The Book Club Review The Book Club Review

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 favourite beach reads and tips from booksellers, authors and other friends of the pod.
So if you’re curious what show-regular Phil Chaffee is diving into this summer, what Emily Rhodes of Emily’s Walking Book Club is planning on reading, what Nadia Odunayo of book recommendations app The Storygraph thinks you should try, what onetime journalist now bookseller Tom Rowley is planning on reading when he gets a second off setting up his new bookshop, Backstory, and finally what one of our favourite authors, Ed Caesar, thinks might be the perfect page-turner for you, keep listening.
So whether you're inclined towards the hottest new releases or the tried and tested classics (including several our guests love so much they return to them again and again), grab a notepad and listen in.
If you enjoyed the show head over to our website to comment and let us know your favourite summer reads, we love to hear from you. Or follow us on Instagram @thebookclubreviewpodcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com – want to help us out? Subscribe, drop us a review and tell your book-loving friends about the show.
Book recommendations Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Field by Robert Seethaler
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
Lessons in Chamistry by Bonnie Garmus
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwake Emezi
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
News of the Dead by James Robertson
Free by Lea Ypi
Serious Money by Caroline Knowles
The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett
The House of Niccolo sequence by Dorothy Dunnet
We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole
Gallant by V.E. Schwab
Clockers by Richard Price
Virtue by Hermione Hobie
Neon in Daylight by Hermione Hobie
Essex Dogs by Dan Jones (published 15 September 2022)

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 1981 the book was recently re-issued by Penguin as part of their Modern Classics series. But do we think it should have a place on your bookshelf? Listen in to find out. And because there are few things we love more than a polar book, we’ve got a stack of other suggestions for your reading pile, from previous pod favourites like A Woman in the Polar Night by Christine Ritter, to a new to us book called This Cold Heaven, by Gretel Erlich. So come, fix yourself a cup of coffee with reindeer fat, and let us tell you more.
 
Books discussed
 
The Northern Lights, The Amber Spyglass and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials trilogy, [Scholastic])
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller (Hachette)
This Cold Heaven by Gretel Erlich (Harper Collins)
Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine (and The Colony of Good Hope [Pan Macmillan])
Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg (Penguin). 
A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter.
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No matter when you listen to this episode you can always comment via the episode page on our website, thebookclubreview.co.uk (where you'll also find the episode transcript). Comments there go straight to our inboxes so let us know your thoughts and we'll reply. 
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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 other books that tap into this spirit of observing and capturing moments.
Booklist 
Nobody Told You by Hollie McNish
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (and we also mentioned her latest book, The Instant)
No-One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Flâneuse by Lauren Elkin
Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession 
The Year I Stopped to Notice is published by Icon Books and available to buy now. For more from Miranda you can find at mirandakeeling.com or go to the source and follow her on Twitter @mirandakeeling
Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a line anytime and let us know your thoughts at our website thebookclubreview.co.uk. There you'll find a dedicated episode page, full shownotes for all the books we recommended, a transcript and a comments section where we encourage you to let us know your thoughts. We love to hear from listeners.
You'll also find our archive of episodes to browse through, from Booker winners to little known gems from the backlist. Drop in on a spirited book club discussion or join us as we catch up on our recent reads. It's all there waiting for you.
If you’d like to see what we’re up to between episodes follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. 
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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 recent holiday reading, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and My Fourth Time We Drowned by Sally Hayden. Meanwhile Kate has fallen in love with O'Caledonia by Elspeth Barker and sneaks in This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab, a YA fantasy read that proves perfect for those times when you just want to read about things that aren't real.
Book recommendations
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Matrix by Lauren Groff
The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting
Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn
O’Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
My Fourth Time We Drowned by Sally Hayden
The Naked Don’t Fear the Water by Matthieu Aikins
The Sympathiser by Viet Than Nuygen
This Savage Song, Our Dark Duet, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Shades of Magic trilogy, all by V. E. Schwab
Head over to the episode page on our website for full shownotes and do leave us a comment in the forum, we love to hear from you. If you are the first, don't be shy!
Keep up with what we’re reading between shows on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or send us an email thebookclubreview@gmail.com.

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 to help you find your next great read.
Book recommendations
Une année chez les français by Foud Laroui
The Moor’s Account by Leila Lalami
This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun
All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui
Year of the Elephant by Leila Abouzeid 
Notes
Have you read the book? Have an opinion on the show? Head to our episode page for full shownotes and episode transcript, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. They go straight to our inbox so we will respond – let's keep the discussion going.
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Next episode: Join us as we deep dive into the world of Fitzcarraldo with Jacques Testard, publisher of elegant blue and white books that keep winning awards. If you're looking to find books that will challenge you and broaden your horizons, don't miss it. 
 
 

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 pronounce Colm Tóibín, but unfortunately this doesn't help Kate in her struggle with his book about Thomas Mann, The Magician. Laura gets on better with Brit Bennett's book The Mothers, which she can't put down. Finally, Kate has a new girl-crush on Canadian author Sheila Heti after reading her book Motherhood. Booklist
4,000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman
No Touching by Ketty Rouf
The Magician by Colm Toíbín
Motherhood by Sheila Heti
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Laura also mentioned Savage Tongues by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, Little by Edward Carey and Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid.
Get in touch with us and tell us what you’re reading or recommend us a book on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. Find our full episode archive at thebookclubreview.co.uk and don't forget to like, subscribe, tell a friend, share on social media – it helps us reach new listeners and we really do appreciate it :)