Bookshopaholics • Books on the Hill • #147

Join me (Kate) and Laura as we go through our bookstacks and discuss our recent reads. Find out what why Laura can’t put down The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Meanwhile I’ve discovered Mrs Miniver, a comfort read from the 1930s that still has a message for us today, Laura’s made a discovery of her own – that there’s more to Anita Brookner than Hotel du Lac, with her 1988 novel The Latecomers. We go from one good book club read to another with The Fraud by Zadie Smith, and Laura reports in from the recent backlist past with How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang. I take a detour through a ring of enchanted toadstools with Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, and Laura confesses to having spent a weekend lost in the pages of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. She's only interested in the dragons, mind.

Books mentioned

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther

The Latecomers by Anita Brookner

The Fraud by Zadie Smith (UK paperback out in June)

How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

UK listeners can find all the books listed above at our Bookshop.org.uk bookshop, if you purchase them there you'll be supporting independent bookshops and your favourite indie podcasters.

Find out all the details of what we're offering on our Patreon here, including a weekly book recmomendations newsletter from Kate, occasional extra bits and bobs plus access to our pod book spreadsheets, and at the higher tier you can join our bookclub and talk books with Kate in person once a month.

And come and find Kate on Instagram or Threads, or drop us a line at thebookclubreview@gmail.com and let us know your thoughts on the books discussed here anytime.

We’ve put our 2023 reading lists behind us, and now it's time to look ahead to 2024. Who better to guide us through all the new titles coming our way than Chrissy Ryan, owner of North London’s buzziest bookshop and social space, Bookbar.

New books by favourite authors, a non-fiction page-turner that will have you hooked, a high-concept potential blockbuster and a follow-up novel from the author of a debut that got people talking, we’ve got something for everyone.

Not to mention our tips and strategies for how to avoid feeling overwhelmed by that TBR.

Listen via the media player above or your preferred podcast player with this podfollow link.

Books mentioned

You are Here by David Nicholls (April)

All that Glitters by Orlando Whitfield (May)

Some Trick by Helen DeWitt

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Glass Houses (May), and Voyeur by Francesca Reece

England is Mine by Nicholas Padamsee (April)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (out in paperback May 2024)

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Fire Weather by John Vaillant

Not the End of the World by Dr Hannah Ritchie

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman (March)

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (and we also mentioned Such a Fun Age)

Notes

Find out what we're up to and support the show on Patreon.

The 10 Best New Novelists for 2024, The Observer

Who is Still in the Metaverse by Paul Murray for New York Magazine

It's our 2023 review of the year. Join me (Kate), Laura and Phil as we look back over our favourites, from new releases to backlist gems. Find out our overall book of the year, plus the books we're looking forward to in 2024. If you're wondering what to read next, this is the show for you, with over fifty tried and tested recommendations.

Support the show, get our weekly newsletter or join our monthly book club via Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram or Threads

Find full shownotes and a transcript on our website thebookclubreview.co.uk

Book list

Favourite New Release

August Blue by Deborah Levy

The Rainbow by Yasunari Kawabata, and we also discussed Snow Country

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks 

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan

Favourite backlist title

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

Charlotte by David Foenkinos

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden

The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd

Favourite non-fiction

This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes

A House of Air (collected writing, ed. Hermione Lee) by Penelope Fitzgerald 

The Palace Papers by Tina Brown

How to Talk About Books you Haven’t Read by Piere Bayard

Carmageddon by Daniel Knowles 

Free by Lea Ypi

Favourite Book Club Read

Super Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell

The Years by Annie Ernaux

Favourite comfort reads

Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe

The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 191/2 Front Gardens by Ben Dark

Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire

Madensky Square by Iva Ibbotson

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten

Most disappointed by

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (but do read Sabrina and Corina)

Patreon recommends

Loot by Tania James

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

Cider House Rules by John Irving

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

The Axman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey

Not Now Not Ever by Julia Gillard

All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase

Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Machines Like Me by Ian McKewan

Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting

Overall Book(s) of 2023

Septology by Jon Fosse (and we mentioned Morning and Evening)

Stay True by Hua Hsu

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Monsters by Claire Dederer

Books we’re looking forward to

Arturo’s Island by Elsa Moranti

Rememberance of Things Past by Proust (vol. 3)

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

Tremor by Teju Cole

The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut

We read all six Booker shortlisted books, now join us as we evaluate them and try to second-guess the Booker judges, before finding out the winner - don't miss our hot take.

'A novel is a mirror carried along a high road' says Chair of the Booker judges Esi Edyugan, quoting Stendhal. ‘Year after year’, she continues, ‘the Booker Prize encourages us to take sight of ourselves in the lives of others, to slip for the length of a story into different skins, to grapple with unfamiliar worlds that allow us to see our own afresh.'

Unsurprisingly, seeing the world as it is right now has led to the most downbeat shortlist in our collective memory, but that doesn't mean these books don't make for fantastic discussion. As ever, we won't spoil the plots we'll just give you a sense of what we thought of them.

Join me, Kate, with Laura, our regular guest Phil Chaffee, and first-timer, book blogger Martin Voke, as we talk through 

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (audiobook narrated by Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, Lisa Caruccio Came and published by Penguin Audio)

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (audiobook narrated by Gerry O’Brien and published by Bolinda Audio @bolindaaudio @borrowbox)

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (audiobook narrated by Torian Brackett and published by Fourth Estate)

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (audiobook narrated by Maya Saroya and published by Picador)

This Other Eden by Paul Harding (audiobook narrated by Eduardo Ballerini, and published by Penguin Audio)

and

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (narrated by Sarah Bernstein and published by Granta)

And for a deep dive into the winner and all fifty-seven previous winners of The Booker Prize don't miss Martin's website On the Prize

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry has sold over 2 and a half million copies worldwide since publication in 1985, and won a Pulitzer Prize. With prose as ‘as smooth as worn saddle-leather', USA today writes 'If you read only one Western novel in your life, read this one . . . no other has ever approached the accomplishment of Lonesome Dove'. More interesting to us, Lonesome Dove is one of those 'if-you-know-you-know' books, passed from reader to reader, once read, never forgotten. And yet not everyone is a fan – listen in to see what Laura's book club made of it. As ever we're careful not to spoil the plot, so rest assured we won't give away any of the book's secrets. 

We're also recommending some follow-ons and some favourites from our recent reading piles.

Book list

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Austerlitz by W.G. Seabed

Sharp by Michelle Dean

How to Talk About Books you Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard

Notes

If you read one article on Lonesome Dove, let it be this brilliant oral history that Texas Monthly put together, which is full of fascinating detail about the TV series and the book.

The audiobook of Lonesome Dove is published by Phoenix Books and read by Lee Horsley.

Links

Website: https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk

Follow us on Instagram

Find out about our Patreon, Kate's weekly book recommendations newsletter and how to join our book club and get extra episodes

Irish author Claire Keegan is generally considered to be one of the finest writers working today. ‘Every word is the right word in the right place, and the effect is resonant and deeply moving’ said Hilary Mantel, of her work, while for Colm Toiíbín ‘Claire Keegan makes her moments real – and then she makes them matter.’ Praise indeed, but what did our brand new podcast book club make of So Late in the Day, her most recently published short story? We’ll be reporting back.

And we’re also rounding up a few stand-outs from our recent reading piles, from J. L. Carr’s meditative classic A Month in the Country to V.E. Schwab’s latest fantasy novel The Fragile Threads of Power.

Book list

So Late in the Day and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt,

The Road to the City by Natalia Ginsberg in the Storybook ND series

Tom Lake, Bel Canto and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey

A Month in the Country, by J. L. Carr

Soldier, Sailor by Claire Kilroy

The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab

Join us on Patreon

Here's the link for all the details, find out what extras you'll receive.

Connect with us

Find us on Instagram or Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast

On X at @bookclubrvwpod

or email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, we love to hear from you

Is there any point in doing a nice thing if you can’t flaunt it on social media? Can we ever know what it’s like to be a bat? If we know Cinderella isn’t real, why do we care about whether or not she marries the prince? In this episode Kate is joined by Jonny Thomson, the man behind the popular Instagram account @philosophyminis, and a bestselling book of the same name. With a new title out, Mini Big Ideas, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with him and consider the philosophical ideas that lie behind three works of fiction: The Death of Yvan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy, Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Just what connects these three titles? Listen in to find out, plus a few more book recommendations. All that, plus discover 'the gap', and how knowing about it might change your life, and the benefits of scepticism.

Book list

On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy (and in particular the Peter Carson translation)

Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Leonard & Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Metaphysical Animals by Rachel Wiseman and Claire MacCumhaill

Philosopher Queens by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting

Mini Philosophy and Mini Big Ideas by Jonny Thomson

Notes

Find Jonny on Instagram @philosophyminis

Find us at: https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk

Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast

Kate's Threads reading log: @bookclubreviewpodcast@threads.net

Newsletter sign-up: https://substack.com/@thebookclubreview

Patreon and book club: We've made free episodes of The Book Club Review for 6 years now, and we'll continue to keep them free, and ad-free. But they take a lot in terms of time and resources so if you appreciate the shows and would like to support us we now have a Patreon where you can do that. In return you'll get weekly bookish recommendations from Kate, plus, at the higher tier, extra episodes and membership of our podcast book club, to be held over Zoom once a month on Sunday nights (UK time). We would love to see you there. https://patreon.com/thebookclubreview

Whether you're after fly-through-them page-turners or immersive long-reads, or perhaps you're after a challenge, or the perfect discussion book, we've got the list for you. Find out our expert picks from indie-bookshop Bookbar's Chrissy Ryan, a woman at the centre of a hub of reading recommendations from authors, customers and booksellers alike. Kate is swapping notes and sharing her own summer reading pile. Plus just to pack in even more book tips we've got a few extra recommendations from Chrissy's Bookbar team. And so sit back and let us give you books to inspire, inform, amuse and entertain as we see out the summer and anticipate our Autumn reads.

Booklist

The Guest by Emma Cline

Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang

The Centre, by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui,

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson,

Time’s Shelter by Gyorgi Gospodinov,

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan

How to Read Now and America is not the Heart by Elaine Castillo

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Tom Lake, and These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

Read This: Handpicked Favourites from America’s Indie Bookstores, compiled by Hans Weyandt (Coffee House Press)

Roman Stories and Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Notes

Visit Bookbar online

The indie publishing mavericks shaking up the UK book world (The Guardian)

The Book Club Review's Fitzcarraldo episode

If you've been wondering whether or not to tackle the work of Nobel-prizewinner Annie Ernaux, and in partiular The Years, generally considered to be definitive, listen in and find out what Laura's book club thought (you might be surprised).

We're also generally delighted by how interesting the life of 17th-century poet John Donne is in the hands of Katherine Rundell, and her Baillie-Gifford prizewinner Super-Infinite. But were Kate's book club unanimous in their praise?

Discover more great reads as we delve into our recent reading piles. Find out the hits and misses, plus the books we've got on the go right now.

Booklist

The Years by Annie Ernaux

Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell

The Banished Immortal by Ha Jin

Grey Bees by Andrei Kurkov

Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb (and we also mentioned the film Turn Every Page)

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Watch us Dance by Leila Slimani (and we also mentioned her other books Lullaby or The Perfect Nanny, and The Country of Others)

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (and we also mentioned her previous book The Luminaries)

Monsters by Claire Dederer

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tocarczuk

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

Leave us a rating

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Notes 

Website: https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk

Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast

Kate's Threads reading log: @bookclubreviewpodcast@threads.net

Newsletter sign-up: https://substack.com/@thebookclubreview

Patreon and book club: We're cooking up a pod bookclub, launching September, as part of our Patreon account. You'll be supporting our show, and once a month on Sunday nights (UK time) you'll also be able to join Kate for an online book-club, to be held over zoom. We'll put all the details on our Patreon soon, and hope you'll sign up as we can't wait to talk books in person.

Join Kate in the historic market town of St. Albans, home to a cathedral, some impressive Roman ruins and one of Kate's favourite independent bookshops. Books on the Hill is owned and run by a mother and daughter duo who launched it just before the pandemic. Listen in and find out what makes it so special, their book club recommendations and discover Kate and Antonia's choices as they each pick three books from the shelves, from new releases to classic gems.

Books mentioned:

The Wild Places by Robert McFarlane

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Femina by Gina Ramirez

The Scent of Flowers at Night by Leila Slïmani

Ross Poldark by Winston Graham

Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey

The Joy of Small Things by Hannah Jane Parkinson

Why Women Grow by Alice Vincent

Find Books on the Hill at https://www.books-on-the-hill.co.uk