The Book Club Review

Salman Rushdie's most recent novel Victory City was published in February 2023 to much critical acclaim but, as ever here at the Book Club Review, we're interested in what Laura's book club made of it. Our friend and pod regular, journalist Philip Chaffee is here to report back, along with first-time guest, avid reader and keen book clubber Charlie Chichester. Listen in for our full and frank disc...

Our Bookshelf episodes are the ones dedicated to the books we're each reading outside of book club, the ones we tend to love because we chose them for ourselves. Laura has been reading the latest from ANIMAL LIFE, the latest novel from podcast favourite, Icelandic author Audur Ava Olafsdottir. A short, quiet novel, but one that struck a chord. She's also been happily working through THE MIRROR VIS...

We're joined by friend and journalist Phil Chaffee to discuss FREE by Lea Ypi, a memoir of her Albanian childhood and of life amid the collapse of Communism. The book won the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize and was on many a best-book of 2022 list. Both our book clubs read this one, but what did they make of it? We'll be re...

When in Vancouver, run to the coolest bookstore you can find and interview the owner. Such is the busman's holiday I've recently been enjoying on a visit to Laura's hometown. It also fits nicely into a new series we've been cooking up where we get to indulge our love of independent bookshops. First up is The Paperhound, owned by Kim Koch and Rod Clarke, which offers a fine selection of used and ra...

Our bookshelf episodes are the ones where we kick back and talk about the books we've been choosing for ourselves outside of our book club reading. And so join us as we get swept away by the French Revolution and Hilary Mantel's spellbinding book A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, consider myth and storytelling with a surprisingly feminist slant thanks to Salman Rushdie's latest novel, VICTORY CITY, see a...

It's always good to have things to look forward to in life, and the books we can see coming up on the horizon are no exception. In this episode we'll be finding out the books that Chrissy Ryan and her team at Bookbar are excited about. Whether it's new books from authors we here at the Book Club Review have loved in the past or exciting new debuts from authors we've never heard of, we're primed an...

It's Bookshelf time here at The Book Club Review podcast, when we talk about the books we're reading outside of book club, the ones we get to pick and choose for ourselves. And so listen in to find out what Laura thought of The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd, a lesser-known backlist gem, A Place of Greater Safety , Booker-winner Hilary Mantel's immersive doorstop about the French revolution, and The G...

When a book sells upwards of five and a half million copies and film rights are snapped up by none other than Steven Spielberg it seems to us a special episode is in order. And so join us as we dive into, and attempt to make sense of, the publishing phenomenon that is The Thursday Murder Club, the cozy crime novel set in a retirement community by TV-producer and presenter-turned-author Richard Osm...

It's our best books of 2022, one of our favourite episodes to record as by this point we've done all the hard work of reading, now it's time to sit back and consider which, of all the books we read in 2022, were our very favourites. That might be a new release or it might be a backlist gem. We've also got the books that got us through difficult moments, the books that made us laugh or cry, and the...

We catch up with 2022 Booker Prize winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Kate may have loved it, when she read it for our Booker Prize special episode , but what did the rest of her book club make of it? And we catch up with two recent reads for Laura's book group. The first is My Phantoms , the most recent novel from critics favourite Gwendoline Riley. What's all the fus...

Today's episode is a celebration of the joy we find in Fitzcarraldo Editions , an independent publishing house that makes no concessions towards mass appeal but instead offers up books that are consistently ambitious, imaginative and innovative. Their hallmark is their plain typographic covers that allow the words inside to speak for themselves. The editorial line maintained by publisher Jacques T...

A special episode this week as we're joined by comedian, actor and author Rob Delaney to talk about his book A Heart That Works. As so often with books that pack a powerful emotional punch this deals with a difficult subject as Rob tells the story of the death of his young son Henry, and considers his own journey through the grieving process. It's also a deeply moving, funny, thought-provoking and...

A stack of books for Autumn nights: Laura dives in to the page-turning but 'questionable' Run by Anne Patchett, and is riveted by Gwendolyn Riley's My Phantoms , while all Kate can think about is mushrooms thanks to Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life . She's also been dipping into Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe's essay collection, Rogues . Also discussed Amazon reviews vs. Goodreads, ho...

Our most demanding, but possibly also our favourite episode of the year as we're joined by Chrissy Ryan of Bookbar and journalist Phil Chaffee to discuss and debate this year's six shortlisted books. Although we might rail at this much required reading all in one go, the truth is we love tackling the Booker shortlist, which expands our horizons and stretches us as readers like nothing else. So lis...

Since publication in 2019 The Hummingbird , by Italian Sandro Veronesi (translated into English by Elena Pala), has wowed readers and fellow-authors alike. 'A gripping masterpiece', 'a life-affirming triumph' 'unforgettable'... Just what is all the fuss about? We're joined by pod regular Phil Chaffee and first-timer Jo Norman, both members of Laura's book club, to find out. We've also got four unm...

Back together again after the summer, Kate and Laura are catching up on all the books they managed to get through. So listen in for their reactions to summer must-read Tomorrrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. They also covered three books from the Booker Longlist, Trust by Hernan Diaz, The Trees by Percival Everett and After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz. And a couple of long reads: fo...

Step back in time with us as Kate visits Charleston home of Vanessa Bell and important gathering place for the members of the Bloomsbury Group, that collection of writers and artists including Virginia Woolf that coalesced around Gordon Square in London. Undaunted by the ghosts of her relatives Nino Strachey, author of a new book, Young Bloomsbury , joins us to discuss the up-and-coming younger ge...

We love a prize and we love a special episode, and so we're delighted to have an excuse to get together to discuss the 2022 Women's Prize shortlist and its winner, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. The Women's Prize is the UK's annual book award that celebrates the best books written by women. Key criteria for the Prize are accessibility, originality and excellence in writing. Judges a...

The Inseparables is a novel that was never published in Simone de Beauvoir's lifetime. The story goes she showed it to Jean-Paul Sartre and he held his nose. It tells of the intense childhood friendship between Sylvie and Andrée, who were Beauvoir's fictional models for herself and her real-life friend Zaza Lacoin. The translation is by Lauren Elkin, author of Flâneuse , and the book comes with an...

Dull account of one woman's day or rich and resonant masterpiece? Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf has divided readers since it was published and continues to spark debate today. In London, one day in June, 1923, society hostess Clarissa Dalloway sets out to buy flowers for a party she is giving that evening. Returning home later she is visited by an old friend, Peter Walsh, who rekindles memories a...

Whether you're soaking up Nutcrackers on Rockaway beach like Kate's book-reviewing heroine Molly Young , throwing down a picnic rug in your garden or the local park, fighting your way through airport chaos with the promise of a trip abroad or cosying up with a warm blanket in the Southern Hemisphere, we've got the Summer Reading show for you. It's packed full of recommendations including our own f...

Join us as we venture to the frozen north in the very enjoyable company of Tété-Michel Kpomassie, who left his home of Togo, West Africa to pursue his dream of living in Greenland. While we may not have been 100% sold on the cuisine, we were fascinated by his experiences and the unique perspective he brings to his observations about the society he encounters there. First published in English in 19...

This episode is all about finding the extraordinary in the everyday, in the little things that may pass us by if we don't pay attention. And so join us as we talk to Miranda Keeling about her book The Year I Stopped to Notice, a joyful, poignant and familiar portrait of everyday life that Neil Gaiman called 'beautiful' and Philip Pullman 'a delight'. Together with Miranda we also recommend six oth...

Join us as we catch up on our recent reads outside of book club, the books we're picking and choosing for ourselves. Laura enjoys The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting, declaring it 'unputdownable', and a good antidote to the brilliant but rather more serious novel The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen (her Vancouver book club's pick). We're joined by journalist Phil Chaffee who shares his...

Author Salman Rushdie called it 'an exceptional novel' while Claire Messud 'didn't want it to end' but what did Laura's book club make of this first book in a new trilogy from French-Moroccan sensation Leïla Slimani? We're joined by regular pod-listener Youssra, who gave us her insight into how the book has been received in her native Morocco. And we've got our usual round of book recommendations...