The Readers

So this episode, which was actually recorded in October, sees Simon and Thomas talking about book culling and curating and having a catch up, which is now completely out of date but enjoy it anyway.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here.

Book Culling and Curating () Thomas and Simon have a chat, possibly a revisit, all around the top of book culling and book curating. They discuss how they cull and how they decide which books they want to buy and why sometimes they lose their way.

Books Mentioned On The Readers () The Less Than Perfect Legend of Donna Creosote by Dan Micklethwaite, Boy Erased by Garrard Conley, Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Bridget Jones by Helen Fielding, Ruby by Cynthia Bond,

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back next week, as they are giving your four weekly episodes as a thanksgiving thanks for sticking by them when they have been a bit inconsistent, when they will be back with more book based banter. Simon has cancelled You Wrote The Book for now but if you want to go and listen to them all you still can.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode is a little bit of a special spook-tacular as Simon and Thomas talk about horror fiction and ghost stories as Halloween is just around the corner. They discuss which books (as well as just things in general) scare them and what they would like to read over Halloween.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here.

 

Halloween Reads () Thomas and Simon have a chat about what scares them, with a few spooky tales along the way, and which books they would recommend for other people to read as well as sharing the books that they would like to be reading this Halloween...

 

Books Mentioned On The Readers ()American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton, The Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson, The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Haunting of Hill House by  Shirley Jackson, Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson, The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski, The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, Thin Air by Michelle Paver, The Complete Short Stories by Roald Dahl, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Florence and Giles by John Harding, The Loney by Michael Andrew Hurley, The Night Guest by Fiona Macfarlane, Deliverance by James Dickey, The Travelling Bag and Other Stories by Susan Hill

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Kit de Waal to discuss her incredible debut novel My Name is Leon.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon and Thomas talk about the books that they read on holiday, the holidays that they had and also a general catch up.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

Catching Up () Thomas and Simon discuss what the books are that we can read when we want to escape all the mad stuff that is going on the world. They also discuss if we should be escaping the events that are unfolding or reading more about them?

Holidays and Holiday Reads () Thomas went away to Maine and Simon went to Italy, what did they get up to and most importantly what did they read? And what are they going to read next?

Books Mentioned On The Readers () The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, A History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, Playing With Fire by Tess Gerritsen, Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton, To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey, Being Dead by Jim Crace, Light of Day by Eric Ambler, The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing, Leaving The Atocha Station by Ben Lerner, Victoria 4.30 by Cecil Roberts, The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes,The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Veda, The Less Than Perfect Life of Donna Creosote by Dan Micklethwaite, Chains of Sand by Jemma Wayne, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer, The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messaud, Delicious Foods by James Hannaham, Paradise News by David Lodge, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell, The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney, The Golden Age by Joan London, Fell by Jenn Ashworth, The Dream Life of Astronauts by Patrick Ryan, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. Simon has sadly ended You Wrote The Book however you can go back and listen to all the episodes with some wonderful authors.

This episode Simon and Thomas talk about the books that we can read to escape all the crazy things going on in the world as well as funny books, just how funny are they really?

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

 Books to Escape the Bad Stuff () Thomas and Simon discuss what the books are that we can read when we want to escape all the mad stuff that is going on the world. They also discuss if we should be escaping the events that are unfolding or reading more about them?  

Funny Books () Can books ever really be funny? If so which ones are funny? What makes a funny book and why? Is one readers funny the polar opposite for another reader? Simon and Thomas discuss this in the second part of the show.

Books Mentioned On The Readers () Agatha Raisin by M.C Beaton, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson, The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, John Wyndham novels, At Hawthorne Time by Melissa Harrison, The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C Sheriff, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith, Harry Potter novels, The Three Musketeers & the Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas, Anthony Trollope’s novels, Girl at War by Sara Novic, The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rain by Melissa Harrison, Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford, David Lodge’s novels, Dan Rhodes novels, Girl Walks into a Bar by Rachel Dratch, Chelsea Handler’s books, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, P.G Wodehouse’s books, Tom Sharpe’s books, Bill Bryson’s books, Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, I Partridge by Steve Coogan, Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Money by Martin Amis, Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, David Sedaris’ books, Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple, The Family Law by Benjamin Law, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, Running With Scissors & Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs, Love Nina by Nina Stibbe, Alan Bennett, Candide by Voltaire, Yes Please by Amy Poehler, The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney, Life after Life by Kate Atkinson, Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes, The Finkler Question by Harold Jacobson, The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild, Sue Townsend’s books.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Kit de Waal to discuss her incredible debut novel My Name is Leon.

This episode Simon and Thomas talk about book prizes and if they matter as well as talking about what they have been reading over the summer so far and what they have planned to read on their holidays.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

Prizes () Thomas and Simon have a chat about book prizes and the effect that they have on us as Readers as the Man Booker longlist has not been mentioned. Simon wondered Thomas’ thoughts as Simon himself is a co-founder of The Green Carnation Prize for Fiction and was wondering if it all really matters. They discuss it before thinking about what the criteria would be if they both started their own prizes...

 

Summer Reading Horizons () Simon and Thomas talk about some of the books that they have read recently over the summer and what summer reads are lying in wait...

Thomas mentions...

All Involved by Ryan Gattis, The Expatriates by Janie Y.K. Lee, The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen, A House Unlocked by Penelope Lively, Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey, The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan, Rancid Pansies by James Hamilton Patterson.

Simon mentions...

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra, Stan and Nan by Sarah Lippett, The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg, Dinosaurs on Other Planets by Danielle Maclaughlin, Arcadia by Iain Pears, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, Cuckoo Calling by Robert Galbraith, The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead

Other Books Mentioned On The Readers () The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The House at the Edge of the World by Sophie Rochester, Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty, A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra, The Girls by Emma Cline, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Kit de Waal to discuss her incredible debut novel My Name is Leon.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon is joined by the lovely Gavin for their biannual foray into the books that they are looking forward to over the next six months. Exciting.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

Catching Up () Simon and Gavin have a chat about all sorts of bother

Top Picks for the Rest of 2016 () In their now biannual book fest Simon and Gavin talk about the books that they are most excited about in the next six months – well the ones they managed to find the details of, there may be many many more. Here they are...

Simon’s Choices Were

Augustown – Kei Miller

Hide - Matthew Griffin

The Summer That Melted Everything – Tiffany McDaniel

The Borrowed – Chan Ho-Kei

By Gaslight – Steven Price

Angel Catbird – Margaret Atwood

The One Hundred Nights of Hero – Isabel Greenberg

The Fat Artist and Other Stories – Benjamin Hale

Thin Air – Michelle Paver

The Last Days of Leda Grey – Essie Fox

The Power – Naomi Alderman

London Lies Beneath – Stella Duffy

A Day in the Death of America – Gary Younge

Gav’s Choices Were

The Allegations by Mark Lawson

A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas

Undying: A Love Story by Michel Faber

Taduno’s Song Odafe Atogun

Poison City by Paul Crilley

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old

The Borrowed Chan Ho Kei

Chasing Embers by James Bennet

Who Killed Piet Barol by Richard mason

The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

The Invention of Angela Carter Edmund Gordon

The Word Detective: A Life in Words: From Shenanigan to Selfie by John Simpson

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Kit de Waal to discuss her incredible debut novel My Name is Leon.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon and Thomas answer some more listeners questions about time to read and reading contemporary novels vs. the classics.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here.

Catching Up () Thomas and Simon have a catch up as if he is in hospital, he isn’t they just thought he would be when this episode airs. He will be going in at some point this summer though.

Time To Read () One of our lovely listeners Richard wants to know how Simon and Thomas find so much time to read, so they tell him and all of you. They also book in some therapy and the like as they assess their own reading challenges.

Classics vs Contemporary Books () Melissa wants to know if Simon and Thomas try and make themselves read the same amount of classic novels as they do contemporary ones. They have a chat about this and ponder if you should try and match it, or simply throw reading responsibly out of the window and read what the heck you like.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Kit de Waal to discuss her incredible debut novel My Name is Leon.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon and Thomas talk all things summer. There is a summer read-a-long, discussion of summer plans and Simon and Thomas give you five books each they think would be perfect for your summers… Beware though they start with a summer storm.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

Summer Storms Catch Up () In the first part of the show before all the lovely summer sun, Thomas and Simon talk about some of the story weather kind of things that have been going on in their worlds. First up the awful news from Orlando and then the whole Brexit issue…

The Readers Summer Read () Simon and Thomas would like to thank you so much for all of the votes that you cast for what we should all read together this month. Simon and Thomas whittle the list of (over forty) books down to five books each and then do battle. Only one book will become the victor, but which one? Spoiler it is pictured below.

Summer Reading Plans () Simon and Thomas talk about their reading plans over the summer. One of them has somehow made lots of plans, can you guess which host that is? What summer reading plans do you have?

The Readers Recommended Summer Reads () In the final part of this summer spectacular Thomas and Simon recommend five books they each think that you should be reading this summer wherever you are spending it.

Thomas recommends…

I Am Charlotte Simmons – Tom Wolfe

Mapp & Lucia – E.F Benson

The Ripening Seed – Colette

The Inn at Lake Devine – Elinor Lipman

Main Street – Sinclair Lewis

Simon recommends…

The Year of the Runaways – Sunjeev Sahota

Up at the Villa – W. Somerset Maugham

All Involved – Ryan Gattis

Boy Erased – Garrard Conley

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep – Joanna Cannon

Books Mentioned in the Show () Cold Earth by Sarah Moss, The Turner House by Angela Floury, Euphoria by Lily King, Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Strabel, Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams, All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, The Mad Woman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell, You Don’t Have To Live Like This by Benjamin Markovitz, The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan, The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope, The Dinner by Herman Koch, Life Only Better by Anna Gavalda, The Girls by Emma Cline, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and those in the final topic above.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s was joined by Charlotte Wood to discuss her incredible new novel The Natural Way of Things which is INCREDIBLE, the book – though the interview is a hoot too. The last few episodes have been delayed due to Simon’s personal life being bonkers but it is back next week with Kit de Waal.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon and Thomas answer three questions from lovely listener Pam all about readalongs, books with a political bent and books set in London.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here. 

Readers Read-a-Long’s () The first question that Pam asks Simon and Thomas if they might ever bring back a readalong on the podcast like when they read The Night Guest, as well as when they have done readalongs with Ann and Michael or The Readers Book Club. So Thomas and Simon discuss the idea and have come up with a plan… They are going to start doing Summer and Winter ones and they would like your suggestions for the Summer one, get set, go!!!

Political Books () Pam’s second question is about books with a political twist as it is presidential season/madness in the US, and also EU political madness in the UK. Simon and Thomas have a chat about this and recommend some books that you might want to give a whirl. They would also like some recommendations especially ones that Simon will love as much as he does The Good Wife & House of Cards.

London Books () Pam is off to London this month and she would like to know which books we would recommend with a London book setting. Thomas loves books set in London, Simon is not such a fan of them – which might be an understatement. They still talk about it though because that is how dedicated they are.

Books Mentioned in the Show () The Life of Elves by Muriel Barberry, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Crooked Adam by D.E Stevenson, The Night Guest by Fiona MacFarlane, Pleasantville by Attica Locke, Echo House by Ward Just, Babbit by Sinclair Lewis, The Paliser Series by Anthony Trollope, Run by Ann Patchett, Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama, All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, most of Anita Brookner’s books, Under The Net By Iris Murdoch, Offshore and Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, most of Sherlock Holmes, Brick Lane by Monica Ali, Capital by John Lancaster, Ben Aaronovich’s books, Howard’s End by E.M. Forster, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, Sharon Bolton and Jake Arnott’s books, A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar, 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff, All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West, The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, The Bricks That Built the Houses by Kate Tempest, NW by Zadie Smith, the Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, While England Slept by David Levithan, Persephone novels, Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding, Down and Out In Paris and London by George Orwell, Letters from London by Julian Barnes, The Night Watch and The Paying Guest by Sarah Waters, London by Peter Ackroyd, London Fields by Martin Amis, A Girl of Slender Means ­By Muriel Spark, Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, Mother London by Michael Moorcock, Not Working by Lisa Owens, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s was joined by Charlotte Wood to discuss her incredible new novel The Natural Way of Things which is INCREDIBLE, the book – though the interview is a hoot too. Last week’s episode has been delayed but a special live show will be up next week with Maggie O’Farrell.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.

This episode Simon and Thomas talk about endings... And the possibility of playing bingo over this summer.

Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Good Reads and Facebook now as well as subscribing to us on iTunes here.

Catching Up () Thomas and Simon start the show with a catch up and see who can one up the other for who has been the most sick.

Bye Bye Books on the Nightstand () We couldn’t let this episode of The Readers go by without talking about the sad news that Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness have finished Books on the Nightstand. Simon talks about how BOTNS have been a brilliant both for listening to, inspiring the birth of The Readers and then went onto Booktopia and has lead to some wonderful listeners and some wonderful friends.

BOTNS Bingo () In honour of Ann and Michael and Books on the Nightstand, Thomas and Simon have decided that they will take part in Books on the Nightstand Bingo, now if you haven’t played before you can go to the emotional episode of BOTNS where they explain it. Briefly though you use a bingo card to help you choose what you are reading for the year ahead. Simon is sure that Thomas has cheated with his...

Books Mentioned in the Show () It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie, The Dinner by Herman Koch, War of the Worlds by H.G Wells, The Time Machine by H.G Wells, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Beside The Sea by Veronique Olmi, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce, Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James, Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, Black Water by Louise Doughty, Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty.

Next time on the Readers () The Readers will be back in two weeks when they will be back with more book based banter. If you missed the latest episode of You Wrote The Book do go and listen, Simon’s is joined by Charlotte Wood to discuss her incredible new novel The Natural Way of Things which is INCREDIBLE, the book – though the interview is a hoot too.

Get the RSS link for the podcast by clicking here.

You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes here.