Book Shambles

We kick of part 2 of season 4 with Robin and Josie joined by writer and actor Ralf Little. Ralf controversially brings up his love of video games before taking aim at Tolkien all via discussions of the great work of Caroline Aherne, Terry Pratchett, Paul Merton and others. And remember Cosmic Shambles LIVE hits the road to Aus/NZ next year! cosmicshambleslive.com

It’s a Book Shambles EXTRA mini episode this week. Josie is on tour in the US, but we couldn’t miss the chance to catch up with great Danish writer Janne Teller who happened to be in Cambridge at the same time as Robin. They chat about her new book War as well as the existential classic Nothing, plus the work of Vonnegut (obviously), Thomas Hardy, Albert Camus and more. And remember Cosmic Shambles LIVE hits the road to Aus/NZ next year! cosmicshambleslive.com

Robin and Josie are joined by writer, comedian and musician John Dowie this week to talk about his upcoming book, The Freewheeling John Dowie as well as seeing Spike Milligan live, Terry Pratchett, stand up in the 70s and a whole lot more. And remember Cosmic Shambles LIVE hits the road to Aus/NZ next year! cosmicshambleslive.com

Writer and sometime stand up Nat Luurtsema joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about her own catalogue of work, the nature of stand up and living in Watford. Nat also brought along a big bag of books to chat about including works by Stephen King, Paul Sangster and a bundle of filmmaking textbooks.

The day before the US election, Robin and Josie sat down with writer, comedian and activist Alexei Sayle. There's talk of Alexei's new paperback and his entire back catalogue of work, plus that of Sinclair Lewis, Graham Greene, Saki and what the hell is going on with the world these days.

Actor, humorist and author Nick Offerman sits down with Josie and Robin this week to talk about his new woodworking book ‘Good Clean Fun’. But they also find time to get into the joys of fish and chips in Margate, the work of George Saunders, Daniel Clowse and Jon Ronson and why some people are disappointed to find out Nick’s and Ron Swanson’s politics aren’t exactly similar. And don't forget, we're on tour across Aus and NZ soon, with a whole heap of special guests. Details at cosmicshambleslive.com

Physicist, writer and broadcaster Dr Helen Czerski joins Josie and Robin this week to talk about the science of every day things, which just happens to be what her new book, ’Storm in a Teacup’ is all about. There’s also love for the work of Richard Fortey, Grayson Perry, Bruce Chatwin and more. And there’s also a special announcement this week. Robin and Josie are off on tour with Cosmic Shambles LIVE, a science, comedy, literary, musical variety night. There’ll be plenty of guests along for the ride, including Helen, and the show is going around Australia and New Zealand in early 2017. Tickets and details at cosmicshambleslive.com

Writer of both science fact and science fiction, Simon Ings joins Josie and Robin this week to talk about his new book 'Stalin and the Scientists'. They also dive into everyone's favourite science fiction authors including Phillip K Dick, JG Ballard, Frank Herbert and a whole lot more.

Philosophical discussion abounds this week as Robin and Josie are joined by author of, amongst many great books, ‘At the Existentialist Café’, Sarah Bakewell. They wander through the work of Bertrand Russell, Albert Camus, Mervyn Peake and many more besides before arriving at the conclusion that basically we should just all reread ‘The Great Gatsby’ more often than we do.

This week Josie and Robin are joined by writer, performer and comedian Noel Fielding. There's talk of Richard Braughtigan, Flann O'Brien and everyone's favourite pop-up books. Also lots of stuff we had to bleep out so we didn't get sued...