By The Book Club Review
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The podcast currently has 187 episodes available.
Patreon
Want more from your favourite podcast? Want to support the person who makes it? Come and join Kate at Patreon.com/thebookclubreview where for a small monthly fee you'll receive benefits such as a weekly books dispatch, which you can read or listen to as a pod, occasional special episodes, and at the higher tier you can join our monthly book club for live discussions with Kate over Zoom.
For the love of a good lamp:
Visit seriousreaders.com/BCR for our special offer on any HD light – use the code BCR at checkout and if you're in the UK you can also benefit from free shipping. You get a month to try out the lights to decide if they're for you, if not you can return them. We seriously love them, and think you will too.
In this special episode, originally released for our Patreon subscribers, Kate celebrates the joys of the perfect notebook with fellow enthusiast and stationery shop owner David Frostick (Lift, Southwold). From the importance of flat-lay paper to the perfect pen we've got it all covered just in time for back-to-school season.
And then we turn to the art of notetaking. Kate and Laura discuss how they take notes on the books they're discussing on the show, and then we find out how the professionals do it, with friends of the pod, journalist Phil Chaffee and literary critic Emily Rhodes. We also hear from Bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud whose book, The Art of Mindful Reading, is full of great suggestions for how to get the most from your reading.
If this whets your appetite come and join us at Patreon.com/thebookclubreview where for a small monthly fee (or you can sign up for annual membership if you prefer) you'll receive benefits such as Kate's weekly books email, occasional special episodes, and at the higher tier you can join our monthly book club for live discussions with Kate over Zoom. If you love the pod your support is helpng Kate make the shows, which means a lot, so thank you for considering it.
Discover David's store LIFT here.
For other things referenced in this episode here's an index to products with links.
For the love of a good lamp:
Visit seriousreaders.com/BCR for our special offer on any HD light – use the code BCR at checkout and if you're in the UK you can also benefit from free shipping. You get a month to try out the lights to decide if they're for you, if not you can return them. We seriously love them, and think you will too.
We love a list, and we love an excuse for a conversation about books, and so we couldn't have been more delighted when the New York Times released their list of the best books of the 21st century, so far. From 503 top tens submitted by authors and other literary world folk, and a bit of statistical magic, they boiled it down to their definitive top 100. And we had to hand it to them, it's a damn good list. Still, we might argue with a few of their choices, and of course have some thoughts of our own.
And so in this episode you'll get our own Book Club Review top 20 books, some of which were on the NYT's list, most of which were not. They're the books we felt had been overlooked, books we loved and were desparate to talk about, books we want to share with you.
And so join me (Kate) and Sarah in London, Phil in New York and Laura in Vancouver as we spend a delightful hour considering the best of the best. I guarantee you'll come away with at least one book for your TBR, and hopefully you'll love it as much as we did.
No booklist, as I thought you might like to find out as you listen, but you'll find all the books discussed at the episode page on our website, thebookclubreview.co.uk
Here's the link to the NYT's list
Also do check out our episode sponsors Serious Readers, who are offering £100 off their brilliant HD reading lamps, use the code BCR at checkout. UK customers get free delivery, elsewhere you can still take advantage of the offer, but there will be a shipping charge.
Laura’s on a flying visit to London, and so of course we took the opportunity to get together and swap notes on our recent reading. Regular guest Phil Chaffee dialled in from New York to add his picks to the mix.
Find out what we thought of summer it-book The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, we consider the auto fictional world of Deborah Levy, Kate reports back on Francis Spufford’s new novel – and podcast book club read – Cahokia Jazz and we round it off with art-world memoir All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield – unputdownable in Kate’s opinion, find out why.
It’s also our first ever sponsored episode. Introducing Serious Readers, a company dedicated to creating the world’s best reading lamps. Listen in for Kate’s interview with founder Alex Pratt, and learn more about why your eyes might struggle under standard LED lighting. We know how much as readers you care about your eyes, so we were happy to tell you about a product that feels like just what they need.
Listen in for all the details, and if you're interested to try them head to seriousreaders.com/BCR and use code BCR for £100 off any HD light. You have 30 days to decide if they're right for you. In the UK you'll also get free delivery. Outside of the UK the offer is still valid, but there would also be a shipping charge.
BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS EPISODEThe Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford
Real Estate by Deborah Levy
All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield
SERIOUS READERSLike the sound of Serious Readers? Head to seriousreaders.com/BCR and use code BCR for £100 off any HD light, you’ll also get free delivery in the UK, and you have 30 days to try them out.
PATREON
Support the show, and get extras in return
Head over to our Patreon to find out how to support the pod, and the things you'll get in return, from book recommendations to extra episodes. At the higher tier you can join our monthly book club – if you look at that membership level you'll find a link to the full list of books for 2024. This month we're reading Wifedom by Anna Funder.
Or to hear about books between shows come find the pod on Instagram or Threads @bookclubreviewpodcast
Inspired by the folk at the New York Times article ‘22 of the funniest novels since Catch 22’, join me (Kate), Phil and Laura as we consider the books that make us laugh. Listen in as we explore the NYT's suggestions and add in a few of our own. Find out the author we can’t believe they missed, and the book that reliably makes Laura – a tough customer when it comes to funny books – laugh every time.
Books mentioned
The New York Times article ‘22 of the funniest novels since Catch 22’
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
The Idiot and Either/Or by Elif Batuman
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Martyr by Kaveh Akbar
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Where d’You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman
Three Men and a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Vanity Fair by William MakepieceThackarey
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Notes
Here’s the Patreon link If you’d like to get more involved and support the show, and you’ll get lots of good things in return: Patreon.com/thebookclubreview
Keep up to date between shows, follow The Book Club Review podcast on Instagram
Next book club read: Wifedom by Anna Funder
Do take a quick moment to rate and review us via your podcast app, your support is really appreciated. And hey, if you have bookish friends, tell them about the show, maybe they will like it too.
So Many Damn Books podcast creator and host Christoper Hermelin joins Kate to swap book recommendations and discuss the magic of book club, recent book discoveries and bookish pet peeves.
EPISODE BOOK LIST
The Eyes & The Impossible by Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
McSweeney’s magazine, including The Panorama issue
How I Won A Nobel Prize by Julius Taranto
Non-Fiction by Julie Myerson
Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Polly Barton, trans.)
Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai (Polly Barton, trans.)
Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton
The Extinction of Irena Ray by Jennifer Croft
James by Percival Everett, and we also mentioned Erasure and The Trees
Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schultz by Luca Debus and Francesco Mateuzzi
NOTES
Join the club and support us on Patreon
Follow The Book Club Review on Instagram and Threads @bookclubreviewpodcast
Two marriages, two forbidden love affairs, and the passionate search for social and sexual freedom in late 19th-century London. Publishers Penguin call The New Life by Tom Crewe ‘A brilliant and captivating debut, in the tradition of Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Tóibín' but what did our book club make of it? Kate is reporting back, with regular guest Philip Chaffee joining from New York. We'll be catching up on the discussion as well as bringing you our take on recent reads FAKE ACCOUNTS by Lauren Oyler and NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason, as well as our recommendations for books inspired by Crewe's novel.
Booklist
Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler
The Smiley Novels by John Le Carre
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Alec by William di Canzio
Young Bloomsbury by Nino Strachey
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant
The Ladies Lindores by Margaret Oliphant
Tom Crewe's booklist on bookshop.org.uk
Podcast episode on Young Bloomsbury
The audiobook of The New Life is read by Freddie Fox and published by Penguin Audio, available wherever you get your audiobooks
Keep up with us between shows. Follow us on Instagram or Threads @bookclubreviewpodcast, browse our website for our full archive, or drop us a line at [email protected]
Want the deep dive? All the details of our Patreon extras and how to sign up here.
Thanks for listening, happy reading, happy book clubbing
What did our podcast book club make of Mild Vertigo, Japanese author Mieko Kanai's 1997 novel, recently translated into English by Polly Barton. A 'modernist masterpiece' written in sentences that go on for pages with hardly any paragraph breaks might not seem like an obvious book club winner; listen in to find out if we were won over.
To discuss it Kate is joined by Yuki Tejima, also known as @booknerdtokyo, and Shawn Mooney, aka Shawn the Book Maniac. Listen in for their thoughts on Mild Vertigo, their current reads and our book recommendations for anyone wanting the inside track on great Japanese fiction.
Book list
A Woman of Pleasure by Kiyoko Murata (trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter)
Home Reading Service by Fabio Morábito (trans. Curtis Bauer)
Woman Running in the Mountains by Yūko Tsushima (trans. Geraldine Harcourt)
Also Territory of Light and Child of Fortune by Yoko Tsutshima
Grass for my Pillow by Sayiichi Maruya (trans. Dennis Keene)
The Little House by Kyoto Nakajima (trans. Ginny Tapley Takamori)
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuo Tsumura (trans. Polly Barton)
Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton
Porn: An Oral History by Polly Barton
Butter by Asako Yuzuki (trans. Polly Barton)
Follow us on Instagram and threads @bookclubreviewpodcast
Support the show and get Kate's weekly book-recommendations email, access to our book spreadsheets, connect with fellow readers and join our book club: find all the details on our Patreon page.
If you enjoyed the episode, please share it, rate and review us on your podcast app, which helps other listeners find us.
Find full shownotes and our episode archive at our website thebookclubreview.co.uk
Join me (Kate) and Laura as we go through our bookstacks and discuss our recent reads. Find out what why Laura can’t put down The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Meanwhile I’ve discovered Mrs Miniver, a comfort read from the 1930s that still has a message for us today, Laura’s made a discovery of her own – that there’s more to Anita Brookner than Hotel du Lac, with her 1988 novel The Latecomers. We go from one good book club read to another with The Fraud by Zadie Smith, and Laura reports in from the recent backlist past with How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang. I take a detour through a ring of enchanted toadstools with Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, and Laura confesses to having spent a weekend lost in the pages of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. She's only interested in the dragons, mind.
Books mentioned
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
The Latecomers by Anita Brookner
The Fraud by Zadie Smith (UK paperback out in June)
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang
Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
UK listeners can find all the books listed above at our Bookshop.org.uk bookshop, if you purchase them there you'll be supporting independent bookshops and your favourite indie podcasters.
Find out all the details of what we're offering on our Patreon here, including a weekly book recmomendations newsletter from Kate, occasional extra bits and bobs plus access to our pod book spreadsheets, and at the higher tier you can join our bookclub and talk books with Kate in person once a month.
And come and find Kate on Instagram or Threads, or drop us a line at [email protected] and let us know your thoughts on the books discussed here anytime.
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