Books On The Go

Anna and Amanda discuss the Australian government's Arts package announced recently.

Our book of the week is Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd. Kawakami is a feminist icon in Japan.  She has been profiled in the New York Times, praised by Haruki Murakami and has won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. This novel explores womanhood and life as a single woman in Tokyo.  Much hype for this one!

Coming up: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters and our top Wellbeing books.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the Miles Franklin shortlist and the Booker Prize statement.

Our book of the week is The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. This novel set in a reform school in Florida in the 1970s is the follow-up to his multi-award winning The Underground Railroad.  Whitehead won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, becoming only the fourth author to win the Pulitzer twice.  The Nickel Boys is a New York Times best-seller and was a Best Book of the Year for Time, Esquire, Washington Post and many others.  "The essential paperback for these times", we can't stop raving about this book.

Coming up: How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss JK Rowling's comments about gender identity.

Our book of the week is Cleanness by Garth Greenwell.  This short story collection is his follow-up to the hugely successful, 'instant classic' What Belongs To You.  An American teacher in Sofia navigates sex, love and a wild night out. Named a Time and Esquire Best Book of 2020 So Far, it's been described as 'incandescent', 'extraordinary' and 'a work of genius'.  A great Pride Month read and one of our books of the year. 

Coming up: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang and The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the publishing industry's pledge to increase diversity and the books by black authors topping the best-seller charts. 

Our book of the week is The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack by H. M. Naqvi.  Abdullah is a 70-year-old man on a mission to save his family empire in this rich, playful novel set in Karachi. Naqvi's writing has great rhythm and brings to life the joy and chaos of the city. 

Coming up: Cleanness by Garth Greenwell and How Much Of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang. 

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, Lot by Bryan Washington.  

Our Pride Month recommendations are:

- Orlando by Virginia Woolf

- Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir translated by Quentin Bates

- Trumpet by Jackie Kay

- You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr

- Amateur by Thomas Page McBee

- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Books on our TBR:

-  In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

-  Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

- Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

- Guapa by Saleem Haddad

- The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst

Poetry Recommendations:

- Sergius Seeks Bacchus by Norman Erikson Pasaribu translated by Tiffany Tsao

- Blakwork by Alison Whittaker

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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 Amanda discuss the Jhalak Prize winner, Afropean by Johny Pitts.

Our recommendations for anti-racist books:

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Edo-Lodge

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (ep 85).

Our book of the week is The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak, Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in This Strange World (ep 87). This explores Turkish history through rebellious Asya and her family.  Layered with textures, food and strong women, we loved this novel.

Coming up: our Pride Month recommendations.

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Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda find out that Britons are reading more in lockdown and query whether dystopia has lost its lustre.

Our book of the week is Red At The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, a young adult author, former Young People Poet Laureate, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and recipient of the Hans Christian Anderson Award.  Red At The Bone was a New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book of the Year, one of Oprah Magazine's Best Books of 2019 and was longlisted for the Women's Prize.  It deals with family, racial prejudice and teen pregnancy.  

Coming up: The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak.

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Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2020 Miles Franklin Longlist.

Our book of the week is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, author of the best-selling memoir I Am, I Am, I Am.  Her latest novel tells the story of Shakespeare's wife Agnes and their son Hamnet, who died aged 11, four years before Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Marian Keyes has called it "O'Farrell's best book yet." It has been getting all the buzz and is shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize. 

Coming up: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson.

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Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded to Colson Whitehead for The Nickel Boys.

Our book of the week is The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld, award-winning author and "gothic genius" (Hannah Kent).  This is a gripping novel about three women set in brooding coastal Scotland in the 18th century, 1950s and today. Described as "#MeToo Gothic" (Sydney Morning Herald), we love Jen Campbell's book maths: "Sarah Waters meets Ali Smith meets Fleabag".  It's brilliant.

Coming up: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.

Follow us!

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2020 Old Peculier Crime Novel Longlist .

We reveal our top crime picks for isolation reading:

Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh

The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

Conviction by Denise Mina

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

And other favourites: 

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan

The Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

On our TBR:

Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald

Bluebird Bluebird by Attica Locke

The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Coming up: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld and Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.

Follow us!

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz