Book Shambles

It's a double header this week! First up Robin and Josie chat with journalist Ben Machell about his book, The Unusual Suspect: The Rise and Fall of a Modern-Day Outlaw and then in the second part Robin chats to Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Shadow King, Maaza Mengiste. If you'd like to hear the full versions of both of these interviews, you can subscribe to the podcast's Patreon at patreon.com/bookshambles

Journalist Nell Frizzell's new book is The Panic Years: Dates, Doubts, and the Mother of All Decisions and it spoke so strongly to Josie that she provided one of the cover quotes so it only makes sense she join her and Robin on the podcast. They chat about the book, motherhood, some of Nell's favourite books about parenting, vegetable growing and much more. To hear an extended edition of this episode subscribe to Patreon on patreon.com/bookshambles. 20 minutes extra this week.

On today's episode, Josie couldn't make the recording and so Robin is joined by a guest co-host, the brilliant Natalie Haynes. They chat to Mark Steel about a new book of collected writings and musings of the late Jeremy Hardy, Speaks Volumes, for which Mark wrote the introduction. They chat about the difference between a comedian and a comic, favourite stories in the book and why it's high time we called a canoe a canoe... To hear an extended edition of this episode subscribe to Patreon on patreon.com/bookshambles where there's a whole bonus twenty minutes this week.

Salena Godden was one of our very first guests on Book Shambles six years ago and now she's back to talk about her debut novel, the hugely acclaimed Mrs Death Misses Death. She chats to Josie and Robin about the book, discovering female authors in her thirties and the process of writing while walking. Support the show on Patreon to get extended editions each and every week. You can do that at patreon.com/bookshambles The extended edition this week includes the potential of cannibal marshmallows covered in death magic...

This week Robin and Josie are joined by the multi-award winning, and Booker Prize long-listed, Irish novelist and short stories writer Kevin Barry. They chat about his latest collection of short stories, That Old Country Music, the grumpiness of Dennis Potter, a hatred of the first draft and the appeal of living by a swamp. To hear an extended edition of this episode subscribe to Patreon on patreon.com/bookshambles

Marian Keyes is one of the most successful Irish writers of all time with her novels having sold over 30 million copies and been translated into 33 languages. With her most recent novel, the Sunday Times #1 bestseller Grown Ups, just landing in paperback she joined Josie and Robin to talk about the book, her writing process, dealing with important issues in 'genre fiction' and much more. As always, you can hear an extended edition of this episode by subscribing to Patreon on patreon.com/bookshambles

You've probably heard us talking about our new audio documentary series An Uncanny Hour on Book Shambles recently. Well we've just finished season one of the show, which features six one hour documentaries on everything from Hawkwind to David Cronenburg. We speak to authors, performers and scientists such as Stewart Lee, Reece Shearsmith and Kier-La Janisse about the weird and the uncanny corners of culture. We thought we'd provide Book Shambles listeners with a 30 minute anthology collection of the first season this week. You can listen to the entire thing by becoming a Patreon supporter of Book Shambles and/or The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/bookshambles and patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Author Nikesh Shukla returns to the podcast this week to chat to Robin and Josie about his new memoir, Brown Baby. They chat about the importance of humour in non-fiction, the idea of writing a memoir to his children and the amusement derived from dropping Marvel Easter Eggs into the book. They also cover parenting, the pointlessness of Twitter arguments and Nikesh's daughter's desire for the episode to be over so they can have lunch. To hear an extended edition of this episode in which Nikesh recounts the time he had lunch with George Saunders, subscribe to Patreon at patreon.com/bookshambles

Alexi Pappas is an author, actor, screenwriter and Olympian to boot. You might have recently seen her in the film Olympic Dreams, alongside Nick Kroll, with whom she also co-wrote it. She competed in track and field for Greece in the 2016 Olympics and has just released her brilliant memoir Bravey, in which she talks about her life, drive and battles with depression. She joins Robin and Josie from the US to chat about the book, getting Maya Rudolph to write the foreword, juggling improv classes and Olympic training and a whole lot more. To hear an extended edition of this episode, as with all episodes, you can pledge at patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin has often mentioned how much he enjoyed Cosey Fanni Tutti's book Art Sex Music so it was only right we finally get her on the show. She joins Robin and Josie to talk about Hull, the counter culture, finding your own path in art and feminism in the 70s. Josie was having all myriad of technical difficulties during this recording so please bear with her! And also please note that there is some discussion about the 'scene' in the 60s and 70s that people may find upsetting. To hear an extended edition of this episode subscribe to Patreon on patreon.com/bookshambles