Reading for Attention

Well, well, well, if it isn't us us us and if we aren't reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. As a special Hallowe'en treat, we finally managed (a month ago) to record an ep especially for you you you. Join us as we dive into the wonderfully weird world of video games and, more importantly, their creators. Zevin has really pulled it out ze bag for this one. Also, Paul has the meat sweats fro...

Guess what - we've finally bothered to record a pod! Aren't we just SO great? We're back with bang, talking about Monica Heisey's Really Good, Actually, and washing it down with a Chardonnay which is usually minging but every once in a while you find one that's really good, actually. Aside from that, we catch up with international travel maven, Sarah Jane Hopkins who has just returned from Mehico...

First things first! Paul, I'm sorry I haven't recorded a new intro yet. It's on the TDL babes. Second things second! We're both really sorry about the sound qual of this one. It's poor. It's only cos we get too excited and start deepthroating our microphones, which we're sure you'll understand, and would do too if you were one half of an internationally famous, publicly, privately, and critically...

Well folx, hold on to your tits because this one is chaos. This week we're chatting about Yara Rodrigues Fowler's Stubborn Archivist, a form-bending piece of autofiction perfy for all you millennial minxes. Sarah didn't like it but Paul did so Sarah likes it now, and we're both certain that you'll love it. Then we talk about tits, kidneys (lack of), Succession (no spoilers though, we aren't dickhe...

We're baaaack! Hiya hunnies, welcome home. The first ep of season 4 is all about Emily Henry's bestselling stunner of a book Book Lovers . It has all the ingredients for a gorgeous flirty summer read - a sexy, high-achieving, powerful woman, a sexy, high-achieving, powerful man (in a suit), and... well, does the rest even matter? Get it READ! Then we talk about what seems like litchurally everythi...

Well hunnies, it's the season/series/season three finale and we have truly saved the best till last. We're treating your lugs to our musings on Keira Andrews' Kidnapped By The Pirate, a swashbuckling tale of romance, shagging and umbilical cords. Since Christmas is but a distant memory, we've ditched the mulled wine for whatever drink we could find in our cupboards + rum.  You can also hear u...

Hello gorgies! Today, we're talking about why Jennette McCurdy is glad her mom (mam) died. This is a harrowing story of years-long maternal abuse but our Jen tells it with wit and charm. Saz didn't think she was a fan but by the end of the ep she sort of changes her mind? It's a goodun if you ask me (Paul) so have yourself a merry little read. I'd recommend an accompanying cosmopolitan. And if you...

Why hello Jane! We're back and better(ish) than ever! We've read the 2022 BOOKER PRIZE WINNER this week, Shehan Karunatilaka's The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. And, wow, do we have a lot of thoughts on it. Espesh Saz. We wash* it down with a 7&7 OC style baybay. Delish. Then we chat our usual swivel, and my god aren't you happy to hear it? We cover ear infections, BLACKPINK, Aftersun, Aftersu...

Hiya huns! Apols not apols for the late upload, we're busy live laugh loving (TM) our way through Autumn and we think you should be too (but, let us accompany you on your hunventures). This week we read/glanced at Hunsnet's sensash The Hundamental Guide to Life and, let us tell you, if you are a hun-in-training or fully-fledged Hun royalty, you're going to want to wrap your eyes around this crucia...

ATTENTION ALL ATTENTION SEEKERS - WE HAVE A GUEST. This week we are reading The Enhancers , the debut novel by Anne K Yoder. But we're not just chatting about it, we're interviewing the author herself! Tune in to hear all about Anne's other life as a pharmacist and how it influenced this dystopian tale set in the fictional near-future town of Lumena Hills. We had a gorgeous chinwag over a Chloroph...

We’re back from our one week hiatus and Sarah is now fully recovered from her hangover. This week we’re reading Raven Smith’s Men and having two pints of lager and a packet of crisps like the blokes we are. Stunning.  There's also a highly exclusive, incredibly elusive tale from Sarah's weekend involving an Academy and Grammy award-winning actress, but if you want to find out more, you'll hav...

Bonjour hunnés. This week we’re reading Piranesi by Susannah Clarke. Piranesi, the poor lad, is stuck in an endless labyrinth of rooms and statues with no knowledge of the outside world. To be fair, he seems pretty content about it, until he starts uncovering the truth. To drink, we’ve got a mystical creation, and Paul is smug about his. We counterbalance the (vaguely) academic chat with our absol...

This week, speshes, we're chattin' Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley. Leila is the youngest EVER nominee for the Booker Prize aka a massive show off. Nightcrawling is challenging, heart wrenching and bloody brilliant. Afterwards, to lighten the mood, Sarah and Paul recommend some good horror films then go on to discuss the funniest film moments of all time - objectively. See ya next week chickies xxx...

This week, we're discussing Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados. And it's happy hour, so we're drinking an espresso martini with a prosecco chaser. Isa and Gala flit around New York without a care in the world, except the next time they're going to get their hands on a French martini. This book is light-hearted, hilarious and gives Paul extreme anxiety. Next, it's into the good stuff - Selling the OC a...

This week, friends and enemies, we've read Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Emira babysits for a posh white woman who thinks she's woke AF. She has a white boyfriend who thinks he's woke AF. But the woker they reckon they are, the more problematic it all feels. All Emira wants is to make a bit of money and spend some time with Briar, her favourite (strangely advanced) little baby child. We discuss th...

It’s series 3 baby! We. Are. Back. And we’re funnier, cleverer and FITTER than ever before. Join us for another rip-roaring hour of prestige podcast chat. To kick off the series, we’re reading Gay Bar by Jeremy Atherton Lin, which interrogates the institution of (you guessed it) the gay bar. This book is sexy, it’s naughty, it’s educational, and for Paul and Sarah it’s oh so nostalgic. We wash the...

Attention Seekers, we have come to the end of series 2. I hope you've all booked in weekly therapy sessions over the summer to cope with the planet-sized chasm we are going to leave in your lives. In this eppy, we talk tit licking, holiday reading, and our top 3 books of the series. Why not test your Paul/Sarah fandom by guessing along?! We are going to miss you hunnies but fear not - we'll be bac...

Hi Girlies, Well, the season finale is upon us!* And what better way to end a fabulous sophomore spree than recounting the delicious nuggets of filtered but otherwise completely unedited wisdom bestowed upon us by the Queen of Instagram - Molly-Mae Hague. That's right followers friends, we've read (and LOVED) the Love Island break-out star's memoir. Jam-packed with 23 whole years of... stuff... th...

Hiya gorgeous baby cakeys! This week we've had a good old read of the mega CATCHY Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Polish literary sensash Olga Tokarczuk. Don't let the title put you off because despite all the murders and the bleak pontifications on animals not being as important as humanz, and the stuff about stars, this is actually a really funny and rather cosy read. Think The Thu...

So apparently everyone is talking about No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Except us. Well, now we bloody well are. This is the story of a woman who lives her life inside the portal. In other words, she’s in a perpetual world of YouTube holes, Tiktok swiping and Instagram doomscrolling. I can’t relate, myself. We wash this one down with a DELICIOUS, fan-recommended gin basil smash...

In this week's episode of Reading for Attention, we journey north to Sri Lanka for A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam. Krishan receives a phone call to let him know his grandmother's carer has been found dead at the bottom of a well. Krishan travels from New Delhi to attend the funeral, contemplating life along the way. Sarah set us the impossible task of a crafting Sri Lankan cocktail this week...

Morning Attention Seekers. This week's ep is Jennifer Egan's The Candy House. Sazza's been waiting 11 years for this Goon Squad follow up and BY GEORGE is she excited about it. Paul on the other hand... not so much. We're washing this one down with a nostalgia-tastic Dip Dab-tini (with slight modifications because it was much harder to get our hands on a Dip Dab than we imagined).  Also in th...

Sarah is in Lisbon which means we haven't had a chance to record this week. But fear not! We're treating you to an extra speshy bonus eppy where we talk about our fave childhood books and how they helped us become the absolute stunners we are today. We're not going to reveal what they are because we want you to listen (duh). In this eppy, we say the word 'vivid' a lot. Every memory is vivid AF. No...

Destransition, Baby is this week’s book and it was recommended by one thousand (three) fans. Meet Reese, Ames and Katrina, a trans woman, a trans woman who has detransitioned, and a cis woman, respectively. Katrina finds herself pregnant by Ames even though Ames thought he was sterile due to hormone treatment. Reese is desperate to be a mother. Can they all be parents to the same baby? Fresh, shar...

This week's eppylicious is all about two things: The Audacity (Katherine Ryan's hilarious memoir) and Eurovision (the single most important event in the global calendar). We marvel over Katherine Ryan's effortless wit, charm and unapologeticness (Sarah says 'unapologetically' approx. 95 times) while drinking a beautiful glass of Porta (which Paul mispronounces as Porto). Then it's onto Eurovision....