Conversations about the books that get people talking
Conversations about the books that get people talking
In this episode: Kate and Laura are catching up on Autumn books ahead of their 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 […]
Kate and Laura swap notes on their Autumn reading, while gearing up to dive into the Booker Prize shortlist.
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. […]
Kate and Laura talk books in Seattle, including recent reads and bookshop favourites. Also featured, literary cocktails.
We’re back from the beach and reflecting on our summer reading in this bonus length bookshelf episode. On Kate’s stack summer favourite GRETA AND VALDIN by Rebecca K. Reilly, Olivia Laing’s memoir THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME, the hotly tipped HEADSHOT by Rita Bullwinkel, TRUST by Hernan Diaz, Miranda July’s new novel ALL FOURS and upcoming […]
Kate and Laura are back from the beach and catching up on the books they read over the summer. Find out their favourites, plus the perfect formula for a book party and what happens when you only read one book at a time.
Laura’s on a flying visit to London, and so of course we took the opportunity to get together and swap notes on our recent reading. Regular guest Phil Chaffee dialled in from New York to add his picks to the mix. Find out what we thought of summer it-book The Ministry of Time by Kaliane […]
Listen in as we catch up with our summer reads, including book-of-the-season The Ministry of Time and an unputdownable art world memoir, All That Glitters.
So Many Damn Books podcast creator and host Christopher Hermelin joins Kate to swap book recommendations and discuss the magic of book club, recent book discoveries, bookish pet peeves and more… Listen via the media player above, or your preferred podcast player with this Podfollow link. Book list The Eyes & The Impossible by Dave […]
So Many Damn Books podcast creator and host Christopher Hermelin joins Kate to swap book recommendations and discuss the magic of book club, recent book discoveries, bookish pet peeves and more...
Join me (Kate) and Laura as we go through our bookstacks and discuss our recent reads. Find out what why Laura can’t put down The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Meanwhile I’ve discovered Mrs Miniver, a comfort read from the 1930s that still has a message for us today, Laura’s made a discovery of her […]
From the literary London of Charles Dickens to 21st century Romantasy with sex and dragons, listen in to our recent reads
Summer reading is in the air. Listen in as Kate and Laura swap feel-good early summer reads. Much to their relief after Rodham, the sex in Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel ROMANTIC COMEDY turns out to be as good as the rest of it. Meanwhile Kate is surprised and entertained by Monica Heisey’s REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY. […]
We're feeling the summer feels in this latest Bookshelf episode and reaching for feel good reads. Listen in to hear some of our recent favourites.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Join us as we discuss Benjamín Labatut’s Booker International Prize shortlisted novel When We Cease to Understand the World, 2021 Baillie Gifford prizewinner One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown and 2021 Costa Biography prizewinner Fall: A Life of Robert Maxwell by John Preston, The Outlander by Gil Adams, The Invisible Life of […]
Let us help you find your next great read as we catch up on the stand-out books from our reading piles. We might not always agree, but we guarantee you'll hear our honest responses. So listen in for everything from literary prizewinners to bestselling thrillers.
Here in the UK we’ve got a petrol crisis, the days are getting noticeably shorter and the last two weeks of unbroken autumn sunshine seem to have come to an end. Things feel a little gloomy – but happily we have a new episode out to distract us. We’ve got heavy hitters, like David Diop’s […]
Listen in as we catch up with our latest reads, everything from this year's Booker International Prize winner to a fantasy romp about teenage wizards. Listen in and let us help you decide what to read next, whether for yourself or for book club.
It’s our 2021 summer reading episode! What are we looking for in our summer reading? We want books that are going to carry us away, books that are immersive and compelling, books that take us places and teach us things. Sometimes we want short reads to suit our mood, others we want long immersive books […]
What are we looking for in our summer reading? We want books that are going to carry us away, books that are immersive and compelling, books that take us places and teach us things. Sometimes we want short reads to suit our mood, others we want long immersive books that will last us through the summer. And as ever, we want books we can discuss and debate. Join us as we compile our essential list for Summer 2021.
Or listen via your favourite podcast app here. In this episode we get Laura’s take on Matt Haig’s bestselling novel The Midnight Library, which Kate hasn’t yet read. Should she? Meanwhile Kate gets swept into literary Paris with Deidre Bair’s memoir of her time writing biographies of Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, Parisian Lives. Laura […]
We're both in a travelling mood as our recent reads take us from an imaginary library to real life Paris, with stopovers in Iceland, India and Greece, not to mention Kate's exciting visit to a real-life bookshop for the first time in ages. It's all here in our latest episode of Bookshelf.
Listen above or via your favourite podcast player here. In this episode Kate gets tied up in existential knots over House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas and we consider the parallels between this 800-page fantasy bonkbuster and War and Peace. We explore the idea of ‘reading offsetting’ whereby we balance our guilty […]
Join us as we review the books we've each been reading outside of book club – the ones we get to pick and choose for ourselves. From otherworldly bonkbuster House of Earth and Blood to a memoir of an Arctic winter our books have certainly been taking us places this month.
Or listen in your podcast app here. We love our book clubs, but our bookshelf shows are all about the books we choose for ourselves. What books are we picking up to get us through January and February, tough months in any normal year but in 2021 we’re also struggling with lockdown. Want some recommendations […]
Looking for books to get you through January and February? Already tough months in a normal year, this year they feel particularly dire as we struggle through yet another lockdown. Here to help: a handful of book recommendations we think you'll love.
Or listen via your podcast app. What were the best, most unmissable reads of 2020? We bring you our biggest recommendations show yet, with over 50 books loved by us, our book clubs, and our three special guests. But what were our most loved reads of 2020? Listen in for our six top books and […]
Join us for our biggest recommendations show yet featuring over 50 books as we run through our favourites from 2020, the best-loved reads from three special guests and top-picks from our book clubs. Listen in and make 2021 your best reading year yet.
Our Bookshelf episodes are the ones where we get to let our hair down and talk about the things we’re reading outside of our book clubs, the books that we get to pick and choose. So listen in as Kate is bewitched by the new Susanna Clarke novel Piranesi, charmed by Shirley Jackson’s memoir of […]
Our Bookshelf episodes are where you find out the books we choose when our book clubs aren't directing us to worthy choices. So listen in for everything from hot new releases like Piranesi by Susanna Clarke to riveting backlist titles, like Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily, and some guilty pleasure reads we don't regret for a second.
It’s an eclectic mix in this episode as we work through what has been on our bookshelves recently, but we loved all of these reads. Listen in to find out why. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener Morning by Allan Jenkins West with the Night by Beryl Markham A Drop […]
The books that have seen us through lockdown, from up-to-the moment read In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado to forgotten classic William Melvin Kelley's A Drop of Patience.
We love our book clubs, but our Bookshelf shows are all about the books we get to choose for ourselves. From comfort reads to intellectual challenges, we run through our recent picks. In this show we have a particularly eclectic mix, incorporating everything from hot new releases to out-of-print childhood favourites. Just what it is […]
When the world shuts down, what books do we reach for? We share the books getting us through lockdown, including 2020 buzz books Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid.
Bookshelf is our regular show where we talk about books read in-between our book club books, the ones that we get to pick and choose. In this episode we begin in London with period drama Belgravia by Julian Fellowes, and urban fantasy Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. We escape to France, and sunny Provence with unreconstructed male-wish-fulfilment […]
What are the books getting us through lockdown? We may not be able to travel, but the books we're reading this month are certainly taking us places. Listen in as we run through our latest Bookshelf.
It’s another Bookshelf episode where we discuss the books we’re each reading beyond book club – the ones we get to pick and choose! We discover the world of Tana French, and her literary psychological thrillers, laugh and cry with John Boyne’s Heart’s Invisible Furies, are underwhelmed by Philip Pullman’s Secret Commonwealth, venture into frozen […]
Our round up of our latest reads beyond book club sees us dip into the latest Philip Pullman and some dark Norwegian fiction from Hanne Østavik, plus books to make you smile, from John Boyne's Heart's Invisible Furies to comfort-read classic Cold Comfort Farm.
What do we read when we’re not reading book club books? This episode it’s non-fiction. Kate gets her head around Helen Hanff’s eccentric relationship with the secondhand bookselling world in 84 Charing Cross Road, is seduced by the gloss and glamour of the art world with Sarah Thornton and inspired by Michelle Obama’s powerful memoir […]
We hit the non-fiction this episode, with beloved classic of the secondhand book world 84 Charing Cross Road to Marianne Power’s adventures in the world of self help. We also venture into the contemporary art world, find out what it's like to become First Lady and enjoy Trevor Noah’s unputdownable memoir, Born A Crime.
We love our Bookshelf shows as we get to discuss the books we’re reading outside of book club, the ones we get to choose for ourselves. This episode Laura is swept away by Esi Edugyan’s pacey novel Washington Black, beguiled by Venetian fantasy The Lies of Locke Lamora and laughs and cries with Candice Carty-Williams’ […]
Laura can’t wait to rave about her non-book club books this week, from Candice Carty-Williams’ groundbreaking Queenie to the fantasy realms of Locke Lamora, with Washington Black by Esi Eduygan thrown in. While Kate reports in on bittersweet comedy The Friend, revels in a year spent in a clifftop house by the sea thanks to Juliet Blaxland's Easternmost House, and is blown away by Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys.
We discuss the books we’re reading outside of book club, the ones we get to pick and choose. Join us as we successfully identify the perfect beach read for this summer, get to the bottom of Kate’s problem with audio books (and the cure, The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton), muse on what it’s like […]
We’re hunting for the perfect beach read in this episode, with The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton and Transcription by Kate Atkinson both in the running. We also cover parenting and life lessons from Philippa Perry and consider Sally Rooney’s short story Mr Salary.
From powerful fiction from Sarah Moss and Samantha Harvey, to the most engaging book about running you’re likely to come across, and reads to make you smile from Norah Ephron and Maria Semple, it’s an enjoyably mixed bag this week. Listen in to hear what we thought of them, the hits and misses and whether […]
Listen in to hear the books we sneak off to read when we’re not reading for book club. We have powerful fiction from Sarah Moss and Samantha Harvey; if you think you might like reading books about running Kate has the perfect title for you; and Norah Ephron and Maria Semple make us smile. It’s an enjoyably mixed bag this week.
What do we read when not busy reading our book club books? Listen in to hear about the books we pick and choose when we’re left to our own devices. This episode it’s a wide-ranging list as we report in on Lily Allen’s My Thoughts Exactly, The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis, the provocative Poverty […]
What do we read when we're not reading our book club books? Listen in to hear about the books we choose for ourselves, as we declare our undying love for Michael Lewis, consider the hardships faced by people who have little to live on, venture out to the Orkney Islands, enjoy a French classic and dip into some parenting books and some literary fiction.
Our Bookshelf shows are the ones where we talk about the books we’re each reading outside of book club, the ones we get to choose for ourselves. What do we turn to? This episode we’ve got memoirs, fiction, fantasy and Michael Lewis’s slightly uncategorizable Moneyball (it’s about the buying and selling of players in the […]
Our bookshelf shows are the ones where we talk about the books we're each reading outside of book club, the ones we get to choose for ourselves. Listen in as we've got a brilliant mixed bag from Dolly Alderton's memoir Everything I Know About Love to Michael Lewis's baseball page-turner Moneyball.
What do we read when not reading book club books? The ones we get to pick and choose? This episode, we’ve got the usual eclectic mix. We discover the joys of sheep-farming with ‘Twitter’s favourite shepherd’ James Rebanks, wonder if it’s a good idea to go into hibernation with Otessa Moshfegh, brush up on our […]
What books do we reach for when we're not reading for book club? Listen in for an eclectic mix ranging from sheep-farming to literary prizewinners. What did we make of them? And have we discovered any gems for book club?
