95bFM's Loose Reads
The Farm is Joanne Ramos’ first book. Jane arrives to the luxury resort Golden Oaks to become a ‘host’ - a surrogate for a wealthy client. Jane sees this well paid gig as a opportunity for her and her young daughter to get a step up in life, but the strict conditions of Golden Oaks, leads her to question a choice she can’t reverse.
Narrated by a cast of characters on all sides, The Farm is an educated insight into ethics, class and privilege & service culture.
The short story is enjoying a resurgence and this new anthology which Kiran reviewed on 95bFM’s Loose Reads Being Various: New Irish Short Stories edited by Lucy Caldwell brings together 24 vibrant and fresh pieces by Irish authors including Sally Rooney, Sinead Gleeson, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery, Lisa McInerney and Eimear McBride. The short story is in fine form!
Jenna was a HUGE fan of Moby’s first autobiography Porcelain, but the follow up has been bathed in controversy. Listen to Jenna, Rachel & Tess discuss Then It Fell Apart, which Jenna can only describe as ‘feral.’
Don’t forget, your bCard qualifies you for a 10% discount at Time Out.
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson who was just here for the Auckland Writers Festival. It’s a great book for anyone interested in the changing landscape of journalism, and scrutinises four news outlets - the old guard of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and the “disruptive mavericks” Vice and Buzzfeed.
Jenna had a big weekend at the Auckland Writers Festival, so on tofay’s Loose Reads she chats to Rachel and Tess about this incredible book event which included the Ockham Book Awards.
Books that we have spoke about before on Loose Reads came away with gongs. The Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize was awarded to This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman. Tayi Tibble’s Poukahangatus won best first poetry book and Chessie Henry’s We Can Make a Life won best first non-fiction book. Check out the rest of the winners here.
Then, Jenna reviews Ruby Porter’s Attraction. Winner of the inaugaral Michael Gifkins Prize. You can also listen to Ruby’s interview from last week here.
Don’t forget, your bCard qualifies you for a 10% discount at Time Out.
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran talked about our Book of the Month - the hotly anticipated Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter. It’s a ripper of a yarn, packed with insight, dry humour, girls, guitars and juicy bon mots.
A new week and a new breakfast host for 95bFM! This morning, Jenna chatted with Rachel and producer Tess about Daisy Jones & the Six. This is a tale of a 1970’s fictional rock ‘n’ roll band, who are vividly imagined in through the novel’s structure as an oral history - think VH1’s Behind the Music meets Almost Famous.
Don your hoop earrings, imagine yourself in the California sun and step inside this digestable & fun read.
Don’t forget, your bCard qualifies you for a 10% discount at Time Out.
It was a bittersweet Loose Reads today as it was our last slot with dear Mikey Havoc who is leaving this week. Kiran spoke about America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo who will be appearing in conversation with Kiran at the Auckland Writers Festival. It’s an extraordinary novel about three generations of Filipina women in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
We were so lucky Auckland Writers Festival director, Anne O’Brien, join us to talk about what we need to see this coming May 13-19.
Some of Anne’s picks for bFM listeners are Shayne Carter, Jeff Tweedy, Akala and Kate Raworth.
We also give some tips about how to tackle the free events line.
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Kiran reviewed The New Me by Halle Butler, a book she thinks people are going to love! It’s a fresh, modern, dark and cynically funny novel about a 30-year-old temp named Millie. A sharp and sometimes abject look at social mores, neoliberalism, anxiety, female friendship and the modern workplace.
Today on 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Jenna reviewed a new favourite, The Library Book by Susan Orlean.
This memoir starts with a mystery - who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986? On our way to find an answer, we look at the incredible role that libraries have in our communty and how that came to be all the while meeting the weird and wonderful people who helped make it happen.
This is a warm & joyful read full of facts and stories that you will share for years to come.
Susan Orlean is coming to the Auckland Writers Festival! Book tickets here.
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia by Tracey Thorn. It’s a lovely memoir about family, music, culture and the crushing boredom of growing up in 1970s suburbia. It’s a wonderful book which celebrates the ordinary over the extraordinary.
Whether you’re reading a reflection of your own community, or stepping inside the stories from another culture, the joy of reading has no boundaries.
On the latest 95bFM Loose Reads, Jenna suggests some wonderful Muslim writers to delve in to.
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie - see her in May at the Auckland Writers Festival.
No Country Woman by Zoya Patel
The Things I Would Tell You - British Muslim Women Write ed. by Sabrina Mahfouz
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Kiran reviewed our Time Out Book of the Month for March - The Wall by John Lanchester. It’s a startlingly prescient allegory for our times where The Defenders patrol a Wall to keep out The Others. Looking at climate change and political turbulence, John Lanchester is a brilliant writer.
Today we talk short stories and how GREAT they are!
Before today’s review, Jenna gave Tess some homework: To read the viral, December 2017 short story, Cat Person, from The New Yorker.
This collection of twelve stories (including Cat Person) was published off the back of this success. Dark, twisted and humourous (sometimes), You Know You Want This explores the power dynamics of sex, relationships and gender.
If this sounds good to you, you may also like the following short story collections: Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country & Her Body and Other Parties. You can also buy Cat Person on its own!
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Nothing is Real: The Beatles Were Underrated and Other Sweeping Statements About Pop by music journalist David Hepworth. Entertaining and informative, this collection of essays shows how to take music seriously but at the same time, not drain the life out of it.
On today’s Loose Reads, Jenna and Tess chat about one of the latest fraud cases to be in the midst of a media frenzy.
With two upcoming documentaries, a podcast and a movie due, the case of Elizabeth Holmes and her now failed, fraudulant medical company Theranos is being dissected by all angles.
However, Bad Blood is the book that started it all. John Carreyrou’s thorough reporting is transfixing, culminating in a truly compelling tale of corporate crime.
For fans of the Fyre Festival documentaries and the latest scoop on Dan Mallory AKA A.J.Finn, this is an another intriguing tale of millenials gone bad. The new b-format edition is due back in stock very soon, so pre-order now.
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran spoke about the locally produced and beautifully crafted Dirt by Gemma Walsh and Katie Kerr. Not your average cookbook, Dirt is experimental and brings together delicious plant-based recipes paired with poems, writing, and conversations with local writers and thinkers. It would make a lovely gift!
It’s an exciting time of year for NZ literature as the Ockhams’ 2019 Longlist has just been announced. Jenna talks to Mikey and Tess about the award categories, some titles to look out for on the longlist and points out what books we’ve reviewed previously on Loose Reads!
They also ponder, how long should you keep reading a book that you’re not enjoying…?
Listen to previous reviews of longlisted titles here:
This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman
The Ice Shelf by Anne Kennedy
Poukahangatus by Tayi Tibble
We Can Make a Life by Chessie Henry
It’s a powerful thing to be able to tell your own story in your own words and Lily Allen does it well in My Thoughts Exactly. This autobiography is straight up honest, gossy and super compelling. Listen to Jenna’s review from this morning with Mikey & Tess.
