Shirley Jackson and holiday reading – welcome to episode 59!

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In the first half of this episode, we look at holiday reading – chiefly whether we prefer easy or difficult books when we go off on holiday, but we also look at other potential reading options. In the second half, we look at two novels by the wonderful Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House.

The episode of Colin’s podcast isn’t live yet, but you can see The C to Z of Movies on Soundcloud.

You can support the podcast on Patreon – with various rewards, including books and letters and whatnot.

And you can download Tea or Books? through any podcast app, or see our iTunes page. Ratings and reviews always welcome!

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Rebecca West, Rosamond Lehmann, and book groups – welcome to episode 58!

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We’re always very happy to hear suggestions for topics or authors – do let us know if there’s anything you think we should cover.

Our iTunes page is here, and you can support the podcast through Patreon – and get various ‘rewards’, including a book a month picked by us.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Murder mysteries and binge-reading – enjoy episode 57!

In this episode, we compare an uncharacteristically modern novel – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, published in 2018 – with Agatha Christie’s classic Poirot novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In the first half, we debate whether we binge-read authors or spread them out to save them.

Feel sorry for Rachel this week – she’s rather croaky with a cold, but she powers on admirably! I’ve edited out most of her coughing, poor thing, but apologies for any that have snuck in.

You can check out our Patreon account – where you can support the podcast at various different reward levels, including having a book sent each month. We also have our iTunes page, and you can read Rachel’s reviews of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras

We’ve finally done the reviewers vs recommendations episode! Also: E Nesbit and Dorothy Whipple.

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You can support the podcast (and get some rewards) at our Patreon page – including the first bloopers reel! And our iTunes page is here. As always, let us know if you have any suggestions for topics etc. And rate/review if you can work out how to!

If you’re after the complete E Nesbit ebook, it’s available here or through wherever you buy ebooks.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Dorothy Whipple, Winifred Peck, and authors who hop genres – welcome to episode 55!

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In the second half, we look at two novels from around the same period – House-Bound (1941) by Winifred Peck and The Priory (1939) by Dorothy Whipple – both of which have been republished by Persephone.

You can support the podcast at Patreon (a Patreon-exclusive blooper reel coming soon!), and visit our iTunes page. You can rate and review through the iTunes app or podcast apps, etc. Do get in touch if you’d like to suggest topics – we always love that.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

A children’s books special today, featuring Frances Hodgson Burnett and Philippa Pearce. Not in person, you understand.

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In the second half, we look at two garden-focused children’s books – Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was great fun to read them – thanks Lauren for the suggestion!

You can check out our Patreon page, or our iTunes page. And we always love hearing from you, so do let us know any suggestions for future episodes!

(Quick note: I say in the episode that I never met someone who loved reading until I went to university – I meant anybody my age! I did meet some older people who loved reading :) )

The books and authors we mention are:

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

It’s the battle of the Penelopes – and which books we’re most likely to read first (top or bottom of the pile?)

Rachel is back (hurray!) – many thanks to Karen for taking her seat last time. And in this episode we’re doing a suggestion that a different Karen emailed in – do we read books as soon as we get them, or are we more likely to go for books at the bottom of the pile?

In the second half, we compare two literary Penelopes – Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop and Penelope Lively’s According to Mark. We don’t read anything by Penelope Mortimer, despite what Rachel thinks.

We have a Patreon page! You can get shout outs, cards, and even a book sent every month, plus access to any exclusive Patreon content. We also have an iTunes page, but I’ve never quite worked out what to do with that. Anyway… enjoy!

Oh, and listen out for a feline cameo…

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Penelope Mortimer

Detective fiction, crime fiction, and Beverley Nichols – what fun!

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Rachel has had to take a quick break from the podcast, but I was delighted to have a special guest in the form of Karen, from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, who took to it all brilliantly. After an introductory chat with Karen, we talked about Golden Age detective fiction vs modern crime fiction – with my usual lack of research, though Karen is rather better informed.

Karen and I are both besotted with Beverley Nichols, and it seemed like a good opportunity to compare two of his books – Merry Hall and The Sweet and Twenties.

Rachel should be back for our next episode. In the meantime, you can visit our iTunes page – and we’ve also set up a Patreon page. Obviously we are very, very happy for people to keep listening without signing up for Patreon, but if you’d like to help us recover hosting costs etc. and get some ‘rewards’ (from shout-outs to book parcels) then you can check out our page.

In the episode, we talk about a wonderful clip of Beverley Nichols – here it is:

The books and authors we mention are:

Nairn’s Paris by Ian Nairn

Literary families, and the reveal on our recommendations for each other – we’re back after a seasonal break. We’ve missed you!

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In the next episode we’ll be doing Penelope vs Penelope. All suggestions welcome (if you’ve sent one, it will doubtless happen eventually, once I dig it out from somewhere), and you can see our iTunes page here. If you can work out how to do reviews, via iTunes, they are always much appreciated!

The (enormous number of!) books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker

To celebrate episode 50, we are doing a question and answer episode!

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas – I’m editing this a few days before Christmas, but I’m going to assume that a wonderful time was had by all. We were really delighted with all the questions that were sent in (thank you!) and have picked 36 of them to discuss in this episode. Tune in in two years’ time for more questions and answers in episode 100!

You can see our iTunes page here, and we always welcome reviews and ratings. We’ll be back in the new year with books we think the other one will love – I chose The Boat by L.P. Hartley for Rachel, and Rachel chose Wallace Stegner’s Crossing To Safety for me.

The books and authors we mention in today’s episode are:

The Railway Journey by Wolfgang Schivelbusch