Welcome to this week's episode of the All Things Bookish Podcast! Today we are speaking with one of Australia’s best selling and well loved authors, Fiona McIntosh about her new historical fiction book, The Champagne War!

Show Notes:

In this episode we talk about researching WWII, how and why Fiona creates such morally grounded characters, and learn about the people of Épernay in 1914.

You can purchase the Champagne War here.

Shan's Reads

Past Read:
The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall

Current Read:
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Sienna's Reads

Past Read:
The Champagne War

Current Read:
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson

Future Read:
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

This episode we discuss our last reads, our five star reads, Trent Dalton, bookish this or that and guess that book!

Show Notes:

Sienna's reading:

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson
Honeybee by Craig Silvey
The Black Witch Chronicles by Laurie Forest

Shan's reading:

The Motherfault by Kate Mildenhall
All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton
The Champagne War by Fiona McIntosh

Welcome to the latest episode of the All Things Bookish Podcast! Today we have the amazing Australian author Trent Dalton with us to chat about his latest and extremely well received book, All Our Shimmering Skies. You might recognise Trent’s name from his hugely successful debut novel Boy Swallows Universe, or from his articles in various newspapers across Australia. Trent has won multiple Australian and International awards for both journalism and his novels, and we are absolutely thrilled that he can join us on All Things Bookish

All Our Shimmering Skies

Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, is looking to the skies and running for her life. Inside a duffel bag she carries a stone heart, alongside a map to lead her to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who she believes put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. The treasure lies before them, but close behind them trails the dark. And above them, always, are the shimmering skies.

You can purchase the book here

Trent's Reads:

Past Read:
The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall
Current Reads:
May Flies by Andrew O'Hagan
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
1,2,3,4, The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown

Shan's Reads:
Past Reads:
All Our Shimmering Skies
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Sienna's Reads:
Past Read:
All Our Shimmering Skies
Current Read:
Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin

Discussion:

In this episode we discuss the impact of books, the influence of Tolkien, using our local library, the research behind All Our Shimmering Skies and the character of Molly Hook. 

Show Notes:

Welcome to episode eight of the All Things Bookish Podcast! Today we are so grateful to be joined by the very talented Kyle Perry. Kyle is a counsellor and youth worker who has worked extensively in high schools, youth shelters and drug rehabs. In his work he encounters stories and journeys that would fill a hundred books. Kyle released his debut novel, The Bluffs with Penguin Random House, earlier this year. 

The Bluffs:
When a school group of teenage girls goes missing in the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers, the people of Limestone Creek are immediately on alert. Three decades ago, five young girls disappeared in the area of those dangerous bluffs, and the legend of ‘the Hungry Man’ still haunts locals to this day. Now, authorities can determine that the teacher, Eliza Ellis, was knocked unconscious, so someone on the mountain was up to foul play. Jordan Murphy, the local dealer and father of missing student Jasmine, instantly becomes the prime suspect. But Detective Con Badenhorst knows that in a town this size – with corrupt cops, small-town politics, and a teenage YouTube sensation – everyone is hiding something, and bluffing is second nature. When a body is found, mauled, at the bottom of a cliff, suspicion turns to a wild animal – but that can’t explain why she was discovered barefoot, her shoes at the top of the cliff, laces neatly tied.

You can purchase the book here

Kyle's Reads:

Past Read:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Current Read:
The Survivors by Jane Harper
Future Read:
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

Shan's Reads:
Past Read:
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
Current Read:
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
Future Read:
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Sienna's Reads:
Past Read:
Whole New World A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell
Current Read:
Kingdom of Copper by S.A Chakraborty
Future Read:
All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton
Discussion:

We discuss how Kyle began his writing journey, the creation of the Bluffs, scary encounters and writing his next book! 

Welcome to episode five of the All Things Bookish Podcast! This is a particularly special episode because we have the incredibly talented Kalynn Bayron joining us from the United States. Kalynn recently released the young adult novel, Cinderella is Dead, which is a reimagining of the fairytale, Cinderella. Alongside writing, Kalynn is also a classical trained vocalist, which is very very cool.

You can purchase Kalynn's book here:

Show Notes:

Kalynn's reads:

Past Reads:
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Changeling by Victor Lavelle

Current Reads:
Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Future read:
Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon

Sienna's reads:

Current Read:
A Twisted Tale: Aladdin by Liz Braswell

Shan's reads:

Past Read:
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Current Read;
Riven by Bronwyn Eley
Discussion:

We discuss the creation of Cinderella is Dead, the influence of real world and human experience within Kalynn's work and the right way to do Mac N Cheese. 

Welcome to episode four of the All Things Bookish Podcast! Shan and I are both very excited today because we are chatting  with the Australian author Steven Conte.

For those who aren’t familiar with one of Australia’s finest writers Steven Conte, he wrote The Zookeeper’s War in 2007 and won the inaugural Prime Minister’s award for fiction. He recently published his second novel, The Tolstoy Estate which is a powerful novel about war, love and literature!

You can purchase Steven's book here: The Tolstoy Estate

Show Notes:

Steven's Reads
Past read:
Station 11 by Emily  St John Mandel
Current read:
The De Cameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

Sienna's Reads
Past reads:
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
The Tolstoy Estate by Steve Conte
Future read:
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Shan's Reads
Current reads:
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Discussion:
We discuss the creation of The Tolstoy Estate, World War II and the impact of covid-19 on the future of literature.

Today on All Things Bookish we discuss our recent, current and future reads. We delve into the world of unpopular opinions, mainly toxic relationships in YA books and have a new guess the book for you! Don't forget to follow our instagram page @allthingsbookspodcast, follow us and message us to guess the book and win a prize!

Show Notes:
This week we share five facts about ourselves, from we where we live in the world to our favourite countries!

5 star reading recommendation:
The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty
https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008239398/the-city-of-brass/

Sienna's Reads
Past read:
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
Current read:
Olive by Emma Gannon
Future read:
Retribution Dies by Chloe Hodge

Shan's Reads
Current reads:
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
Future reads:
The Yield by Tara June Winch
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet


Unpopular bookish opinions - toxicity in YA books
Sienna discusses whether Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte should be classified as a true romance novel: "This book should never make anyone's heart skip a beat".

Shan raises some issues she sees in the acclaimed Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black: "He literally says, 'You are so disgusting and I hate you'".

We discuss the limitations of first person POV versus multiple POVs.

Listen to find out who won the bookish guessing game from our first episode & make sure to join in this week for your chance to win a prize!

Next episode:
We welcome the wonderful Steve Conte to the podcast to discuss his recently released The Tolstoy Estate. 

Rose Hartley is the author of the contemporary fiction novel “Maggie’s Going Nowhere”, which was published in January this year by Penguin Random House. Today we discuss books that Rose loves, what she is currently working on and life in 2020. 

Episode 2 Show Notes

Here is a link if you wish to purchase Maggie’s Going Nowhere: 

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/maggies-going-nowhere-9780143795483

Roses’  reads:

Persuasion by Jane Austen

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/persuasion-9780099511175

Theft by Peter Carey 

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/theft-a-love-story-9781760896522

Death in Her Hands- Ottessa Moshfegh

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/death-in-her-hands-9781787332201

Shans’ reads:

Past Read:

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 

https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008125073/an-ember-in-the-ashes-ember-quartet-book-1/

Future Reads

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal 

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9780374313647/

Siennas’ reads:

Past Reads:

The Bluffs by Kyle Perry

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-bluffs-9781760895679

Current Read:

Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew

https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Blood-Moon-9781406393446

Future Read:

City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008239404/the-city-of-brass/

Book discussion:

We also all discussed Naomi Novik author of 

Uprooted: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781447294146/

Spinning Silver: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781509899043/spinning-silver/

Katherine Arden author of The Bear and the Nightingale series 

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-bear-and-the-nightingale-9781785031052

We are coming to you from Australia to discuss books, new book releases, mini reviews, unpopular opinions and author talks with local Aussie authors and international authors.




Episode 1 Show Notes

Shans’ reads:

5 Stars Reading Recommendation:

Dark Shores by Danielle Jensen

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781250317735/

Dark Skies by Danielle Jensen 

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781250317766/dark-skies/

Past Read:

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri (4 stars)

https://www.hachette.com.au/tasha-suri/empire-of-sand

Current Read:

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/throne-of-glass-9781408832332/

Siennas’ reads:

5 Star Reads Recommendation: 

Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan (5 stars)

https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/three-apples-fell-from-the-sky-9781786077301/

Past Reads:

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier (5 stars)

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760783297/

A Dance with Fate by Juliet Marillier (4 stars)

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760784225/

Current Read:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (5 stars) 

https://www.hachette.com.au/brit-bennett/the-vanishing-half-sunday-times-bestseller

Unpopular bookish opinion: 

Shan disliked Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, Sienna loved this book:

https://www.hachette.com.au/delia-owens/where-the-crawdads-sing

Next episode:

Our author interview will be with Australian author Rose Hartley. Rose wrote Maggie’s Going Nowhere which was published by Penguin Australia earlier this year. 

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/maggies-going-nowhere-9780143795483