ABC Australia

The Bookshelf

Arts EN ↓ 520 episodes

What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

Author

ABC Australia

Episodes

On Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me and Joanne Harris's The Strawberry Thief, and the bookshelves of Caro Llewellyn and Dervla McTiernan 19.04.2019 54:04

Consciousness and artificial intelligence in Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me, a life defined by books and reading with Caro Llewellyn, writing Irish police procedurals in Perth with Dervla McTiernan, and a longtime fan of Joanne Harris reviews her latest novel.

On Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future, Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, the Stella Prize and the reading habits of Jenny Brockie and Sam Twyford-Moore 12.04.2019 53:57

Journalist and television presenter Jenny Brockie, and writer Sam Twyford-Moore, join Kate and Cassie to review Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future and Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, and Louise Swinn from the Stella Prize for writing by Australian women comes along to discuss this year's selection

On Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh, Dave Eggers' The Parade and Katherine Kovacic's Bookshelf 05.04.2019 54:06

Novelists Jamie Marina Lau and Belinda Castles join Kate and Cassie as they talk about Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel and Dave Eggers' The Parade. And crime writer Katherine Kovacic reveals the Bookshelf that Made Her.

Novels by Andrea Goldsmith, Sarah Moss, Niviaq Korneliussen, Felicity McLean and José Luís Peixoto 29.03.2019 54:06

Critic Kate Jinx and ABC RN producer of audio fiction Sophie Townsend join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Andrea Goldsmith's Invented Lives, Sarah Moss's Ghost Wall, Niviaq Korneliussen's Crimson and Felicity McLean's The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone, while Portuguese writer José Luís Peixoto reveals the books that have influenced him.

On Leah Kaminsky's The Hollow Bones, Ben Marcus's Notes from the Fog, Julie Keys, The Artist’s Portrait, Katherine Kovacic, Painting in the Shadows and Andrea Goldsmith on books 22.03.2019 54:07

Writers Ceridwen Dovey and Kelly Gardiner join Kate and Cassie to talk new books, and Andrea Goldsmith reveals how reading has allowed her to be 'privately wild'.

On Mark Brandi's The Rip, Dervla McTiernan's The Scholar, Leïla Slimani's Adèle and Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds 15.03.2019 54:06

Crime fiction specialist Sue Turnbull and reviewer Nicole Abadee join Kate and Cassie as they ponder, among other things, whether liking a character (or not) impacts a reader's sense of literary merit.

On Carrie Tiffany's Exploded View, Peggy Frew's Islands, Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six and the bookshelf that made Karen Viggers 08.03.2019 54:06

Novelist and translator Tiffany Tsao and music industry specialist Leanne de Souza join Cassie and Kate in a show that features four novels by women, for International Women's Day.

On Melissa Harrison's All Among the Barley, Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black and Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost 01.03.2019 54:07

Writer and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke and bookseller and academic Elias Greig join Cassie and Kate to talk reading, throwing books through windows and (specifically) Melissa Harrison's All Among the Barley, Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black and Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost

On Sigrid Nunez's The Friend, Will Dean’s Red Snow and Karen Thompson Walker's The Dreamers 22.02.2019 54:06

Writers Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and John Connell (The Cow Book) join Cassie and Kate to talk new fiction

Reading Roberto Bolaño's The Spirit of Science Fiction and Delphine de Vigan's Loyalties plus the bookshelves of Lynda La Plante and Ferenc Barnás 15.02.2019 54:07

Novelist Mirandi Riwoe and sound engineer Tim Jenkins join Kate Evans to talk new fiction from Latin American writer Roberto Bolaño and French novelist Delphine de Vigan, while English crime writer Lynda La Plante and Hungarian novelist Ferenc Barnás reveal the books that have influenced them.

On Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Debra Adelaide's Zebra, Tessa Hadley's Late in the Day and what's on David Stratton's bookshelf 08.02.2019 54:05

Novelist Trent Jamieson and writer Patrick Carey join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction from Marlon James, Debra Adelaide and Tessa Hadley, while film critic David Stratton reveals the bookshelf that has shaped him

On Caoilinn Hughes' Orchid & the Wasp, Steven Carroll's The Year of the Beast, John Lanchester's The Wall and Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Result 01.02.2019 54:06

Jacqueline Kent, Robert Lukins and Michael Cathcart join Cassie and Kate to examine new fiction from Caoilinn Hughes, Steven Carroll, John Lanchester and Graeme Simsion

On Summer reading and Ben Okri's The Freedom Artist, Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra of Minorities and Søren Sveistrup's The Chestnut Man 25.01.2019 53:52

Kate and Cassie are back with bookseller Anna Lowe, arts journalist Melanie Kembrey and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson to reveal their best novels of Summer and to discuss Nigerian novels Ben Okri's The Freedom Artist and Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra of Minorities and Danish screenwriter Søren Sveistrup's The Chestnut Man

What Morris Gleitzman read on the factory floor, being amanuensis to Will Self, talking to Sofie Laguna, and a bit of Finnish Weird 18.01.2019 54:08

New interviews with writer Matthew de Abaitua (Self and I) and Sofie Laguna (The Choke), and revisiting the Finnish Weird of Laura Lindstedt's Oneiron and the formative bookshelf of Morris Gleitzman

Are you a rereader? And other thoughts for a Summer Bookshelf 11.01.2019 54:07

Why Cassie rereads Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, while Kate returns to 20th C novelists like Michael Ondaatje and A S Byatt. Also, talking Berlin noir and the works of Philip Kerr, reading English literature in Bangladesh, and the appeal of country house mysteries with Stuart Turton

Do you have book-shaped New Year's reading resolutions? 04.01.2019 54:08

New revelations of the bookshelves that made them, from novelists Patrick de Witt and Lisa Ireland; while Cassie talks to Christos Tsiolkas about reading Patrick White, and Mireille Juchau and Susan Johnson enjoy Rachel Cusk's Kudos.

If you dog-ear your books, you're part of a long tradition 28.12.2018 54:08

On this Summer Edition of the Bookshelf, Kate hears about the long history of dog-earing books and discovers it wasn't an abhorred practice until the nineteenth century, and Cassie and Kate revisit Irvine Welsh's Dead Men's Trousers and Audrey Schulman's Theory of Bastards with Stuart Coupe, Margo Lanagan and Felicity Castagna

Summer reading with Tayari Jones' An American Marriage, Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow and talking to Tara Westover about her memoir Educated 21.12.2018 54:08

New material as well as some of the best books of the year, on The Bookshelf's Summer series. Tara Westover reflects on the books that shaped her, in an American family almost entirely cut off from the mainstream, while Kate and Cassie also talk fiction from Tayari Jones and historian Peter Cochrane

Podcast extra edition: with Viv Albertine, Jessie Burton and Jorge Carrion 19.12.2018 56:54

Kate Evans talks books and writing with Viv Albertine - former punk guitarist from The Slits turned memoirist, as well as Jessie Burton whose latest book retells a fairy tale, and Spanish writer Jorge Carrion who has written a history of bookshops.

Best reads of the year from Stuart Coupe, Nicole Abadee, Trent Jamieson and Cassie & Kate 14.12.2018 54:05

Literary fiction, short stories, music writing and SF and fantasy: Kate and Cassie sit down with a trio of readers, to discuss their best reads of 2018, and a few clues for books to be released in 2019

What are the best books Trent Dalton, Shaun Prescott and Amelia Lush have read this year? 07.12.2018 53:57

Novelists Trent Dalton and Shaun Prescott, and professional reader Amelia Lush, join Kate and Cassie to talk about their best reads of the year.

Reading Sydney Noir, finding plague pits in the backyard with Minette Walters, Anne Summers on fiction and new journalism and Sally Rippin's bookshelf 05.12.2018 50:31

A podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf in which Cassie talks Sydney Noir with John Dale, Mandy Sayer and Mark Dapin; Kate talks to children's author Sally Rippin about the bookshelf that made her; Minette Walters has plague pits in her backyard, and Anne Summers talks about the writing strategies and impact of the New Journalism

On Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Georgina Harding's Land of the Living with David Hunt, Aoife Clifford and Anne Summers 30.11.2018 54:05

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh talk new books with historian David Hunt and crime writer Aoife Clifford. The books in front of them? Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Georgina Harding's Land of the Living.

New fiction from Patrick Gale, Minette Walters, Rick Gekoski and Amitava Kumar 23.11.2018 54:06

Reading and disagreeing about Patrick Gale's Take Nothing With You, Rick Gekoski's A Long Island Story and Amitava Kumar's Immigrant, Montana with Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Liz Byrski and Bernard Cohen, while Minette Walters reveals the bookshelf that has made her.

Podcast Extra edition: with Fiona Wright, Kimberley Knight, Stephanie Bishop and Moreno Giovannoni 20.11.2018 36:15

You did what with your salad spinner? Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh continue their bookish conversation with poet Fiona Wright and historian Kimberley Knight, and writers Stephanie Bishop and Moreno Giovannoni share the bookshelves that shaped them