The Book Club Review

Our bookshelf shows are the ones where we get to cut loose and follow our own preferences, so listen in as Kate tries to figure out the best way to show up for her life after reading Oliver Burkeman's 4,000 Hours. Meanwhile Laura is drawn into 'A dark world of desire and fantasy' with French prizewinner No Touching by Ketty Rouf, we figure out via an emergency call to an Irish friend how to pronou...

It's Mother's Day here in the UK and as there's nothing Kate loves more than a special episode we've put together a show on the theme of Motherhood. We're joined by Claire Lynch, author of Small: On Motherhoods, her literary memoir of her own unusual journey into motherhood. Elizabeth Morris of Crib Notes book club joins us too – who better to help us pull together our essential reads on the topic...

Book recommendations galore from author Francesca Beauman, who is also publisher and bookshop proprietor of Persephone Books. In her latest book, The Literaray Almanac , Francesca aims to guide readers in choosing books that chime with moments in the year – from hopeful books to read in March to school curriculum classics not-nearly-as-boring-as-you-remember them in September. We also explore the...

Join us as we discuss Benjamin Labatut's Booker International shortlisted novel When We Cease to Understand the World , 2020 Baillie Gifford prizewinner One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown and 2021 Costa biography prizewinner Fall: A Life of Robert Maxwell by John Preston, The Outlander by Gil Adams, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and The Sanitorium by Sarah...

We've all felt the lure of the short, sweet read, one of those slim books you can finish in a few hours, maybe over a hot cup of tea. But what about the books that may take weeks, even months, to read? The door stoppers, the heavy weights, the long reads. Think Dickens, Tolstoy, and George Eliot, think Hilary Mantel, David Foster Wallace, and Donna Tartt. We dive into The Magic Mountain, Thomas Ma...

Wondering what books 2022 has in store for you? What will be your next great read? We're joined by industry insiders Chrissy Ryan, of dream bookshop Bookbar, and Elizabeth Morris of the Crib Notes newsletter to talk what's hot and what to look forward to. We've got your #tbr future-proofed. Book list: Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades The Heavens...

Dazzling, original, heartfelt and exhilarating, or bleak, depressing, incoherent and unrealistic? What did Kate's book club make of The Promise , Damon Galgut's Booker-winning novel, which tells the story of one white South-African family, and the promise made to their black servant, Salome. Join us as we discuss the book with Stuart Marshall and listen out for our follow-on book recommendations,...

Charmingly eccentric tale with a sharply feminist point of view or a 'hot mess' – what did Laura's book club make of Lolly Willowes by Silvia Townsend Warner? Meanwhile The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers explores loneliness, the human need for understanding and the search for love. What did Kate's book club think. Should you pick it up? Listen in to find out. We also discuss Furious Hou...

It's part 2 of our end-of-year special, in which we look back over the books we read outside of book club, the ones we chose for ourselves, and pick out our favourites. And so listen in for more book recommendations than you can shake a stick a, plus recommendations from our book clubs and friends of the pod. We also look ahead to some new releases coming out in 2022. Booklist Kate's top three fav...

In part one of our 2021 end-of-year special episode we look back over the books we've covered for book club. Which ones have stayed with us? Which were our stand outs? And which are we going to crown our book club book of the year. Whether you're looking for your next book club read or just a great book for your personal reading pile, don't miss it. We also look forward to new book club plans and...

Join us as we talk all things books, apocalypses, whales and the Costa Prize shortlist with Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding. It's a novel about a woman who survives the end-of-the-world by hiding inside the belly of a whale. Find out why we loved it, as we consider its place in the canon of apocalypse novels from Z for Zachariah to The Road. We've also got a ton of book club recommendations,...

Join us as we dive, in spoiler-free fashion, into Lauren Groff's latest novel, Matrix. It tells of Marie de France, a cast-off from Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's court, exiled to be a prioress at a run-down Abbey inhabited by starving nuns. Devastated and grieving the young Marie thinks only of regaining the queen's favour and returning to court. Gradually, though, she comes to see that if she is t...

Join us as we discuss the 2021 Booker shortlist in typical book club style, with journalist Phil Chaffee and Chrissy Ryan, owner of Bookbar . We livestream the Booker ceremony so you can catch our immediate reactions to the winner. Did we agree? Was there a book we loved more? Was there one we loathed? Whether we loved them or loathed them, as ever, you can be assured of good debate. We thoroughly...

It's our latest Book Club episode, and we're discussing Rachel Cusk's latest novel, Second Place. It was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, but didn't make the cut for the shortlist. Sally Rooney calls it 'masterful', saying it 'achieves a kind of formal perfection' while the Observer newspaper lauds it as 'A landmark in twenty-first-century English literature.' But what did Laura's book club m...

We've shaken the sand from our flip-flops and put our suitcases away. Now it's back to business as Kate and Laura catch up on their recent reads, everything from this year's Booker International Prize winner to a fantasy romp about teenage wizards. Booklist Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop Mud and Stars by tra...

"Ashto" and "Jonesy" are two Australians who devour books on everything from self-improvement to business and marketing for their weekly podcast, What You Will Learn. They've recently launched their own book, The Sh*t They Never Taught You. They joined Kate to discuss what books have taught them, and provide her with some personal bibliotherapy to kick her out of her counter-productive ways. Liste...

It's our 2021 Summer Reading episode! What are we looking for in our summer reading? We want books that are going to carry us away, books that are immersive and compelling, books that take us places and teach us things. Sometimes we want short reads to suit our mood, others we want long immersive books that will last us through the summer. And as ever, we want books we can discuss and debate. Embr...

Looking for something a little off the beaten path for your reading pile? Join us as we discuss Like A Sword Wound by renowned Turkish writer Ahmet Altan. It's the first volume in a quartet and traces not only the social currents of the final years of the Ottoman Empire but also the erotic and emotional lives of its characters. Like A Sword Wound has been described as the Turkish War & Peace....

In celebration of our 100th 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 read...

It's here. After weeks of reading, tons of post-it notes and a WhatsApp group busy with thoughts flying back and forth we proudly present our 2021 Women's Prize episode. We're joined by returning podcast guests Elizabeth Morris and Sarah Oliver to review all six shortlisted titles. This is book club so expect the full range of opinions, find out what we loved, and what we didn't, but we've also wo...

A magazine that has always been dear to our hearts is Penguin's Happy Reader , an occasional publication that takes inspiration from the idea of a book club. In the early days of the podcast we were delighted to interview its editor Seb Emina. To celebrate the launch of The Happy Reader 's latest edition we're releasing that interview again. From the thinking that goes into every issue, from treas...

Join us as we discuss The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's a modern classic, 1989 Booker Prize winner and the author is also the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature but none of this led Laura to hold back, calling it 'dull' and incredibly slow reading. But, of course, hers is not the only voice, so listen in to find out what Kate thought, and what Laura's book club thought. We've al...

We chat with Chrissy Ryan, founder of Bookbar, a new bookshop and bar in Kate's North London neighbourhood. Chrissy's vision is for Bookbar to be a social space where people can discover their next read and meet other readers in a place where conversation is encouraged. We loved hearing about everything from her in-house book club featuring authors like Ingrid Persaud, Brit Bennett and Curtis Sitt...

Listen in for Laura's take on Matt Haig's bestselling The Midnight Library, which Kate hasn't yet read. Should she? Meanwhile Kate gets swept into literary Paris with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir. Laura takes us to Iceland with an immersive novel that she now wants everyone to drop everything and read, and we catch up with Deborah Levy with the third volume of her living autobiography, Re...

Join us as we tackle this unusual book that mixes prose with poetry and a play script, in which Death is embodied in the form of an old black woman. Mrs Death befriends a young writer, Wolf, who agrees to ghost-write her memoirs. Laura and her book club had strong reactions against this book. It's up to Kate and our special guest author Gary Wigglesworth to see if they can make the others see it i...