Episodes

  • 11. Stoner & The Unbearable Lightness of Being

    11. Stoner & The Unbearable Lightness of Being
    Jan 30 2024
    A bittersweet episode of Book Chat has Pandora and Bobby discussing two fittingly bittersweet books: Stoner by John Williams and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Also, “some news”, a hearty goodbye, and a look back on some of our Book Chat faves from episodes past.You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com Books/articles mentioned:Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John WilliamsThe Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan KunderaLand of Milk and Honey by C Pam ZhangThe Science of Storytelling by Will StorrEmily, Bella, Harriet, Octavia, Prudence and Imogen by Jilly CooperThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldMy Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth StroutOne Day by David NichollsBlack Butterflies by Priscilla Morris Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-AknerThe Greatest American Novel You’ve Never Heard Of by Tim Kreider for The New Yorker – https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-greatest-american-novel-youve-never-heard-of Stoner: the must-read novel of 2013 by Julian Barnes for The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/13/stoner-john-williams-julian-barnes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    58 mins
  • 10. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret & The Bluest Eye

    10. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret & The Bluest Eye
    Oct 2 2023

    We bring two books both published in 1970 to the table. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by “the poet laureate of puberty” Judy Blume, and The Bluest Eye, by the legendary Toni Morrison.


    You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com


    Books/articles mentioned:

    Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Forever and Deenie by Judy Blume

    The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Tar Baby and Paradise by Toni Morrison

    Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin

    First Love and My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

    Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

    Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

    The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel

    Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver


    Books for episode 10:

    Stoner by John Williams

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera


    Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes


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




    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    52 mins
  • 9. Augustown & Home Cooking

    9. Augustown & Home Cooking
    Sep 12 2023

    After last month’s crowd-pleasers, Bobby and Pandora sink their teeth into two very different, equally meaty books. In Augustown by Kei Miller, a “dismal little valley” in Jamaica becomes a boiling pot of tension when a young boy’s dreadlocks are cut off. And in Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin, the boiling pots are a little more literal – and Pandora shares an all-timer of a kitchen horror story.


    You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com


    Books/articles mentioned:

    Augustown by Kei Miller

    Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin

    The Pisces and Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

    When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà

    Good Material and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

    When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

    Big Fish by Daniel Wallace

    Life of Pi by Yann Martel

    Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

    Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

    The Bread The Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

    Heartburn by Nora Ephron

    Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbridger

    Takeaway by Angela Hui


    PRE-ORDER SMALL HOURS by Bobby Palmer


    Augustown by Kei Miller Review by Natasha Tripney for The Observer


    “Augustown”: A Novel of the Sacred and the Profane in Jamaica by Laura Miller for The New Yorker


    Scalding oil, racist prank calls and endless ‘lid duty’: growing up in a Chinese restaurant by Angela Hui for The Guardian


    Find out more about the ShelterBox Book Club


    Books for episode 10:

    The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

    Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume


    Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes


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


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    37 mins
  • 8. Bridget Jones’s Diary & High Fidelity

    8. Bridget Jones’s Diary & High Fidelity
    Aug 1 2023
    It’s a bumper episode 8, with Pandora and Bobby tackling two million-copy-bestselling, much-loved-movie-inspiring titans of the nineties. In Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, Pandora finds a surprisingly feminist heroine who’s no less funny 25 years on. And in Nick Hornby’s beloved High Fidelity, Bobby meets his match in a perpetually depressed man-boy who needs to love himself before anyone else can love him back.Books/articles mentioned:Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen FieldingHigh Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About a Boy by Nick HornbyOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquezThe Master and Margarita by Mikhail BulgakovA Life Of One’s Own by Joanna BiggsShark Heart by Emily HabeckMen Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John GrayQueenie by Candice Carty-WilliamsMe Before You by Jojo MoyesOne Day and Us by David NichollsLess by Andrew Sean GreerHeartburn by Nora EphronTales of the City by Armistead MaupinMating in Captivity by Esther PerelBooks for episode 9:Augustown by Kei MillerHome Cooking by Laurie Colwin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    57 mins
  • 7. Close Range & A Girl’s Story

    7. Close Range & A Girl’s Story
    Jul 1 2023
    Book Chat is back, and episode 7 pits a Pulitzer-winning author against a Nobel-winning author. But not really: in the battle of the Annies whose name ends in ‘X’, both Bobby and Pandora are winners. Discussing Close Range by Annie Proulx, Bobby feels the need to make apologies for the unapologetic bleakness of rural Wyoming – while Pandora is transported back to the excruciating experience of Catholic boarding school girlhood in Annie Ernaux’s A Girl’s Story.You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.comSound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora SykesBooks/articles mentioned:Close Range and The Shipping News by Annie ProulxA Girl’s Story, The Years, A Man’s Place, A Woman’s Story, Happening, Getting Lost and Simple Passion by Annie ErnauxThe Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle ZevinOrdinary Human Failings and Acts of Desperation by Megan NolanDifferent Seasons by Stephen KingStoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John WilliamsThe Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    56 mins
  • 6. When I Hit You & A Visit from the Goon Squad

    6. When I Hit You & A Visit from the Goon Squad
    May 1 2023

    Episode 6 takes on one little known book and one very, very well-known book. Pandora finally reads A Visit from the Goon Squad and falls in love with Jennifer Egan's entire canon, while Bobby has mixed feelings about one of Pandora's absolute favourite books of recent times, When I Hit You, about a woman's violent marriage to a communist professor in South India.


    You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com

    Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes


    Books/articles mentioned:

    When I Hit You, The Gypsy Goddess and Exquisite Cadavers by Meena Kandasamy

    A Visit from the Goon Squad, Emerald City, Look At Me and The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

    Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

    Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood

    Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis

    Open Throat by Henry Hoke

    On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

    Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee

    Jennifer Egan on Radio 4 Book Club

    Stephanie Sy-Quia reviews Meena Kandasamy for LARB


    Books for episode 7:

    Close Range by Annie Proulx

    A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux


    Please note, we will be taking a seasonal break for June, and will be back on July 1st.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    45 mins
  • 5. Memorial & The Virgin Suicides

    5. Memorial & The Virgin Suicides
    Apr 1 2023

    Welcome to episode 5! On the menu today is Memorial by Byran Washington, which just slips over our '2 years old' threshold - the hype is arguably still hyping - and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, which was written 30 years ago and yet still, the hype hypes (StudioCanal just released a sparkly new version of the film.)


    We discuss Memorial's literary take on the 'meet the parents' romcom, the 'traumedy' genre, and why Mitsuko is one of the best characters ever written; and why The Virgin Suicides' big themes - adolescent mental health, the male gaze, the American Dream - still feel as prescient today.


    You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com

    Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes


    Books/articles mentioned:

    Memorial by Bryan Washington

    The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

    Bewilderment by Richard Powers

    Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

    Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

    White Noise by Don DeLillo

    Memorial review by Maria Marchinkoski for The Harvard Review

    Memorial review by Tash Aw for The TLS

    Memorial review by Ron Charles for The Washington Post

    Jeffrey Eugenides interview at The Strand bookstore

    Does The Virgin Suicides still hold up 25 years later? By Emily Temple for LitHub

    Pre-order Isaac and the Egg in paperback


    Books for episode 6:

    When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy

    A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    41 mins
  • 4. All That Man Is & The Reluctant Fundamentalist

    4. All That Man Is & The Reluctant Fundamentalist
    Mar 1 2023

    For Episode 4 of Book Chat, we travel back just a decade or so, to Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and David Szalay's short stories in a novel, All That Man Is.

    We discuss Mohsin Hamid's ability to condense big ideas - what makes a fundamentalist? What biases are you bringing to the story? - into readable prose (and his other magical novels like Exit West) and David Szalay's attempt to condense modern masculinity from teen to OAP, as it roves Europe - in one book.

    You can get in touch bookchatpod@gmail.com

    Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes


    Books/articles mentioned:

    All That Man Is and London and the South-East by David Szalay

    The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Exit West and The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

    Games and Rituals and Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny

    The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

    Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

    The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis

    If on a winter’s night a traveller by Italo Calvino

    Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

    The Runaways by Fatima Bhutto

    ‘All That Man Is’, by David Szalay, review by Christopher Tayler for the Financial Times – https://www.ft.com/content/fe2db1c4-f797-11e5-803c-d27c7117d132

    'All That Man Is,' and a Lot He Is Not, in David Szalay's View, by Dwight Garner for The New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/books/review-all-that-man-is-and-a-lot-he-is-not-in-david-szalays-view.html

    I Pledge Allegiance, by Karen Olsson for The New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/books/review/Olsson.t.html


    Clip attributions:

    David Szalay on Radio 4 Bookclub, 2019

    Mohsin Hamid on Radio 4 Bookclub, 2011


    Subscribe to Books + Bits: https://pandorasykes.substack.com/


    Our books for Ep 5:

    The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

    Memorial by Bryan Washington


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