The Bookcast Club

Today Jenny and her sister Katie take on the epic challenge of comparing the Mary Shelley classic, Frankenstein with Guillermo Del Toro's new movie. We answer all the important questions - did the creature have a brain? Who the f*ck is Catherine? Mia Goth is British!? And what was the milk count?

Books mentioned:

• Poor Things by Alasdair Grey
• Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick
• Love, Sex and Frankenstein by Caroline Lea
• A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock

Movies/TV mentioned:

• The Fly (1986)
• Tim Burton - The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissor Hands, Frankenweenie
• Blade Runner
• Jurassic Park
• Penny Dreadful (TV)
• The Frankenstein Chronicles (TV)
• Wuthering Heights (2026)

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

Belle catches up with fellow Naarm resident and Bookstagrammer, @paulineisreading. They talk bookstagram, ARCs, and some of their favourite Australian authors.

Books mentioned:

• coming soon!

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

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

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

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

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

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

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

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

Sign up to our newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news. 

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

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

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, 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.

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

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.

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

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.