In this episode, Luca Steele takes me through his picks for books that feel like self help but aren’t strictly self help books. We talk cookbooks, poetry, and everything in between.

Show notes:

Luca Steele (they/them) is a writing and gender studies student and drama teacher from Melbourne Naarm. Luca can usually be found walking by the Yarra/Birrarung and knitting colourful socks.

(They are also Lydia’s best friend)

(02:22) ⁠Set Me On Fire: a poem for every feeling⁠, edited by Ella Risbridger. Poems mentioned include: ‘The Voice of God’ by Mary Karr, ‘The Whole Thing is the Hardest Part’ by Heather Christle, ‘My Imminent Demise Makes the Headlines the Same Day I Notice How Uneven Your Front Teeth Are’ by Momtaza Mehri, ‘The Orange’ by Wendy Cope, ‘Bad New Government’ by Emily Berry. (Lydia gets to talk about falling in love during the end of the world AND footnotes and is very happy about it.)

(06:32) ⁠Hera Lindsay Bird⁠ by Hera Lindsay Bird. Poems mentioned include ‘Monica’ and ‘Write a Book’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’.

(09:46) Luca takes over my job as host and introduces ⁠The Passion by Jeanette Winterson⁠ and justifies this odd choice. (Note for non-Victorians: VCE is what our final two years of high school are called.) Includes digressions into studying books at school and the Vintage Classics typeface.

(16:41) Lydia’s interval chicken fact about the word chookas, via ⁠Julian O’Shea ⁠

(17:55) ⁠Factfulness: ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think⁠ by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. The website linked, Gapminder, was made by them too and it’s a great resource.

(21:19) Mention of ⁠This Mortal Coil⁠ by Andrew Doig and ⁠John Green’s work on tuberculosis⁠

(22:50) ⁠Midnight Chicken, and other recipes worth living for⁠ by Ella Risbridger (I’ve linked NIGELLA reviewing the book, so you know it’s good). Mention of ⁠Better Cooking ⁠by Alice Zaslavsky (Sorry for how I said you surname Alice!!)

(26:43) ⁠Psalm for the Wild-Built⁠ by Becky Chambers (and a realisation about why Lydia didn’t like ⁠Legends and Lattes⁠ by Travis Baldree – see Lydia’s ⁠rant about Legends and Lattes here⁠.)

(34:29) Crowning the winner! (And a shortlist within the shortlist!)

If you would like to keep up with the pod, follow us on Spotify, or follow Lydia on Instagram ⁠⁠@scho.lydia⁠⁠.

If you are a writer, publishing professional, avid reader, or librarian with a shortlist you want to discuss, please reach out via Instagram or drop us a line ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. We would love to have you on the show.

This episode was recorded in Naarm on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that they have been sharing stories and knowledge on this land generations and millennia. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.