For our 100th podcast episode we turn the spotlight on ourselves a little more than usual to answer listeners’ questions. From our favourite childhood reads to the books that shaped us as adults, from books which kept us up all night to books we disagree on (with a shocking mid-show revelation from Laura that threatens to derail the whole discussion), listen in to learn more about us as readers, how we met and how our books podcast came to be.
Book recommendations
Childhood reads
The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent Dyer
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and Little Plum by Rumer Godden
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien
Dark Canyon by Louis L’Amour
A Devil to Ride by Patricia Leitch
Cobbler’s Dream by Monica Dickens
Howl’s Moving Castle and other books by Diana Wynne Jones
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
White Boots, Ballet Shoes, Theatre Shoes andHollywood Shoes by Noel Streatfield
Transition books
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
General books
Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine
Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar
The Time-Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenneger
Watership Down by Douglas Adams
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W. E. Bowman
Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin
The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Parisian Lives by Deidre Bair
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
West With the Night by Beryl Markham
Travels by Michael Crichton
Don’t Miss
If you enjoyed this podcast episode don’t miss our other shows for a full book-club discussion of some of the books we touched on here.
• Episode 6: The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine
• Episode 94: Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden
• Episode 89: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
• Episode 35: Normal People by Sally Rooney
While the following books are featured in the linked shows:
• The Moth and the Mountain: #88
• The Idiot by Elif Batuman: #6
• Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir: #95
• Parisian Lives by Deidre Bair: #95
• West with the Night by Beryl Markham: #85
Notes
Listen via the media player above or your podcast app here.
Over to you
Have you read any of the books we discuss here? What did you think? Let us know your favourite reads, we love to hear from you.
