Sentimental Garbage

It's season two and the hair is great, the clothes are even better, and Mr Big is fundamentally depressing. We argue that season two of Sex and the City is Miranda's Season as twenty episodes of sexual humiliation threatens to break her, until she's given the greatest meet-cute in the show's history. We profess our love for Steve Brady, investigate class in Britain as well as in the show, and dissect the meaning of the gold corduroy suit. We discuss why, exactly, the girls are still single and discuss the vagaries of Charlotte York's personality. Also, don't invite someone to your house unless you have food in it.Dolly Alderton is the author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About LoveCaroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, and the forthcoming All Our Hidden GiftsHarry Harris did the music and Gavin Day (Steve Brady) did the artwork. This podcast was produced and edited by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varral Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're kicking off our Sex and the City mini-series with our discussion of the character arcs and themes (take a drink) of season one. After a round dismissal of the pilot episode (abso-f*cking-who-cares?) we get right into the meat of The Valley of 20-Something Guys, where we re-enact the infamous taxi scene that landed the tone of the whole series, dissect the cultural practice of Carrie-bashing, and generally watch as a previously sane New York party girl loses her goddamn mind for the most boring man in the tri-state area. We round off the chat with Man of the Season (he misses the touch of a woman), Outfit of the Season (or lack thereof) and the Carrie Clanger of the Season (the prayer book drop heard around the world).Dolly Alderton is the author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About LoveCaroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, and the forthcoming All Our Hidden Gifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the first ever Sentimental Garbage mini-series: a big basket of episodes about Sex and the City! In this mini-series, author Dolly Alderton joins me as we spend each episode discussing every season of the TV show Sex and the City for the great American novel it truly is. This is not an episode by episode analysis but a look at each season as an individual piece of work, where we discuss the themes, character journeys and lasting messages of it. We examine the big thesis topics such as: The Corsage and Saddlebag Tragedy of Series Three, The Absence of Strap-ons in Sex and The City, and Big’s Weekend Shirts: Wide-fitting sleeves to house an absent soul. Crucially: we don't know the most about Sex and the City, we just feel the most about Sex and the City. Pour yourself a cocktail and ask yourself some huge questions about the McDougall family trust, and we’ll see you every Thursday for the next six weeks! (Plus maybe again for the movies, who knows) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sophfronia Scott re-imagination of Dangerous Liaisons set in the Harlem Renaissance is sexy, surprising and so entertaining that we're willing to forgive the baseball references. Author of IF I DON'T HAVE YOU Sareeta Domingo talks us through her love for a book that, despite only coming out in 2017, has already earned a cult classic status. Be prepared for moustache-twirling, hand-rubbing, god-fearing, and hot hot jazz.Unforgivable Love is a retelling of Dangerous Liaisons set in post-war Harlem among an elite set of the wealthy African American upper classes. Among them we have Mae Marveaux, a beautiful conniving young widow whose desperate need to be loved is offset by her need to destroy other people’s lives. She is obsessed with her similarly conniving friend, Val Jackson, and the two of them decide to prey on Elizabeth Townsend, a devout married Christian, and Cecily, an innocent young virgin who has been brought from North Carolina for an arranged marriage to one of Mae’s former lovers. Over a single summer, Cecily is deflowered, Elizabeth falls for Val, and almost everyone is either pregnant or dead.Find Sareeta Domingo here: https://twitter.com/SareetaDomingo and anywhere you buy books! Find Caroline O'Donoghue here: https://twitter.com/Czaroline and in those same places that you buy books! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ciao bella! It's our second Maeve Binchy-cast of the season, with returning guest Sarah Maria Griffin. It’s the dawn of the Celtic Tiger in early nineties Ireland, and Nora O’Donoghue, or Signora, is returning home after over 20 years away. Having spent her youth in Sicily, in love with a married man, she has returned with no money, no friends and no prospects. She begins teaching italian at Mountainview school, where the beleaguered Aidan Dunne has just been passed over for the job of principal in favour of the womanising Tony O’Brien. Tony, meanwhile, is in love with Aidan’s adult daughter. The book follows every student in the evening class, subtly changing each of their destinies, and culminating with a trip to Italy at the end of the book. Sarah Maria Griffin is an award winning novelist and zine maker, follower her at @griffski Caroline O'Donoghue is a novelist, her latest novel, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, is out now. All Our Hidden Gifts is available for pre-order Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get your Kelly bag and your load-bearing beams ready, this week we're talking about Diane Johnson's Le Divorce with real-life American Girl in Paris, Fiona Zublin! Isabel Walker is a young, bored film school graduate who has decamped to Paris to help her older sister Roxy, with her second pregnancy. Upon her arrival she discovers that Roxy has just been left by her French husband, Charles-Henri for another woman. As Roxy tries to negotiate French divorce courts and her estranged husbands family, Isabel slowly ingratiates herself into Paris life, becoming the mistress to Isabel’s 70 year old uncle-in-law, Edgar. When a valuable painting belonging to the Walker family gets implicated in the divorce, both families are forced to come together to find a way out.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Merry Christmas everyone! Usually this time of year, you’d be in your childhood bedroom, re-reading the books that got you through primary school. This year, a lot of us can’t go home this Christmas, but there’s still every reason to revisit the books that made life better when you were nine. It might even make life better now? Caroline and occasional co-host Ella Risbridger talk about childhood reading habits, magazines, tough but beautiful Christmases, and why the Secret Garden is the greatest love triangle of all time.We mention:Tom's Midnight GardenCharmed LifeMiss Happiness & Miss FlowerThe Secret GardenBack Homethe "My Story" booksThe Illustrated MumThe Suitcase KidThe Lottie ProjectGoing SoloDanny The Champion of The World& more! Caroline and Ella both have books for younger people coming out next year! Pick up The Secret Detectives by Ella Risbridger and All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue. See you in 2021! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Best-selling romance novelist and Yorkshire lass Milly Johnson talks to us about her biggest writing inspiration, Catherine Cookson. If you haven't read Cookson's books, you've almost certainly seen one of her many, maaaaaaany costume dramas that have been adapted for TV, probably while sick with chicken box circa 1998. We discuss Cookson's first novel, The Fifteen Streets, which tells the story of an Irish Catholic family struggling in the slums of Newcastle. We talk religion, poverty, family, starting your writing career after 40 and mysterious boating accidents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the best-selling fictional oral history about your favourite 70s rock band that never existed! This week, Caroline and writer/musician Tom McInnes deconstruct last year's big sun lounger surprise hit, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. We talk about the advantages and shortcomings of the unusual format, the competing narratives of the book, the difference between literary twists and stunts. We start out a little bit cynical but ultimately, we really liked it! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don't even act like you don't know her. This week we talk about the diva of all divas, Mariah Carey with author of The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, Okechukwu Nzelu. Stay tuned for Tommy Mottola, that TRL appearance, and Mariah's surprisingly incisive takes on mental illness and cycles of abuse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.