The Bookshelf
What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.
Latest episodes
Mar 22, 2024 • 54min
Téa Obreht, Asako Yuzuki, Steven Carroll: dystopia, butter, murder
Cassie and Jonathan read Orange Prize winner Téa Obreht’s The Morningside, a dystopian coming-of-age story, plus, a Japanese bestseller and a new post-war literary crime series.
Mar 15, 2024 • 54min
Reimagining Huckleberry Finn, a talking fox, art and alienation
Reimagining Huckleberry Finn, alienation and a talking fox in this edition of The Bookshelf.
Mar 8, 2024 • 54min
Three new Australian novels! Iain Ryan, Amy Brown, Sharlene Allsopp
Cassie and Jonathan Green review three new Australian novels with guest star Claire Nichols and novelist Graham Akhurst.
Mar 1, 2024 • 54min
A Trans-Tasman edition: Myfanwy Jones, Anna Smaill and Sulari Gentill
Cassie and co-host Tom Wright review two new Australian novels, and from across the ‘Dutch',
Feb 23, 2024 • 54min
Meditations on writing: Gail Jones, Jennifer Croft and a new anthology edited by Margaret Atwood
Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green review a literary project edited by Margaret Atwood, and new work by Gail Jones and Jennifer Croft.
Feb 16, 2024 • 56min
Dreams and nightmares: Leo Vardiashvili, Teju Cole, Matthew Blake
Cassie and guest host (and playwright) Tom Wright review three new works of fiction.
Feb 9, 2024 • 54min
Mysteries and meta-physical thrillers: Kemper Donovan, Mike McCormack and Alex Michaelides
Mysteries and twists galore in new work by Kemper Donovan and best-selling British-Cypriot author Alex Michaelides; and award-winning Irish novelist Mike McCormack's follow up to Solar Bones.
Feb 2, 2024 • 54min
New fiction from Francis Spufford, Hisham Matar and Kiley Reid
Cassie McCullagh and Michaela Kalowski review new novels including Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz, Hisham Matar's My Friends and Kiley Reid's Come and Get It.
Jan 26, 2024 • 54min
We're back for 2024 featuring new novels from Katherena Vermette, Dolly Alderton and Jonathan Lethem
The Bookshelf is back for 2024 reviewing the latest from Katherena Vermette, Dolly Alderton and Jonathan Lethem.
Jan 19, 2024 • 54min
Summer Reads: history remade, futures reimagined
Reclaiming and retelling Australian history, where time is both stilled and circular, in Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie; and commenting on the past through alternative futures, in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain-Gang All-Stars, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X and Carole Hailey's The Silence Project.
