Book Shambles

On the 100th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme on July 1st, Robin and Josie chatted with the acclaimed writer of 'The Missing of the Somme', Geoff Dyer about that plus his entire body of work including his new book, 'White Sands'. All that and jazz, Tarkovsky, Brexit, Jean Rhys, sitcoms and more.

Acclaimed writer Nikesh Shukla joins Josie and Robin this week to talk about his own work including the upcoming collection of essays, The Good Immigrant, plus everything from Spiderman comics to the dirty short stories of Philip Larkin...

Author and host of 'All in the Mind', Claudia Hammond joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about her new book, psychology, Primo Levi, George Saunders and her own teenage book diary..

Actor and Beckett performer extraordinaire Lisa Dwan joins Robin and Josie this week ahead of her upcoming World Premiere of No’s Knife at The Old Vic later this year. There’s obviously plenty of Samuel Beckett’s work to discuss as well as everyone’s favourite short story authors, Dante and the best music to read Mills and Boons by.

Season 3 of Book Shambles kicks off with Robin and Josie joined by mathematician, author and Pelé biographer, Alex Bellos with talk of football, Feynman, Euclid, reader offers in 1970s comic books and a whole lot more.

Quest For Wonder Launch Special - With the Cosmic Genome site buzzing this week with the launch of our new series, The Quest For Wonder, we thought we'd celebrate with a Book Shambles special. Author Jon Ronson joins Robin and Josie to talk about the influences on his own work, Hunter S Thompson, Albert Camus and a whole lot more.

Season 2 - Episode 6 - In the season two finale of Book Shambles, Robin and Josie are joined by the comedian and actor Eddie Izzard. Along with discussions of theories of the universe and improv, they get into the work of John Higgs, Monty Python and Charlie Chaplin.

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Writer, performer, broadcaster and Man Booker Prize judge Natalie Haynes is in the studio with Robin and Josie this week to talk about reading two books a day for a year, Greek classics and an excess of novels set in WWII.

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Taking a break from trying on wigs for the new series of 'Inside No. 9', Reece Shearsmith joins Robin and Josie to talk all things horror. There's talk of books of horror movie history, Stephen King, talking mongooses called Gef and everything else horrific in between.

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Award winning writer and comic A.L. Kennedy joins Robin and Josie this week to talk about her own work plus that of Robert Louis Stevenson, Philip Ridley and secret books of magic... Please note that this episode contains a discussion about suicide.