10. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and The Bluest Eye

11. Stoner & The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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 [email protected] 

Books/articles mentioned:

Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

Emily, Bella, Harriet, Octavia, Prudence and Imogen by Jilly Cooper

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

One Day by David Nicholls

Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris 

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

The 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.

10. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and The Bluest Eye

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 [email protected] 

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.

9. Augustown and Home Cooking

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 [email protected] 

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.

8. Bridget Jones’s Diary and High Fidelity

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 Fielding

High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About a Boy by Nick Hornby

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

A Life Of One’s Own by Joanna Biggs

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

One Day and Us by David Nicholls

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel

Books for episode 9:

Augustown by Kei Miller

Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin

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

7. Close Range & A Girl’s Story

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 [email protected]

Sound by Joel Grove and production by Pandora Sykes

Books/articles mentioned:

Close Range and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

A Girl’s Story, The Years, A Man’s Place, A Woman’s Story, Happening, Getting Lost and Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Ordinary Human Failings and Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan

Different Seasons by Stephen King

Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

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