The books that get you talking
The books that get you talking
A breath of fresh air in the form of Emily’s Walking Book Club. Join us as we wander the green spaces of London’s Hampstead Heath, coming up with book recommendations along the way.
A breath of fresh air in the form of Emily's Walking Book Club. Join us as we wander the green spaces of London's Hampstead Heath, coming up with book recommendations along the way.
Lockdown kept us indoors, but in some ways it opened our horizons. With a little help from technology we crossed the Atlantic to catch up with Claire Handscombe, presenter and producer of BritLit, a fortnightly podcast that tracks what’s going on in the British publishing world. From Claire’s novel Unscripted to her favourite recent reads, […]
Claire Handscombe tells us about her mission to bring the best British books to America, plus what makes for the perfect beach read.
The London Metropolitan Archives collects, preserves, celebrates and shares the stories of London and Londoners. They also have a book group, open to all, that meets monthly to explore a range of London writing, fiction or non-fiction, for all periods in London history. Not only do participants get to discuss the book, they also get […]
Where history and literature combine, the London Metropolitan Archives book club tackles everything from Ben Judah's controversial This Is London to the surprisingly racy 18th-century journal of James Boswell. Archivists Charlie and Claire tell us more.
The early days of motherhood might not seem an obvious moment to expand your reading horizons, but for Elizabeth Morris the combination of night-time wake-ups and heightened emotional sensitivity led her to a new appreciation of the printed word. After the birth of her son she decided to build on her career in the book […]
When all you have are stolen moments, you want to be sure you're spending them with the right book. Enter Elizabeth Morris, creator of brilliant books newsletter Crib Notes. Listen in to hear her recommendations for new and busy mothers – and meet guest star baby Rose.
We discover a book club for people who don’t like the idea of all having to read the same book. At Bee’s Bookshare everyone brings a book they’ve loved, loathed, can’t put down or can’t get into and shares them – best of all everyone gets to take away a new read at the end. We […]
In Margate, by the sea, Bee runs a book club with a difference, everyone reads a different book, brings it along to discuss, and then takes a new book home at the end.
If you’d like to start a book club but are wondering who to invite, how about staying close to home? Annie and Dave tell us about their successful family book club, which has kept their family engaging with books and debating their merits for seven years now. They share their tips for making it work […]
Looking to take your next family get-together to another level? Just add books. Annie and Dave tell us how to do it – and how to stay civil when the debate heats up.
Our latest interview is with Tyona Campbell, owner of Barnabees, a very special secondhand bookshop tucked away in the small Suffolk village of Westleton. Tyona tells us how her shop is in a small way a protest against the data-gathering online giants, why in her shop the books they find you, and why books benefit […]
In the best bookshops, you don’t find the books, they find you. Or so insists Tyona, proud owner of what she wryly calls 'the second best secondhand bookshop in Westleton, Suffolk'.
Tucked away in London’s Soho is a hidden gem of a bookshop. The Second Shelf sells rare and antiquarian books, modern first editions, ephemera, manuscripts, and rediscovered works – all by women. Proprietor A. N. Devers told us how she went from rare-book dealing to shopkeeping. We also hear about the bookshelves that regularly make […]
Tucked away in a quiet Soho courtyard, this jewel box of a bookshop is doing something radical: selling rare books by women and women only. Founder A.N. Devers tells us how the small act of collecting is transformative for the canon.
Ever dreamed of owning a bookstore? How about one a stone’s throw from the beach? When Francesca Wilkins realised the British seaside town of Margate didn’t have a bookshop selling new titles, she realised it was the perfect place to realise her lifelong ambition and launch her own. Listen in for the behind-the-scenes story and the […]
Ever dreamed of owning a bookstore? How about one a stone’s throw from the beach? Francesca Wilkins tells us how she made the ultimate dream a reality.
For a ton of great recommendations – most of which were new to us – we turned to Anna Baillie-Karas from Australian podcast Books on the Go. Listen in to hear about some books that might be new to you, or ones that you might have overlooked when they came out. And finally a book […]
We caught up with Anna Baillie-Karas, host of one of our favourite podcasts, Books on the Go, on a flying visit to London. Listen in for a ton of great book recommendations.
Too often in the reading world we chase the latest new release. So, it was a great pleasure to interview Simon Thomas who specialises in seeking out books from the past. We discuss his unusual take on a book club where he and like-minded book bloggers read and review books from a particular year in […]
Up for a spot of time travel? Then join Simon Thomas and his band of book bloggers as they transport themselves back in time by each reading a book – any book – published from a specific year.
From Game of Thrones to Watership Down, via Haruki Marukami, Margaret Atwood, Frank Herbert and everything in-between, Mostly Harmless are a thriving book club devoted to sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comics. We interviewed founders Derek and Barbara about the hits and misses over the years. They shared a great set of expert recommendations for die-hard […]
From Game of Thrones to Watership Down, we talk to Derek and Barbara who run Mostly Harmless, a flourishing book club devoted to sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comics. They give us recommendations for everyone from die-hard enthusiasts to genre first-timers.
A special interview with Simon Schama, historian, academic, documentary maker, journalist, cultural polymath and keen fiction reader. Listen in to find out what sends him to sleep happy, how his reading informs his writing, his favourite bookstores, his views on the pleasure of imperfect books, and best of all a ton of book suggestions. Plus […]
Historian, academic, documentary maker, journalist, cultural polymath, Simon Schama is also a keen reader of fiction. Listen in to find out what sends him to sleep happy, his views on the pleasure of imperfect books, and best of all a ton of book recommendations.
What’s it like to be in a book club that only reads frightening books? And what is fear anyway? It turns out it means different things to different people. Join us for a fascinating interview with Andy Russell, who runs London’s Horror Book Club, and find out why there may be much more to the […]
What's it like to be in a book club that only reads frightening books? And what is fear anyway? It turns out it means different things to different people. Join us for a fascinating interview with Andy Russell, who runs London's Horror Book Club, and find out why there may be much more to the horror genre than you think.
Whether for book club or your TBR shelf, 2019 may be the year for a challenge. But what is it about classics such as Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, or Homer’s Iliad, James Joyce’s Ulysses or Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain that makes them seem more daunting than pleasurable? Fear not, we have just the […]
Whether for book club or your TBR shelf, 2019 may be the year for a challenge. But what is it about classics such as Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, or Homer’s Iliad, James Joyce's Ulysses or Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain that makes them seem more daunting than pleasurable? Listen in to find out how Toby guides her group through books that many struggle to finish alone.
From hockey team to all-male book club with 50+ members, Jim West tells us how founding The Paperbacks revealed ‘the great undiscovered demographic’: men who read. Book recommendations Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver by Stephen R. Bown The Lonely End of the Rink: Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie by […]
From hockey team to all-male book club with over fifty members, Jim West tells us how founding The Paperbacks revealed 'the great undiscovered demographic': men who read.
What do you do when your small start-up book club is so popular that you quickly become overwhelmed with new members? For Eléonore Pratoussy of the Lesbian Book Club in East London, it signalled a need for more lesbian book groups. Happily she has a plan to expand. Eléonore and fellow bookclubbers Caroline and Carina […]
What do you do when your small start-up book club is so popular that you quickly become overwhelmed with new members? For Eléonore Pratoussy of the Lesbian Book Club in East London, it signalled a need for more lesbian book groups. Listen in to hear the secrets of her success and a ton of great book recommendations.</strong.
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.
