Bibliophile | Book talk and recommendations from independent booksellers

We’re so excited that our first ever live podcast is coming to your ears AND eyes on Friday 18th October in Edinburgh!

That’s right, booksellers David Bloomfield, Julie Danskin and Jonathan “JT” Taylor are appearing live at the Golden Hare Books Festival in Edinburgh, talking book recommendations, Nobel Prize for Literature winners and taking audience questions! We’re zany and have fun and talk about books!

We hope to see you at St Vincent’s Chapel, Edinburgh – just along the road from the bookshop. 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Don’t miss it! Tickets are available HERE: https://bibliophilelive.eventbrite.co.uk

Bibliophile is back! After a humidity-induced hiatus, we’re back in full flow and coming at you across the airwaves (that’s how podcasts work, right?).

In this episode, we discuss racist horror novels, space operas set on ice planets (In space! On ice!), and New York utopian fiction covered in gorgeous gold foil! We also chat about our reaction to the Booker Longlist, and raise more questions than ever: can David get through a review without being contrarian? Can Julie avoid getting egg on her face? Is crank a sensual word??

Our book recommendations:

Ancillary Justice by Ann LeckieSong of Kali by Dan SimmonsThe Heavens by Sandra NewmanThe Hiding Game by Naomi Wood Dandelion Wine by Ray BradburyGroundings with my Brothers by Walter RodneyRebel Cities by David Harvey

Booker Longlist:

Testaments by Margaret AtwoodNight Boat to Tangier by Kevin BarryMy Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan BraithwaiteDucks, Newburyport by Lucy EllmannGirl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoThe Wall by John LanchesterThe Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah LevyLost Children Archive by Valeria LuiselliAn Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie ObiomaLanny by Max PorterQuichotte by Salman Rushdie10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

In this episode of Bibliophile, booksellers Julie Danskin, David Bloomfield and Jonathan Taylor catch up with what they’ve each been reading. They pause for a moment to reflect on a recent victory, winning Independent Bookshop of the Year 2019 at the British Book Awards, and talk sagely about their experiences running a small bookshop and all it entails. Even answering a few questions! From you!Apologies for background noise in this episode, our dulcet tones were accompanied by football fans outside the pub beneath our bookshop…

i: What We’re Reading and Who Recommends It…

* Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel (David)* Fludd by Hilary Mantel (Julie)* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (David and David’s partner Heather)* The Wind That Lays Waste by Selva Almada (JT)* Feebleminded and Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz (David)* Guest Book: Ghost Stories by Leanne Shapton (Julie)* Worn Stories by Leanne Shapton (Julie)* *mistake!* Julie recommended Worn Stories but actually meant Women in Clothes, which is written by Sheila Heti, Leanne Shapton and Heidi Julavits* Safe as Houses by Stuart Hodkinson (David)* My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker & Sean Philips (JT)* What You Pay For by Claire Askew (Julie)* All The Hidden Truths by Claire Askew (Julie & JT)

ii: Running Golden Hare Books…

We’re very pleased that we’ve won Independent Bookshop of the Year in the UK and Ireland! David wrote a blog post about it here. We answered a few of your questions…

* What is your favourite customer or fave customer story?* What happens if you order books that don’t sell? Can you return to publishers?* What advice would you give someone who dreams of opening their own bookshop?

iii: General Recommendations

* JT: Chernobyl on HBO (TV)* David: White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (book)* Julie: The Dropout from ABC (podcast)

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving us a review on iTunes – it really makes a difference!

Sexy segueways, Freudian complexes and bad times on the canal, we could only be discussing the 2018 Man Booker shortlisted debut novel Everything Under by Daisy Johnson. What is the bonak? Can we ever avoid our fate? What will our booksellers David Bloomfield, Julie Danskin and Jonathan Taylor make of it?

It’s been sixteen years since Gretel last saw her mother, half a lifetime to forget her childhood on the canals. But a phone call will soon reunite them, and bring those wild years flooding back: the secret language that Gretel and her mother invented; the strange boy, Marcus, living on the boat that final winter; the creature said to be underwater, swimming ever closer. In the end there will be nothing for Gretel to do but to wade deeper into their past, where family secrets and aged prophesies will all come tragically alive again.

Bibliophile has grown! Our bookish babble can no longer be contained within the confines of a single audio file! Welcome to the first Bibliophile Book Club, where we talk exclusively about a single book!

In this episode, we’re talking exclusively about the novel Little by Edward Carey and published by Gallic Books. Why does David like it so much? Why didn’t Julie finish the novel? And why is this podcast somehow about the battle for JT’s love?

In this episode, David Bloomfield, Julie Danskin and Jonathan (JT) Taylor talk about the best Westerns in the first of a new 'Genre Breakdown' series. How much does JT know about Bitcoin? Can the gang finish recording in time for David to fetch his moving van? Will Julie ever finish another book again? And from now on, there will be two Bibliophile episodes each month! All this and so much more in the latest episode...

In this first podcast of 2019, Julie Danskin, David Bloomfield and Jonathan “JT” Taylor discuss their most recent book picks, and in lieu of discussing a book group book talk how to track your reading. Lastly, they discuss reading resolutions for 2019!

Current Reads & Recommendations

* Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk* Fitzcarraldo Editions* Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich* Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner* Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg (Julie)* Witcher Series Andrzej Sapkowski (JT)* Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (JT)* The Vorrh by Brian Catling (Julie)* Criminal Comic Book series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (JT)* The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal (Julie & Kat)* Little by Edward Carey (David)* Lovecraft by I.N.J. Culbard (JT)* Muscle by Alan Trotter (JT)* French Exit by Patrick deWitt (Julie) * The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Julie)* Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds (Julie)* Buda’s Wagon by Mike Davis (David)

Tracking Our Reading/Reading Resolutions

* Goodreads* Book Riot’s 2019 Read Harder Challenge* Read Harder Challenge Spreadsheet* David has a ‘read books’ shelf* JT also recommends Goodreads* Resolutions: more books by women and working-class writers; trans issues (David); more nonfiction/Book Riot Read Harder challenge (Julie); more nonfiction, more politics/books bought more than a year ago (JT)* Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – as an example of the specific kind of world knowledge you acquire through novels* the exquisite agony of choosing the next book to read off your bookshelf * books on our shelf that we want to read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Dracula by Bram Stoker (JT); Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (Julie); The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (David)

General Recommendations

* BBC adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft as a true crime podcast “The Mystery Machine” (JT)* Film: Sorcerer by William Friedkin (David)* Book Series: Faber 90 Stories (Julie)

Next time, we’ll be discussing Edward Carey’s novel Little for our book group segment – read along and join in!

In this episode of Bibliophile, Julie Danskin, David Bloomfield and Jonathan Taylor reveal their most recent reads, then discuss the first novel by Hanya Yanigahara, The People in the Trees, then share their best books of 2018.

Currently Reading

* A People’s History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millenium by Chris Harman (David)

* Thin Air by Richard Morgan (Jonathan)

* Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan (JT)

* Cicada by Shaun Tan (JT)

* Infinite Ground by Martin MacInnes (JT)

* The Kills by Richard House (JT)

* The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (Julie)

* The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley (Julie)

* Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Julie)

* The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (Julie)

* Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (JT)

* Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (Julie)

* Insomnia by Marina Benjamin (Julie)

* The Great North Wood by Tim Bird (David)

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanigahara

* Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

* A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara

* Milkman by Anna Burns

There will be no book group discussion next month (January) but in February’s Bibliophile we will talk about Little by Edward Carey.

Best Books of 2018

* The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (JT)

* The Hothouse on the East River by Muriel Spark (Julie)

* The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark (Julie)

* Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (David)

* Milkman by Anna Burns (David & Julie)

* Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (Julie)

* Painter to the King by Amy Sackville (Julie)

* Lullaby by Leila Slimani (Julie)

* Night in the Lonesome October by David Zelazny (JT)

* Resistance by Julian Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn (David)

* Fish Soup by Margarita Garcia Robayo, translated by Charlotte Coombe (Julie)

* The German Room by Carla Maliandi (David)

* Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima (Julie)

* Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (JT)

* Revolting Prostitutes by Molly Smith (David)

* Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (Julie)

* Mr Lear by Edward Lear (Julie)

* I’m Sorry, I Love You by Jim Smallman (JT)

* Golden Hill by Francis Spufford (Julie)

Recommendations

David: The New Enclosures by Brett Christophers

Julie: television adaptation of My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante by Saverio Costanza. For discussion about the book covers of the Neopolitan novels, please see this article.

Jonathan: Upper Wilds new album “Mars” and Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles

Welcome to episode 8 of Bibliophile, in which we discuss our current reads, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and the Man Booker winner for 2018, Milkman by Anna Burns. David gives us more miserable nonfiction to read, Jonathan hands out interesting facts, and Julie definitely, definitely likes sci-fi.

* Thin Air by Richard Morgan (Jonathan)

* Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Jonathan)

* Thirteen by Richard Morgan (Jonathan)

* Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis (David)

* We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (David)

* The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (Julie)

* The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (Julie)

* The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin (Jonathan)

* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Julie)

* The Ladies’ Paradise by Emile Zola (Julie)

* more department store fiction recommends: The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark & “The Dream of the Consortium” in the collection The Knife Thrower by Steven Millhauser

* Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (Jonathan)

* Fen by Daisy Johnson (Jonathan)

* Head Lopper by Andrew MacLean (Jonathan)

* Square Eyes by Anna Mill and Luke Jones (Julie)

* The Lottery

* We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

* The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

* No Bones

* Little Constructions

* Mostly Hero

* Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Man Booker winner, 2017)

* Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (shortlisted for Man Booker Prize, 2016)

* Normal People by Sally Rooney (longlisted for Man Booker Prize, 2018)

Recommendations

* Babylon Berlin (TV Series), based on the books by Volker Kutscher (Jonathan)

* The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (David)

* My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and being/speaking to booksellers (Julie

Next month

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (author of A Little Life)

In this episode of the podcast, we bid a fond farewell to Alice Tarbuck and introduce the dulcet tones of David Bloomfield and Jonathan Taylor. As usual we dicuss what we're reading and discuss the book group book which was My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Finally we chat about our favourite (and least favourite) books as children, in which Alice's penchant for Victoriana is uncovered, Jonathan declares himself a sports fan, Julie accidentally reads porn and David reveals a special skill for ruining beloved classics by telling us their deep-rooted political issues. 

See blog post for full list of recommendations: https://goldenharebooks.com/bibliophile-episode-7