Booktails Podcast

Deadly Competitions 2

If you thought your school was bad, it had nothing on this one! It's time to dive into the Battle Royale phenomenon- 42 kids are taken on a 'school trip', given weapons and told to kill each other until only one survives.

With a Kiriyama Bloody Mary in hand (pasta sauce) Serena and Rachel join the race for survival and find out how long they would last in a battle royale. Have a think to yourself who from your school days you would want to form an alliance with! Those of us who spent our days reading in the corner would make a great team... Right? 

Notes: Go to our social media for the mentioned video of Rachel tasting bloody Mary.

Difference between psychopath and sociopath: Sociopaths are prone to fits of rage and hot headedness, whereas psychopaths remain calm and emotionless. Psychopaths usually seem to lead normal, even very successful lives whereas sociopaths struggle to maintain regular work and family life.

Deadly Competitions 1: Rachel's Recommendation 

Minus 55 minutes and counting

Grab your running shoes and grab a natural energy drink (cocktail) full of electrolytes because it's time for a new Booktails Podcast theme! 

We're starting with a bang with The Running Man by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)

Join Rachel and Serena as we don our disguises and race alongside Ben Richards through streets, hotel rooms and sewers and and even through a pencil maze of our own creation and try our hardest to stay alive despite a corrupt government with all the wrong priorities. Topical who???? 

Notes:  Photos of Rachel's pencil maze available on Instagram and Patreon. Also, the new Running Man movie was partially filmed in Glasgow, ooh!

Centenery Series 3 (Rachel's Rec)

If you've ever missed your stop on the train this episode is for you. We're channeling Kafka and staying alcohol free this week, but feel free to add a splash of something stronger to K's Defence if you prefer! He needs all the help he can get with this Trial after all!

Have you ever felt like you're living in a bureaucratic fever dream? (Every time you have to book an appointment at your GP?) Don't go in a huff and burn your writing like Kafka! There's always the chance you might get a complete acquittal. I mean, no one ever has... But you might! ...Right?

Centenery Series 2.

There's no way we could do a series on books from 1925 without including one of the most studied and revered books of all time!

That's right, we are bringing out the big guns and meeting The Great Gatsby. But is he a hero or a fraud? Is Daisy really the worst? And what is actually up with those famous eyes in the sky? All these questions and more will be answered by Rachel and Serena this week.

So grab a gin Rickey cocktail and look out your dancing shoes. There's a party in West Egg and you're all invited. 

Centenary Series 1: Serena's Recommendation 

"Kissing your hand may make you feel very very good but a diamond and safire bracelet lasts forever." This is just one important life lesson given to the reader by the force which is Lorelei Lee.

Join Serena and Rachel, 'Tiara' cocktail in gloved hand, as they talk through Lorelei's famous trip to Europe, meet her many suitors, wish Dorothy was their best friend too and reflect on the joys and misadventures of being a fabulous flapper in 1925.

Summer Beach Read 3: Serena's Recommendation 

Serena and Rachel may be hungover this week but my oh my do they have some strong views on this book! Prepare yourself for chats on love-bombing, mommy issues, prejudice, sexism, ageism, classism, a whole lot of trauma and general all- round misogyny. You might need another summer beach holiday to recover from this ride.

Toxic they certainly are, so fair warning: your blood will boil reading this book. But at least we can have some good laughs with a dark cherry martini over it.

Summer Beach Read 2

It's the beginning of summer, your boyfriend has just left you for someone else - but the sun is shining, it's time to get out of the city and spend a long, hot, sexy summer in ... a wee island in Cornwall?

Join Rachel and Serena to surf the wave of Taylor Cole's One Summer and expect singing in Simlish, discussions on flaky heroines, cute animal sidekicks far too many eccentric old ladies with funny names and some mudlarking chat. We still don't really know what that is either. 

NOTES: It's called the Relational Proximity theory. We still don't know what kind of dog Ted is.

Summer Beach Read 1 - Rachel's recommendation

Peach schnapps lovers and sunscreen experts unite: this is your time. 

It's classic romantic comedy this week complete with the AC breaking and cute inside jokes! Join us as we delve into this Emily Henry delight and discuss dream travel jobs and real life romcom situations! Learn about Serena's recent 2 star holiday, full of German karaoke, climbing walls and cash only cocktail bars.

Real life should be as lovely as this book, so listen along and make your day that much more magical!

Science Fiction 3

What do you do at the end of the world? DON'T PANIC. Go to the pub and have a few pints of our Black Hole cocktail, then jump on a spaceship and listen to Vogon poetry as the earth blows up under you!

Hitch a ride with us as we blast off to podcast universes unknown, and test your Hitchhikers Guide Knowledge at the end before you say "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Science Fiction 2 - Rachel's Rec

This week we are very excited to dive into Philip K Dick's trippy 1969 masterpiece Ubik, so use your anti-precog powers to go back in time with us.

Drink your Ubik Coffee as we deep dive into what this book really means (hint: metaphors... maybe?) and, of course, reenact some Ubik style ads.

And, for some reason, we sing Céline Dion and imagine Phil Collins drumming in space.