The Bookshelf

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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.

  1. -2 J

    Brisbane Writers Festival: Eric Puchner, Toni Jordan, Patrick Holland, Zeynab Gamieldien

    Joining Kate and Cassie on stage at Brisbane Writers Festival, authors Eric Puchner, Toni Jordan, Patrick Holland, and Zeynab Gamieldien discuss their most recent novels and the books and writers who inspire them. With voting cast for our Top 100 Books of the Century, these writers make the case for their favourites. GUESTS Eric Puchner, novelist, academic, and short story writer, whose books include the collections Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor, and the novels Model Home and (his latest) Dream State Toni Jordan, a writer whose novels include Nine Days, Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, Prettier If She Smiles More, Dinner with the Schnabels . . . and her latest, Tenderfoot Patrick Holland is a writer and academic, and author of eight books, including the novel The Mary Smokes Boys and – his latest – Oblivion. He lives between Hong Kong and Brisbane  Zeynab Gamieldien is a writer whose first novel, The Scope of Permissibility, won the inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize (for emerging writers from Western Sydney); and her second novel, Learned Behaviours, has just been published BOOKS MENTIONED BY ERIC PUCHNER James Salter, Light YearsJennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon SquadJoy Williams, worksWilla Cather, My ÁntoniaJhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary MatterMarilynne Robinson, HousekeepingEvan S. Connell, Mrs. BridgeCésar Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape PainterBOOKS MENTIONED BY TONI JORDAN Craig Silvey, Jasper JonesTrent Dalton, Boy Swallows UniverseHilary Mantel, Wolf HallZadie Smith, White TeethAlexis Wright, CarpentariaMaggie O'Farrell, HamnetRichard Ford, CanadaBOOKS MENTIONED BY PATRICK HOLLAND Yasunari Kawabata, Snow CountryEmily Brontë, Wuthering HeightsErnest Hemingway, 88 PoemsLeah Swann, BearingsFelix Calvino, worksBrian Castro, worksFrançoise Sagan, Bonjour TristesseCormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian; All the Pretty HorsesMurasaki Shikibu, The Tale of GenjiBOOKS MENTIONED BY ZEYNAB GAMIELDIEN Jhumpa Lahiri, The NamesakeTara June Winch, The YieldHisham Matar, The Return; My FriendsAnne Enright, The GatheringColm Tóibín, Brooklyn; Long IslandClaire Keegan, Small Things Like TheseSally Rooney, IntermezzoOTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONED J.G. Ballard, worksGraham Greene, The Quiet AmericanDavid Malouf, worksPatrick White, worksCurtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't TellDavid Mitchell, worksCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate EvansSound engineer, Steve FieldhouseArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min
  2. 9 OCT.

    Four new memoirs: Mandy Sayer/Elizabeth Gilbert/Arundhati Roy/S. Shakthidharan

    We look at some compelling new memoirs, including Mandy Sayer’s No Dancing in the Lift, a tribute to her jazz drummer father, capturing the grit of Kings Cross and the grace of caregiving. Elizabeth Gilbert’s All the Way to the River recounts her intense love story with Rayya Elias, confronting addiction and devotion. Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me reflects on her formidable mother’s legacy - equal parts shelter and storm, and S. Shakthidharan’s Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath offers a tender, multi-generational journey from Sri Lanka to Western Sydney. BOOKS Mandy Sayer, No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir, Transit Lounge Elizabeth Gilbert, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss and Liberation, Bloomsbury Arundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me, Hamish Hamilton SHAKTI Shakthidharan, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, Powerhouse Publishing   GUESTS Melanie Tait, Playwright. Her latest, How To Plot a Hit in Two Days, plays at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney until 11 October. Roanna Gonsalves, novelist and academic; editor of the literary journal, Southerly   OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDHannah Kent, Always Home, Always HomesickJeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Can Be NormalElizabeth Strout, worksJenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History; His TimeSarah Malik, Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and Belonging CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Micky Grossman and Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    54 min
  3. 25 SEPT.

    Patricia Lockwood's auto-fiction-ish Will There Ever Be Another You + The Buffalo Hunter Hunter + The Original

    This week’s episode explores three new books. First up, Patricia Lockwood’s Will There Ever Be Another You, a third-person autofiction-ish tale that includes a family trip to Scotland, grief and fairies. Then we head to the American frontier for blood-soaked vengeance and vampires in Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Finally, Nell Stevens’ The Original takes us into a world of art forgeries, lost sons, con-artists and the tangled truths behind paintings. BOOKS Patricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You, Bloomsbury Circus Stephen Graham Jones, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Titan Books Nell Stevens, The Original, Scribner GUESTS Paul Daley, journalist, essayist, and novelist – who writes for the Guardian, and whose books include the non-fiction Beersheba and On Capitalism, and the novels Jesustown and The Leap Tom Wright, playwright and dramaturg. Artistic Associate, Belvoir St Theatre. His latest play, Troy, has just finished its run at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre PAUL DALEY'S TOP 100 LIST Percival Everett, The TreesRobin Robertson, The Long TakeTOM WRIGHT'S TOP 100 LIST Martin Crimp, The CityElla Hickson, The WriterOTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Donal Ryan, The Spinning HeartEric Puchner, Dream StateJulio Cortazar, HopscotchCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Micky GrossmanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min
  4. 18 SEPT.

    Ian McEwan's What We Can Know + new work from Olga Tokarczuk and Miranda Darling

    We get stuck into some new fiction, starting with Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, a meditation on a future shaped by climate disaster and memory. We’re joined by Australian authors Madeleine Gray and Gretchen Shirm to take a look at Miranda Darling’s Fireweather, a poetic story of breakdown and resistance,  and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night, a dreamy blend of folklore and philosophy. BOOKS Ian McEwan, What We Can Know, Jonathan Cape Miranda Darling, Fireweather, Scribe Olga Tokarczuk, House of Day, House of Night, (Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones), Text GUESTS Gretchen Shirm, is a novelist and literary critic whose books include Having Cried Woolf and The Crying Room. Her latest, Out of the Woods, was published in April  Madeleine Gray, is a critic, arts writer, and novelist whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023, and whose latest novel, Chosen Family, will be out in November  GRETCHEN SHIRM'S TOP 100 LIST Rachel Cusk, Outline trilogy Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be Vigdis Hjorth, Will and Testament Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air MADELEINE GRAY'S TOP 100 LIST Ali Smith, How To Be Both Evelyn Araluen, Dropbear Jessica Love, Julian is a Mermaid OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway Helen Garner, works Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait Erin Hortle, A Catalogue of Love Michelle Arrow, The Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern Australia A.S. Byatt, Possession James Fenton, works Richard Holmes, Footsteps Robert Louis Stevenson, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman and Tim JenkinsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min
  5. 28 AOÛT

    Greyhounds, dark academia and an Amish community in new fiction by Toni Jordan, R.F. Kuang and Ron Rindo

    An Australian story of the tender, eager lives of greyhounds and their owners in Tenderfoot by Australian author Toni Jordan. Dark academia in Yellowface author R.F. Kuang’s new fantasy novel, Katabasis. Sport, miracles, and the Amish, in Ron Rindo’s Life, and Death, and Giants. BOOKS  Toni Jordan, Tenderfoot, Hachette  R.F. Kuang, Katabasis, Harper Voyager  Ron Rindo, Life, and Death, and Giants, Pan Macmillan  GUESTS  Seth Robinson, writer, producer, and lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is also co-hosting a new podcast with Tony Birch – Unfolded – in which writers take apart short stories to see what makes them work.  Michael McGirr, writer, reviewer, and mission director at Caritas Australia. His own books include Ideas to Save Your Life, Books that Saved my Life, and The Story of a Road  MICHAEL'S TOP 100 LIST Patriot by Alexei Navalny.  This is Happiness by Niall Williams Apeirogon by Colum McCann King by Jonathan Eig People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright Emily Wilson’s Translation of the Odyssey The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung The Fig Tree by Arnold ZableSETH'S TOP 100 LIST Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt Educated, Tara Westover Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton Less, Andrew Sean Greer The Overstory, Richard Powers Still Life, Sarah Winman  The Passage (Trilogy), Justin Cronin Station 11, Emily St John Mandel James, Percival Everett  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much LipGillian Mears, Foal's BreadKim Scott, That Deadman DanceKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeGabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and TomorrowTony Birch, Pictures of YouBehrouz Boochani, No Friend but the MountainsCharles Dickens, David CopperfieldLucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning WomenCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min

À propos

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.

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