Beyond the Shortlist: The 2025 Booker Longlist titles worth your time • #181
The Book Club Review
In which Kate is joined by pod regular, journalist Phil Chaffee and Professor Elizabeth Eva Leach. Both read over 200 books a year, and their reading stacks this year have included the Booker longlist. And so who better to consider the books that didn't make the final cut – but which are, notwithstanding, the 'best' books selected from over 150 submitted titles. As we know, really great books can get overlooked for the shortlist. Consider Trust by Hernan Diaz, longlisted but not shortlisted, or, going further back Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and before that Penelope Fitzgerald's...
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Autumn bookshelf, with Kate & Laura • Episode #180
The Book Club Review
In this episode: Kate and Laura are catching up on their pre-Booker season reading. Did You Are Here by David Nicholls make Laura want to lace up her walking boots? How did Kate get on with A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm, a page-turning account that explores a side of the city that tourists never see. We're also reporting back on book club reads Mouthing by Orla Mackey and The Pretender by Jo Harkin. Mix in the enjoyment of Curtis Sittenfeld's latest collection of short stories, and the all-too relevant classic Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and that's our Autumn bookshelf. Books...
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Book Club: Universality and Sparks of Bright Matter • Episode #179
The Book Club Review
Book Club: Universality by Natasha Brown & Sparks of Bright Matter by Leeanne O'Donnell Welcome to The Book Club Review! In this episode, Laura joins Kate to dive into two book club picks: Natasha Brown’s much-anticipated second novel, Universality, and the debut Sparks of Bright Matter by Leeanne O’Donnell. In this episode: Kate and Laura catch up on their current reads, including Sky Daddy by Kate Folk and A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, before diving into a discussion of Universality. How did it compare to Brown’s acclaimed debut Assembly, and did...
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Shelf-reflective: Books about Books, with Joseph Dance • #178
The Book Club Review
Something a little different this episode as I invite you to head down the rabbit hole with me into the world of books about books. Accompanying us into this particular wonderland is Joseph Dance, host of the Curious Readers podcast. From meta-fictional narratives to booksellers with shadowy agendas, we’re flagging up some of our favourites both for behind-the-scenes insights into the literary world, and for the way they allow us to discover yet more books we might want to read. From Alberto Manguel’s library of 35,000 titles, to Alejandro Zambra’s essay collection On Not Reading,...
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Bookish in Seattle • Episode #177
The Book Club Review
Seattle, forever linked with books and reading thanks to Sleepless in Seattle. Also Maria Semple's Where d'you Go Bernadette, tho' to be clear, Bernadette was not a fan of the rainy city. Londoners, though, umbrella always at hand, feel right at home. A recent family holiday offered a rare chance for an in-person bookish catchup. Listen in for our thoughts on our latest reads including the new novel from Lily King and some purchases from the inimitable Elliot Bay bookshop. Embracing the holiday spirit we're also getting into our bookish cocktails. Luckily Margaret C. Beeler, author of literary...
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Friendship and Fiction in New York • Episode #176
The Book Club Review
Join Kate as she takes the Book Club Review on tour to New York, a city filled with incredible bookshops, and book podcasters. Christopher Hermelin of and Drew Broussard of share cocktails and book recommendations on the theme of friendship. Notes and Booklist by Sigrid Nunez by Sloane Crosley by Lorrie Moore by Julie Bunton by Andrew O’Hagan by Hua Hsu by Arthur Conan Doyle by Rebecca Stead by Stephen King by Sarah Flannery Murphy by Hanya Yanigahara by Meg Wollizer by Michael Chabon by Kayla Raye Whittaker by Gabrielle Zevin by Jeanne Thornton by Gail...
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Explicitly Literary: sex writing in books • Episode #175
The Book Club Review
From lightening and dragons in Iron Flame to trembling mountains in A Court of Thorns and Roses, from Sally Rooney’s Connell and Marianne to Ice Planet Barbarians - sex in books has gone mainstream. From serious high-brow literature to warm and cozy rom-coms, what do we want or need from writers when it comes to including sex in their books? To consider the matter Kate is joined by critic Elizabeth Morris (Crib Notes), and author Alex Allison’ (The Art of the Body and Greatest of All Time) We'll be bringing you our recommendations for books we think push all the right buttons,once we’ve...
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Books, film, TV and Murderbot
The Book Club Review
From Murderbot to Sense and Sensiblity, what are our favourite adaptations from books that we love? Inspired by the recent Apple adaptation of Martha Wells sci-fi novels The Murderbot Diaries, this episode is a celebration of the world of books to film. From the joy of seeing a book that we love brought to the big screen, to the pitfalls when things don't match up to our expectations, we're considering the hits and misses, and passing on our recommendations. You'll be hearing from pod regulars Laura Potter and Phil Chaffee, plus we meet Philippa Donovan, a literary scout to the film and TV...
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Nonfiction That Changed Us, featuring Carmageddon by Daniel Knowles
The Book Club Review
At a time in which digital information is increasingly uncertain it feels more essential than ever to engage with books that tell us about the world, diversify our perspectives and propose solutions for change. Yet these 'serious' books aren't always what we feel like reading. In this episode Kate is joined by regular contributor Phil Chaffee to talk about the books so good they powered through them like a good novel, and felt changed afterwards. The books they want to pass on to someone else. The books that make for great book club discussions. One such is Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life...
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Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon • #172
The Book Club Review
by Ferdia Lennon is a novel that takes us back to ancient Syracuse, where war, art, and humanity collide. This gripping tale follows two down-on-their-luck potters who hatch an audacious plan to produce a performance of the works of Euripedes despite the fact that their actors are prisoners of war and their stage set a death camp in a marble pit. It’s a story of resilience, friendship, and the power of art in the face of destruction, but did it make for a good book club book? Regular book-club reporter Phil Chaffee dials in from New York to join Kate alongside keen readers and...
info_outlineWhat did our podcast book club make of Mild Vertigo, Japanese author Mieko Kanai's 1997 novel, recently translated into English by Polly Barton. A 'modernist masterpiece' written in sentences that go on for pages with hardly any paragraph breaks might not seem like an obvious book club winner; listen in to find out if we were won over.
To discuss it Kate is joined by Yuki Tejima, also known as @booknerdtokyo, and Shawn Mooney, aka Shawn the Book Maniac. Listen in for their thoughts on Mild Vertigo, their current reads and our book recommendations for anyone wanting the inside track on great Japanese fiction.
Book list
A Woman of Pleasure by Kiyoko Murata (trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter)
Home Reading Service by Fabio Morábito (trans. Curtis Bauer)
Woman Running in the Mountains by Yūko Tsushima (trans. Geraldine Harcourt)
Also Territory of Light and Child of Fortune by Yoko Tsutshima
Grass for my Pillow by Sayiichi Maruya (trans. Dennis Keene)
The Little House by Kyoto Nakajima (trans. Ginny Tapley Takamori)
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuo Tsumura (trans. Polly Barton)
Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton
Porn: An Oral History by Polly Barton
Butter by Asako Yuzuki (trans. Polly Barton)
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