Book Chat Pandora Sykes
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- Leisure
A monthly podcast hosted by Pandora Sykes and Bobby Palmer, who bring a book each to chat about. The one rule: the books have to be more than 2 years old.
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11. Stoner & The Unbearable Lightness of Being
A bittersweet episode of Book Chat has Pandora and Bobby discussing two fittingly bittersweet books: Stoner by John Williams and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Also, “some news”, a hearty goodbye, and a look back on some of our Book Chat faves from episodes past.
You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com
Books/articles mentioned:
Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr
Emily, Bella, Harriet, Octavia, Prudence and Imogen by Jilly Cooper
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
One Day by David Nicholls
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Greatest American Novel You’ve Never Heard Of by Tim Kreider for The New Yorker – https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-greatest-american-novel-youve-never-heard-of
Stoner: the must-read novel of 2013 by Julian Barnes for The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/13/stoner-john-williams-julian-barnes
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10. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret & The Bluest Eye
We bring two books both published in 1970 to the table. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by “the poet laureate of puberty” Judy Blume, and The Bluest Eye, by the legendary Toni Morrison.
You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com
Books/articles mentioned:
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Forever and Deenie by Judy Blume
The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Tar Baby and Paradise by Toni Morrison
Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin
First Love and My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Books for episode 10:
Stoner by John Williams
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
9. Augustown & Home Cooking
After last month’s crowd-pleasers, Bobby and Pandora sink their teeth into two very different, equally meaty books. In Augustown by Kei Miller, a “dismal little valley” in Jamaica becomes a boiling pot of tension when a young boy’s dreadlocks are cut off. And in Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin, the boiling pots are a little more literal – and Pandora shares an all-timer of a kitchen horror story.
You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com
Books/articles mentioned:
Augustown by Kei Miller
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
The Pisces and Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà
Good Material and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
The Bread The Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbridger
Takeaway by Angela Hui
PRE-ORDER SMALL HOURS by Bobby Palmer
Augustown by Kei Miller Review by Natasha Tripney for The Observer
“Augustown”: A Novel of the Sacred and the Profane in Jamaica by Laura Miller for The New Yorker
Scalding oil, racist prank calls and endless ‘lid duty’: growing up in a Chinese restaurant by Angela Hui for The Guardian
Find out more about the ShelterBox Book Club
Books for episode 10:
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
8. Bridget Jones’s Diary & High Fidelity
It’s a bumper episode 8, with Pandora and Bobby tackling two million-copy-bestselling, much-loved-movie-inspiring titans of the nineties. In Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, Pandora finds a surprisingly feminist heroine who’s no less funny 25 years on. And in Nick Hornby’s beloved High Fidelity, Bobby meets his match in a perpetually depressed man-boy who needs to love himself before anyone else can love him back.
Books/articles mentioned:
Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About a Boy by Nick Hornby
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
A Life Of One’s Own by Joanna Biggs
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
One Day and Us by David Nicholls
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel
Books for episode 9:
Augustown by Kei Miller
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
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7. Close Range & A Girl’s Story
Book Chat is back, and episode 7 pits a Pulitzer-winning author against a Nobel-winning author. But not really: in the battle of the Annies whose name ends in ‘X’, both Bobby and Pandora are winners. Discussing Close Range by Annie Proulx, Bobby feels the need to make apologies for the unapologetic bleakness of rural Wyoming – while Pandora is transported back to the excruciating experience of Catholic boarding school girlhood in Annie Ernaux’s A Girl’s Story.
You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com
Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes
Books/articles mentioned:
Close Range and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
A Girl’s Story, The Years, A Man’s Place, A Woman’s Story, Happening, Getting Lost and Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Ordinary Human Failings and Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan
Different Seasons by Stephen King
Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
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6. When I Hit You & A Visit from the Goon Squad
Episode 6 takes on one little known book and one very, very well-known book. Pandora finally reads A Visit from the Goon Squad and falls in love with Jennifer Egan's entire canon, while Bobby has mixed feelings about one of Pandora's absolute favourite books of recent times, When I Hit You, about a woman's violent marriage to a communist professor in South India.
You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com
Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes
Books/articles mentioned:
When I Hit You, The Gypsy Goddess and Exquisite Cadavers by Meena Kandasamy
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Emerald City, Look At Me and The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood
Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee
Jennifer Egan on Radio 4 Book Club
Stephanie Sy-Quia reviews Meena Kandasamy for LARB
Books for episode 7:
Close Range by Annie Proulx
A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux
Please note, we will be taking a seasonal break for June, and will be back on July 1st.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.