One of our favourite episodes of the year - spooky reads! Belle and Jenny share their latest horror reads, spooky TBRs, quick fire horror genres and tv/movie recs. It's a bumper ep, packed full of horror recs. Happy Halloween!

Books mentioned:

• Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
• The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
• House of Splinters by Laura Purcell
• Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova
• The Hotel by Daisy Johnson
• Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
• The September House by Carissa Orlando
• Itch by Gemma Amor
• A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez
• Don't Go to Sleep in the Dark by Celia Fremlin
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• NIghtbitch by Rachel Yoder
• Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMere
• Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez
• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
• Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

Movies/TV/Radio mentioned:

• The Hotel BBC Radio 4
• The Others
• The Awakening
• The Substance
• Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, Eric & Lyle Menendez (TV)
• The Long Walk
• Weapons
• Alice (1988)

Get in touch

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Support The Bookcast Club

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Sarah and Belle get together to talk about about cosy reads. They discuss what kinds of books they read more in Autumn and Winter, and share what they've been reading and watching lately.

Books mentioned:

• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
• Helle & Death by Oskar Jensen
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
• The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
• She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark
• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfeld
• The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
• The Dance Tree by Kiran Milwood Hargrave
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Forcett
• The Fate of Mary Rose by Caroline Blackwood
• The Lamb by Lucy Rose

Things mentioned:

• Bookcast Club episode #102 - The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Get in touch

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Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

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We welcome Sarah from Your True Shelf to the pod today to discuss reading challenges and, specifically, #HRCYED - The Hardest Reading Challenge You'll Ever do, Jenny and Sarah take the opportunity to discuss their recent/current reads and TBR's for the challenge.

Books mentioned:

• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• It Was Always You by Emma Cooper
• The Things We Lost by Jyoti Patel
• Pop Scars by ANTHONY Kavanagh (not Andrew!)
• LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (Andy Serkis Audiobook)
• Boudicca's Daughter by Elodie Harper
• The Tarot Reader of Versailles by Anya Bergman
• We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad

Things mentioned:

• HRCYED 2.0 website
• TBR Spin by Sarah Freshly
• Read Good Challenge 2025 by Ben Reads Good
• The Gilmore Book Club

Get in touch

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Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

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We're back! Welcome to season 4 of The Bookcast Club. In this episode we share what we've been doing and reading over the last few months as well as teasing what's to come in this upcoming season.

Books mentioned:

• Confessions by Catherine Airey
• All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• I'm Glad my Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy
• Rapture by Emily Maguire
• A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Things mentioned:

• Emily Maguire on ABC - The epic mystery of a female pope and the birth that was her undoing

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi | Email | YouTube

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

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Sarah, Belle, and Jenny gather today to bring you the second of a two-part episode discussion the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist. Today, they discuss their thoughts on Fundamentally by Nassaibah Younis, The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji, and The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden.

Are you reading the Women's Prize shortlist this year?

Get in touch

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Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

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Sarah, Belle, and Jenny gather today to bring you the first of a two-part episode disucssing the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist. Today, they discuss their thoughts on Good Girl by Aria Aber and All Fours by Amanda July, with a sort of half-discussion about Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout.

Are you reading the Women's Prize shortlist this year?

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi | Email

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. Come and chat to us in the comments.

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We welcome back the delightful Shawn Mooney from the Youtube channel Shawn Breathes Books. He and Sarah discuss Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, which was published in 1966 as a response to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They chat about the book's origins, its role and relationship with the canon, and how they feel about it in isolation plus as a conversational piece with Jane Eyre.

Things mentioned:

• Sarah on Shawn's channel: Zooming In: Sarah and Shawn on so-called 'unlikeable' female characters in literature
• Shawn on the Bookcast Club: Episode 64 (My Life in Books) and Episode 97 (Three Short Stories)

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi | Email

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. Come and chat to us in the comments.

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Belle and Sarah chat through the wonderful back catalogue of Irish writer Claire Keegan, a Bookcast Club fave. If you have any suggestions for future author spotlights please let us know by contacting us on Instagram or email.

Books mentioned:

• Antarctica
• Foster
• Small Things Like These
• So Late in the Day
• Walk the Blue Fields

Things mentioned:

• Claire Keegan on ABC Podcast

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi | Email

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. Come and chat to us in the comments.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah catches up with former cohost of the Bookcast Club, the fabulous Chris. They chat all things Women's Prize, grief memoirs, and other stuff they've been reading. Will Sarah ever read ACOTAR, or will she just continue to mention it?

Also mentioned: Episode #87 - Books about Grief and Death

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. Come and chat to us in the comments.

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Cannot think of a better title! Big thank you to Patreon supporter Millie for coming on the pod with Jenny to share some recommendations. Jenny's choice was Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism and Millie's choice was Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stephens - but what were our bookish pairings? We also did some recommendations for listeners based on Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers and What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. Let us know what you would have recommended based on these titles.

P.S. If you can think of a catchier title, please help!

Books mentioned:

• The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh
• Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris
• Vianne by Joanne Harris
• I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
• A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
• Watching Women & GIrls by Danielle Pender
• What She's Having: Stories of Women & Food by Dear Damsels
• Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater
• French Braid by Anne Tyler
• Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler
• Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
• A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler
• Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
• Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford

Get in touch

Instagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fi

Support The Bookcast Club

• You can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post. You can now try our Patreon FREE for 7 days. 
• If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi. 
• A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. Come and chat to us in the comments.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.