Exciting launch! Our very first Book Club show with Today Radio's Vanessa Phelan and Sarah Tapp. Every month we'll share recommendations and take on a new book, as voted by our readers.

It all started with Sarah chatting about the wonderful interview she did with Dr. Susan Rogers on her tome about music cognition and cyberaustics: "This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You"

And then the conversation took a book curve into what we're reading, what we've enjoyed over the past few months, and we thought it would be great to build a community around our love of books and reading.

So here we are! We would love you to help build this community with ideas and recommendations.

Each month we will try to bring recommendations and also include YOUR recommendations.

You will have no doubt heard both of my colleagues on Today Radio as Sarah Tapp hosts The Hangover and Vanessa Phelan is a newsreader and contributing journalist for RTL Today.

Here's a bit more about us...

Well me you know about I guess as you're listening to the show. What's relevant and something I don't normally talk about is that I write and consult on children's science books for DK in the UK. You can find my books here. I love giving back to the science I once studied and with books, this is one avenue. I wrote the Mini Scientist series when my girls were tiny as I realised experimenting is our first language. Before words.

Vanessa grew up in the States and moved to Luxembourg in 2017 after 12 years in Dublin. Aside from her work at RTL, Vanessa also works for a publisher of Irish language children’s books. She is a lover of all kinds of fiction, whether mystery, romance, historical or just stories about people with messages and themes we can all relate to. She also loves to travel and so enjoys reading about far-flung and exotic places.

Originally from Hawaii, Sarah studied Zen poetry in college and spent almost 15 years in Japan before relocating to Luxembourg in 2016. When she’s not hosting The Hangover on Today Radio, Sarah is an avid reader who loves literary fiction, poetry, classics and memoir. Her unchecked obsession with One Direction fanfiction and inability to pronounce words correctly when reading aloud keep her from being an insufferable snob.

Subscribe to the Podcast and get in touch!

Please do subscribe to the podcast on Apple and / or Spotify. It would be great if you could rate and review too - helps others find us.

Tune in on Today Radio Saturdays at 11am, Sundays at noon and Tuesdays at 10am.

Vote on our next book

We would really love you to vote on our next book!

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Milkman by Anna Burns

Books mentioned on today’s show

We spoke about so many books on this show. Let us know what you think of them!

This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry and other books by Fredrik Backman

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Olive Kitteridge and other books by Elizabeth Strout

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Fanfiction (we recommend Archive of Our Own (AO3))

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

The Wife's Tale: A Personal History by Aida Edemariam

Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani

Chocolat and Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Beach Read by Emily Henry (Sarah said “Book Lovers” but this is the one she meant!)

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Hamnet and other books by Maggie O’Farrell

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts

Windswept & Interesting by Billy Connolly

Memoirs and biographies of Victoria Beckham, Britney Spears, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Diana, Princess of Wales

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo

Milkman by Anna Burns

Books mentioned on today’s show

We spoke about so many books on this show. Let us know what you think of them!

This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry and other books by Fredrik Backman

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Olive Kitteridge and other books by Elizabeth Strout

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Fanfiction (we recommend Archive of Our Own (AO3))

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

The Wife's Tale: A Personal History by Aida Edemariam

Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani

Chocolat and Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Beach Read by Emily Henry (Sarah said “Book Lovers” but this is the one she meant!)

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Hamnet and other books by Maggie O’Farrell

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts

Windswept & Interesting by Billy Connolly

Memoirs and biographies of Victoria Beckham, Britney Spears, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Diana, Princess of Wales

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo

Milkman by Anna Burns