The Book Club Review

The New York Times called it a 'powerfully expansive novel' and it was shortlisted for the Booker, but what did Laura's book club make of 'Do Not Say We Have Nothing' by Madeleine Thien? For our regular book club interview we get radical with London's Radical Reading Group and we finish as always with some fresh 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. Drop us a line – we'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. • Books mentioned on this episode were 'The Concubine's Children' by Denise Cheong, 'The Noise of Time' by Julian Barnes, 'The Rest is Noise' by Alex Ross, 'Ru' by Kim Thuy and 'Brother' by David Chariandy. Terri Jane of the Radical Reading Group talked about 'Close to the Knives' by David Wojnarowicz, 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' by Audre Lorde and 'Too Much and Not in the Mood' by Durga Chew-Bose. To find out more about the Radical Reading group find them on facebook under Radical Reading London. And if you keep listening to our extra bit at the end we discuss 'Children of Blood and Bone' by Tomi Adeyemi, 'Bleaker House' by Nell Stevens and 'Cartes Postales' by Victoria Hislop. • Next up on The Book Club Review is A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel SparkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We love books, we love book clubs, and so we created a show dedicated to both. We review the books read most recently by our own book clubs. We interview people about their book clubs to get tips and tricks. And finally we pull together great recommendations to make your next book club book your best yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It has been called her finest novel, but what did Laura's book club make of Zadie Smith's Swing Time? In our regular interview we talk to The Divas, a close-knit group of women based in north-west London, about books, friendship and travel. And we finish as always with some fresh 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. Drop us a line – we'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. • Our bookseller recommendation comes from Carrie and Becca of The Bookstore Podcast. If you want to hear more check out their show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts: we love it. • Books mentioned in this episode were Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, Feel Free by Zadie Smith, You are Free by Danzy Senna and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Plus if you stay listening for our extra bit at the end we discuss The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (we've come up with an ending – be the first to hear it!), Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward, Exit West by Mosin Hamid, Educated by Tara Westover and the collected works of Gerald Durrell. • Next up on The Book Club Review is Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

East West Street is a memoir by prominent British barrister Philippe Sands. It's a history of atrocity combined with a relentless search for the truth, with Sands digging deep, into both his own family history and the legal framework that eventually brought Nazi war criminals to justice. Powerful stuff, but what did Kate's book club make of it? Did it make for a good book club read? Plus we talk to an all-male book club on the value of friendship and shared conversations about books, and lightly delve into the mystery of what makes a book 'manly'. We end 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. We'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Books mentioned on this episode were: The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, The Tobacconist and A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, Under the Glacier by Halldor Laxness, Blindness by José Saramago, A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul and Life, A User's Manual by Georges Perec. Henry from The Book Hive in Norwich recommended Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Heather, A Totality, by Matthew Weiner. For our next book we will be reading and discussing Swing Time by Zadie Smith. Keep listening for our extra bit at the end in which we discuss My Family and Other Animals by Lawrence Durrell, A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and Solar Bones by Mike McCormack. We also take a quick look at Bailie Gifford (Samuel Johnson) prizewinners.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.