Books On The Go

Anna and Annie discuss the 2024 Stella Prize shortlist. Our book of the week is Butter by Asako Yuzuki translated by Polly Barton. Described as 'a novel of food and murder' this follows Riko, a journalist, who investigates serial killer Manako Kajii.  Kajii allegedly seduced rich men with her cooking before killing them, and she encourages Riko to cook and appreciate food.  Inspired by a true story, this has been a cult Japanese best-seller.  Coming up: Question 7 by Richard Flanagan. Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Facebook: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2024 Stella Prize Shortlist.  We reveal our favourite recent crime reads.  Our recommendations are: The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins by Kristina Perez Death of a Lesser God by Vaseem Khan The Sleeping Nymph by Ilaria Tutti translated by Ekin Oklap To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey The Fugitives by Jamal Mahjoub Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan   Coming up: Question 7 by Richard Flanagan   Follow us!   Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz  

A special episode: we chat with author Jenny Hollander about her debut crime novel EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD. Charlie Colbert is an editor at a major magazine and engaged to a publishing heir.  But she witnessed a tragedy at her elite journalism school and lied to the police 9 years ago.  Now a classmate is making a film about the events, which threatens the life Charlie has built.  This is a gripping, twisty thriller described as 'a delicious crime debut' (Red) and 'knife-sharp' (Woman's Own) and is a USA Today Bestseller. Jenny recommends the authors Lisa Jewel, Sarah Sheppard, Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth and the podcast Unreal. Coming up: our crime reading recommendations. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras and @jennyhollander Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist, including Anna Funder's Wifedom. Our book of the week is THE VULNERABLES by Sigrid Nunez. This is the third in a loose trilogy after THE FRIEND and WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH. A writer, a college drop-out and a talking parrot share an apartment in New York during the Covid pandemic.  This is subtler than the first two books but we loved the mix of story and Nunez's reflections on life and writing.   Coming up: our Crime reading recommendations. Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Email: booksonthegopodcast @ gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

It's the Shawn and Anna Book Club! Our first book is Home Reading Service by Fabio Morábito translated by Curtis Bauer. Eduardo is sentenced to a year of community service reading aloud to the elderly and disabled.  Set in Mexico, this novel is witty and poignant.  It even inspired us to discuss poetry!  And the fine line between whacky and eccentric. Also mentioned: Shawn's Bite Sized Book Chat with Stu aka Winston's Dad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubR7KrANvE&t=40s  Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai translated by Polly Barton Book Club Review Podcast Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @shawnthebookmaniac Youtube: Anna Baillie-Karas and Shawn the Book Maniac Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie reveal our book recommendations for the holiday season. Our favourite holiday reads this year are: THE CLUB by Ellery Lloyd NOW YOU SEE US by Balli Kaur Jaswal WEST HEART KILL by Dann McDorman FLIGHT by Lynn Steger Strong THE LIBRARIANIST by Patrick deWitt ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast @ gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @ abailliekaras and @ mr_annie Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the Booker Prize 2023 winner, PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch. We reveal the best books we read in 2023.  In no particular order, they are: Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton Girl in a Pink Dress by Kylie Needham The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison The Fraud by Zadie Smith The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor Loot by Tania James Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden Middlemarch by George Eliot Coming up: our Holiday Reading recommendations Follow us! Instagram: @ abailliekaras and @ mr_annie Email: booksonthegopodcast @ gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go

Anna and Annie discuss authors' concerns about Spotify streaming books and highlights from the 2024 Adelaide Writers Week lineup. Our book of the week is Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé. Sandgren has been described as "Sweden's Sally Rooney" (The Times).  Collected Works is a thought-provoking, intellectual novel set in Gothenburg.  At the heart of it is the mystery of the disappearance of Martin's wife, Cecilia.  Anna loved it but Annie would have preferred more Cecilia and less Martin! Follow us Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @ abailliekaras and @ mr_annie Facebook: Books On The Go   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Special guest Shawn Mooney of Shawn the Book Maniac joins Anna for Book Club! We discuss TRUE BIZ by Sara Nović and Y/N by Esther Yi.  These books have taken us down rabbit holes of deaf culture (True Biz) and super fandom (Y/N). Two interesting and thought-provoking reads! Shawn recommends the interview with Esther Yi on Jaylen's The Bar and the Bookcase podcast. We're currently reading: GIBBONS OR ONE BLOODY THING AFTER ANOTHER by James Morrison (and see the book launch on Shawn's channel) SMALL WORLDS by Caleb Azumah Nelson LEOPOLDSTADT by Tom Stoppard   Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @abailliekaras and @shawnthebookmaniac YouTube: Shawn the Book Maniac   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz  

Anna and Annie discuss the 2023 Booker Prize Shortlist and the authors taking action over the generative AI use of their work. Our book of the week is WIFEDOM: MRS ORWELL'S INVISIBLE LIFE by Anna Funder.  An innovative biography of Eileen Orwell by the Miles Franklin and Samuel Johnson prize winner, it has been described as a masterpiece and we think would make a great book club book. Coming up: Book Club with Shawn Mooney Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @ abailliekaras and @ mr_annie Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Nero Book Awards which will commence in 2024. Our book of the week is CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS by Shankari Chandran.  A layered story about a nursing home in Sydney whose residents have traumatic memories of the civil war in Sri Lanka, this won the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award.  Coming up: WIFEDOM by Anna Funder. Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @ abailliekaras and @ vibrant_lives_podcast Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode: Anna chats with Shawn Mooney of Shawn the Book Maniac. We recommend three books and each choose one to read for our next episode: the Anna and Shawn book club! Books discussed: The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard True Biz by Sara Nović Y/N by Esther Yi Loop Tracks by Sue Orr Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder The Recent East by Thomas Grattan   Coming up: Chai Time in Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: [a] abailliekaras and [a] shawnthebookmaniac Youtube: Books On The Go and Shawn the Book Maniac   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss a recent study on reading to young children. We wrap up Women in Translation month.  The books we read (or Annie did at least!) and recommend are: Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich translated by Ayca Turkoglu Heaven by Mieko Kawakami translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd What You're Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama translated by Alison Watts Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren translated by Agnes Broomé My Devotion by Julia Kerninon translated by Alison Anderson Sleepless by Marie Darrieussecq translated by Penny Hueston   Coming up: Chai Time in the Cinnamon Gardens and Wifedom   Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Instragram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz    

Anna and Annie discuss the 2023 Booker Prize Longlist.   Our book of the week is The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor. A novel about friends and lovers set in Iowa City, it is both intimate and explores wider issues in contemporary life and art. Taylor was short-listed for the Booker Prize for Real Life and won the Story Prize for his collection Filthy Animals.  The Late Americans is an instant national bestseller and was a Most Anticipated Book of the year by Vogue, Elle, Oprah Daily, the Washington Post, Buzzfeed and Vulture.   Coming up: Chai Time in Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Litsy: @abailliekaras   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss Elizabeth Gilbert pulling her novel The Snow Forest from publication because of its Russia theme. Our book of the week is This Other Eden by Paul Harding. Based on a true story, an island community of castaways and misfits is disrupted when a well-meaning but racist preacher enters their lives.  It has biblical feels yet resonates today.  Described as 'a harrowing tale of paradise lost' (New York Times) and 'sure to be a stand-out of 2023' (Los Angeles Times), since we recorded this episode it has been long-listed for the Booker Prize. Coming up: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor. Follow us: Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Facebook: Books On The Go Litsy: @abailliekaras   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Amanda discuss the Women's Prize winner Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Our book of the week is The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland.  This tells the true story of Rudolf Vrba who escaped from Auschwitz with Fred Wetzler and their attempt to tell Jewish leaders the truth about the Final Solution and prevent more deaths.  A Sunday Times Best-Seller and shortlisted for the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, we could not put this down. Coming up: This Other Eden by Paul Harding. Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast Twitter: @abailliekaras Litsy: @abailliekaras   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode:  Anna chats with author Ennis Ćehić about his debut collection of short stories, Sadvertising. Ćehić is based in Melbourne and Sarajevo and writes about displacement, creativity and existentialism. The stories in Sadvertising are set in the advertising world and explore the tension between art and capitalism.  Satirical and very funny, with elements of meta-fiction and the surreal.  "A work of thrilling, audacious verve and wit ... deserves a standing ovation" (Christos Tsiolkas) and "powerful, inventive and self-assured" (Australian Book Review).  We loved this book! Ennis recommends: Hunger by Knut Hamsen translated by George Egerton Authors Rachel Cusk , Deborah Levy and Ottessa Moshfegh The Appointment by Katharina Volckmer The Shakespeare and Company podcast Coming up:  This Other Eden by Paul Harding Follow us: Instagram : @abailliekaras and @enniscehic Facebook: Books On The Go Twitter: @abailliekaras Litsy: @abailliekaras Credits Artwork: Sascha WIlkosz

A special episode: Anna chats with author Christine Keighery about her new novel The Half Brother. Christine Keighery has written over 35 novels for children and young adults (as Chrissie Perry).  The Half Brother is her first novel for adults.  It's a psychological suspense story about a family, secrets and coercive control. Described as "sinister, suspenseful and tightly written, with an ending I didn't see coming" (Vikki Wakefield).  There are no spoilers in this episode so you'll have to read it to see what the twist is! Follow us: Instagram: @ abailliekaras Twitter: @ abailliekaras Litsy: @ abailliekaras Facebook: Books On The Go Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Christine: chrissieperry.com   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz 

Anna and Amanda discuss The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard.  This novel set in Japan and Hong Kong in 1947 explores the colonial era with a forbidden love story at its centre.  Described as "the last masterpiece of a vanished age of civility" (Wall Street Journal) it won the 2003 Miles Franklin Award and the National Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize. We also recommend Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas. Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast Twitter: @abailliekaras Litsy: @abailliekaras Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode: Anna chats with author Kylie Needham about her debut novel, Girl In A Pink Dress. Girl in a Pink Dress centres on Frances, an artist in her 40s who is invited to her former lover's exhibition opening in Sydney.  A beautiful, spare novel that explores the idea of two artists living together and female rage, against the backdrop of the Australian landscape.  Described as "a quiet triumph" (Heather Rose) and "breathtakingly good" (David Wenham), we loved this book. Kylie recommends: Can A Woman Who Is An Artist Ever Just Be An Artist? by Rachel Cusk The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante The New Yorker The Writer's Voice Podcast The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling Podcast Coming up: The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras and @kylieneedhamwriter Facebook: Books On The Go Twitter: @abailliekaras Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz