Books On The Go

Anna and Annie discuss the Miles Franklin Literary Award winner and react to the 2022 Booker Prize Longlist.

Our book of the week is Bolla by Pajtim Statovci translated by David Hackston. Set in Kosovo, this novel centres on Arsim, an Albanian man who falls in love with Milos, a Serbian man, just before the Kosovan war. It won the Finlandia Prize in its original Finnish. We echo the praise of Torrey Peters: "Devastating in the most beautiful ways ... you are in the hands of an absolute artist."

Coming up: our recommendations for Women in Translation Month.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the plagiarism allegations with The Dogs originally reported by The Guardian. We love a literary scandal!

Our best books of 2022 so far are:

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy

Devotion by Hannah Kent

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Son of Sin by Omar Sakr

Annie also reacts to the Women's Prize winner and recommends the Tsundoku podcast.

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Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Women's Prize winner, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki.

Our book of the week is Wild Abandon by Emily Bitto, the follow-up to her Stella Prize-winning novel The Strays. A heartbroken young man lands in New York City, indulges in the hedonistic art scene and then finds himself in Ohio working for Wayne, a collector of exotic animals.

Coming up: Bolla by Pajtim Statovci.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2022 Miles Franklin longlist. Annie's tip to win is Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down.

Our comfort reading recommendations are:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative and Fate by Daniel Mendelsohn

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Seventeen by John Brownlow

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Facebook: Books On The Go

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the winner of the winner of the 2022 Dublin Literary Award, The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter translated by Frank Wynne.

Our book of the week is The Red Arrow by William Brewer. A writer who has taken a dose of mushrooms chases a famous physicist whose memoir he is ghost-writing. Described as 'hypnotic' and 'trippy', we could not find a bad review of this book. We are in the minority on this one!

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Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen.

Our book of the week is Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention by Johann Hari. It explores the forces in society that distract us and affect our ability to concentrate, from social media to processed food. Thought-provoking and has changed the way we view our phones!

Coming up: our comfort reading recommendations.

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Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2022 Women's Prize Shortlist.

Our book of the week is The Candy House by award-winning author Jennifer Egan. It is a sister novel to her Pulitzer-Prize winning A Visit from the Goon Squad and is set in a future where people upload their memories to the cloud. A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 and described as 'thrilling' (Kirkus); 'fiction at its best' (USA Today), 'radiant' (Slate) and 'dazzling' (Vogue), this is a wild ride of a novel. Recommended.

Coming up: our favourite comfort reads.

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Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2022 Booker International Shortlist.

Our book of the week is The Colony by Audrey Magee, author of the Women's Prize shortlisted The Undertaking. The Colony is a novel about colonialism on a wild Irish island. Described as lyrical and intelligent, this one did not work for us but provoked much discussion.

Coming up: The Candy House by Jennifer Egan.

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Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie belatedly discuss the Booker International Longlist.

Our book of the week is A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames. Happy Doll is an LA private detective who finds himself out of his depth after killing a customer at the Thai Miracle Spa. With Hollywood noir atmosphere, and loved by Lee Child, this hard-boiled crime novel is recommended.

Coming up: The Colony by Audrey Magee.

Follow us!

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2022 Women's Prize Longlist.

Our book of the week is Everybody: A Book About Freedom by Olivia Laing. Laing merges a biography of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich with figures such as Susan Sontag and Nina Simone to  discuss the body, illness, freedom and power. Annie rates it as her top non-fiction read of 2021.

Coming up: A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames.

Follow us!

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Books On The Go

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz