Book Shambles

On this week’s episode Robin and Josie are joined by writer and broadcaster Lucy Cooke to talk about her new book The Truth About Animals. There’s tales of weird zoology, the grafting of monkey’s testicles, Will Self and Josie has a go at Aristotle. To hear an extended version of this episode, plus get lots of other perks and rewards, you can support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

In this week's author extra, Robin Ince sits down to chat with immunologist Prof Dan Davis about his latest book, The Beautiful Cure. They chat about why vaccines work, why we never get 'double sick' and more. There'll also be a Patreon special on Tuesday when Dan reveals his top science books. Support the CSN at patreon.com/bookshambles

Author and avid swimmer Jenny Landreth joins the show to talk about her latest book Swell: A Waterbiography. She also brought along a bag full of her favourite books about swimming including works by Al Alvarez, Tanya Shadrick and Leanne Shapton. Stewart Lee is still around at the start of the episode for a lovely bit of synchronicity and Josie Long was still off with norovirus so Michael Legge is sitting in again to enjoy the chat and recommend some Spiderman comics. It'll all make sense when you listen to it, we promise...

You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/bookshambles and not only help the show keep getting made, but also get yourself lots of rewards and goodies! For instance, this week, there's an extra 15 minutes of chat from this episode and you'll get plus a bonus episode with Phill Jupitus too.

If you missed the news, we're going to putting out some shorter Book Shambles Extra episodes on Sunday. These will be more focused, in theory, conversations with an author just about their new or upcoming book with either Robin or Josie. In this Book Shambles Extra, Robin chats to Dr Meg Jay, writer and clinical psychologist about her new book, Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience. The book looks at people who have dealt with various childhood adversity. Normal episodes will still go out on Thursday's, with extended editions for Patreon pledgers, and then on Tuesday there'll be mini 'My Favourite Books' episodes with lots of special guests exclusively for Patreon supporters. Support us at patreon.com/bookshambles

On this week’s episode Josie and Robin are joined in the studio by journalist and novelist Clare Swatman. They chat about Clare’s brand new novel The Mother’s Secret as well as books on time travel, Margaret Atwood, Maggie O’Farrell, Limsip, bad reviews and favourite true stories from Take a Break magazine. Patreon supporters can enjoy an extended version of this episode. If you’d like to join our Patreon gang you can at patreon.com/bookshambles

In Part 2 of Stewart Lee's second visit to Book Shambles, Stew, Robin and guest co-host Michael Legge continue their conversation getting into the work of Rosemary Tonks, David Keenan, Dave Graney and Ithell Colquhoun. Also Stew doesn't like Dunkirk and Michael's annoyed on trains. This show wouldn't be possible without the support of our brilliant Patreon supporters. You can pledge to the show and get lots of brilliant rewards at patreon.com/bookshambles

Stewart Lee was our first ever guest on Book Shambles and now he’s back in Season 7 as our first return guest. Unfortunately Josie was ill at the last minute so for this episode the role of Josie was played by Michael Legge. Robin, Michael and Stew chat about Jarret Kobek, Alice Cooper and Mohave Ethnopsychiatry. This was a long chat so we’ve split it into two parts. To hear an extended version of this episode, plus lots of other perks you can support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

Here are two extracts from two longer conversations on our Patreon channel with children's author Christoper Edge and playwright and director Philip Ridley. Both Robin and Josie will be doing a lot more of these non-studio chats in the coming months and you can hear them all by pledging as little as $1 at patreon.com/bookshambles Without the support of our Patreons we simply couldn't make the show so thank you for your support. Christopher's new book 'The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day' is out now and Philip's series of monologues 'Angry' is playing at the Southwark Playhouse.

Following two highly successful cookbooks after she finished runner up on Great British Bake Off, Ruby Tandoh first ‘book’ book Eat Up! has just been published looking at the fun, pleasure and symbolism of food to fly in the face of fads and bad diet science. She joins Josie and Robin to chat about that plus great cookbooks, Nora Ephron, suffragettes and her mental health zine. To hear an extended version of this episode, plus get behind the scenes access, join the Shambles book club and a lot more why not support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

Science fiction writer Andy Weir joins Robin to talk about his new novel Artemis and his huge hit The Martian. They chat about the pressure of keeping science fiction scientifically accurate, manned space flight and whether science fiction is actually a genre. Andy is also a massive Doctor Who and Star Trek fan so there’s a lot of chat about that and it gets pretty nerdy. Please note that Andy was only very briefly in the UK which coincided with a brief period when Josie wasn’t. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network and Book Shambles at patreon.com/bookshambles Great rewards including behind the scenes access and your chance to be an actual guest on the show!