Novel Thoughts

Ahoy! Join us for our first ever author spotlight in which we dive into the award-winning novels of American author Rebecca Makkai. Makkai’s work tackles subjects as diverse as the trauma of the 1980’s AIDS crisis and the enduring legacy of the #MeToo movement, to the secrets and scandals of a mysterious artists’ colony and the modern-day politics of conversion therapy.

I Have Some Questions For You

The Great Believers

The Hundred Year House

The Borrower

Also this week Joseph read The End We Start From by Megan Hunter and Saph read Society of Snow by Pablo Vierci. The Novel Thoughts team also talk about Charlie Kaufman’s forthcoming adaptation of Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police.

This week’s listener recommendation request comes from Kelly who likes a good crime novel and is looking for recommendation for her next five-star read. Joseph recommends The It Girl by Ruth Ware and Saph recommends Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Harpy by Megan Hunter

Stillicide by Cynan Jones

They by Kay Dick

To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life by Hervé Guibert

The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White

See the Novel Thoughts bookshop page for all books mentioned in this episode.

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It’s Donna Tartt appreciation week! Michelle joins us for our deep dive into The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt’s brilliant, award-winning novel about art, drugs, loss, and not always getting what you want.

Also this week Joseph read Death Valley by Melissa Broder and Duty Free Art by Hito Steyerl, Michelle read A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister and Fire and Blood by George R R Martin, and Saph read Son of Rosemary by Ira Levin and Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories.

This week’s listener recommendation request comes from Edward who is looking for a great (auto)biography. Joseph recommends Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon. Saph recommends Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner and Take Away by Angela Hui. Michelle recommends Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine, Seabiscuit: The True Story of Three Men and a Racehorse by Laura Hillenbrand, and Educated by Tara Westover.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Secret History and The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Whores of Yore Twitter account

e-flux

See the Novel Thoughts bookshop page for all books mentioned in this episode.

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This week Sapphire and Joseph deep dive into two new brilliant fiction releases: debut novel Piglet by British writer Lottie Hazell and The Vulnerables, the ninth novel from American writer Sigrid Nunez.

Also this week Sapphire read Jillian by Halle Butler and Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth. Joseph read Minor Detail by Adania Shibli and The Coming Bad Days by Sarah Bernstein.

This week’s listener recommendation request comes from Saniya who really enjoyed Elif Batuman’s Either/Or and is looking for more great campus novels. Joseph recommends The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood and White Noise by Don DeLillo. Sapphire recommends My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and The Nix by Nathan Hill.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Writer’s Prize 2024 Shortlist

The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli)

Boy Swallows Universe

How Do You Live? By Genzaburo Yoshino

The New Me by Halle Butler

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

See the Novel Thoughts bookshop page for all books mentioned in this episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode we're chatting about the best short books to start your year. Read this week: Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner, The Employees by Olga Ravn, Come Closer by Sara Gran, Bewilderment by Richard Powers, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

Saph’s short books: Ti Amo by Hanne Orstavik, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann, Helpmeet by Nabeen Ruthnum, and A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck. Joseph’s short books: Happening by Annie Ernaux, Assembly by Natasha Brown, Days At The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, Ice by Anna Kavan, Open Throat by Henry Hoke, and The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

This week’s listener recommendation request comes from Patricia who is looking for historical fiction similar to The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. Joseph recommends Secrecy by Rupert Thomson and Sapphire recommends Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, Still Life by Sarah Winman, and The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Isabel Waidner and Diarmuid Hester (LRB Podcast)

Consumed Future Spewed Up As Present by Lea Guldditte Hestelund

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Happy New Year! Michelle is back with a hot take on Tom Hanks’s charisma. Read this week: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck, Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan and Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adeji-Brenyah, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Speedboat by Renata Adler, The Maid by Nita Prowse, Better Left Unsaid by Tufayel Ahmed.

This week’s deep dive book is the best-selling Good Material by Dolly Alderton, ‘this generation’s Nora Ephron’.

This week’s listener recommendation request comes from Aimée who is looking for light hearted reads, but not Bill Bryson. Sapphire recommends The Dog of the North by Elizabeth Mckenzie, Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and Where’d you go Bernadette? by Maria Semple. Michelle recommends The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. Joseph recommends Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly

‘You’ve Got Mail’

‘The Shop Around The Corner’

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

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