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15. The Jilly Cooper Book Club

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January 25, 2018/Posted by: The Book Club Review

  Jilly Cooper novels fall into that category that high-minded readers might dismiss as frivolous and yet the books were bestsellers in their day, and continue to be much loved by those in-the-know. Romance, horses, outsized characters and lots of romping sex, all written with verve and tongue-in-cheek humour not to mention a rich sprinkling […]

Queen of the Bonkbuster? Or the Jane Austen of our time? Journalist Kat Brown tells us why the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

14. Two Serious Ladies + A Horse Walks Into A Bar

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January 21, 2018/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We debate Two Serious Ladies, the neglected 1940s ‘cult’ classic by Jane Bowles, and David Grossman’s A Horse Walks Into A Bar, which won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. For our regular interview, we talk to Kat Brown about how she started the Jilly Cooper Book Club. Book recommendations To The End Of The Land […]

Do cult classics and funny fiction ever live up to their reputation? We debate the merits of Jane Bowles' strange and unpredictable 1940s novel, as well as David Grossman's award-winning portrait of an Israeli comedian coming apart on stage. We also rekindle our sense of joie-de-vivre talking to journalist Kat Brown about her Jilly Cooper book club.

13. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

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December 20, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

When we’re not reading books, what’s our dream publication? A magazine that takes the book club as its form and runs with it. And so it is with great delight, we bring you an episode inspired by The Happy Reader, Penguin’s very special publication that has a cult-following amongst those in-the-know. We discuss their winter […]

We go behind the scenes at The Happy Reader magazine and take a look at their book of the season, Russian sci-fi classic We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

12. All Passion Spent

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November 27, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We take recommendations from Emily Rhodes of Emily’s Walking Book Club seriously. So, it was with much anticipation that Kate’s book club read All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West, one of Emily’s all-time favourite reads. After the death of her husband, everyone assumes his eighty-eight-year-old widow will slowly fade away in her grief. But Lady […]

We knew she was good at gardening, but what did we make of Vita Sackville-West as a writer? Kate's book club delve into her novel All Passion Spent to find out. We also speak to a knitting book club, and have the usual round up of book recommendations for your next book club read.

11. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

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November 7, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We delve into The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Longlisted for the Booker Prize (2017), it didn’t make the shortlist, but did it make for a good book club read? Meanwhile for fans of horror and Halloween enthusiasts alike we meet up with Andy Russell of London’s Horror Book Club to find out […]

The 2007 Booker Prize judges may have overlooked The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy, but did it make for a good book club read? We also talk to Andy Russell of London's Horror Book Club for a deep dive into horror fiction that might suprise those wary of the genre. And we finish with a round of book recommendations.

10. The Snow Leopard

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October 9, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

For Kate’s most recent book club, we set off to the high Himalayas in search of snow leopards and spiritual enlightenment with Peter Matthiessen’s cult classic The Snow Leopard. But what did we make of it? Is it a ‘man’s book’? And did it make for good debate? Also in this episode we take a […]

Never say we don't read 'man books'. This classic memoir about hiking in the high Himalayas has Kate's book club asking whether spiritual enlightenment and selfishness go hand in hand. We also take trip to Paris to interview Morgan Thomas about his Proust Book Club, and we have a range of book recommendations for your next read.

This Is London by Ben Judah • Episode #9

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September 16, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

For a long time, according to our podcast stats, this was our most-popular episode, downloaded more than any other. Just what is it about This Is London by Ben Judah that makes people so curious? Judah’s book is a spare and unflinching investigation into what life in London can be like for the migrants who make up […]

This is London? Says who? Ben Judah’s unflinching interviews with some of the immigrants who make up 40% of the city’s population are gripping. But it’s Judah’s own blindspots that have Laura’s book club up in arms. We also run through bookseller Claire Griffiths' recommendations for book club reads which leaves us with a ton of suggestions for your TBR pile.

Lincoln in the Bardo book podcast episode

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders • Episode #8

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August 5, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Lincoln in the Bardo is a ghostly story that unfolds in a graveyard over the course of a single night. Narrated by a chorus of voices and historical sources this innovative novel invites discussion, and won the Booker Prize in 2017. In this episode we find out what Kate’s book club made of it. Were […]

The winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize is not for everyone. You either love it. Or you hate it. A cacophony of ghosts narrates this extraordinary story about the death of President Lincoln's young son, Willy. We also speak to East London's Feminist Book Club, and discover some great new reading recommendations.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead book podcast episode

The Underground Railroad • What did Laura’s book club think?

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July 13, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

What did Laura’s book club make of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, winner of the 2016 National Book Award, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and ranked no. 30 on The Guardian‘s list of Best Books of the 21st Century. In this alternate history novel we meet Cora, a young slave on a cotton […]

A real-life railroad, deep underground, helps escaped slaves flee north to safety. That's the historical twist in this Pulitzer-winning page-turner, but it's not the only one. Laura found herself the lone voice of dissent when her book club took this one on.

The Prophets of Eternal Fjord book podcast episode

The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine, translated by Martin Aitken • Episode #6

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June 13, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Kate’s book club read Kim Leine’s historical novel The Prophets of Eternal Fjord, translated by Martin Aitken, and discover they have wildly differing opinions. ‘My front teeth are quite fallen out but for five that dangle like scoundrels of the night from a gallows’ complains the main character, Morten Falck, as we follow his experiences attempting to convert […]

A visceral novel that brings home the perils of life in 18th-century Greenland. It's historical fiction unlike anything you'll have read before – but is that such a good thing? Kate thinks so. Get ready for a lively debate.

5. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

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May 31, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

In this episode Laura’s book club are reading The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon. The novel is set in 1970s England, during an unusually long heatwave. In an ordinary suburban neighbourhood a woman goes missing. For two ten-year-old girls, Grace and Tilly, searching for God is a way to find her and bring […]

Laura's book club curls up with Joanna Cannon's Sunday Times bestselling novel, but is it the 'unique and unforgettable' debut they were expecting? Listen in to find out. We also meet up with Emily Rhodes to learn about her Walking Book Club on London's Hampstead Heath. We finish with book recommendations.

4. Border + Hag-Seed

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May 5, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Laura’s book club have been reading the travel memoir Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Bulgarian emigrée Kapka Kassabova. She explores the borderzone between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece in the company of border guards and treasure hunters, entrepreneurs and botanists, psychic healers and ritual fire-walkers, refugees and smugglers, and traces the physical and […]

We go wandering through Eastern Europe with Kapka Kassabova as our guide, while Margaret Atwood retells Shakespeare's Tempest with mixed results. Or so Kate thinks, anyway, but her book club don't necessarily agree. Listen in to hear the debate.

3. The Left Hand of Darkness + Secondhand Time

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March 29, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Can a sci-fi novel make for a good book club book? We find out with The Left-Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. The novel is set on a planet called Winter where all the inhabitants are all of neutral gender. Much like Earth they are unaware of life in the universe beyond their own planet and so […]

Two potentially challenging books win over our book clubs entirely. Don't be put off by the subject matter. We admit gender-bending fantasy and post-Soviet documentary might sound a bit tricky, but not at all. Let us convince you. We also talk to 88-year-old Anne Thompson about what her book club means to her. And we finish with book recommendations.

The Vegetarian and The Reader podcast episode

2. The Vegetarian + The Reader

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March 19, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Two book clubs. Two books. What did we read this month? Kate’s book club chose to read The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith, as it won the 2016 Booker International Prize. Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but […]

It's a translation treat of an episode, as we delve into Han Kang's The Vegetarian, an unusual tale of a young woman who stops eating meat, and The Reader, the bestseller of yesteryear by Bernhard Schlink. Very different novels. Very different book club discussions? Listen in to find out. We also speak to broadcaster Sue Nelson about starting up a book club in a village where she didn't know anybody, and as ever, we end with some recommendations for your next book club read.

The Sellout and Hillbilly Elegy book podcast episode

The Sellout + Hillbilly Elegy • #1

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March 19, 2017/Posted by: The Book Club Review

  Listen in to our book club episode on The Sellout, Paul Beatty’s satirical novel that won the Booker Prize in 2016, and Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance. The narrator of The Sellout spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe his father’s pioneering work will result in […]

Our book clubs report back on The Sellout, Paul Beatty's Booker winning satire and Hillbilly Elegy, the memoir by J.D. Vance that commentators claimed made sense of the election of Donald Trump. Two politically charged books, but what did our book clubs make of them? Listen in to find out if you should add them to your reading pile.