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book club book reviews

Bookshelf: Easter reads • Episode #141

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May 8, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Our bookshelf episodes are the ones where we compare notes on the books we’ve been reading outside of book club. In this episode Laura has been reading the latest from Animal Life, the latest novel from podcast favourite, Icelandic author Audur Ava Olafsdottir. A short, quiet novel, but one that struck a chord. She’s also […]

Join us as we compare notes on the books we've been reading outside of book club lately, including smash hit Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, The Mirror Visitor Quartet, a fantasy epic from French author Christelle Dabos and the entertaining classic Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson.

Free and The Snow Ball • Book Club, episode #140

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April 5, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We’re joined by friend and journalist Phil Chaffee to discuss FREE by Lea Ypi, a memoir of her Albanian childhood and of life amid the collapse of Communism. The book won the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize and was on many a best-book of 2022 […]

Join us as we read and discuss Lea Ypi's powerful memoir of her Albanian childhood, Free, and contrast this with the sensuous decadence of Brigid Brophy's New Year's Eve novel The Snow Ball. With Phil Chaffee.

Bookshopaholics: The Paperhound • Episode #139

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April 5, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

When in Vancouver, run to the coolest bookstore you can find and interview the owner. Such is the busman’s holiday I’ve recently been enjoying on a visit to Laura’s hometown. It also fits nicely into a new series we’ve been cooking up where we get to indulge our love of independent bookshops. First up is […]

Bookshopaholics is our new series of occasional episodes where we get to indulge our love of independent bookshops. Every episode we'll be visiting a different bookshop, chatting with the owners and pulling some gems off the shelves. This week, taking advantage of a sojourn in Vancouver, Kate visits iconic used and antiquarian bookstore The Paperhound.

Books podcast episode: Spring Reads

Bookshelf: Spring Reads • Episode #138

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April 5, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Our bookshelf episodes are the ones where we kick back and talk about the books we’ve been choosing for ourselves outside of our book club reading. And so join us as we get swept away by the French Revolution and Hilary Mantel’s spellbinding book A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, consider myth and storytelling with a […]

Our bookshelf episodes are the ones where we kick back and talk about the books we’ve been choosing for ourselves outside of our book club reading. And so join us as we get swept away, from Salman Rushdie's latest to a lesser-known work by Hilary Mantel.

Books podcast: Future Reads 2023 episode with Chrissy Ryan from Bookbar

Future reads 2023: Episode #137

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February 20, 2023/Posted by: Kate

Future reads! It’s always good to have things to look forward to in life, and the books we can see coming up on the horizon are no exception. In this episode we’ll be finding out the books that Chrissy Ryan and her team at Bookbar are excited about. Whether it’s new books from authors we […]

Come with us for a look into the future as we hear from Chrissy Ryan and her team at Bookbar and find out the must-read books coming up in 2023.

Books podcast: winter reading podcast episode

Bookshelf: Winter reads • #136

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February 18, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

It’s Bookshelf time here at The Book Club Review podcast, when we talk about the books we’re reading outside of book club, the ones we get to pick and choose for ourselves. And so listen in to find out what Laura thought of The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd, a lesser-known backlist gem, A Place […]

Catch up with us and the books that have been keeping us company through the winter months, the ones we've been reading outside of book club.

Books podcast: The Thursday Murder Club podcast episode

The Thursday Murder Club • #135

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January 27, 2023/Posted by: The Book Club Review

The Thursday Murder Club: When a book sells upwards of five and a half million copies and film rights are snapped up by none other than Steven Spielberg it seems to us a special episode is in order. And so join us as we dive into, and attempt to make sense of, the publishing phenomenon […]

Join us as Kate and two very special guests give The Thursday Murder Club the book club treatment. No spoilers, just lots of good discussion as we try to understand just what it is that so many people love about this book. Plus a range of recommendations for your next read.

Best Books of 2022 podcast episode

Best Books of 2022 • Episode #134

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December 27, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

It’s our best books of 2022, one of our favourite episodes to record as by this point we’ve done all the hard work of reading, now it’s time to sit back and consider which, of all the books we read in 2022, were our very favourites. That might be a new release or it might […]

It's our best books of 2022, one of our favourite episodes to record as by this point we've done all the hard work of reading, now it's time to sit back and consider which, of all the books we read in 2022, were our very favourites. That might be a new release or it might be a backlist gem. We've also got the books that got us through difficult moments, the books that made us laugh or cry, and the ones we recommended and gave to friends. As we're nothing if not critical we've got some books that didn't quite live up to our expectations before we finally crown our top three books of 2022.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, My Phantoms and Eight Months on Ghazzah Street book podcast episode

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, My Phantoms and Eight Months on Ghazzah Street • Episode #133

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December 11, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We catch up with 2022 Booker Prize winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Kate may have loved it, when she read it for our Booker Prize special episode, but what did the rest of her book club make of it? And we catch up with two recent reads for Laura’s book […]

We catch up with not one, not two, but three recent book club reads this episode, plus follow-on book recommendations. Listen in to find out how the Booker prizewinner, a recently released novel and a backlist gem fared in book club debate, and whether or not we think you should seek them out.

Books podcast: Fitzcarraldo editions podcast interview

Fitzcarraldo Editions, with Jacques Testard • #132

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November 27, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

This episode is a celebration of the joy we find in Fitzcarraldo Editions, an independent publishing house that makes no concessions towards mass appeal but instead offers up books that are consistently ambitious, imaginative and innovative. Their hallmark is their plain typographic covers that allow the words inside to speak for themselves. The editorial line […]

Join us as we deep-dive into Fitzcarraldo Editions, the independent publisher started by Jacques Testard and now publishing four Nobel prizewinners. Which of their books are our favourites? Which do we recommend? And why are they all so sad? Important questions, and we’re joined by Sam MacAuslan, keen Fitzcarraldo reader, to help answer them and uncover some particular gems from the list. Listen here or via your favourite podcatcher at this link, or go to the episode page for full show notes.

Books podcast: Rob Delaney A Heart That Works podcast episode

A Heart That Works, with Rob Delaney • #131

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November 12, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

In episode #131 we’re joined by comedian, actor and author Rob Delaney to talk about his book A Heart That Works. As so often with books that pack a powerful emotional punch this deals with a difficult subject as Rob tells the story of the death of his young son Henry, and considers his own […]

We’re joined by comedian, actor and author Rob Delaney to talk about his book A Heart That Works, in which he tells the story of the death of his young son. We discuss the wisdom and solace to be found in books with some great recommendations along the way.

Bookshelf: Autumn Reads • #130

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November 11, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

As the clocks change and darkness falls in the UK, what books are we turning to? Listen in for our latest selection, including the mushroom book that has Kate spellbound, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. Laura meanwhile has been reading the ‘questionable’ Run by Ann Patchett and has more than a few things to say about […]

Listen in as we run through a stack of recent reads, including Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life and let us help you decide whether or not to bother with Ann Patchett's novel Run

Books podcast: The Booker Prize 2022

The Booker Prize 2022 • #129

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October 16, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

The nights are drawing in, the leaves are on the ground, summer reading seems but a distant memory, it must be time for The Booker Prize 2022. Our most demanding, but possibly also our favourite episode of the year as we’re joined by bookshop owner Chrissy Ryan of Bookbar, and journalist and pod regular Phil Chaffee to […]

Listen in to find out which books we loved, which ones we wished we could have avoided, and which one we think should win the 2022 Booker Prize.

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi book podcast episode

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi • #128

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October 2, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

  Since publication in 2019 The Hummingbird, by Italian Sandro Veronesi (translated into English by Elena Pala), has wowed readers and fellow-authors alike. ‘A gripping masterpiece’, ‘a life-affirming triumph’ ‘unforgettable’… Just what is all the fuss about? Marco Carrera is ‘the hummingbird’, a man with the almost supernatural ability to stay still as the world […]

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi: 'A gripping masterpiece', 'a life-affirming triumph' 'unforgettable'... Just what is all the fuss about? Join us as we find out, with Phil Chaffee and Jo Norman.

Book Club Review Podcast episode 127

Bookshelf: Autumn book report • #127

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September 20, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Back together again after the summer, we’re catching up on all the books we’ve been reading. So listen in for our reactions to summer buzz book Tomorrrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. We also cover three from the 2022 Booker Prize longlist, Trust by Hernan Diaz, The Trees by Percival Everett and After Sappho by […]

Back together again after the summer, we're catching up on all the books we've been reading. We're also celebrating our five-year anniversary with some new theme music and we're sharing our plans and projects for the pod

Young Bloomsbury podcast episode

Young Bloomsbury, with Nino Strachey • #126

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August 7, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Step back in time with us as Kate visits Charleston home of Vanessa Bell and important gathering place for the members of the Bloomsbury Group, that collection of writers and artists including Virginia Woolf that coalesced around Gordon Square in London. Undaunted by the ghosts of her relatives Nino Strachey, author of a new book, Young […]

Step back in time with us as Kate visits Charleston home of Vanessa Bell and important gathering place for the members of the Bloomsbury Group, that collection of writers and artists including Virginia Woolf that coalesced around Gordon Square in London. Undaunted by the ghosts of her relatives Nino Strachey, author of a new book, Young Bloomsbury, joins us to discuss the up-and-coming younger generation.

women's prize podcast episode

The Women’s Prize 2022 • #125

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July 29, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

“How any woman with a family ever put pen to paper I cannot fathom.’ Virginia Woolf wrote, ‘Always the bell rings and the baker calls.’ It did indeed prove almost impossible to get four women into the same room to discuss all six books on the 2022 Women’s Prize shortlist, but after much postponement and […]

Listen in for our full and frank take on the winner of the 2022 Women's Prize for fiction: The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki and the other five books on the shortlist. Does Ozeki's book hold up against the competition? Maybe you don’t have time to read them all and just want to read one? Let us help you decide.

The Inseparables podcast episode

The Inseparables, with Anna Baillie-Karas • #124

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July 15, 2022/Posted by: Kate

Les Inseparables, or The Inseparables is a novel that was never published in Simone de Beauvoir’s lifetime. The story goes she showed it to Jean-Paul Sartre and he held his nose. It tells of the intense childhood friendship between Sylvie and Andrée, who were Beauvoir’s fictional models for herself and her real-life friend Zaza Lacoin. […]

Join Kate and books podcaster Anna Baillie-Karas, in town taking short break from her own podcast Books on the Go to discuss The Inseparables, a 'lost' novel from Simone de Beauvoir, recently translated into English by Lauren Elkin. But what did we make of it? Should you add it to your reading pile? And would it be a good one for book club? Listen in and find out, plus catch our follow-on book recommendations.

Mrs Dalloway • #123

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July 4, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Dull account of one woman’s day or rich and resonant masterpiece? Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf has divided readers since it was published and continues to spark debate today. In London, one day in June, 1923, society hostess Clarissa Dalloway sets out to buy flowers for a party she is giving that evening. Returning home […]

Dull account of one woman’s day or rich and resonant masterpiece? Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf has divided readers since it was published and continues to spark debate today. Join Kate and special guest, prolific reader and Instagram book reviewer Charles Pignal as they dive into Dalloway and debate the results. Plus a host of other book recommendations on a London theme.

summer reading books podcast

Summer Reading 2022 • #122

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June 20, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Whether you’re soaking up Nutcrackers on Rockaway beach like Kate’s book-reviewing heroine Molly Young, throwing down a picnic rug in your garden or the local park, fighting your way through airport chaos with the promise of a trip abroad or cosying up with a warm blanket in the Southern Hemisphere, we’ve got the Summer Reading […]

Whether you’re soaking up Nutcrackers on Rockaway beach like Kate’s book-reviewing heroine Molly Young, throwing down a picnic rug in your garden or the local park, fighting your way through airport chaos with the promise of a trip abroad or cosying up with a warm blanket in the Southern Hemisphere, we’ve got the Summer Reading show for you. It’s packed full of recommendations including our own favourite beach reads and tips from booksellers, authors and other friends of the pod.