The Bookshelf

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The Bookshelf Podcast

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. 1 DAY AGO

    Wunderkind...literary it-girl...what's the verdict on Sally Rooney's new novel?

    Many people have been awaiting the release of the latest book by Irish writer Sally Rooney (Intermezzo): what’s the verdict? Love, grief, growing up, playing chess, understanding and misunderstanding family: Kate and Cassie begin the show with this one, with additional input from millennial author Madeleine Gray (Green Dot). Also: under the sea with Richard Powers’ Playground; and searching the American South with Gayl Jones’ The Unicorn Woman, with guidance from historian Ethan Blue. BOOKS Sally Rooney, Intermezzo, Faber Richard Powers, Playground, Hutchinson Heinemann Gayl Jones, The Unicorn Woman, Virago GUESTS Madeleine Gray, critic and writer whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023 and is now being adapted for screen. Winner of the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the 2024 ABIAs Ethan Blue, Associate Professor of History at the University of WA – where he specialises in histories of punishment, migration and incarceration.  Author of The Deportation Express: A History of America through Forced Removal https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-deportation-express/hardcover OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry Reginald Rose, Twelve Angry Men Miriam Toews, Women Talking Julia Langbein, American Mermaid Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body  Neil Stephenson, Termination Shock Eleanor Catton. Birnam Wood Zora Neal Hurston, There Eyes are Watching God Langston Hughes, works W.E.B. Du Bois, works Richard Wright, works Ella Baxter, Woo Woo Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet Percival Everett, James Ivan Chaar Lopez, The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and Intrusion Felicity Amaya Schaeffer, Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous Lands Frederick Jamieson, The Political Unconscious Margaret Drabble, works Thomas Hardy, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans  + Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Harvey O'Sullivan + Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min
  2. 20 SEPT

    French provocateur Michel Houellebecq + Olga Tokarczuk's health resort horror

    Novels from France, Poland and India – with politics, sanatoriums, automata and horror in the mix too. Kate and Cassie read French writer (and provocateur) Michel Houellebecq’s Annihilation (but can they get to the end of the book? There’s the question); while Polish reader and publicist Anna O’Grady joins them to discuss Nobel Prize winning writer Olga Tokarczuk’s The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story; and academic, novelist and memoirist Kári Gislason joins them to review Tania James’ Loot. BOOKS Michel Houellebecq, Annihilation, Picador Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, Text Tania James, Loot, Harvill Secker   GUESTS Anna O’Grady, Publicity Director, Simon & Schuster. Born in Poland, both her parents and grandparents were connected with the Polish publishing industry Kári Gislason, Professor in Creative Writing & Literary Studies, Queensland University of Technology. His books include The Promise of Iceland, the novel The Sorrow Stone and Saga Land (co-authored with Richard Fidler). His latest is the memoir Running with Pirates OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Samantha Harvey, Orbital Carys Davis, Clear Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Rey Debra Dank, We Come With This Place Tegan Bennett Daylight, The Details Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals Karl Over Knausgaard, My Struggle series Anna Jacobson, How to Knit a Human CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans  + Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Harvey O'Sullivan + Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min
  3. 30 AUG

    2024 mid-year review

    An overview of the books of the year so far, what’s coming up for the rest of the year, and the 'to be read' book pile of regret as Kate and Cassie confess all with bookseller Jon Page and literary interviewer and editor of The Monthly Michael Williams. BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIE Percival Everett, James Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts Iain Ryan, The Strip Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow  Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything Robbie Arnott, works Tim Winton, Juice BOOKS MENTIONED BY JON PAGE Sarah J. Maas, Court of Thorns series Rebecca Yarros, The Empyrean series Téa Obreht, The Morningside Murray Middleton, No Church in the Wild Garry Disher, works Jane Harper, The Dry Chris Hammer, works Christian White, works Hayley Scrivenor, works Michael Robotham, works Peter Temple, works Barbara Kingsolver, works Haruki Murakami, works Nagi, Recipe Tin Eats cookbooks Jock Serong, Cherrywood Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything Tim Winton, Juice Cormac McCarthy, The Road Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time BOOKS MENTIONED BY KATE Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Rodney Hall, Vortex Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War Andrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store BOOKS MENTIONED BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie Tony Birch, Women and Children Kate Grenville, Dolly Maunder Jonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime Novel Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Nam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Richard Osman, We Solve Murders series Sally Rooney, Intermezzo Helen Garner, The Season Melanie Cheng, The Burrow   An overview of the books of the year so far, what’s coming up for the rest of the year, and the 'to be read' book pile of regret as Kate and Cassie confess all with bookseller Jon Page and literary interviewer and editor of The Monthly Michael Williams. BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIE Percival Everett, James Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts Iain Ryan, The Strip Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow  Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything Robbie Arnott, Dusk Tim Winton, Juice BOOKS MENTIONED BY JON PAGE Sarah J. Maas, Court of Thorns series Rebecca Yarros, The Empyrean series Jonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime Novel Téa Obreht, The Morningside Murray Middleton, No Church in the Wild Garry Disher, works Jane Harper, The Dry Chris Hammer, works Christian White, works Hayley Scrivenor, works Michael Robotham, works Peter Temple, works Barbara Kingsolver, works Haruki Murakami, works Nagi Maehashi, Recipe Tin Eats series Jock Serong, Cherrywood Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything Tim Winton, Juice Cormac McCarthy, The Road Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time BOOKS MENTIONED BY KATE Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War Andrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store BOOKS MENTIONED BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie Tony Birch, Women and Children Kate Grenville, Restless Dolly Maunder Jonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime Novel Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Nam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Richard Osman, We Solve Murders series Sally Rooney, Intermezzo Helen Garner, The Season Melanie Cheng, The Burrow CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Beth Stewart + Emrys Cronin Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min

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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.

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