95bFM's Loose Reads: My Friends by Hisham Matar

Suri declares My Friends by Hisham Matar one of her favourite reads of 2024 and one to look out for on the Booker Longlist (which is announced next week).

My Friends is a political novel that follows three Libyan men, exiled in London, and their friendship’s journey, weaving together fictional characters along side real events. With themes of loss, grief and friendship, My Friends reveals uncomfortable truths about finding your identity whilst away from home.

Suri phoned into the studio, listen to her review with Jonny below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: All That We Know by Shilo Kino

All That We Know is a Tāmaki Makaurau based, coming of age novel about Māreikura Pohe and her journey in rumaki reo whilst navigating viral fame, whānau, activism and relationships.

This book is funny, nuanced and asks hard questions - of its characters and the reader.

This has become a fast Time Out staff favourite, it’s for fans of Rebecca K. Reilly’s Greta & Valdin and Coco Solid’s How to Loiter in a Turf War.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Mark by Frida Isberg

Teetering on the edge of dystopia, debut novel The Mark, takes place in a future Iceland where the device Zoe plays videos to soothe minds ill-at-rest and an Empathy Test determines your societal status.

Starting weeks before an explosive referendum to make the Empathy Test mandatory, The Mark follows the story of four characters: lonely, isolated Tristan fearful of what the Test will mean for his future job prospects, Vetur, a teacher worried about the prospects of her failing students and Eyjal, a corporate office worker facing dismissal and Oli, a psychiatrist who heads the organization responsible for creating and administering the test. 

A compulsive, addictive read for fans of Black Mirror

95bFM's Loose Reads: Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan

Today we welcome Jonny as bFM’s new breakfast host with the heifty 650-paged Caledonian Road by writer and journalist, Andrew O’Hagan.

A huge cast weaves together fully realised characters from all walks of life - an art writer, a Robin Hood style hacker plus Lords, politicians, Russian oligarchs and migrants. This is a Dickensian epic that tells a tale of modern London. It is also readable! and funny!

Jenna is tipping this for a Booker nod - the longlist is announced on July 31st.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Performance by David Coventry

After five years of reviews, Suri AND Jenna came into the studio to farewell the amazing Rachel Ashby from her role at breakfast.

Suri then talks about David Coventry’s new autofiction-ish novel, Performance. From Te Waipounamu to Europe, David takes us on a clever and fascinating observation of identity, loss and longing.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker

Jenna phoned into the 95bFM studio fresh from the BookPeople Australian Booksellers Conference.

Hard by the Cloud House, written by Peter Walker and published by Massey University Press, weaves together the threads of memoir, history, pūrākau and nature writing to tell the tale of the mysterious extinct bird, Pouakai (Haast’s Eagle).

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Bird Child and Other Stories by Patricia Grace

This morning, Suri visited the bFM studio to review the well researched, electric and genius new book of short stories by Patricia Grace.

Divided into three sections, this collection immediately connects you to the human experience across a wide variety of character and place.

Listen to Suri’s chat with Rachel below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: All Fours by Miranda July

Miranda July’s work crosses many mediums, however Jenna has been anticipating her first novel since 2013’s The First Bad Man.

Our unnamed protagonist is an artist and mother and she is ready for freedom. Whilst experiencing symptoms of perimenopause as well as flashbacks to the traumatic birth of her child, she sets on a cross country road trip, which soon takes a detour. Boundaries and ethics are no barrier to her as she attempts to balance her desires and her family life.

The connection between strangers is what intrinsically links all of July’s work and All Fours is no exception. A laugh out loud, bonkers and provocative ride, it’s wonderful to be back in the hands of July’s storytelling.

Listen to Jenna, Rachel & Stella chat below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: James by Percival Everett

Today on 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Suri reviewed Percival Everett’s James.

An amazing endeavour of a novel, where Everett gives Jim, the peripheral sidekick in Huckleberry Finn, a full voice.

With notes of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, James is a clever exploration of language, plunging the reader into the American South, pre-civil war.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The 2024 Ockham Fiction Finalists

Abby, one of our two Ockham Fiction Champions, popped into the bFM studio to chat the fiction shortlist.

Listen below and you can watch the Ockhams this Wednesday 15th March here.
You can also come in person! Purchase tickets here.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Ockhams Poetry Shortlist

Suri previews two of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards poetry finalists.

Roof Leaf Flower Fruit: A Verse Novel by Bill Nelson - narrative poetry which traces family history with a shocking truth revealed.
Talia by Isla Huia explores whakapapa and peers with electric ease.

Listen below for Suri giving her lowdown and poetry reading from each book below.

The two other books on the poetry shortlist are:
Chinese Fish by Grace Yee
At the Point of Seeing by Megan Kitching

Keep updated here to find out the winners, announced May 15th, at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Amma by Saraid de Silva

This week, Jenna reviewed Saraid de Silva’s Amma, a moving family story that follows three generations of Sri Lankan women. From Singapore, to Invercargill, to London, Saraid’s visceral storytelling is immersive with great plotting.

Listen to Jenna and Rachel chat below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Tommy Orange’s latest novel, Wandering Stars explores the decimation of American indigenous communities; from colonial violence to economic repression and addiction. Told through the eyes of Orvil Red Feather and his ancestors, ‘Wandering Stars’ explores a patchwork of characters reckoning with the violence of past and present, at all times searching for the beauty and wisdom of their ancestors. Painful, beautiful and at times funny, this piercing companion to There, There strikes at the heart and offers human truths impossible to look away from. 

95bFM's Loose Reads: Vladivostok Circus by Elisa Shua Dusapin

French author Eilsa Shua Dusapin (Winter in Sokcho) is back with another atomospheric novel.
Nathalie arrives in Vladivostok to work on costumes for the Russian bar trio who are preparing their dangerous routine for the winter circus season.

This book captures a snapshot of a creative and physical undertaking by a small team of people. Punchy sentences, a sense of danger and a strong sense of place enrich Dusapin’s prose.

Translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.

Listen to Jenna, Rachel and Stella’s conversation below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: If We Burn by Vincent Bevins

If We Burn by Vincent Bevins (author of The Jakarta Method) explores a decade of the largest mass protests in modern history- from the Arab Spring to the Hong Kong uprisings. Combing through academic research and conducting interviews and with organisers, politicians and protesting participants, Bevins unearths the reasons why an era of mass mobilisation failed to materialise into political change. A sweeping look at the history of mass protests and its successes and failures, If We Burn is a sharp and fascinating analysis of a phenomena forgotten in a post-COVID era. 

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Sheep's Clothing by Celia Dale

Suri visited the 95bFM Breakfast crew to chat about the late Celia Dale’s Sheep’s Clothing. Originally published in 1988, this book is a black comedy crime, following two women schemers in Thatcher’s England.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Beautiful Afternoon by Airini Beautrais

Jenna called into the studio this morning, to chat about The Beautiful Afternoon, a collection of essays from Airini Beautrais. You may know her from her short story collection, Bug Week, which was the winner of the 2021 Acorn Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Combining research with the personal; exploring feminity, sexuality, motherhood, pop culture, consumerism, activism and more, this is a insightful delve into a different genre of writing for Beautrais.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

The debut novel by Olga Tokarczuk’s translator, Jennifer Croft.

Eight translators are brought to Polish forest to translate a beloved author’s latest work and the translators’ love of the them, becomes almost cultish. However when the author goes missing, all goes awry.

Surreal, absurd and clever, The Extinction of Irena Rey asks questions of authorship. role and credit of a translator. This is great read for language lovers.

Listen to Suri’s review with guest host, Aneeka and producer, Stella.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan

Jenna visited the studio to speak about Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan, translated from French by Alison Anderson.

Two women are brought together when Clara (a policewoman) meets Melanie, an influencer whose child has just been kidnapped.

Spanning the begiining of the Big Brother generation to 2031, this is a cautionary tale about family youtube channels, this is a literary thriller that observes the ethics of putting your children online.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Clarice Lispector & Sarah Bernstein

On the first day back at Uni, Suri slipped into the bFM studio to talk about two books that she’s been reading lately.

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein was shortlised for the Booker in 2023. When a woman returns to her ancestral land to become a housekeeper for her newly separated brother,
Allusive, observational and atmospheric.

Auto-fiction Argentinian queen, Clarice Lispector is here with her complete publicatoin of her essays (Too Much of Life), which she started writing when she was 7 years old. A great mix of writing - the relationship between humanity and technology, the domestic, philosophy and literary critique.

Listen below!