Page-Turning Plans: Looking ahead to 2025 • Episode #168
Release Date: 01/10/2025
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_outlineIt's a new year and a new episode. Join Kate and Laura as they consider reading intentions for the year ahead, and try to set some realistic goals. Will 2025 be the year Kate gets into poetry? Will it be the year Laura weans herself off romance novels? And as always, they're thinking of book club reads to come. Meanwhile Phil sets a goal for himself in 2025 that might surprise you.
Books mentioned
4,000 Weeks and Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Rejection by Tony Tulithamutte
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
The George Smiley novels by John le Carre
Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway
My Struggle, Karl Ove Knausgard
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
Assembly and Universality by Natasha Brown
Also a Poet and Crush by Ada Calhoun
Our Country Friends and Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart
Intimacies and Audition by Katie Kitamura
Robert Caro's Fifth Lyndon Johnson book
Polostan by Neal Stephenson
Finance for the People by Paca Leon
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
My Friends by Hisham Matar
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
The Gifts of Reading, Robert Macfarlane (ed)
Untitled Memoir from Nicola Sturgeon
Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind trilogy)
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Living and Death and Intimations by Zadie Smith
Notes
If you’re looking for inspiration in your reading life over the coming year why not subscribe to The Book Club Review Patreon. In addition to the various special episodes you’ll find on there, you’ll get The Book Club Review Weekend, my weeky-ish bonus episode just for Patrons, featuring Laura’s reading updates and regular chats with friends of the pod. Laura and I have cooked up a new feature, called One Book Wonder, that allows us to talk about those books that slip through the cracks between regular episodes. Listen in for our thoughts on Good Material by Dolly Alderton.
You get all that at the entry level, but at the higher tier you can also join the podcast book club and come and talk books with me in person at the end of every month over zoom, or listen back anytime if you can’t make the live session. In January we’re reading the novel that appeared on many a best-of-the-year list, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, In February we’re we’re reading All The Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley, a museum guard's quest to find solace and meaning in art, and in March it’s short stories with Hateship, Friendship, Loveship, Courtship, Marriage by Alice Munroe. But will they make for good book club reads? Join me and the book clubbers over on Patreon and find out. Join our bookish community, get brilliant book recommendations and get the warm glow from knowing that you’re supporting me in making the show. Head to Patreon.com/thebookclubreview and sign up today.
Otherwise come and find me anytime on Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast or check out our website, thebookclubreview.co.uk. But for now, thanks for listening and happy book clubbing.