12 episodes

Come along my frantic attempt to read as many books as possible before I die. Every Tuesday I review a book I’ve read, and once a month I have a special guest on for an extended episode where we talk all things books and life.

For more book adventures, follow @15minbookclub on Instagram.

The 15-Minute Book Club salmaintb

    • Arts

Come along my frantic attempt to read as many books as possible before I die. Every Tuesday I review a book I’ve read, and once a month I have a special guest on for an extended episode where we talk all things books and life.

For more book adventures, follow @15minbookclub on Instagram.

    Hay Festival Adventures 2024

    Hay Festival Adventures 2024

    The Hay Festival is an annual literary festival in the town of books, Hay-on-Wye, in Wales. I spent 10 days at the festival this year taking in all the incredible energy. In total I attended about 20 events, each one packed with things to think about.
     
    Day 1 mentions:

    Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes


    For Ian Charleson by Ian McKellen


    Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince

     
    Day 2 mentions:

    BBC Radio 4 Podcast You’re Dead to Me: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg 


    Eat Your Words - Oyster mushroom grow kits: https://superfungi.co.uk/store/p/mushroomgrowkit 


    Shelterbox Book club: https://shelterbox.org/book-club/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpRda82E9BICGEGd_p49goVogFYXUloiVdnU9VXmaEpv73U-7D6uWasaAhMfEALw_wcB 


    Field & Found: https://www.fieldandfound.com/ 


    Happy Maki: https://www.happymaki.co.uk/ 


    Shepherds Ice Cream: https://www.shepherdsicecream.co.uk/


    La Bonne Crepe: https://www.facebook.com/LaBonneCrepeBristol/?locale=en_GB

    Day 3 mentions: 

    Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell


    The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry


    After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry


    Enlightenment by Sarah Perry


    The Morningside by Tea Obreht


    Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa


    Taste Tibet: https://tastetibet.com/


    Lauren Silver Boutique: https://www.laurensilverboutique.com/

    Day 4 mentions: 

    Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anais Mitchell


    Oakchurch Farm Shop: https://www.oakchurch.net/ 


    Two Farmers Hand Cooked Crisps: https://twofarmers.co.uk/ 


    Skittery Apple Juice: https://www.jusapples.co.uk/ 


    Cradoc's Savoury Biscuits: https://cradocssavourybiscuits.co.uk/


    Why We Build the Wal by Anais Mitchelll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGUqMyyvnI

     
    Day 5 mentions:

    We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver


    Mania by Lionel Shriver


    Lionel Shriver talks to Stephanie Merritt: https://www.hayfestival.com/p-21851-lionel-shriver-talks-to-stephanie-merritt.aspx?skinid=16#:~:text=Hay%20Festival%202024%2C%20Tuesday%2028%20May%202024&text=What%20if%20calling%20someone%20stupid,qualification%20to%20be%20a%20doctor


    The Self-Sufficiency Garden by Huw Richards and Sam Cooper


    The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben 


    Our Little Farm by Peter and Miriam Wohlleben

     
    Day 6 mentions:

    Meat & Greek: http://www.meatandgreek.co.uk/ 


    Coal Town Coffee: https://www.coaltowncoffee.co.uk 

     
    Day 7 mentions: 

    Killing for country by David Marr.


    Hay Cinema Bookshop: https://www.haycinemabookshop.co.uk/


    The Beefy Boys: https://thebeefyboys.com/

    Day 8 mentions:

    Eve by Cat Bohannon


    Womb by Leah Hazard


    What about Men? By Caitlin Moran


    My Octopus Teacher documentary: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81045007?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C81045007%2CVideo%3A81045007%2C 


    Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster


    Lola’s Fish and Chips: https://modern-amusement.com/lolas-ethical-seafood-sustainable-fish-and-chips-at-music-festivals-and-events-across-the-uk

    Day 9 mentions:

    Matrescence by Lucy Jones


    Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 


    The Fritter Shack: https://thefrittershack.co.uk/ 


    P&G Hats: https://www.pandghats.co.uk/ 

     
    Day 10 mentions:

    Less by Patrick Grant


    Community Clothing: https://communityclothing.co.uk/ 


    A Very Private School by Charles Spencer

    • 45 min
    Week 10: Lolita

    Week 10: Lolita

    This week I'm looking at the classic novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. A controversial tale of Humbert Humbert, a middle aged man who falls in love with a 12-year-old girl. 

    • 10 min
    Week 9: Men in the Sun

    Week 9: Men in the Sun

    This week I'm reviewing a short story by Ghassan Kanafani. Men in the Sun follows three Palestinian refugees in the early 1960s who are being smuggled across the border from Iraq to Kuwait in search of a better life. A gripping tale as old as old as time about what happens when we are excluded from every form of nationhood.

    • 8 min
    Week 8: A Horse Walks into a Bar

    Week 8: A Horse Walks into a Bar

    This week's book is A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman, winner of the 2017 Man Booker International prize. Watch as Dovaleh slowly descends into madness while giving a stand-up comedy show at a comedy club in Netanya. Dovaleh's breakdown is perhaps a physical and emotional manifestation of the damaged psyche of a nation trying to live a normal existence, under extremely abnormal circumstances.Book mentioned in the episode: To the End of the Land by David Grossman
    David Grossman’s interview with The Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/10/israels-grossman-reflects/ 
    B'Tselem, NGO mentioned in the episode: https://www.btselem.org/

    • 15 min
    Week 7: Cobalt Red

    Week 7: Cobalt Red

    This week's book is Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara. Kara travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the heart of the cobalt mining communities where unimaginable atrocities are happening on a daily-basis in the process of mining for cobalt, a vital element in the manufacturing of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. He gives first hand accounts of those being exploited by the cobalt mining industry. This is the very bottom of the manufacturing chain that makes it possible for all of us to use our phones, laptops, tablets and electric cars.
     
    Interview with author on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1914-siddharth-kara/id360084272?i=1000644538881 
     
    Interview with John Bernthal on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1916-jon-bernthal/id360084272?i=1000644538935 

    • 17 min
    May 2024 - In Conversation With My Brilliant Friend Jeni

    May 2024 - In Conversation With My Brilliant Friend Jeni

    Join me and my friend Jeni in a conversation about books we’ve read, loved and hated. We talk about motherhood and the social and neurological changes that come with it; audio books and why many of us think of it as cheating; the controversy surrounding support for non-offending pedophiles and so much more!
     
    Books mentioned in this episode:
    Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg
    Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
    Stolen focus by Johan Hare
    Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
    Watership Down by Richard Adams
    Matrescence by Lucy Jones
    Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir
    Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
    Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
    Redwall by Brian Jacques
    The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
    War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
    How not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger and Gene Stone
    The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
    The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
    Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
    Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
    The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
    The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
    We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
    The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
    The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
    Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
    On the Road by Jack Kerouac
    Confessions of a Sociopath by M. E. Thomas
    A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
    Moby Dick by Herman Melville
    Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
    Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
    The Lone Ranger and Toto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
    The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
    The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
    Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
    A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
    Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
    Intimacies by Lucy Caldwell
    Hurrah for Gin by Katie Kirby
     
    Films/shows mentioned in this episode:
    Peaky Blinders Seasons 5 and 6
    Killers of the Flower Moon
    Baby Ruby
    Dances with Wolves
    The Idea of You
    Reservation Dogs
    Abbot Elementary
    Avengers: End Game
    Song of the Sea
    Dances with Wolves
     
    Other materials:
    Trevor Noah the difficulty of raising children without a support system: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3IOpompIXNkFUVUKRyvwYB
    Podcast on Diana Mosley: https://wondery.com/shows/british-scandal/season/40/
    This American Life interview with New York Rats: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/801/transcript
    Oprah and Paulo Coelho on the popularity growth of The Alchemist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_SAHuua15U
    Vice News on non-offending pedophiles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yWklRbXDOY
    Columbine shooter’s mother’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXlnrFpCu0c&t=266s
    A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers review episode: https://salmaintb.podbean.com/e/week-1-a-concise-chinese-english-dictionary-for-lovers/

    • 1 hr 31 min

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