The Dabblers' Book Club

If you haven't watched the Netflix series yet, READ THE BOOK FIRST! Our final episode of the series, and the year, marks a whole year of The Dabblers' Book Club... and Haj is letting her stress show in this episode. She's triggered by a trigger warning. Listen to hear what we thought about the book that inspired the Netflix smash, and take everything Haj rants about with a pinch or two of salt. It's been a hard year.

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Booker shortlisted Burnt Sugar is Avni Doshi's searing debut about living with the demons of parental cruelty as roles reverse. In our penultimate episode of the series, we end up giving the book the same score, despite very different overriding feelings towards it. A shortish novel, but nonetheless weighty in subject matter, we definitely think it's worth a read!

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Ever wondered what life would've been like if one ancestor had made a slightly different decision? Well, BBC World journalist and TV producer Nadia Ragozhina saw all the possibilities in her research for her family memoir, Worlds Apart. She discovered  a web of incredible stories from two cousins finally united almost a century after their fathers left turn-of-the-century Warsaw. One brother left for Switzerland, the other for Russia.  Nadia joins us to talk about two of her favourite novels, 1Q84 and A Little Life, and what it was like writing her fascinating book. Don't miss this episode!!

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We sooooo wanted to like this book. Loved the concept, loved the writing but it all just fell a bit flat. Have a listen for our ranty takes on what didn't quite work for us about Ishiguro's 2005 Booker shortlisted dystopian sci-fi about human clones raised in a private school-like setting for organ harvesting. We realise we say 'test-tube babies' a lot in this pod. Clones. We mean clones.

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The book that inspired Bukowski sees young writer Arturo Bandini trying to make it in LA. Of course he meets a girl. Of course he's arrogant and refers to himself in the third person, but will Haj hate Bandini as much as Chinaski? This is a quick read, so get through it and have a listen!

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Hajar and Curtis feel even more stupid than usual as they talk about classicist Madeline Miller's retelling of Circe - some sort of Greek goddess/witch, who Homer mentioned in The Odyssey. We don't think you need to know all about Greek gods and goddesses to appreciate this book, but we didn't half feel dumb. 

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The Dabblers took it back to the 1930s with Curtis's recommendation to read one of his favourite novels (by probably his favourite author), Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
Listen to find out how Curtis ended up in a Frankie Says Relax t-shirt and why this book sent Haj on a home-making frenzy. We hope you'll read along and join us for chat about working class creativity, and how Orwell really gets to the heart of that living-on-a-shoestring insecurity that can see you on a negative downward spiral.

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This episode features our first ever guest! Our good friend, musician and keen reader Ricardo Bonito recommended Death at Intervals by the late Nobel Prize winning Portuguese author, José Saramago. Ricardo has read the book in Portuguese and English and gave us an education on this fascinating author and his works. Truly, one of our most enjoyable episodes to record - we hope you love it!

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We talk about C Pam Zhang's stunning debut about two young orphans surviving in the twilight of the American Gold Rush. This book takes some reading and the podcast is mainly Hajar rambling her way through how she felt about it, but we highly recommend you get yourself a copy. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it's an absolute work of art. We discuss the usual topics of identity and class with a healthy dose of swearing but unfortunately just one disappointingly flat one-star review. Great news for the author, not so good for us.

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We almost managed to put Peep Show to one side for our chat about Robert Webb's debut novel, Come Again. Grieving Kate Marsden is struggling to see the point in anything following the death of her husband Luke. After a deep sleep she wakes up in her 18-year-old body at freshers' week at York Uni, where she realises she has a chance to save her future husband. We ramble a lot about Webb and read out a smattering of one-star reviews. If you want to get to the actual book chat rather than our thoughts on the author and general fandom, we recommend starting at about minute 7.

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