The best (and most!) book recommendations of the year! We share the 'What Are You Reading?' highlights from a wide range of our 2021 guests, including Nardi Simpson, David Vann, Kavita Bedford, Luke Stegemann, Ruhi Lee, Joanna Nell, Fiona Murphy, Heather Taylor Johnson, Jacinta Dietrich and – of course – James and Ashley. 

Books discussed in this episode (all 44 of them):

• Bindi by Kirli Saunders
• The Road to Woop Woop by Eugen Bacon
• The End: My Struggle Book 6 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
• Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
• Shadow Child by PF Thomése
• Eight Lives by Susan Hurley
• The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
• Disoriental by Négar Djavadi
• The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
• Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon
• Deepfakes by Nina Schick
• The Possessed by Dostoevsky
• Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marias
• A Heart So White by Javier Marias
• The Stranger and short stories by Albert Camus
• When We Dead Awaken by James Robins
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
• We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
• Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
• The Ripping Tree by Nikki Gemmell
• On Quiet by Nikki Gemmell
• Beautiful Kate by Newton Thornburg
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
• The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay
• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
• A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
• Ghost Species by James Bradley
• The Past by Tessa Hadley
• The Iceman by John Sandford
• Storm Prey by John Sandford
• Love, Clancy by Richard Glover
• Flesh Wounds by Richard Glover
• Prosopagnosia by Sonia Hernandez
• No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
• Late Bloomer by Clem Bastow
• The Rúin by Dervla McTiernan
• Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
• Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

What about you – what are you reading? Get in touch and let us know!

• Ashley's website: ashleykalagianblunt.com
• Ashley's Twitter: @AKalagianBlunt
• Ashley's Instagram: @akalagianblunt
• James' website: jamesmckenziewatson.com
• James' Twitter: @JamesMcWatson
• James' Instagram: @jamesmcwatson