Mostly Books Meets...

This week, Jack is joined by author Maggie Shipstead to discuss her novel Great Circle. Great Circle was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction and Maggie has also penned two previous novels, 2012s Seating Arrangements, and 2014s Astonish Me. More recently, she's released a collection of short stories called You Have a Friend in 10A.

Purchase Great Circle here

(1:56) Growing up in Orange County and Reading Books
(11:46) Writing and an MFA
(15:55) Maggie's Recent Reads
(26:48) Maggie's Travels and the Inspirations for Great Circle
(48:09) A Book That Changed Maggie Shipstead's Life
(56:51) Great Circle

The podcast is produced and presented by Jack Wrighton and the team at Mostly Books. It is edited by Story Ninety-Four. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop.

Meet the host:
Jack Wrighton is a bookseller and social media manager at Mostly Books. His hobbies include photography and buying books at a quicker rate than he can read them.
Connect with Jack on Instagram

Great Circle is published in the UK by Penguin.

Books mentioned in this episode include:
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead - ISBN: 9780007467730
Persuasion by Jane Austen - ISBN: 9780199535552
The Martian by Andy Weir - ISBN: 9781785031137
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy - ISBN: 9781982185824
Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler - ISBN: 9780099731818

To find more titles, visit our website

This week, Jack is joined by children's book dream team Greg James and Chris Smith. In 2017, they launched onto shelves with the hilarious Kid Normal, which quickly went on to become a best-seller. Since then they have penned three more Kid Normal books, The Great Dream Robbery and their latest book, Super Ghost released in September of this year. When they're not writing, they both like to relax by dabbling in a bit of radio.

Purchase Super Ghost here

(1:38) Chris Smith's Childhood Writing Fame
(3:24) Greg James' Childhood Reading Habits
(5:07) The Children's Books that Affected Greg James and Chris Smith
(9:02) Chris and Greg's Recent Reads
(22:00) The Books that Changed Chris Smith and Greg James' Lives
(29:02) The Process of Writing Collaboratively
(34:32) Super Ghost

The podcast is produced and presented by Jack Wrighton and the team at Mostly Books. It is edited by Story Ninety-Four. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop.

Meet the host:
Jack Wrighton is a bookseller and social media manager at Mostly Books. His hobbies include photography and buying books at a quicker rate than he can read them.
Connect with Jack on Instagram

Super Ghost is published in the UK by Puffin Books

Books mentioned in this episode include:
The Secret Garden by Mariah Marsden - ISBN: 9781524858155
The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg - ISBN: 9780141340111
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - ISBN: 9780099460879
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - ISBN: 9780099740919
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkein - ISBN: 9780261103252
The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkein - ISBN: 9780007458424
Venice for Pleasure by J. G. Links - ISBN: 9780370306605

To find more titles, visit our website

This week, we are thrilled to be speaking to author Julia Boyd. In 2017, she released the spellbinding Travellers in the Third Reich, a history of the rise of fascism told through the first-hand accounts of those who had travelled through Germany. It went on to become a Sunday Times top three best seller and to win the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for history in 2018. In May of this year, Julia released the wonderful A Village in the Third Reich, an eye-opening account of how the rise of fascism and Hitler marked the lives of a small community nestled in the Bavarian mountains. It is a fascinating and eye-opening read, and a great example of how even the most well-known parts of history can always find a way to surprise us.

Purchase A Village in the Third Reich here

(1:11) Julia Boyd Introduction
(1:57) Julia's Childhood
(9:04) Julia's Interest in History Writing
(21:15) The Last Book Julia Read
(23:49) Weaving a Historical Narrative
(29:55) The Books that Changed Julia's Life
(36:31) Music & A Village in the Third Reich
(46:35) How Julia Fell into Writing

Meet the host:
Jack Wrighton is a bookseller and social media manager at Mostly Books. His hobbies include photography and buying books at a quicker rate than he can read them.
Connect with Jack on Instagram

A Village in the Third Reich is published in the UK by Elliott & Thompson Limited.

Books mentioned in this episode include:
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton - ISBN: 9780340681060
Father and Son by Edmund Gosse - ISBN: 9781784874391
Dear Life by Alice Munro - ISBN: 9780099578635

To find more titles, visit our website

We welcome onto the podcast this week author Salley Vickers. Salley's first novel Miss Garnet's Angel was published in the year 2000. Since then, she has gone on to pen 11 novels in total as well as collections of short stories. Previously, she worked as a teacher and a psycho-analyst. Her storytelling has won her many fans and she's a Sunday Times bestseller. Her latest book The Gardener is a beautiful reflection on family, place, immigration and nature and is now available in paperback.

Purchase The Gardener by Salley Vickers here

(1:43) Salley Vickers' Childhood
(7:34) Growing Up in a Communist Community
(19:26) Salley Vickers' First Novel and the Writing Process
(31:55) Confronting the Blank Page
(35:30) Pagan landscapes and The Gardener
(53:00) Dyslexia and Literature

The podcast is produced and presented by Jack Wrighton and the team at Mostly Books. It is edited by Story Ninety-Four. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop.

Meet the host:
Jack Wrighton is a bookseller and social media manager at Mostly Books. His hobbies include photography and buying books at a quicker rate than he can read them.
Connect with Jack on Instagram

The Gardener is published in the UK by Penguin.

Books mentioned in this episode include:
Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce - ISBN 9780192734501
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol - ISBN 9781782692843
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - ISBN 9780241513729
Seven Types of Ambiguity by William Empson - ISBN 9780140214789

To find more titles, visit our website

It is our great pleasure to welcome onto the podcast this week Liz Calder and Alexandra Pringle. Liz was one of the founding directors of Bloomsbury and was editor-in-chief from 1987 to the year 2000, after which she passed the baton on to Alexandra, who served in the role until 2020. Between them, they have published Nobel Prize, Booker Prize and Women's Prize winners and have published household names such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Madeline Miller. Together they have edited the Bloomsbury 35 Anthology, a celebration of the now much-loved and admired publisher. To flick through its pages is to meet some of the most exciting voices in fiction writing from across the world, and is a testament to the brilliant work Bloomsbury has and continues to do.

(0:49) Introduction
(3:20) Liz Calder and Alexandra Pringle’s First Reading Experiences
(8:37) Liz and Alexandra’s Teenage Years
(15:41) Liz Calder's Most Recent Read
(22:21) Alexandra Pringle’s Most Recent Read
(26:14) The Books That Changed Their Lives
(38:35) The Emotional Side of Publishing

The podcast is produced and presented by Jack Wrighton @jackwrighton and the team at Mostly Books. It is edited by Story Ninety-Four. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop.

Bloomsbury 35 is published in the UK by Bloomsbury.

Books mentioned in this episode include:
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - ISBN: 9780349009308
Bartleby and Co by Enrique Vila-Matas - ISBN: 9781843430520
The Great Garden by Meg Rozoff - ISBN: 9781841585659
My Salinger Days by Joanna Rakoff - ISBN: 9780307958013
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan - ISBN: 9780393017755
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - ISBN: 9780395775592
The Ventriloquist Tale by Pauline Melville - ISBN: 9780747531500
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie - ISBN: 9780593421826

To find more titles to purchase, visit our website