Shelf Care Society By @Brian.Reads

Cecily Mak joins Shelf Care Society for a deeply thoughtful conversation about alcohol-free living, unwanted habits, and the clarity that becomes possible when we stop dimming ourselves. Cecily is the author of Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits, a founding General Partner at Wisdom Ventures, a breast cancer survivor, mother of two, and an advocate for a more honest public conversation about alcohol and health.In this episode, Brian and Cecily discuss how her thirty-day experiment to go alcohol-free changed her life, and how habits like drinking, scrolling, overworking, or staying constantly busy can become “dimmers” that keep us from fully feeling and fully living. They also talk about family history, AA, meditation, found time in sobriety, Big Alcohol, breast cancer, and why Cecily’s Eight Awarenesses offer a more spacious and compassionate path toward freedom.This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered what might become possible if they stopped reaching for the thing that helps them escape and started listening to the life waiting underneath.

What does it really mean to be “selfish”… and why are so many of us afraid of it?This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Kerry Docherty, co-founder of Faherty and author of Selfish, a sharp, deeply personal memoir about unlearning the roles that keep us small.We start where the book does: on a therapist’s couch, where Kerry and her husband are negotiating Kerry's salary. From there, we unpack the invisible contracts so many of us inherit around marriage, work, ambition, and worth and what it takes to break them. We also discuss "soul contracts"!In this conversation, we get into:Why “selfish” might be the most misunderstood word in personal growthThe cost of being the reliable one in every roomHow ambition shifts when you stop performing for approvalWhat it looks like to rewrite your role inside a marriage, a family, and a businessThe uncomfortable decisions that actually change a lifeThis is a conversation about telling the truth, even when it disrupts everything around you.

What do we owe the people who made us?This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Tayari Jones to talk about her stunning new novel, Kin, an Oprah's Book Club selection. Tayari has a way of writing families that feel both intimate and expansive. In Kin, she turns her attention to legacy and inheritance through the lives of two girls, Niecy and Annie, and the bond that connects them across time. I take a shot at providing an overview of Kin—and Tayari reacts! We discuss what it means for a novel like Kin to resonate at this moment, and why stories about family, history, and inheritance continue to find us exactly when we need them.

What if the thing that determines your success isn’t how smart you are, but how quickly you can adapt?This week on Shelf Care Society, I’m joined by Liz Tran, executive coach and author of AQ: The Agility Quotient. We talk about why agility is becoming the defining skill of our time and how to build it in a world that rarely slows down.Liz shares how AQ shows up in your career, your relationships, and your identity, especially in moments when everything you thought was stable begins to shift. We get into reinvention, letting go of outdated versions of yourself, and learning how to move forward without a clear roadmap.If you’ve been feeling stuck or sensing that your life is asking something new of you, this conversation will meet you there.

Why are the Kardashians so famous—and what does that say about us?In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, I sit down with M.J. Corey (@mjcorey) to talk about her new book, Deconstructing the Kardashians: A New Media Manifesto—a sharp, surprisingly expansive look at the most influential family in modern media.What starts as a conversation about Kim, Kris, and the empire they’ve built quickly becomes something much bigger. M.J. unpacks how the Kardashians didn’t just rise alongside the internet—they helped define it. From reality TV to Instagram to the algorithm-driven attention economy, their story becomes a lens for understanding how media has evolved over the past two decades—and how it’s reshaping our sense of identity, reality, and self. We talk about narrative as strategy, the blurred line between authenticity and performance, and why the Kardashians function less as celebrities and more as a kind of cultural operating system. M.J. also shares her goal for the book: not to make you love or hate them, but to help you become a more active, intentional consumer of media in a world that’s constantly asking for your attention. This is one of those conversations that starts in pop culture—but leaves you thinking about power, perception, and the stories we’re all participating in every day.

What does it actually look like to build a creative life—and pay the bills?In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, I sit down with Mason Currey (@masoncurrey) to talk about his new book, Making Art and Making a Living: Adventures in Funding a Creative Life—a fascinating look at how artists across history have navigated the tension between creative ambition and financial reality.We talk about the myth of the “starving artist,” and why it’s never been quite that simple. From day jobs to patronage to family money to some truly unconventional side hustles, Mason walks through the many ways writers, painters, and musicians have made their work possible. What emerges is a much more honest picture of creativity: one shaped not just by inspiration, but by constraint, compromise, and resourcefulness. These aren’t stories of perfect routines or overnight success—they’re stories of people figuring it out in real time, often in messy and unexpected ways.We also get into what this means for creatives today: how to think about time, money, and permission, and why there’s no single “right” way to build a creative life—only the one that allows you to keep going.This is a conversation for anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s possible to take their creative work seriously and sustain a life around it.

Why do we keep repeating patterns we know aren’t serving us?In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Nicole LePera (@the.holistic.psychologist) to talk about her new book, Reparenting the Inner Child: The New Science of Our Oldest Wounds and How to Heal Them—a deeply practical guide to understanding where our behaviors come from and how to actually change them.We talk about how childhood experiences shape the way we show up as adults—why we shut down, people-please, self-sabotage, or stay stuck in the same cycles—and how those patterns are often rooted in an “inner child” still trying to get unmet needs fulfilled. Nicole breaks down what it really means to “reparent” yourself: creating the safety, boundaries, and emotional regulation you may not have had growing up, and learning how to respond instead of react. Through small, consistent practices, she shows how we can begin to rewrite the stories we’ve carried for years and build a more grounded, self-trusting version of ourselves. We also get into the gap between awareness and action, the role of the nervous system in healing, and why real change isn’t about perfection—it’s about showing up differently, day by day.This is one of those conversations that helps you understand not just what needs to change—but how to begin.

What if the objects we lose, keep, or overlook are quietly telling the story of who we are?In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, I sit down with Michelle Maryk to explore her debut novel The Found Object Society, a layered and inventive story that moves through time, memory, and the artifacts we leave behind.We talk about the emotional architecture of the novel, the way objects can hold meaning far beyond their material form, and how Michelle approached building a narrative that feels both intimate and expansive. Our conversation moves from craft to curiosity. How do you write a story that spans decades without losing its pulse? What does it mean to preserve a life through fragments? And why are we so drawn to the things people leave behind?We also get into Michelle’s writing process, the research behind the book, and the quiet tension between what is remembered and what is lost.This is a conversation about storytelling, but also about legacy, connection, and the strange comfort of knowing that even the smallest objects can carry something lasting.

What if the life you want is already waiting for you and the only thing left to do is become the version of yourself who believes it is possible?In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, Brian Larson talks with manifestation coach Matt Cooke, whose work centers on a powerful idea: You don’t attract what you want. You attract what you are.Matt shares the story of leaving corporate life with his wife, Corisande, and choosing to trust a vision that had not yet materialized. From the concept of “Option B,” to the practice of building a vision board that actually works, Matt explains how conscious manifestation can reshape the way we think about career, creativity, and purpose.Brian and Matt also explore emotional energy, wave theory, why some emotions expand possibility while others limit it, and how Matt’s philosophy of “Make Monday Great” reframes the way we approach work and ambition.It is a thoughtful conversation about belief, identity, and the quiet but powerful decision to live as the person your future self already knows you can be.

This week, Brian sits down with Dr. Khameer Kidia, a writer, anthropologist, and global health physician on the faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. A Rhodes Scholar from Zimbabwe, Kidia has spent more than a decade working on mental health research and advocacy in his home country, and his writing has appeared in outlets including The New England Journal of Medicine, Slate, The Yale Review, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. They discuss Kidia’s acclaimed new book, Empire of Madness: Reimagining Western Mental Health Care for Everyone, which argues that Western mental health care too often treats symptoms while ignoring the larger systems driving distress, including colonialism, racism, inequality, and exploitation. The book draws from Kidia’s clinical work in the United States and his long-running mental health work in Zimbabwe. In the conversation, Brian and Dr. Kidia explore how Zimbabwe shaped the roots of the book, why Kidia makes the provocative call for “the end of psychiatry,” and how social conditions like debt, housing insecurity, racial inequity, and economic precarity can become health hazards in their own right. They also discuss the limits of a medication-first model, and what more humane alternatives such as social prescribing, Housing First, and community-based care could look like in practice.

On this episode of Shelf Care Society, Brian Larson sits down with #1 New York Times bestselling author Virginia Evans to talk about her breakout novel, The Correspondent.Together, they explore Sybil Van Antwerp’s unforgettable voice, the ethics of saying exactly what we mean, and the emotional architecture of letters both sent and unsent. Virginia opens up about writing six novels before finding traditional publication, how rejection became data instead of identity, and what it felt like to watch this book climb slowly, then suddenly, to the top of the bestseller list.They discuss Ireland, distance, chosen vocation, the evolution of the cover art, and why the epistolary form became the perfect vessel for Sybil’s journey. Plus: Virginia shares her own “Yes! Moment” that changed her trajectory, and what she’s working on next.

Malala Yousafzai joins Shelf Care Society to discuss her new memoir, Finding My Way. In this fun, insight-packed chat, we talk about identity, belonging, ambition, and what it takes to keep evolving when the world has an opinion on who you should be. Come for the warmth, stay for the perspective shift.

Shelf Care Society by @Brian.Reads is a book-rooted podcast for anyone who treats their TBR as self-care. Host Brian Larson invites you into the conversations that have shaped his life, blending thoughtful chats about books with honest discussions on sobriety, creativity, identity, belonging, and what it takes to build a life that feels like yours.