The Book Club Review

We find out what Kate's book club made of Dr Fischer of Geneva, or The Bomb Party, by Graham Greene. Published in 1980, at the end of Greene's life, this novella explores ideas of love, morality, good and evil, but did it strike any chords with our book club? Listen in to find out. In our regular interview we talked to Phil Chaffee about his intellectually hard-hitting book club, and the conversations that change you. And we finish with some recommendations for your next book club read. Get in touch with us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @thebookclubreviewpod, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes. Get in touch – we'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Books mentioned in this episode: Compass by Mathias Enard (trans. Charlotte Mandel), A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Brighton Rock and The Quiet American by Graham Greene, Babette's Feast by Isak Dinesen, The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and Lullaby by Leïla Slimani (trans. Sam Taylor). For our next book club we will be reading and discussing Swing Time by Zadie Smith.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Proustian mediatation on love and desire? Atmospheric beach read? What did Laura's book club make of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name? First published in 2007 and recently made into an Oscar-nominated film, the story follows 17-year-old Elio's obsession with charismatic houseguest Oliver. But were we carried away by Aciman's evocation of one long passionate summer? Or did it leave us only with a feeling we should start planning our July getaways now? Our interview is with Kay Dunbar, founder of the Ways With Words literary festivals, who lets us in on the secret to running a successful bookclub for over twenty years. And we finish with some great recommendations for your next book club read. • Find out more about Kay Dunbar's Ways With Words festivals at www.wayswithwords.co.uk • Episode booklist: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Barracuda by Christos Tsioklas, Olivia by Dorothy Strachey and At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. Kay Dunbar mentions Patrick Gale, whose most recent novel is A Place Called Winter. And if you keep listening you'll hear our extra bit at the end where we get into Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy and Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea novels. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, find us on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then click subscribe and never miss an episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In which journalist Kat Brown tells us all about her Jilly Cooper book club, and we decide Jilly Cooper is essentially the same as Proust. Find out more about the Jilly Cooper bookclub using #jillybookclub on twitter or seek them out on facebook. Kat Brown can be contacted using @katbrown. Books mentioned on this episode: Rivals, Polo, Harriet and Octavia by Jilly Cooper War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, find us on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then click subscribe and never miss an episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We debate Two Serious Ladies, a neglected 1940s 'cult' classic by Jane Bowles, and David Grossman's A Horse Walks Into A Bar, which won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. They both come highly recommended and are purportedly funny. But did our book clubs agree? For our regular interview, we talk to Kat Brown about how she started the Jilly Cooper Book Club. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then click subscribe and never miss an episode. • Find out more about the Jilly Cooper bookclub using #jillybookclub on twitter or seek them out on facebook. Kat Brown can be contacted using @katbrown. • Books mentioned in this episode: To The End Of The Land by David Grossman, The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark, Peyton Place by Grace Metalious, Rivals and Harriet by Jilly Cooper, La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust) by Philip Pullman, The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown and Swing Time by Zadie Smith. • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Happy Reader special: a celebration of Penguin's magazine that thinks it's a book club, and a live book club discussion of their Winter Book of the Season, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. We interview editor Seb Emina who tells us the secrets of how the magazine is put together, and has some great ideas for how to get through the TBR pile including 'speed-dating for books', the perfect suggestion for the enthusiastic but time-poor reader. And we finish with our usual round of recommendations you might like to try for your next book club read. • Get in touch with us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @thebookclubreviewpod or Twitter @BookClubRvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes, we'd love to hear from you, and do subscribe if you like the show and be among the first to hear a new episode. • The Happy Reader magazine is produced biannually and can be found in good bookshops worldwide, or seek them out online at thehappyreader.com. Burley Fisher books are at 400 Kingsland Road, London E8, or online at burleyfisherbooks.com • Books mentioned in this episode: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1984 by George Orwell, Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish, plus in our extra bit at the end we discuss Birds, Art, Life, Death by Kyo Maclear and Swing Time by Zadie Smith. • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles and A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman. • And if you're still reading then you might be the kind of person who will want to stay tuned for our extra bit at the end where we discuss what we've been reading and find out how Happy Reader editor Seb Emina gets through the piles of books he fears he won't have time to read in his lifetime.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It came highly recommended, and so with anticipation Kate's book club read All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. We knew she was good at gardening, but what did we make of Sackville-West as a writer? Listen in to find out. In our regular interview we explore just how heated book discussions can get when you have a pair of knitting needles to hand, with London's Kniterati book club member Maeve O'Sullivan. And we have some new recommendations for your next book club read including some from friend-of-the-pod Emily of the Walking Book club who returns with some great choices to follow on from Vita Sackvlle-West. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then click subscribe and never miss an episode. • Find out more about the Kniterati at their Facebook page: https://en-gb.facebook.com/Kniterati/ Details of Emily's Walking Book Club can be found at her website: https://emilybooks.wordpress.com/the-walking-book-club/ • Books mentioned in this episode: Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, Orlando by Virginia Woolf and The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster. Emily recommended A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, Lolly Willows by Dorothy Whipple and Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. We also discuss The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton and The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles. • If you have read this far then you're probably the sort of person who might want to keep listening for our extra bit at the end, where we talk about what we've been reading outside of book club. In this episode Laura confesses she's moved on from Georgette Heyer and is now hooked on Enid Blyton.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Laura's book club we delve into The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Longlisted for the Booker Prize (2017), it didn't make the shortlist, but did it make for a good book club read? Meanwhile for fans of horror and Halloween enthusiasts alike we met up with Andy Russell of London's Horror Book Club to find out about the joys of being frightened by your book at bedtime. And we have recommendations for your next book club read including our bookseller recommendation from James Elliott at Daunt's in Belsize Park. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then click subscribe and never miss an episode. • Find out more about the Horror Book Club at www.thehorrorbookclub.com. Daunt Books are at www.dauntbooks.co.uk • Books mentioned in this episode: Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje, The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, When I Hit You by Meena Kandasami, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Troop by Nick Cutter, House of Leaves by Danielewski, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides and The Cormoran Strike novels by Robert Galbraith. • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. • If you have read this far then you're probably the sort of person who might want to keep listening for our extra bit at the end, where we talk about what we've been reading outside of book club. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Kate's most recent book club we set off for the high Himalayas in search of snow leopards and spiritual enlightenment with Peter Matthiessen's cult classic. But what did we make of it? Is it a 'man's book'? And did it make for good debate? Meanwhile our regular interview feature sees us in Paris interviewing Morgan Thomas of The American Library about his Proust book club. We end with the usual round of recommendations for your next book club read. Our bookseller recommendation for this episode comes from Joe Hedinger of The Book Hive in Norwich. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, or leave us a comment on iTunes. If you like the show then do subscribe. You'll never miss an episode and it really helps with our iTunes rankings. • The Book Hive can be found at www.thebookhive.co.uk. The American Library in Paris is www.theamericanlibraryinparis.org • Books mentioned in this episode: Tracks by Robyn Davidson, Barbarian Days by William Finnegan, A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, Birds, Art, Life, Death: A Year of Observation by Kyo Maclear, Dogear magazine, www.dogear.co.uk, Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane plus a few more in our extras at the end. • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. • If you have read this far then you're probably the sort of person who might want to keep listening for our extra bit at the end, where we talk about what we've been reading outside of book club. Catch up on the tail end of our summer reading and back-to-school good intentions.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Laura's latest book club read was This Is London by Ben Judah (2016), a spare and unflinching investigation into what life in London can be like for the migrants who make up over 40% of the city's population. Not a gentle read, but a revealing one that frustrated and impressed in equal measure – a good formula for debate. For our regular interview, we spoke with Claire Griffiths who runs the book club at Islington's Ink84. We end with recommendations for your next book club read, including some from Word on the Water, a London institution and bookshop on a canal barge moored at Kings Cross. • Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast. Email us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, or leave us a comment on iTunes. • Ink84 bookshop can be found at www.ink84.co.uk, and the London Book Barge can be found on Facebook under Word on the Water. • Books mentioned in this episode: Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich Days Without End by Sebastian Barry The Power by Naomi Alderman The Return by Hisham Matar Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf Swimming With Sharks by Joris Luyendijk A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks NW by Zadie Smith The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver The Last London by Ian Sinclair And more if you keep listening to the end... • For our next book club we will be reading and discussing The Snow Leopard (1978) by Peter Matthiessen. • If you have read this far then you're probably the sort of person who might want to keep listening for our 'extra' bit at the end, where we talk about what we've been reading outside of book club. Stay tuned for what we've been reading – or trying to read – over the summer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lincoln in the Bardo is a ghostly story that unfolds in a graveyard over the course of a single night. Narrated by a chorus of voices and historical sources this innovative novel invites discussion, and won the Booker Prize in 2017. In this episode we find out what Kate's book club made of it. Were they baffled or bewitched by this multifarious cast of ghostly characters, and were they daunted by the profound sadness of the subject matter, the death of a much loved child. We also speak to Michelle and Claire from the East London Feminist Book Club, and get some good ideas for how to manage a book club where everyone is learning as they go along. As ever we end with a range of recommendations you won't want to miss for your next read. Book recommendations The Tenth of December, George Saunders The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood Memoir of a Dutiful Daughter, Simone de Beauvoir The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing The Bees, Laline Paull Grief is a Thing With Feathers, Max Porter The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas Days Without End, Sebastian Barry Beloved, Toni Morrison Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome The Power, Naomi Alderman Notes Keep listening for our 'extra' bit at the end, where we talk about what we've been reading outside of book club. Stay tuned for true confessions of what we keep on our kindles. Follow us on Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast, or get in touch at thebookclubreview@gmail.com and tell us about a book you love. You can also find our episode archive, full shownotes and articles on our website.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.