Bookylicious

In this episode Paul is in conversation with Jennifer Kavanagh about her new novel ‘And this shall be my dancing day’ and they also discuss the creative process.

If you want to know more about Jennifer and her writing you can find out more here https://www.jenniferkavanagh.co.uk/

To buy or find out more about Jennifer’s book and some of the other books we mentioned here is our Bookshop.org bookshelf https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/jennifer-kavanagh-and-this-shall-be-my-dancing-day-bookylicious-series-2-episode-11

This is a bumper episode as we weren’t able to record in June. In this episode we discuss our book of the month ‘The Silver Sword’ by Ian Serraillier. For more information on Ian Serraillier go to https://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/people/ian-serraillier We also take a look at the latest BBC list of 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time which you can explore here https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230522-the-100-greatest-childrens-books-of-all-time For all the books we mentioned in this episode please go to our bookshop at https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/ian-serraillier-s-the-silver-sword-and-children-s-classics You can find more information about Bookylicious and how to contact us here www.bookylicious.com

In this episode Gwyn and Paul explore the graphic novel ‘The Sandman Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes’ by Neil Gaiman and its recent Netflix adaptation. If you feel inspired to explore the world of graphic novels and comics why not have a look at the excellent Page 45 bookshop site https://page45.com/

For most of the books we discuss in this episode go to the bookshelf in our bookshop here https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/neil-gaiman-s-the-sandman-bookylicious-series-2-episode-9

Gwyn also mentions Joanna Biggs book ‘A Life of One’s Own’ which has only just been published, you can read an extract here https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/04/03/on-mary-wollstonecraft/

Plus there is a unofficial playlist on Spotify for the Sandman series https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WiEftzChg34LESRtnJehr?si=49b8ca8c968b464d

Paul and Holly chat about Max Porter, one of Britain’s most innovative and creative author’s writing today with his latest book being ‘Shy’. The conversation then turns to all things Medieval with ‘The Wake’ by Paul Kingsnorth and ‘Cuddy’ by Benjamin Myers. Paul reflects on some of the highlights at this year’s Wrexham Carnival of Words.

To see some of the books we mention go to https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/max-porter-the-medieval-and-much-more-bookylicious-series-2-episode-8

For more information about Paul Kingsnorth and Dark Mountain see https://www.paulkingsnorth.net/

And for more about Max porter and his books go to https://www.maxporter.co.uk/

In this episode Gwyn and Paul discuss the Book of the Month Joan Aiken’s ‘The Wolves of Willoughby Chase’ and then dive down the rabbit hole to explore the origins of fantasy fiction.

You can find the full text of Tolkien on Fairy Tales here https://archive.org/details/on-fairy-stories_202110

If you wish to watch the BBC adaptation of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase you can find it here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA_LNZIHHj8&t=61s

All the books we discuss are in our Bookshop.org bookshop here https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-wolves-of-willoughby-chase-and-other-fantastic-imaginings-bookylicious-series-2-episode-7

Gwyn also mentions Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero with a Thousand Faces’ which you can find here https://archive.org/details/the-hero-with-a-thousand-faces-by-joseph-campbell

There is only one episode of Bookylicious this month we will be back with two in May!

Paul, Gwyn and Lara chat about ‘Edgelands’ by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts

It leads to a great discussion about nature in unexpected places and on our back doorstep. One other book gets a brief mention along the way and that is ‘How Green was my Valley’ by Richard Llewellyn where nnaature and industry collide in the South Wales valleys.

For the insatiably curious among you here is a link to an episode of ‘Old Country’ starring Jack Hargreaves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpRvcEC2fnY this will give you a flavour of who we were talking about. His biography is interesting as well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hargreaves

In this episode Paul, Gwyn, Holly and Lara catch up on some of their latest good reads. Listener and author Patricia Bracewell raises the question would there be Harry Potter without The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper? Gwyn champions Stephen King’s ‘Fairy Tale’ as a great read; Holly and Lara both recommend Margaret Atwood’s ‘Hag Seed’ and Paul delves into Victorian natural history with Isabella Tree’s ‘John Gould, the Bird Man’. We also catch up on the most recent book group read by Amy Liptrot.

Lara recommends two Liverpool bookshops News from Nowhere in Bold Street http://newsfromnowhere.org.uk/and Out of Print in Smithdown Road

For a list of some of the books we talk about on the show go here https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/from-harry-potter-to-hag-seed-bookylicious-season-2-episode-5

Paul Gwyn and Holly discuss Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, this month’s book of the month. We also highlight some of our favourite bookshops including:

Troutmark Books (Cardiff and Newport) https://www.troutmarkbooks.com/

Books Llangollen https://www.booksllangollen.co.uk/

Booka Bookshop (Oswestry) https://www.bookabookshop.co.uk/

Juno Books (Sheffield) https://www.junobooks.co.uk/shop

To see and buy some of the books we discussed in this episode go to https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/treasure-island-and-our-favourite-bookshops-bookylicious-series-2-episode-4

To get early bird festival tickets for Wrexham Carnival of Words 2023 go to https://wrexhamcarnivalofwords.com/

In this episode Paul, Holly and Gwyn through the spotlight on Charles Dickens, including ‘Six things you almost certainly didn’t know about Dicken’s’ . What fun we had!

For a flavour of what Dicken’s World’ was like here is a brief video from 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jdx1docVTI

For some of the books we mentioned go to our Bookylicious bookshelf here https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/what-the-dicken-s-bookylicious-series-2-episode-3

Bookylicious Season 2 Episode 2 – Book of the Month Paul, Gwyn and Lara talk about their Book of the Month selection Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ a perfect Winter read. You can find the new BBC World Service adaptation here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvp7 To see all the books we mention in this episode plus a few more children and young adult takes on the Arthurian legend go to https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-dark-is-rising-bookylicious-series-2-ep-2