Books On The Go

Anna and Annie discuss the Walter Scott prize winner, The Long Take by Robin Robertson, and the new ownership of Barnes and Noble.

Our book of the week is The Friend by Sigrid Nunez.  Set in New York, it's the story of a woman who is grieving the death of a friend and is given his dog to care for.  It's a beautiful novel: meditating on loss but not sentimental, featuring a dog but intellectual, and often funny. The Friend was a New York Times best-seller and won the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction.  

Next week, Anna and Amanda will be reading A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza.

Follow us!

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 Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton winning another award (the ABA Booksellers' Choice award) and City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert entering the Top 10 books of the week.

Our book of the week is Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia by Billy Griffiths.  This is a fresh look at archaeology in Australia, the incredible depth and sophistication of Aboriginal culture and the slow change in our mindset about Australian history.  It won the 2019 John Mulvaney Book Award, the Ernest Scott prize and Book of the Year in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.  

Next week, Anna and Annie will be reading The Friend by Sigrid Nunez.

Follow us!

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Twitter: @abailliekaras

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the Women's Prize winner, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.  We update on the new book by Hilary Mantel and that mysterious billboard; and the Miles Franklin longlist.

Our book of the week is Lanny by Max Porter, the follow-up to his best-selling, multi award-winning Grief is the Thing With Feathers.  He says Lanny is a book about 'parenting, friendship and English myth'.  It's also been described as a 'joyously stirred cauldron of words' (The Guardian). 

Next week, Anna and Amanda will be reading Deep Time Dreaming by Billy Griffiths.

Follow us!

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

A special episode:  Anna and Amanda meet the fabulous Kathy Lette!  We chat about Kathy's wonderful show at the Adelaide Fringe Festival earlier this year, her best-selling books including Puberty Blues and Best Laid Plans, autism and much more.

Kathy's new book is HRT (Husband Replacement Therapy), due out later this year.

She recommends the podcast A Good Read.

Follow us!

Facebook: Books On The Go

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @abailliekaras , @amandalhayes99 and @kathy.lette

Litsy: @abailliekaras

Twitter: @abailliekaras and @KathyLette

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the long-list for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award, including a shock omission.

Our book of the week is No Friend But The Mountains by Behrouz Boochani, translated by Omid Tofighian.  This account of Boochani's journey seeking asylum and his detention in Manus Island Prison won the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for Non-Fiction and Literature and the New South Wales Premier's Special Award. It was written by text messages on a mobile phone.  Boochani is still on Manus Island.  Described as a 'tour de force' (The Saturday Paper); a 'shattering book' (Benjamin Law); and 'unforgettable' (Australian Financial Review), this is a must-read.

Next week, Anna and Annie will be reading Lanny by Max Porter.

Follow us!

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 British Book Awards: Normal People by Sally Rooney won Book of the Year; Becoming by Michelle Obama won best non-fiction and audiobook.

Our book of the week is At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell. The story of a successful architect who regrets the pace of urban development in Korea and a lost love, this won the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature and was long-listed for the Man Booker International Prize 2019.  

Next up, Anna and Annie will be reading Lanny by Max Porter and Anna and Amanda will be back with No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani, translated by Omid Tofighian.

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 Australian Book Industry Awards, mostly won by Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, and the Best Young Australian Novelists according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Our book of the week is Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi.  Annie is a fan of this Nigerian-born British author, whom Ali Smith calls 'a writer of sentences so elegant they gleam.'  Gingerbread has been described as 'exhilarating' (New York Times Book Review), 'mind-bending' (Washington Post) and 'wildly inventive' (Vogue).  But how will Anna cope with all the magic?

Next week, Anna and Amanda will be reading At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell.

Follow us!

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 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction longlist, recommended by Preti Taneja (ep 56).

Our book of the week is The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean.  An Australian mystery set in outer Sydney, it has been described as 'a Picnic at Hanging Rock for a new generation'. But what did Anna and Amanda think?

Next week, Anna and Annie will be reading Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi. 

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 shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize to be announced on 21 May, and this week's Top Ten Bestsellers.

Our book of the week is The Years by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer.  A creative autobiography of Ernaux's life growing up in France from the 1940s to 2000s, it becomes an account of her generation and the social changes they have witnessed.  It won the  2018 Premio Strega and is shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. What did Anna and Annie think?

Next week, Anna and Amanda will be reading At Dusk by Hwang Sok-Yong.  Then Anna and Annie will be back with Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi.

Follow us!

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 Annie discuss the Women's Prize Shortlist - so many thoughts! - and the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, including Deep Time Dreaming, The Trauma Cleaner and Boy Swallows Universe.

Our book of the week is The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie.  A darkly funny memoir about caring for ageing parents in Alberta, Canada - but this is unlike any other mother-daughter story that we've read.  Winner of the 2018 Finch Memoir Prize and the 2019 Stella Prize, it is becoming one of the most talked-about books of the year.

Next week, Anna and Amanda will be reading The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean.

Follow us!

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 Wilcosz