The Book Club Review

Our bookshelf shows are the ones where we get to cut loose and follow our own preferences, so listen in as Kate tries to figure out the best way to show up for her life after reading Oliver Burkeman’s 4,000 Hours. Meanwhile Laura is drawn into ’A dark world of desire and fantasy’ with French prizewinner No Touching by Ketty Rouf, we figure out via an emergency call to an Irish friend how to pronounce Colm Tóibín, but unfortunately this doesn't help Kate in her struggle with his book about Thomas Mann, The Magician. Laura gets on better with Brit Bennett's book The Mothers, which she can't put down. Finally, Kate has a new girl-crush on Canadian author Sheila Heti after reading her book Motherhood. Booklist 4,000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman No Touching by Ketty Rouf The Magician by Colm Toíbín Motherhood by Sheila Heti The Mothers by Brit Bennett Laura also mentioned Savage Tongues by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, Little by Edward Carey and Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid. Get in touch with us and tell us what you’re reading or recommend us a book on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. Find our full episode archive at thebookclubreview.co.uk and don't forget to like, subscribe, tell a friend, share on social media – it helps us reach new listeners and we really do appreciate it :)

It's Mother's Day here in the UK and as there's nothing Kate loves more than a special episode we've put together a show on the theme of Motherhood. We're joined by Claire Lynch, author of Small: On Motherhoods, her literary memoir of her own unusual journey into motherhood. Elizabeth Morris of Crib Notes book club joins us too – who better to help us pull together our essential reads on the topic. We've got laughter, we might shed a few tears, and brilliant books to cover all eventualities. BOOKLIST Small: on motherhoods, by Claire Lynch Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder Motherhood by Sheila Heti A Life’s Work by Rachel Cusk A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann ní Ghríofa M(otherhood) by Praya Agarwal The Best Most Awful Job by Katherine May The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson No-One Talks About this Stuff by Kat Brown NOTES Follow Claire on Twitter @drclairelynch, and find Elizabeth @Elizabethmoya. You can sign up for her monthly newsletter Crib Notes here. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. Check out our full episode archive on our website www.thebookclubreview.co.uk. Do subscribe to us to be sure you never miss an episode. And if you like what we do please rate and review the show, it helps other listeners find us. If you want to go one better please spread the word about us on your social media channels. Reaching new listeners makes us so happy, we treasure each and every one, and your support helps us do that.

Book recommendations galore from author Francesca Beauman, who is also publisher and bookshop proprietor of Persephone Books. In her latest book, The Literaray Almanac, Francesca aims to guide readers in choosing books that chime with moments in the year – from hopeful books to read in March to school curriculum classics not-nearly-as-boring-as-you-remember them in September. We also explore the delights of the Persephone publishing list with old favourites and some exciting new titles. So listen in and share in the joy of giving ourselves permission to say when we don't like something, and turn instead to something we will love. Enjoy. Booklist The Pineapple, King of Fruits and Matrimony, Inc., by Francesca Beauman The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi Ulysses by James Joyce The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu  As It Was by Helen Thomas A Well Full of Leaves by Elizabeth Myers The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield Normal People by Sally Rooney Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Notes Find out more about Francesca at her website francescabeauman.com, or head on over to persephonebooks.co.uk for a browse. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email us thebookclubreview@gmail.com and let us know what you're reading – we love to hear from you.  Subscribe to us to be sure you never miss an episode, and if you like what we do please rate and review the show, it helps other listeners find us and we are eternally grateful.

Join us as we discuss Benjamin Labatut's Booker International shortlisted novel When We Cease to Understand the World, 2020 Baillie Gifford prizewinner One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown and 2021 Costa biography prizewinner Fall: A Life of Robert Maxwell by John Preston, The Outlander by Gil Adams, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse. Did we love them? Did we loathe them? Listen in to find out. Booklist When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown Fall: A Life of Robert Maxwell by John Preston The Outlander by Gil Adams The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse Notes Get Back film trailer Carpool Karaoke with Sir Paul McCartney Join the bookish conversation with us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. Do subscribe to us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. You can support us by rating and reviewing the show, and most importantly by telling your friends. Please share on social media and help us reach new listeners. Full show notes and our complete episode archive at our website thebookclubreview.co.uk. Sign up for our bi-weekly-ish newsletter. Drop us a line and let us know what you are reading. We always love to hear from you.

We’ve all felt the lure of the short, sweet read, one of those slim books you can finish in a few hours, maybe over a hot cup of tea. But what about the books that may take weeks, even months, to read? The door stoppers, the heavy weights, the long reads. Think Dickens, Tolstoy, and George Eliot, think Hilary Mantel, David Foster Wallace, and Donna Tartt. We dive into The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann's 226,000 book set in a sanitorium in the Swiss Alps in which not much happens. What did we think of it? Should you try it? And if not, what long books do we recommend? We're joined by Toby Brothers of the London Literary Salon and pod-regular Phil Chaffee as we discover the pleasures and perils that come with a book that takes weeks, even months, to read. Books mentioned A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy all seven volumes of Proust Ulysses by James Joyce The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Middlemarch by George Eliot The Books of Jacob by Olga Tocarczuk Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman Pilgrimage by Dorothy Richardson The Alex Ross article Phil mentions is here. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. Subscribe to us to be sure you never miss an episode. And if you like what we do please rate and review the show, it helps other listeners find us. If you want to go one better please spread the word about us on your social media channels. Reaching new listeners makes us so happy, we treasure each and every one, and your support helps us do that.

Wondering what books 2022 has in store for you? What will be your next great read? We're joined by industry insiders Chrissy Ryan, of dream bookshop Bookbar, and Elizabeth Morris of the Crib Notes newsletter to talk what's hot and what to look forward to. We've got your #tbr future-proofed. Book list:  Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades The Heavens and The Men by Sandra Newman A Little Life and To Paradise by Hanya Yanigahara Violets by Alex Hyde Love, Marriage by Monica Ali House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh Free Love by Tessa Hadley Salt Slow and Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield Wahala by Nikki May Check out the episode page on our The Book Club Review website for more. If you like this show please take a moment to rate and review, it really helps us reach new listeners. Tell your friends, share on social media, it means so much to us when you do. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com.

Dazzling, original, heartfelt and exhilarating, or bleak, depressing, incoherent and unrealistic? What did Kate's book club make of The Promise, Damon Galgut's Booker-winning novel, which tells the story of one white South-African family, and the promise made to their black servant, Salome. Join us as we discuss the book with Stuart Marshall and listen out for our follow-on book recommendations, from Trevor Noah's Born A Crime to Claire Keegan's impactful novella Small Things Like These.

Charmingly eccentric tale with a sharply feminist point of view or a 'hot mess' – what did Laura's book club make of Lolly Willowes by Silvia Townsend Warner? Meanwhile The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers explores loneliness, the human need for understanding and the search for love. What did Kate's book club think. Should you pick it up? Listen in to find out. We also discuss Furious Hours by Casey Cep and A Start in Life by Anita Brookner. Robert McCrumb's 100 Best Novels Written in English  1 in 5 does not represent over 300 years of women in literature: Rachel Cooke's response. Join the conversation between episodes: follow us on Instagram or Facebook @BookClubReview podcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. If you like what we do, please pass it on, share the episode link on social media, and help us spread the word.

It's part 2 of our end-of-year special, in which we look back over the books we read outside of book club, the ones we chose for ourselves, and pick out our favourites. And so listen in for more book recommendations than you can shake a stick a, plus recommendations from our book clubs and friends of the pod. We also look ahead to some new releases coming out in 2022. Booklist Kate's top three favourites from 2021 Don't Touch My Hair, Emma Dabiri A Ghost in the Throat, Doireann ní Ghrí­ofa Lean, Fall, Stand, Jon McGregor   Laura's top three favourites from 2021 A Life's Work, Rachel Cusk Miss Iceland, Audur Ava Olafsdottir Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese   Kate's longlist of favourite reads in 2021 The Moth and the Mountain, Ed Caesar Writers and Lovers and Euphoria Lily King Real Estate, Deborah Levy The Library Book and The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean All My Friends are Superheroes, Andrew Kaufman Owls of the Eastern Ice, Jonathan C. Slaght Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder Don't Touch My Hair, Emma Dabiri Fun Home, Alison Bechdel Parisan Lives, Deidre Bair Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder Early Morning Riser, Katherine Heiny Love Letters, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West (Alison Bechdel, ed.) A Ghost in the Throat, Doireann ni Ghriofa Re-Educated, Lucy Kellaway Pew, Catherine Lacey Happy All the Time, Laurie Colwin Whereabouts, Jhumpa Lahiri Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason Lean, Fall, Stand, Jon McGregor Assembly, Natasha Brown The Stranding, Kate Sawyer The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden-Keefe Matrix, Lauren Groff The See-Through House, Shelley Klein   Laura's longlist of favourite reads in 2021 His Only Wife, Peace Adzo Medie Miss Iceland, Hotel Silence and Butterflies in November, Audur Ava Olafsdottir Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong Homeland Elegies, Ayad Akhtar No-One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead D: A Tale of Two Worlds, Michael Faber Graceling, Kristin Cashore A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik The Annals of the Western Shore, Ursula Le Guin The Book of Hidden Things, Francesco Dimitri Frederica, Georgette Heyer Conundrum, Jan Morris A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes The Rules of Civility, Amor Towles   Chrissy Ryan's recommendations Open Water, Caleb Azumah Nelson Assembly, Natasha Brown Detransition Baby, Torrey Peters Elizabeth Morris' recommendations Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder   Book club recommendations The Summer Book, Tove Jansson The Mermaid of Black Conch, Monique Roffey Whereabouts, Jhumpa Lahiri The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell The Siege of Krishnapur, J. G. Farrell The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst Isaac Steele and the Forever Man, Daniel Rigby Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer Albert and the Whale, Philip Hoare Trieste or the Meaning of Nowhere, Jan Morris The Bass Rock, Evie Wyld Autumn, Ali Smith The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan The Offing, Benjamin Myers Circe, Madeleine Miller Three Women, Lisa Taddeo My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid   Upcoming books in 2022 We also discussed our inordinate desire for The Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss to finally be published, and Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel Notes Full details of all the titles discussed in this episode can be found in the shownotes on our website thebookclubreview.co.uk.  Do keep up with us between episodes on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. We always love to hear from you.

In part one of our 2021 end-of-year special episode we look back over the books we’ve covered for book club. Which ones have stayed with us? Which were our stand outs? And which are we going to crown our book club book of the year. Whether you're looking for your next book club read or just a great book for your personal reading pile, don't miss it. We also look forward to new book club plans and projects for the coming year. For our best books of 2021 (from our own personal reading piles) go to Part 2, available in your podcast feed now. Booklist Writers and Lovers, Lily King Early Work, Andrew Martin Euphoria, Lily King Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart The Mermaid of Black Conch, Monique Roffey Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden A Lonely Man, Chris Power (recommended by Gary) The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan I Will Never See the World Again by Ahmet Altan How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann and The Barsetshire Chronicles by Anthony Trollope (Phil's recommendations) Second Place by Rachel Cusk Matrix by Lauren Groff Full shownotes are on our website thebookclubreview.co.uk, where you can browse our full episode archive and sign up for our bi-weekly-ish newsletter, full of recommendations and bookish links. Keep up with us between episodes on Instagram and Facebook @bookclubreviewpodcast, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod or email thebookclubreview@gmail.com. We always love to hear from you.