Jenna
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions tells the tale of a lifelong friendship and a schizophrenia diagnosis which leads to murder.
Told through a historical, political and scientifc context, mental health and American healthcare are explored.
Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.
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.
Jenna called into the RNZ studio to review My Brilliant Sister, a Trans-Tasman novel linking three women who observe balancing creativity and domesticity - all with a connection to Australian author and feminist, Stella Miles Franklin.
Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.
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!
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!
Jenna dialed into the bFM studio today from her tent at the Camp A Low Hum festival, in Wainuiomata.
Lord Jim at Home is a fantastically strange found classic from 1973. With an introduction by Ottessa Moshfegh, Lord Jim is based on the true story of the ill-fated Miles Giffard, this book explores class and violence - all with a very black sense of humour.
The 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist has been revealed. To celebrate, Jenna talks about one of the longlisted fiction titles, Backwaters, a debut novel set between Auckland & China by Emma Ling Sidnam. A gentle read about origins, identity and family?
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below!
Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna was in the studio to chat to Kathryn about some of her favourite 2023 reads.
Listen below for the full review.
Today, Jenna reviewed Patrick deWitt’s The Librarianist, a book that’s at risk of being too light or cheesy, but is actually very good.
Bob Comet, a retired librarian, finds himself volunteering at a retirement centre, when he realises he already knows a resident. deWitt’s expert dialogue leads us through a most heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) and funny return to significant events from Bob’s life.
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below!
Jenna brings in the recently minted 2023 Booker winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. A powerful, gut-punch of a book, set in modern day Ireland - following a mother of four as she desperately tries to keep her family together during a civil war.
Jenna, Rachel & Stella also some Christmas agony aunt questions!
Wafting 95bFM listener: The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez or Sonic Life by Thurston Moore.
Big reader aunt: The Postcard by Anne Berest
Tween read: Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Also! Don’t forget to get tickets to the Save the B gig. This Wednesday, 20th December.
Bird Life is a lyrical, present novel set in Japan. Dinah, grieving the suicide of her twin brother, moves from Aotearoa to Japan to teach English. There, she meets Yasuko, a mother grieving her son leaving home. Together, the kinship between Dinah and Yasuko deepens as they navigate their own paths.
Listen to Jenna’s on studio chat with Rachel and Stella below.
It’s almost Christmas, therefore it’s time for our end of year round-ups. Today, Jenna chose three nice novels, just because it feels like we need them.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Good Material by Dolly Alderton (audiobook on Libro.fm)
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum
Listen to Jenna’s on studio chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna chatted to Susie about The Bee Sting. This has been shortlisted for the Booker, which will be announced in just over a week!
A supremely Irish tragi-comedy, this is Jenna’s favourite novel of 2023.
Listen below for the full review.
It’s Britney, bitch!
Jenna thoroughly enjoyed Britney’s highly anticipated and bestselling memoir. With the perfect mix of shock, sadness, humour and plenty of villains., The Woman in Me gives a lot of insight and context into the dark side of fame.
This was listened to on Libro.fm, where your chosen indie bookshop gets a portion of the sale.
Listen to Jenna’s on studio chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Green Dot is the debut novel by Australian arts writer, critic, academic annnnd former bookseller, Madeleine Gray.
Hera is a woman in her mid-twenties, who embarks on a self-destructive, long term relationship with an older, married man, who continues to promise he will leave his wife for her.
This Fleabag-esque page-turner observes millennial life & the internet with such on the nose humour, it could have been written by Hera Lindsay Bird.
Listen to Jenna’s on studio chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Newly Booker Shortlisted and one of three Pauls in the running, The Bee Sting is a laugh out loud Irish family saga. With the humour and teen angst of Derry Girls meets the structure and depth of Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads, Jenna rates this as this year’s BIG SUMMER READ.
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Jenna called into the 95bFM studio this morning from Murihiku/Southland to chat about Adventures with Emilie.
Victoria Bruce was living in Christchurch working in a successful yet stressful career in comms, while raising her young daughter. But her depression and PTSD from a tough adolescence were catching up on her. Looking towards nature as a solace, she decided to take Emilie out of school and have them both walk the length of Aotearoa on the Te Araroa trail.
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Described as a “punk” by Mariana Enriquez, Aurora Venturini wrote this novel as an 85 year old, submitting the typewritten manuscript anonymously to a newspaper competition in 2007. After she won, she said, “Finally, an honest jury.” She had previously written 30 novels.
This is a story of vulnerable women, bad men and revenge in 1940’s Buenos Aires. Cousins is the first Venturini novel to be translated into English.
Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn below for more.
PHOTO BY CLAUDIA BERNALDO DE QUIRÓS
On this rare sunny morning in Tāmaki, Jenna visited the studio to talk about the 2023 Booker longlisted, In Ascension. A book that hits the depths of the sea and stretches into the wider universe, this is a book that explores the connection between science, humans and the environment.
For fans of Richard Powers!
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Jenna called in from a bustling Mt. Eden Village this morning to chat about the winners from the NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. Listen to her chat with Rachel below.
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