Book Shambles

Author and avid swimmer Jenny Landreth joins the show to talk about her latest book Swell: A Waterbiography. She also brought along a bag full of her favourite books about swimming including works by Al Alvarez, Tanya Shadrick and Leanne Shapton. Stewart Lee is still around at the start of the episode for a lovely bit of synchronicity and Josie Long was still off with norovirus so Michael Legge is...

If you missed the news, we're going to putting out some shorter Book Shambles Extra episodes on Sunday. These will be more focused, in theory, conversations with an author just about their new or upcoming book with either Robin or Josie. In this Book Shambles Extra, Robin chats to Dr Meg Jay, writer and clinical psychologist about her new book, Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resili...

On this week’s episode Josie and Robin are joined in the studio by journalist and novelist Clare Swatman. They chat about Clare’s brand new novel The Mother’s Secret as well as books on time travel, Margaret Atwood, Maggie O’Farrell, Limsip, bad reviews and favourite true stories from Take a Break magazine. Patreon supporters can enjoy an extended version of this episode. If you’d like to join our...

In Part 2 of Stewart Lee's second visit to Book Shambles, Stew, Robin and guest co-host Michael Legge continue their conversation getting into the work of Rosemary Tonks, David Keenan, Dave Graney and Ithell Colquhoun. Also Stew doesn't like Dunkirk and Michael's annoyed on trains. This show wouldn't be possible without the support of our brilliant Patreon supporters. You can pledge to the show an...

Stewart Lee was our first ever guest on Book Shambles and now he’s back in Season 7 as our first return guest. Unfortunately Josie was ill at the last minute so for this episode the role of Josie was played by Michael Legge. Robin, Michael and Stew chat about Jarret Kobek, Alice Cooper and Mohave Ethnopsychiatry. This was a long chat so we’ve split it into two parts. To hear an extended version of...

Here are two extracts from two longer conversations on our Patreon channel with children's author Christoper Edge and playwright and director Philip Ridley. Both Robin and Josie will be doing a lot more of these non-studio chats in the coming months and you can hear them all by pledging as little as $1 at patreon.com/bookshambles Without the support of our Patreons we simply couldn't make the show...

Following two highly successful cookbooks after she finished runner up on Great British Bake Off, Ruby Tandoh first ‘book’ book Eat Up! has just been published looking at the fun, pleasure and symbolism of food to fly in the face of fads and bad diet science. She joins Josie and Robin to chat about that plus great cookbooks, Nora Ephron, suffragettes and her mental health zine. To hear an extended...

Science fiction writer Andy Weir joins Robin to talk about his new novel Artemis and his huge hit The Martian. They chat about the pressure of keeping science fiction scientifically accurate, manned space flight and whether science fiction is actually a genre. Andy is also a massive Doctor Who and Star Trek fan so there’s a lot of chat about that and it gets pretty nerdy. Please note that Andy was...

We kick of Season 7 with the stand up, writer, director and actor Jeff Garlin, who you may know best as Larry David’s agent Jeff from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Robin and Josie chat with Jeff about comic books, Madame Bovary, great books about trees and making sure you don’t confuse Iain Banks with Iain Rankin. New Patreon rewards tiers have been introduced. Find out how to get involved and maybe even...

Start the New year with the final of of our End of Year Specials. Recorded backstage at the Apollo we chat about best books of the year, science fiction, physics and go through Brian Cox's Kindle. Guests include Jim Al-Khalili, Dr Karl, Jo Brand, Charlotte Church, Chris Hadfield, Terry Virts, Dara O Briain and Brian Cox. We'll back at the end of January with series 7 of Book Shambles. Become a pat...

It's Part II of our end of year specials, but Part I of those we recorded backstage at the Hammersmith Apollo as part of the Compendium of Reason gigs. Guests on this episode include Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ben Goldacre, Helen Czerski, Jon Butterworth, Steve Mould, Hannah Fry, Laura Kid and Steve Best with book recommendations from photography collections to graphic novels to expansive novels. Be sur...

In the first instalment of our multi part end of year specials Josie and Robin chat about the best books they've read this year. Josie's got some poetry and short book recommendations and Robin's got some horror books and has finally read a Jean Rhys book. Also Nat Metcalfe pops in to give us his top comics of the year. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles  All new exclusive perks comin...

The 2017 Royal Institute's Christmas Lectures will be given by our good friend, cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott. So before they air on Boxing Day Sophie joined Robin and Josie to talk about her favourite psychology books, great thrillers, closed bookshops and the latest research on dreams and communication. Be sure to watch the Christmas Lectures on the BBC and also check out Sophi...

While Josie was in Glasgow, Robin caught up with a Glaswegian in London from Australia. As the frontman for Cold Chisel, and a solo artist with more number one albums to his name in Australia than anyone else in history, Jimmy Barnes is a rock legend. But more recently he's released a two volume autobiography about his harrowing childhood and youth that has garnered him multiple top literary prize...

After joining Robin and Josie for a Film Shambles special, Will Smith (The Thick of It, Veep) is back for a Book Shambles. They chat about his own books and books about the Channel Islands and a whole lot more besides. This episode may have the longest reading list yet. From Zola to Le Carré via Jean Rhys and Terry Jones. Become a Patreon for as little as $3 a month. You'll get extended episodes,...

While out in New Zealand Robin and Josie chatted to one of NZ's most celebrated science writers, Dr Rebecca Priestley. They chat about Rebecca's own work and her time in Antarctica as well as work through the big stack of books Rebecca brought in. From collections of essays and poetry, to the writings of Atul Gawande, Helen Macdonald and lots more. Please note that the small temporary studio we we...

Founder of the iconic group The Go Betweens, Robert Forster, joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about his new book Grant and I. There's also chat of the work of Alan Bennett, Jack Kerouac and TS Elliot. And then Josie discovers Robert is a fan of The Neapolitan Novels... To hear extended versions of Book Shambles plus the chance to win great book prizes, and bask in the satisfaction of knowin...

With Paddington 2 hitting cinemas tomorrow, Robin and Josie are joined by one of its script contributors, plus performers for the original film, Will Smith for a special episode, a much requested Film Shambles. You might best know Will from his work on shows like The Thick of It but did you also know he collects old films on VHS and associated promo tat? From Hawk the Slayer to A Girl Walks Home A...

Recorded back when the Book Shambles crew were out in Australia, we spoke with dual Miles Franklin award winner Kim Scott, whose new book Taboo has recently been published. Robin and Josie chat with Kim about some of his favourite books from when he was an English teacher, his own novels, imposter syndrome, Aboriginal storytelling and his work with preserving the Indigenous Australian Noongar lang...

It's our first ever live episode of Book Shambles! Recorded at QEDCon in Manchester Robin Ince is joined by a panel of top science writers including Dr Dean Burnett, Dr Helen Czerski, Helen Keen and Ginny Smith. They chat about everyone's own science writing plus the work of Douglas Adams, Oliver Sacks, George RR Martin and lots more. Including sex magic with L. Ron Hubbard... Support Book Shamble...

Singer-Songwriter Tanita Tikaram visited Robin and Josie in the Book Shambles studio armed with a bag of her favourite books. There's talk of Maya Angelou, Patrick Hamilton, Margaret Rutherford and the launching of a campaign to get some of Dorothy Porter's work reissued. To get extended versions of each episode, you can support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

Another Book Shambles EXTRA, free and uncut for all listeners. Recorded back at the Latitude Festival, Robin caught up with four fantastic poets to talk about their work and influences. Hollie McNish, Murray Lachlan Young, Luke Wright and John Osborne. Obviously, being recorded at a festival there is a bit of background noise and music at times but that just adds to the atmosphere. Back next week...

Writer and performer Matt Lucas joins Josie and Robin this week ahead of the launch of his alphabetical autobiography Little Me. They chat about the process of writing memories plus stories of Little Britain, touring, comedy annuals and the work of favourite authors such as Douglas Adams, Edmund White and Michael Carson. Become a Patreon supporter of Book Shambles for as little as $3 a month and y...

A Book Shambles EXTRA this week, free and unedited for everyone. Robin chats extensively with sleep expert and neuroscientists Matthew Walker about his new book, Why We Sleep, out this week. They chat about the evolution of sleep, dreams, Jung defecating on cathedrals, alien abductions, the writing of Carl Sagan, Knausgaard and more. Next week will be a 'normal' episode with an extended edition fo...

Poet Lemn Sissay joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about his first major acting role, being a poet as a full time job, some of his early poetry inspirations including Oku Onuora, Grace Nichols and Langston Hughes and the rise of great young, new poets such as Kate Tempest. Become a Patreon supporter of the show for as little as $1 an episode to get exclusive bonus episodes, extended editions...