Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist. We're intrigued by Women Without Men: A novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur translated by Faridoun Farrokh and The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar translated by Ruth Martin. Our book of the week is SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood. This short novel about a man who works as a shanker on a foggy beach and a film-maker who wants to set a movie there was long listed for the 2025 Booker Prize. There is much to discuss:

• Are we now shrimping experts?
• How do we feel about dreams in novels?
• Do we like bleak, isolated settings?

Annas suggests two read-alikes if you enjoyed Seascraper:

• The Horse by Willy Vlautin
• Clear by Carys Davies

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Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, including Flashlight, The Correspondent and Audition. Some of the other long-listed books feature writers as characters, which gets us talking about turn-offs in novels. Our book of the week is DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes. This is the final book by the Booker Prize-winning author. It is a novel about a couple who reunite later in life, with authobiographical elements from Barnes' own life, or it could be a memoir containing a short story. There is also Proust, philosophy and some observations on memory. Described as 'elegant' (The Times) and 'unmistakably Barnes' (Observer), it got us thinking: Where is the line between memoir and novel? Is DEPARTURE(S) a love story? Are the memory bits too Oliver Sacksy? Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood. Follow us: Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week 2026 amid the controversy after the Adelaide Festival Board disinvited Palestinian-Australian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fatteh. Among the authors who withdrew from Writers' Week was Richard Flanagan, who wrote this article (sorry for the paywall). Director Louise Adler resigned with this letter to the Guardian. Since we recorded this episode, the new Board has retracted the decision and apologised to Dr Abdel-Fatteh. In other book news, Random House has dropped David Walliams, as discussed on this episode of The Rest is Entertainment podcast. Our book of the week is THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden, a debut novel set in 1960s Netherlands which was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the 2025 Women's Prize. Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood.

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It's our best books of the year episode! Anna, Amanda and Annie reveal our favourite reads of 2025: Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden The Time of the Child by Niall Williams The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink translated by Charlotte Collins A Guardian and a Thief by Megan Majhumdar Eurotrash by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie (and audio book) Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor (and substack Sweater Weather) Heart the Lover by Lily King

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Anna and Geoff discuss their reaction to the 2025 Booker Prize winner, FLESH by David Szalay, and the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, Australian author Helen Garner for her collection of diaries HOW TO END A STORY. Our book of the week is CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Her follow-up novel after the Booker-shortlisted Mars Room, this centres on Sadie Smith, an undercover agent who infiltrates a commune in rural France. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. This raised questions we weren't expecting from a literary novel, such as: Is it a spy thriller? Is Sadie enough of a slob to be compared with Jackson Lamb? Which Sesame Street character does Bruno remind us of? Coming up: NESTING by Roisin O'Donnell

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Anna and Geoff discuss their Booker Prize winner predictions. We haven't read enough of the shortlist to know who will win, but Geoff is tipping THE LAND IN WINTER (a DNF for Anna). Our book of the week is FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi. This is Choi's follow-up novel after winning the National Book Award for TRUST EXERCISE. It is a sweeping family saga set in America, Japan and Korea. Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, we could not say we loved this one but it got us talking. How much cat litter detail is too much? Would Tobias really have gone to Japan or would he be trekking around Nepal? Could we read a whole novel of Serk? How many unlikeable characters in a novel is too many? And we revisit 'that year' when Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo won jointly. Coming up: CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras Email: [email protected] Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Annie was lucky enough to catch Bri Lee on her book tour for her second novel, Seed. Set in Antarctica, Seed follows two scientists, Mitch and Frances, as they spend a month at the seed vault that they have been creating and protecting. But as strange things keep happening to the facility, culminating in their helicopter failing to pick them up, they both have to grapple with their life choices and the secrets they have been keeping from each other and themselves. We chat about Bri's research trip to McMurdo Sound, interrogating the Antarctic literary tradition, visions of utopia and Bri's ongoing project News & Reviews. Bri's latest book crush is Plain Life by Antonia Pont - an essay collection she describes as life changing.

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A special episode: Anna chats with author and Tony-award winning Broadway producer Eric Schnall about his debut novel I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO.

Sam Singer flies to Berlin for an art gallery opening, needing a break from his partner in New York. He meets enigmatic hotel receptionist Magda and ex-pat Jeremy, goes clubbing, and discovers the 2000s nostalgia for East and West Berlin. Named a GQ Editor's Pick and winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction, we loved this novel and recommend the audiobook read by Charlie Carver. Eric tells us some of the surprising reactions to Disco, a great game for book clubs, why Jennifer Egan is his literary hero, how to receive writing advice from Joan Didion, and his recommendations for books set in Berlin. Eric recommends the podcast Tracks of Our Queers and the TV show Somebody Somewhere. Coming up: SEED with author Bri Lee.

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Anna and Annie discuss the settlement offer by Anthropic to pay $1.5bn to settle a book piracy lawsuit and the 2025 National Book Awards fiction longlist.

Our book of the week is ENDLING by Maria Reva. Yeva is a snail conservationist in Ukraine who becomes caught up in Nastia and Sol's scheme to disrupt the romance tour industry. A heist ensues but everything changes when Russia invades Ukraine. Longlisted for the Booker Prize and one of the New Yorker's Best Books Of The Year So Far, this is Reva's debut novel. We can't wait to see what she does next.

Coming up: I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO by Erica Schnall

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A special episode: Anna chats with award-winning poet Alison Gorman about her debut poetry collection A WOMAN TALKS TO HER TONGUE. These poems examine family secrets, silences and women's voices. Beautiful and assured, we loved this book. Alison joins us fresh from her sold-out launch in Sydney to discuss the moving themes from the collection and other favourite poets, including Judith Beveridge, Eileen Chong, Sarah Holland-Batt, Audrey Molloy, Ada Limón and Sharon Olds. Alison recommends podcasts Poetry Off The Shelf, Poetry Unbound, Close Readings and The Literary Life. Coming up: ENDLING by Maria Reva

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