Anna and Annie discuss the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist, including Anna Funder's Wifedom.

Our book of the week is THE VULNERABLES by Sigrid Nunez. This is the third in a loose trilogy after THE FRIEND and WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH. A writer, a college drop-out and a talking parrot share an apartment in New York during the Covid pandemic.  This is subtler than the first two books but we loved the mix of story and Nunez's reflections on life and writing.  

Coming up: our Crime reading recommendations.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

It's the Shawn and Anna Book Club!

Our first book is Home Reading Service by Fabio Morábito translated by Curtis Bauer. Eduardo is sentenced to a year of community service reading aloud to the elderly and disabled.  Set in Mexico, this novel is witty and poignant.  It even inspired us to discuss poetry!  And the fine line between whacky and eccentric.

Also mentioned:

Shawn's Bite Sized Book Chat with Stu aka Winston's Dad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubR7KrANvE&t=40s 

Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai translated by Polly Barton

Book Club Review Podcast

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie reveal our book recommendations for the holiday season.

Our favourite holiday reads this year are:

THE CLUB by Ellery Lloyd

NOW YOU SEE US by Balli Kaur Jaswal

WEST HEART KILL by Dann McDorman

FLIGHT by Lynn Steger Strong

THE LIBRARIANIST by Patrick deWitt

ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the Booker Prize 2023 winner, PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch.

We reveal the best books we read in 2023.  In no particular order, they are:

Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton

Girl in a Pink Dress by Kylie Needham

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

Loot by Tania James

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Coming up: our Holiday Reading recommendations

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Anna and Annie discuss authors' concerns about Spotify streaming books and highlights from the 2024 Adelaide Writers Week lineup.

Our book of the week is Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé. Sandgren has been described as "Sweden's Sally Rooney" (The Times).  Collected Works is a thought-provoking, intellectual novel set in Gothenburg.  At the heart of it is the mystery of the disappearance of Martin's wife, Cecilia.  Anna loved it but Annie would have preferred more Cecilia and less Martin!

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Special guest Shawn Mooney of Shawn the Book Maniac joins Anna for Book Club!

We discuss TRUE BIZ by Sara Nović and Y/N by Esther Yi.  These books have taken us down rabbit holes of deaf culture (True Biz) and super fandom (Y/N). Two interesting and thought-provoking reads!

Shawn recommends the interview with Esther Yi on Jaylen's The Bar and the Bookcase podcast.

We're currently reading:

GIBBONS OR ONE BLOODY THING AFTER ANOTHER by James Morrison (and see the book launch on Shawn's channel)

SMALL WORLDS by Caleb Azumah Nelson

LEOPOLDSTADT by Tom Stoppard

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2023 Booker Prize Shortlist and the authors taking action over the generative AI use of their work.

Our book of the week is WIFEDOM: MRS ORWELL'S INVISIBLE LIFE by Anna Funder.  An innovative biography of Eileen Orwell by the Miles Franklin and Samuel Johnson prize winner, it has been described as a masterpiece and we think would make a great book club book.

Coming up: Book Club with Shawn Mooney

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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Nero Book Awards which will commence in 2024.

Our book of the week is CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS by Shankari Chandran.  A layered story about a nursing home in Sydney whose residents have traumatic memories of the civil war in Sri Lanka, this won the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award. 

Coming up: WIFEDOM by Anna Funder.

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Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode: Anna chats with Shawn Mooney of Shawn the Book Maniac.

We recommend three books and each choose one to read for our next episode: the Anna and Shawn book club!

Books discussed:

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

True Biz by Sara Nović

Y/N by Esther Yi

Loop Tracks by Sue Orr

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

The Recent East by Thomas Grattan

Coming up: Chai Time in Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

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Youtube: Books On The Go and Shawn the Book Maniac

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss a recent study on reading to young children.

We wrap up Women in Translation month.  The books we read (or Annie did at least!) and recommend are:

Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich translated by Ayca Turkoglu

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd

What You're Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama translated by Alison Watts

Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé

My Devotion by Julia Kerninon translated by Alison Anderson

Sleepless by Marie Darrieussecq translated by Penny Hueston

Coming up: Chai Time in the Cinnamon Gardens and Wifedom

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Email: [email protected]

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Instragram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz