Books On The Go

A special episode - our interview with Louise Adler, Director of Adelaide Writers' Week! We discuss Louise's 'Director's Picks', some new authors to discover and the challenges of curating a literary festival.

Books discussed:

Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee

Beat the Devil by David Hare

Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

The Singularities by John Banville

We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958 by Fintan O'Toole

A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work by Bernadette Brennan

Coming up: Cloud Cuckoo Land.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2023 Dublin Literary Award Longlist.

Our book of the week is Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel. Like Station 11 and The Glass Hotel, it is speculative fiction with warmth, heart and great story-telling. A New York Times Bestseller and a Best Book of 2022 (New York Times, Oprah Daily, NPR) it has been described as 'transporting and brilliant and generous' (USA Today).

Coming up: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.

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Email: [email protected]

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Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the man arrested for stealing manuscripts and whether new AI technology ChatGPT can write novels.

Our book of the week is Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. Set in 1970s Belfast during the Troubles, it tells the story of a young Catholic woman and her affair with a married Protestant man. Described as "brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking" (New York Times) and named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post, we loved this book.

Louise Kennedy will be at Adelaide Writers' Week in March. We can't wait!

Also mentioned:

Scriptnotes podcast

In Suspense podcast

AlphaGo documentary

Follow us!

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf and Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka in our Keep or Cull segment.

Our book of the week is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov translated by Michael Glenny. We have been meaning to read this Russian classic for ages. A surreal, absurdist satire, it features Satan, Pontius Pilate, a poet and a talking cat. Not what we were expecting!

We'll be back in a few weeks.

Follow us!

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna, Annie and Amanda discuss our best books of 2022.

Our favourite reads were:

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

Border by Kapka Kassabova

Devotion by Hannah Kent

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi translated by Elena Pala

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide translated by Eric Selland

Limberlost by Robbie Arnott

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

Follow us!

Instagram: @abailliekaras , @mr_annie , @vibrant_lives_podcast

Email: Books On The Go

Facebook: Books On The Go

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss how BookTok is helping young people discover a passion for reading.

Our holiday reading recommendations are:

Willowman by Inge Simpson

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

Better the Blood by Michael Bennett

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margo by Marianne Cronin

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee

The Palace Papers by Tina Brown

The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer by Christopher Clary

Coming up: Our Best Books of 2022

Follow us!

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss book shopping on TikTok.

Our book of the week is Crossroads by award-winning author Jonathan Franzen. This is a family drama set in 1971 American suburbia and is the first in a trilogy. It was an instant New York Times best-seller, a Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2021 and has been described as 'a Middlemarch-like triumph' (The Telegraph).

Coming up: our Holiday Reading Recomendations and TBR.

Follow us!

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast

Facebook: Books On The Go

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the National Book Award winner for fiction, The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty.

Our book of the week is The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell, the follow-up novel to her hugely successful Hamnet. It's set in the Italian Renaissance and follows Lucrezia de'Medici and her marriage aged 15 to the Duke of Ferrara. All the ingredients for a great read, we had high expectations for this one!

Coming up: Crossroads by Jonanthan Franzen and our Holiday Reading recommendations and TBR!

Follow us:

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the court blocking the acquisition by Penguin Random House of Simon & Schuster.

Our book of the week is The Trees by Percival Everett. This novel set in Money, Mississippi starts with a brutal murder which detectives Ed and Jim struggle to solve. Satirical with absurdist elements and a whodunnit, but confronting racism and lynching in America, it has been described as a 'gory pulp revenge fantasy' (Bookforum) and 'explosive in every way' (Dua Lipa). It was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.

Coming up: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell.

Follow us!

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the Readings Prize winner, Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au.

Our book of the week is Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford. Set around the Arkansas River, this is a suspense thriller about Jane, who returns to her home town to face up to a murder that was committed years before. Described as Southern noir or Grit Lit, this was an Amazon Best Book of the Month and is recommended for Ozark fans.

Coming up: The Trees by Percival Everett.

Follow us!

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Facebook: Books On The Go

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz