A Pair of Bookends

Welcome back bookends! Our second episode in our 'Top of your TBR' series is with the wonderful and incredibly charming Maggie Shipstead.
On this episode we discuss her epic novel 'Great Circle' and our love for her latest short story collection 'You Have A Friend in 10A', we talk through her recommendations for your TBR, why writers love to read about writers as characters, where we draw the line with unlikeable characters and whether Great Circle is going to be adapted (yes Hannah always asks the important Q's)...

You can find Maggie and her work at: https://www.maggieshipstead.com/ or you can follow her on Instagram @shipstead.
Link to buy Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/great-circle-the-soaring-and-emotional-novel-shortlisted-for-the-booker-prize-2021-and-longlisted-for-the-women-s-prize-2022/9780857526809
Link to buy You Have A Friend in 10A - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/you-have-a-friend-in-10a-by-the-2022-women-s-fiction-prize-and-2021-booker-prize-shortlisted-author-of-great-circle/9780857526823

Books mentioned:
Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes
Monogamy by Sue Miller
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
One Day by David Nicholls
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Top of your TBR recommendations:
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P by Adele Waldman

Cultural Recommendations:
Literary Friction Podcast // Elif Batuman Ep- https://soundcloud.com/literaryfriction/literary-friction-special-elif-batuman
Hulu- Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons
Top Gun: Maverick
Apple TV- The Staircase
Netflix- Death on the staircase
Disney + - The Dropout
Apple TV- WeCrashed

We hope all these recommendations keep you going until our next ep! Please do rate & review us as this helps to boost us in the charts and if you're not already following please head over to our Instagram @apairofbookendspod for more of our recommendations and rambles. Until next time, Hannah & Lyd x

Welcome back bookends!
We've been away on our jollies but are back to bring you our July book club episode with the thrilling new debut Acts of Service by Lillian Fishman- thank you to Europa Editions for our gifted copies, you can buy the book here: https://www.europaeditions.co.uk/book/9781787703858/acts-of-service.

Books & cultural recommendations mentioned:
Writers and lovers by Lily King
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Leave the world behind by Rumaan Alam
The Stand by Stephen King
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The book of form and emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Creatures of passage by Morowa Yejide
The sentence by Louise Erdrich
The love affairs of Nathaniel P by Adele Waldman
In at the deep end by Kate Davies
Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan
Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Fargo - Netflix
The Dropout - Hulu / Disney +
Misfits by Michaela Coel

Guardian Article mentioned: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/22/acts-of-service-by-lillian-fishman-review-a-sex-masterpiece

We hope you love this episode as much as we loved recording it. Stay tuned for an exciting upcoming guest! Follow us @apairofbookendspod or feel free to email any recommendations over on [email protected]

Welcome Back Bookends and Happy Pride Month!

We have a treat in store for you this episode. Not only are we chatting about the outstanding Heartstopper books by Alice Oseman and its’ gorgeous Netflix adaptation but we also have a very special guest! Joining us this month is the incomparable author and playwright Emma Hinds. So enjoy our chat this month, in which we talk about the importance of LGBTQIA+ representation in literature past and present, our fave Pride TV and Film recommendations and shout about our favourite LGBTQIA+ authors and books.

Sponsored by @deargreenreads , the perfect place for all your bookish needs.

Authors and Books:

Alice Oseman:
Heartstopper 1-4
Solitaire
Winter
Nick and Charlie
Loveless
Radio Silence

Weird Fucks by Lynne Tillman
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Red White and Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston
One Last Stop by Casey Mcquiston
The Colour Purple- Alice Walker
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit- Jeanette Winterson
Call Me by Your Name - Andre Aciman
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
You Exist Too Much- Zaina Arafat
Kirsty Logan
Daisy Johnson
Bridget Collins
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

TV and Media Mentions:
Looking- HBO
Netflix:
It’s a Sin
Sex Education
Atypical
AJ and the Queen
American Horror story
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Queer Eye
Sex Education
Shadow Hunters
Pose

Everything I Know about Love- BBC

Alice’s Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/aliceoseman

Support Emma’s work:

https://www.patreon.com/EmmaLouiseWrites

https://instagram.com/elphreads?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Additional People & Places:
@humphreads
Queer Lit bookshop - https://www.queerlit.co.uk/

Follow us on Instagram @apairofbookendspod and let us know what you'd like us to read next! Please do rate and review us as it helps to boost us in the charts.

Welcome back Bookends!
Hope you're excited for the FIRST in our brand new series 'Top Of Your TBR' where we invite the people we admire to give four of their stand-out book recommendations for us to read and discuss! Our first ever feature on the podcast is none other than the Writer and Broadcaster, the one & only - Pandora Sykes.
Pandora is the author of 'How do we know we're doing it right?' an essay collection about the anxieties of modern life, her journalism has been published by Elle, Vogue, GQ and the Sunday Times and she was the co-creator and co-host of the chart-topping pop culture podcast 'The High Low' alongside her pod-wife Dolly Alderton. As we have mentioned them so much already on the podcast, it was only right that she was our go-to guest. We hope you enjoy!

To buy Pandora's debut essay collection:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/how-do-we-know-we-re-doing-it-right-and-other-thoughts-on-modern-life/9781786091000

To subscribe to Pandora's Books subscription:
https://www.pandorasbooks.co.uk/

Books & Authors mentioned:

One Day by David Nicholls
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) by Philippa Perry
Strong Female Lead by Arwa Mahdawi
Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades
Ella Risbridger
Nora Ephron
Dolly Alderton
The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
Meg Mason
Why I No Longer Write Poems by Diana Anphimiadi

Other mentions:
Sycorax Collective- https://sycoraxcollective.weebly.com/
Somewhere to Belong Archive- https://www.somewheretobelong.co.uk/

Follow us @apairofbookendspod to see updates on our Book Club episodes & future guest updates!

Welcome back Bookends! This month's book club episode features Vladimir, the exciting new debut novel from Julia May Jonas. Our deep dive includes chat on complex female protagonists, sexual fantasies, power dynamics and dark academia. As usual, we give you our cultural recommendations and books we'd recommend as companion reads to Vladimir.

Books & Authors mentioned:
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
10 Minutes 38 Seconds by Elif Shafak
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

@meg.in.a.book- Meg Picks
The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
Life as a Unicorn: A journey from shame to pride and everything inbetween by Amrou Al-Kadhi

Cultural Recommendations:
Bridgerton Season 2- Netflix
Vigil- BBC Iplayer
Pop Fiction Women Podcast- Conversations with friends (novel) - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5W1KPabWPs3YwQ3ed1hj49
This is Us - Amazon Prime

We hope you love these book club episodes as much as we love making them. Please do rate, review and subscribe as it helps to boost us in the charts! Give us a follow on Instagram @apairofbookendspod or email us [email protected] if you'd like to suggest future reads.

Welcome back Bookends! Join us for our not so mini-minisode and explore the books that shaped us. We delve into our childhood faves, those angsty teenage picks and our ultimate recommendations.

Sponsor: @deargreenreads.gifts https://deargreenreads.co.uk/

Books and Authors Mentioned:

This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
Harry Potter Series
The Love Songs of W.E.B Dubois by Honoree Fenonne Jeffers
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Narnia Series by C.S Lewis
Elmer by David McKee
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Alun Ahlburg
Baby Love, Love, Frankie ,Girls in love series, Midnight, Clean Break, Lola Rose by Jaqueline Wilson
We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
Happy Fat by Sofie Hagan
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
The Stand by Stephen King
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
Our Wives under the Sea and Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
On Beauty and White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Queenie by Candice Carty Williams
The places I’ve cried in public by Holly Bourne
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

Author Shoutouts:
Meg Mason, Katherine Heiny, Bernadine Evaristo, Kate Elizabeth Russell, Meg Nolan, Douglas Stuart, Tayari Jones, Elif Shafak, Sally Rooney, Nora Ephron

Media Mentions:
Everything is Copy documentary - Nora Ephron
When Harry Met Sally
I May Destroy You
It’s a Sin
Boiling Point
Literary Friction podcast
The High Low Podcast
Pandoras Books Box Subscription
@meg.in.a.book

Follow us on Instagram @apairofbookendspod and let us know what you'd like us to read next! Please do rate and review us as it helps to boost us in the charts.

Welcome back Bookends! This month's book club episode features the captivating debut novel from Julia Armfield. We discuss this literary horror about love, loss and grief. We also answer your questions, dive into our current reads and recommend some gems we've been enjoying recently.

Books & Authors mentioned:
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley-Heller
Milkman by Anna Burns
The Promise by Damon Galgut
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
The Doloriad by Missouri Williams
Thinner by Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King
Pet Semetary by Stephen King
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Life of Pi by Yan Martel
Magma by Thora Hjorlefsdottir
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
The Missing Word by Concita De Gregorio
Sally Rooney

Boyf Picks: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Crawford

TV, Music and Film:
Succession- HBO
The Fly- David Cronenberg
Fleabag- Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The Babadook- Jennifer Kent
The Shape Of Water- Guillermo Del Toro
The Center Will Not Hold- Netflix
This Is Us- Amazon
The Sinner- Netflix

People & Publishers Mentioned:
@savidgereads
@meg.in.a.book
@supposedlyfun
@montanabookco
@tandemcollectiveuk
@bettyandthebooks

Follow us on Instagram @apairofbookendspod and let us know what you'd like us to read next! Please do rate and review us as it helps to boost us in the charts.

Welcome back Bookends! In this minisode of A Pair of Bookends we will be discussing all things Women's Prize. From our thoughts on the longlist, the books we are most excited for to our own shortlist picks. Come join us for a natter about our favourite literary prize!

Books mentioned:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Unsettled Ground by Clare Fuller
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
A Door Behind a Door by Yelena Moskovich
What a Shame by Abigail Bergstrom
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Flamingo by Rachel Elliot
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Careless by Kirsty Capes
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Podcasts Mentioned:
Book Off!
Literary Friction

People and Publishers mentioned:
@savidgereads
@meg.in.a.book
@supposedlyfun
@skyartsbookclub
@serenbooks
@influxpress
@tandemcollectiveuk

Follow us on Instagram @apairofbookendspod and let us know what you'd like us to read next. Please do subscribe to us to be sure you never miss an episode and we would love it if you could rate and review the podcast to ensure other bookends can find us. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to our FIRST episode of A pair of bookends!
This month, we have chosen to wax lyrical about the incredible new novel To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara. In this episode we talk about our thoughts on the book, meeting Hanya and a whole host of bookish things.

Books mentioned:
To Paradise
A Little Life
The People in the trees, All by Hanya Yanagihara
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley-Heller
1984 by George Orwell
Vox by Christina Dalcher
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Tin Man by Sarah Winman

Other recommendations:
The High Low Podcast
This is going to hurt- BBC Iplayer
The Lost Daughter- Netflix

Boyf Pick-
The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes

Follow us on Instagram @apairofbookendspod and let us know what you'd like us to read next.

Please do subscribe to us to be sure you never miss an episode and we would love it if you could rate and review the podcast to ensure other bookends can find us.