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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.

Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland

Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland • #121

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

Join us as we venture into the far north in the company of Tété-Michel Kpomassie, or Michel the Giant, whose life was changed as a boy in the 1950s when he came across a book about Greenland in a bookshop in his hometown in Togo, West Africa. Realising that this was a country where it […]

Join us as we venture to the frozen north in the company of Tété-Michel Kpomassie, an adventurer from Togo, West Africa who became transfixed by the idea of living in a country so different to his own. We discuss his travel-memoir and find out what Laura's book club make of it, plus recommend more books on a polar theme.'

The Year I Stopped to Notice by Miranda Keeling

The Year I Stopped to Notice, with Miranda Keeling • #120

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May 31, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

We fly through books pretty fast here at The Book Club Review. And so we were delighted to be joined by Miranda Keeling, whose book The Year I Stopped to Notice showed us the delights of slowing down and noticing the little things happening all around us. She joined us in the shed to talk […]

We fly through books pretty fast here at The Book Club Review. And so we were delighted to be joined by Miranda Keeling, whose book The Year I Stopped to Notice showed us the delights of slowing down and noticing the little things happening all around us. We've also got some fabulous related book recommendations so listen in and let us help you choose your next read.

Bookshelf podcast episode book covers

Bookshelf: From a page-turning literary thriller to a guilty pleasure fantasy read • #119

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May 14, 2022/Posted by: The Book Club Review

Join us as we catch up on our recent reads outside of book club, the books we’re picking and choosing for ourselves. Laura enjoys The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting, declaring it ‘unputdownable’, and  a good antidote to the brilliant but rather more serious novel The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen (her Vancouver book […]

Join us as we catch up on our recent reads outside of book club, the books we're picking and choosing for ourselves, from historical thriller The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting to the fantasy writer Kate currently can't put down, V.E. Schwab.

the country of others by Leïla Slimani podcast episode

The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani • #118

May 1, 2022/Posted by: Kate

Join us as we deep-dive into Ferrante-esque family saga The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani. Critics and fellow authors have been impressed: Salman Rushdie called it ‘an exceptional novel’ while Claire Messud ‘didn’t want it to end’ but what did Laura’s book club make of The Country of Others (translated into English by Sam Taylor), […]

Join us as we discuss bestselling author and Prix Goncourt winner Leïla Slimani's latest novel, The Country of Others (translated by Sam Taylor), the first in a planned trilogy. Captivating family drama or 'tedious misery lit'? Listen in to find out what Laura's book club thought of it, plus we're joined by a special guest for a Moroccan reader's perspective.

book club podcast episode

Bookshelf: The books we’re reading outside of book club • #117

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

Our bookshelf shows are the ones where we get to cut loose and follow our own preferences, so listen in as Kate tries to figure out the best way to show up for her life after reading Oliver Burkeman’s 4,000 Hours. Meanwhile Laura is drawn into ’A dark world of desire and fantasy’ with French prizewinner […]

Join us as we discuss the books we've been reading recently outside of book club, from Sunday Times bestsellers to a philosophical French page-turner.

Motherhood podcast ident

Motherhood • With Claire Lynch • #116

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

It’s Mother’s Day here in the UK and as there’s nothing Kate loves more than a special episode we’ve put together a show on the theme of motherhood. We’re joined by Claire Lynch, author of Small: On Motherhoods, her literary memoir of her own unusual journey into motherhood. Elizabeth Morris of Crib Notes book club […]

Join us as we explore the theme of motherhood with Claire Lynch, author of Small: On Motherhoods, and Elizabeth Morris of Crib Notes book club – who better to help us pull together our essential reads on the topic. Listen in to discover our favourites.