical Advice (with Dame Jodie Slaughter)
Dame Jodie Slaughter joins me to talk about sex education, the messages about safe sex in romance novels, the symbolic nature of sexual choices in romance, and discussion of research on these topics.
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085. Reflections on 2020 Listener Favorite Episodes, 2021 Plans
I reflect on listener favorite episodes from 2020, share what I'll be speaking more of in 2021, and say thank you to the Holiday Fairies! (Originally recorded in January when 2021 was still fresh.)
Sh…
084. Captive Romance: Problematic Favorite Tropes
Evil Prince Jack Harbon busts captive romance out of its cage: is captivity and kidnapping only found in dark romance, or are its themes more prevalent? We discuss why this trope is pleasurable and d…
083. Earth is Ghetto: Joyless Hags Book Club
1 Bonkers Book; 3 Joyless Hags. If you could escape earth, would you happily hitch your wagon to a lizard-man's space ship? When we scratch the surface of alien abduction romance, what do we find, an…
082. Critical Reading as Liberation from Mimicry of the Powerful
Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, host of Black Romance Podcast, uses a multi-modal cultural studies perspective to engage students in critical engagement with Black romance texts to "liberate learners from t…
080. I Now Pronounce You Colonialism, Capitalism, & White Supremacy
Have you ever wondered when Shelf Love would finally cover the unholy marriage of Colonialism, Imperialism, Capitalism, and White Supremacy? Dr. Margo Hendricks drops in to explain why you can't talk…
079. There's Only One Heart: Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant (Crossover with Boobies & Noobies)
You've heard of "there's only one bed" romance trope - are you ready for: "There's Only One Heart"? Kelly Reynolds from Boobies & Noobies invited me on her show in October 2020 and we discussed Austi…
078. Romance Curious: Bridgerton So Hashtag Diverse (with Jodie Slaughter, part 2)
Will Bridgerton inspire romance curiosity for a new generation? Jodie Slaughter became a romance reader by way of Twilight and Twilight fanfiction. When newbies take their first clumsy steps into rom…
077. Twilight Fan Fiction: Climbing into a Can of Worms with Jodie Slaughter (part 1)
Twilight. Fan fiction. Bridgerton. Hashtag diversity. Plus countless cans of worms that we don't want to get into, yet nonetheless crank open. Dame Jodie Slaughter and I go on a journey to uncover ga…
076. Generous Curiosity - Strange Love by Ann Aguirre with Whoa!mance
An alien abduction romance with a delightfully unexpected exploration of sexual pleasure. Morgan and Isabeau from Whoa!mance join me to discuss how Strange Love by Ann Aguirre unpacks cultural script…
075. Jennifer Crusie: Nothing But Good Times Ahead
Jennifer Crusie drops in to talk about Dove Bars, dogs, normative ideals of white middle class baby boomer womanhood, divorce, unconditional love, RWA, and all the good times ahead we've been wonderi…
074. Ma'am, this is Problematic: The Secular Scripture pt 2 with Dr. Angela Toscano
Dr. Angela Toscano returns to continue our discussion of The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye and how it's an urtext for understanding the romance genre. You'll definitely want to go listen to part…
073. Structuring Romance: The Secular Scripture pt 1 with Dr. Angela Toscano
Dr. Angela Toscano, a romance scholar, writer, and researcher joins Shelf Love to discuss literary critic Northrop Frye's 1976 book The Secular Scripture: A study of the structure of romance. Althoug…
072. I Just Have A Lot of Feelings
This episode is about feelings, and romance novels, and hope, and anger, and powerlessness, and the year 2020.
Show Notes:
Shelf Love:
071. Personal Favorite Romances from 2020 with The Swoonies
The Swoon Awards organizers drop in to share their exciting new romance award for readers. Ari, Amber, Lynell, and Nick were the perfect crew to join me to talk about favorite romances of the year an…
070. Consensual Non-Monogamy in Romance Novels - Shelf Love x Monogamish
Jhen, host of the Monogamish Podcast, drops in to discuss consensual non-monogamy aka polyamory in popular romance. We discuss Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon and Neighborly by Katrina Jackson.
Show No…