Book Shambles

On an Apollo 50th special we talk to a number of people about a single book, Arthur C Clarke’s 1986 book ‘July 20th 2019’ in which he imagines what life might be like on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Recorded mostly at the Latitude Festival on said anniversary, with book in hand, Robin chats to Chris Lintott, Helen Czerski, Kevin Fong and Suzie Imber about their impressions of Clarke’s...

The second episode recorded live from The Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin and Josie are joined by comedian Reginald D Hunter. They chat about what's changed in Reginald's comedy in the twenty years he's been in the UK, the books his sisters made him read, the power of Charlie Brown, Richard Wright, Neil Postman and much more. Also this week, play the fun guessing game of who it was Josi...

We are back! Recorded live from the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin and Josie are joined by actor Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Treme) who is currently winning acclaim for his lead turn in Death of a Salesman at The Young Vic. They chat about Arthur Miller and the potency of the Loman family being portrayed by an African American cast, bad accents in The Wire, Taylor Branch, Kate Grenville...

With Robin and Josie both on tour at the moment, and Book Shambles on a small break, we thought you might enjoy a bit of a Book Shambles / Science Shambles crossover episode. Helen Czerski is still in the host chair subbing for Robin and this week she is joined by cosmologist and best selling science author Marcus Chown. His latest book, Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand, looks at fifty bonkers th...

Robin is joined by guest co-host Bec Hill to chat to author and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen about his new book Not Working. They chat about the psychology of various authors from Emily Dickinson to David Foster Wallace and why Orson Welles was a workaholic. Also features a cameo from Sunday Times #1 bestseller Matt Parker. Support the podcast to hear extended editions of each episode at http://patreo...

This week Robin, and returning guest co-host Bec Hill, are joined by acclaimed US author Jarett Kobek. His novel I Hate the Internet is a regularly mentioned favourite on this podcast, so while he was in the UK it seemed only right to get him into the studio. They chat about that book, his new book Only Americans Burn in Hell, video games, virtue in the age of Trump and other favourite authors. Su...

Author Kerry Hudson joins Robin this week, along with guest co-host Bec Hill, to talk about her new book Lowborn which is out very soon. They talk about classism, poverty, Dennis Potter and the healing power of libraries. To find out more about the charities mentioned in this episode, go to cosmicshambles.com/bookshambles/kerryhudson Support the podcast and everything we do at the CSN by pledging...

This week one of our Shambles bloggers, Pete Etchells, joins Robin and guest co-host Bec Hill, to talk about his brand new book Lost in a Good Game. They chat about the book, video games, Douglas Adams, the Stanford Prison Experiment and much more. Pete's book is out now and you can read his blog at cosmicshambles.com/words/blogs/peteetchells Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get...

This week we welcome back a Book Shambles regular, and recent Sunday Times Number One Bestseller, Philippa Perry. She joins Robin and guest co-host Bec Hill to talk about her new book, The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, youth fiction, Janne Teller and, ah, Rocky IV... Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. 10 bonus minutes await pl...

Everyone from Robin to Alan Moore has talked about Picnic Comma Lightning on the podcast so we thought it high time we had its author, Laurence Scott, on the show to talk about. Joined by guest co-host Bec Hill, they chat about the new reality of the digital age, the Fyre Festival, Nabokov, Virginia Woolf and more. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each an...

Recorded live at the Manchester Science Festival Robin chats to writer and psychologist Charles Fernyhough and neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott. They chat about Charles latest book The Voices Within, it's influence on Robin's book, some of the most influential books in psychology and doing experiments on your own children... Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended edit...

The journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about politics, the joy of library books, the joy of putting in brand new book shelves and some of her favourite books. Also Robin is annoyed Billy Wilder wasn't forced to make more films. Support the podcast and network and get things like extended editions of each episode at patreon.com/bookshambles

US theatre and filmmaker Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam, Corrina, Corrina) was in town last week for the opening of Tony Award nominated musical Waitress for which she wrote the book based on the film of the same name. So Robin caught up with her for a Book Shambles Extra to chat about books that have inspired her, her differing experiences writing for stage and screen and writing her first musical. Supp...

Author JB Morrison, who you might know better as Jim Bob, frontman of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, joins Robin and Josie in the studio this week. They talk about moving from songwriter to novel writer and his new memoir In the Shadow of My Former Self which is out very soon. Plus there's chat of Cormac McCarthy, Jean Rhys and Status Quo. Because of course there is. Support the podcast at pa...

A Book Shambles / Science Shambles crossover. Robin is joined in studio by Professor Gina Rippon and Dr Julia Shaw to talk about their new science books, The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience That Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain and Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side. They dive into topics like the lack of women in STEM, the myth of the male and female brain, false memor...

The final episode we recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin and guest co-host Sarah Kendall are joined by solar physicist and author Professor Lucie Green. Recorded right after Alan Moore's episode from last week, Lucie fact checks Alan's graphic novels and then chats about building satellites in sheds, Judge Dredd regrets, space based poetry, speed reading Tina Fey and her own book about the su...

Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin is joined by guest co-host Sarah Kendall and Alan Moore. They chat about where real science has influenced Alan's works, why Trump's election might be a result of too many superhero films and the best motorway services in and around Milton Keynes. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. There'...

Kate Davies debut novel, In at the Deep End, comes out this week. Josie read an advanced copy and fell in love with it so we got Kate into the studio to chat about it with her and Robin. Not only that, she came armed with a list of her favourite books divided into categories! So the three of them dig into the best sexy, queer and funny books from Zadie Smith to Diana Athill, Stephen Fry and beyond...

This week Philippa Perry joins Robin as co-host and they chat with writer and performer Rebecca Peyton. They talk about the process of working with editors, psychotherapy, the joy of a good sad book and the work of Joseph Heller, Min Jin Lee, Joseph Conrad and more. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

This week's episode is a comics special as Robin is joined in studio by our resident comics expert, comedian Nat Metcalfe and Tom Oldham of Breakdown Press. They chat about Douglas Dixon, Ken Reid, Lando and why too many comics these days are starting to read like storyboards for a future Netflix series. As always there's an extended version for Patreon pledgers and this week features and extra 15...

For pretty much as long as we've been producing Book Shambles, Josie has been recommending everyone read the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. She even had the first book on her cape in Cosmic Superheroes. So with the My Beautiful Friend series just coming out we thought we should do a Ferrante special with Josie and two other mega fans. So joined by Sara Pascoe and Tania Edwards, they dig into...

A triple podcast crossover this week as Vitriola's Michael Legge subs in for Josie Long and our guest is The Allusionist's Helen Zaltzman in the studio with Robin. They chat about favourite showbiz memoirs and diaries, Scientology books and the time Iggy Pop stage dived at an eleven year old and landed on his face. Extended edition for Patreon supporters as always. Become one at patreon.com/booksh...

Geneticist, author and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford joins Robin and Josie in the studio this week to talk about many things including his latest book, The Book of Humans. They chat about the peril of writing books that will go out of date, bad misuses of genetics, who was racist even by Victorian standards and Adam tries to remember the difference between The Odyssey and The Iliad. Extended vers...

We lots of specials and time specific episodes towards the end of 2018, so we've yet to put out the final episode we recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe, so here it is! Robin is joined by comedian and author Mark Watson and the new writing team Ambrose Parry, comprised of crime writer Christopher Brookmyre and anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman. They chat about the differences between writing crime...

Robin and Josie have both been guests on RHLSTP so we thought it high time that we had Richard Herring on Book Shambles. He joins us in the studio to chat about favourite early comedy books from the likes of Monty Python and Not the Nine O'Clock News and then they try to work out how the Amazon book charts work as Robin and Rich's latest books battle it out on the 'Jokes and Riddles' charts. To he...