Our first graphic novelist on the pod! Our first fellow podcaster on the pod! Our first fellow comedian on the pod! Our first fellow recovering youth group go-er on the pod!

This week’s guest is Jordan Morris! Jordan is a graphic novel writer and long-time comedy writer/podcaster. He is the host of the popular podcast Jordan Jesse Go, cohosted by NPR’s Jesse Thorn, as well as recurring cast member on Youtube’s premier daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning. Jordan’s newest graphic novel, Youth Group (First Second Books, 2024), dropped July 16. Illustrated by Bowen McCurdy, the graphic novel explores a group of Orange County evangelical youths who must team up with youth of other religions to exorcize demons!

Books recommended by Jordan Morris

Lunar New Year Love Story

Written by Gene Luen Yang, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

The Worst Ronin

Written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Illustrated by Faith Schaffer

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions?

Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please consider leaving us a review!

Rosanna Xia gives us perspective. A fresh and thoughtful conversation with the busiest Los Angeles Times' environmental reporter, Rosanna was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting. She wrote “California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline" (Heyday 2023), which won the 2023 California Independent Booksellers Alliance Golden Poppy Award for best nonfiction, the 2023 California Book Awards gold medal, and was recently selected by the Library of Congress as part of its 2024 “Great Reads from Great Places” program.

Books recommended by Rosanna Xia

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by Michelle Nijhuis

Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

Did Julia or Jared win in trivia? Guess which co-host is better at retaining obscure knowledge… Find out on this episode! This week’s guest is Buzzy Cohen - the 9-time "Jeopardy!" winner. Buzzy later won the 2017 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions. In 2021, Buzzy Cohen served as a guest host for Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions. On this episode, Buzzy discusses his newest book full of trivia - Baby Got Facts: Totally 90s Trivia, released April 2024.

Books recommended by Buzzy Cohen

Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature by Dean Sluyter

Book recommended by Village Well Bookseller, Peggy

The Women by Kristin Hannah

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!