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. 4 DAYS AGO

    Madeleine Gray's Chosen Family + Chris Kraus and Graeme Macrae Burnet

    Stories of love, friendship, and the ties that bind - with a dash of dirt and darkness in three new works of fiction...Madeleine Gray's Chosen Family, a sharp exploration of friendship, love, and what it means to grow up when life gets messy; Chris Kraus' The Four Spent The Day Together, an autofiction-ish journey through a fractured America; and Graeme Macrae Burnet's Benbecula, where secrets unravel on the windswept shores of the Outer Hebrides. BOOKS  Graeme Macrae Burnet, Benbecula, Text Madeleine Gray, Chosen Family, Summit Books Chris Kraus, The Four Spent the Day Together, Scribe GUESTS  Nicola Heath, ABC Arts journalist; editor of ABC Online monthly book review columnPatrick Carey, writer and content maker who works at Sydney Theatre Company OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Mary McCarthy, The GroupDylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityCharlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark ShoreAndrew Pippos, The TransformationsHelen Whybrow, Salt Stones James Rebanks, The Shepherd's LifeMaggie Mackellar, worksAndrew Miller, A Land in Winter Lisa Tuttle, My Death A.S. Byatt, Possession  Edmund White, The Married ManMuriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington  CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Antonia Gauci and Tim JenkinsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min

  2. 30 OCT

    October Book Buzz: Andrew Pippos, Kiran Desai, Olga Ravn & More

    Kate and Cassie are back in the studio, introducing a line-up of October releases that span continents, centuries, and genres, kicking off with an Australian story set in the world of print journalism in Andrew Pippos' The Transformations. Then, we head to India with Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a grand tale shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. And finally, we travel back to 16th-century Denmark, where the spectre of witch trials looms large in Olga Ravn's The Wax Child. BOOKS Andrew Pippos, The Transformations — PicadorKiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny — Hamish HamiltonOlga Ravn, The Wax Child — Viking Penguin (Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken)GUESTS Scott Stephens — Editor of ABC’s Religion & Ethics online and co-host of The Minefield on Radio National (with Waleed Aly)Beejay Silcox — Critic and writerOTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONED George Eliot, MiddlemarchEM Forster, Howard's EndCharles Dickens, worksErnest Hemingway, worksLeo Tolstoy, worksFyodor Dostoevsky, worksNathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterJeanette Winterson, The Daylight GateGeraldine Brooks, Year of WondersJenni Fagan, HexCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsChris Flynn, Here be LeviathansJosephine Rowe, Little WorldAngela O'Keefe, Night BlueHannah Kent, Burial RitesLydia Davis, Into the WeedsInger Sigrun Brodey, Jane Austen and the Price of HappinessJ.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimopulos, Speaking in TonguesJ.M. Coetzee, The PoleToni Morrison, worksKarl Ove Knausgaard, worksLydia Davis, Into the WeedsJoy Williams, worksLily King, Heart the LoverMichael Winkler, Grimmish; Grief DogDevoney Looser, Wild For AustenSofie Laguna, The Underworld The Rose Field (The Book of Dust: Volume 3), Philip Pullman Margaret Atwood, Book of LivesPatti Smith, Bread of Angels Mick Herron, Clown TownClaire-Louise Bennett, Big Kiss Bye-ByeBrandon Taylor, Minor Black FiguresJohn Irving, Queen EstherCatherine Newman, WreckEleanor Elliott Thomas, Do We Deserve ThisThomas Pynchon, Shadow TicketOlivia Laing, The Silver BookJeanette Winterson, One Aladdin Two LampsMadeleine Gray, Chosen FamilyChris Krauss, The Four Spent the Day TogetherGraeme Macrae Burnet, BenbeculaCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth Stewart and Ann Marie DebettencorArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    54 min

  3. 23 OCT

    We reveal the books that didn’t quite make the Top 100

    Join us for a lively Top 100 Books of the 21st Century after-party! Following last weekend’s extraordinary two-day countdown, this event recaps the results of over 288,000 votes cast by readers across Australia. Kate, Cassie, and special guests will unpack the trends, surprises, and insights that reveal what Australians are reading — and why.  Plus, the countdown is not over. We're revealing the books that almost cracked the Top 100! GUESTS Michaela Kalowski, Curator and Top 100 ProducerGavin Williams, Owner - Matilda Bookshop in the Adelaide Hills; Chair - BookPeople Maryanne Vagg, Librarian, Warrnambool LibraryDownload a printable list of The Ones That Got Away Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown. CREDITS Presenter, Cassie McCullagh, Kate EvansProducer, Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Michaela Kalowski, Shevonne Hunt, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite, Beth StewartArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    55 min

  4. 16 OCT

    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

  5. 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

  6. 2 OCT

    Top Poems of the 21st Century

    What are your favourite poems of the last 25 years? The ones that you turn to, couplets memorised and shared, the lines that leapt from the page or stage. Poetry that both defined and defied space and time, whether it rhymed or not. Join Kate Evans, as she is joined by acclaimed author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke, Stella Prize-winning poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt, much-loved broadcaster and author Daniel Browning, and best-selling author and journalist Julia Baird to discuss and read some of the poems that have shone brightest for each of them this century, as well as how the art-form has evolved. This event was presented at the State Library of NSW in partnership with Red Room Poetry. POETS AND POETRY MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Warsan Shire, HomeAdam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated WorldGraeme Dixon, Six Feet of Land RightsGwen Harwood, In the ParkAnonymous Rose,  Broken WorldZora Howard and Joshya Bennett, Still Life with Police SirensAli Cobby Eckermann, worksSimon Armitage, The ShoutEvelyn Araluen, decolonial poetics (avant gubba)Candy Royale, worksMax Porter, worksCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans Producer, Kate Evans, Lisa Needham Sound engineer, Ann Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

    54 min

  7. 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

  8. 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
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    ABC listen
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2025
  • Episodes
    447
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Bookshelf

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