Reviews
We have a great non-fiction recommendation for you today. In the late 1960’s, a Premonitions Bureau was set up at the Evening Standard by psychiatrist John Barker and journalist Peter Fairley. However, Barker’s own fatality is predicted by one of his subjects.
An anecdotal yarn that follows the science of trying to explain the unexplainable.
Listen to Jenna and Rachel on the phone below:
Manon calls in from Oamaru to give her latest review!
All the Lovers in the Night (2011, trans. Sam Bett, David Boyd) is the newly translated novel from Mieko Kawakami, one of Japan’s most exciting writers.
It’s the story of Fuyuko, a 34-year-old woman working as a freelance proof-reader in Tokyo. She lives an extremely isolated, lonely life, barely leaving her apartment, bewildered by the world, yearning for connection but terrified to experience it. As the book goes on, we learn about a horrifically painful rupture in her earlier life. One day she meets Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher who shares her fascination with the properties of light, and Fuyuko begins to be seen by somebody and begin a quiet transformation. It’s a crushing heartbreaker of a book, but offers so much about the way we shape each other. As Kawakami herself has said, we don’t always find hope in light books, and we don’t always find despair in the dark ones.
Manon’s full review is with Rachel is below.
First of all, we have a run through of the winners from last week’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, including the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for fiction, Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka.
Then, we are so excited talk about this debut from all-round artist extraordinaire, Coco Solid aka Jessica Hansell.
Following three wāhine around an evolving & gentrifying Tāmaki Makaurau - the form of How to Loiter takes sharp & spare shape in prose, poetry & essay.
Listen to Jenna and Rachel on the phone below:
Suri’s latest review visits the newest book by one of our store’s favourite NZ authors, Brannavan Gnanalingam. Slow Down, You’re Here follows a dissatisfied immigrant mother and a secret trip to meet her lover on Waiheke Island. A compelling read that reaches a shocking conclusion, Suri believes this is one of Brannavan’s best.
You can listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
It’s been a long time between drinks and it’s great to be back to our regular rotation of Loose Reads reviews on 95bFM. Today, Jenna talks about Booker Prize winning author Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo.
Listen to Jenna and Rachel on the phone below:
Manon joins our rotation of reviewers on 95bFM’s Loose Reads.
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women who Revolutionized Food in America is a group biography of Chao Yang Buwei, Marcella Hazan, Madeleine Kamman, Julie Sahni, Norma Shirley, Elena Zelayeta, and Najmieh Batmanglij. Through these intimate and poetic biographical sketches, Mayukh Sen pays reverent dues to long-overlooked women who have shaped America's modern culinary landscape and pioneered cuisines of their homeland. His descriptions of their foods are sublime - this is a torturous book to read while hungry!
From Zelayeta, who learned to cook again after going blind and went on to become the first Latina chef to have a televised cooking show, to Batmanglij, who self-published several Iranian cookbooks in exile, these women are beacons of determination and talent who strived to preserve their culture in the face of prejudice and erasure.
Manon’s full review with Rachel is below.
Toi Tū Toi Ora is the book of the landmark exhibition of contemporary Māori Art from Auckland Art Gallery. Curator Nigel Borell has collated a richly illustrated text featuring exhibition artworks both on their own and within the gallery space. The book follows the exhibition's themes of Te Kore (the void), Te Pō (the night) and Te Ao Mārama (the light.)
With contributions from Moana Jackson and Taarati Taiaroa, this book is a must for your home library allowing the luxury of revisiting these beautiful works at your own pace.
Listen to Jenna and guest host Annabell chat below.
Siri Hustvedt's urgent and moving new essay collection, Mothers, Fathers, and Others, explores the concept of motherhood, and examines its role in society, art, science, philosophy and literature.
Husvedt moves from the personal and intimate to the macro and theoretical deftly and creates surprising connections between women in her life, Emily Bronte, Louise Bourgeoise and the shifting role of the mother in society. With clever insights into everything from the future of the novel to the interconnectivity of humans and feminist theory, Siri Husvedt proves again to be an important writer for our times.
You can listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
With rain and thunder in the background, Jenna reviews Last Resort, a debut novel by Andrew Lipstein.
Caleb’s dream is to be a novelist and after some ethically dubious inspiration, it looks like his dream is to be realised. This book is not serious, sharp & funny and is recommend for fans of grifter stories - especially the infamous Who is the Bad Art Friend?
Listen to Jenna and Rachel discuss below.
Suri reviews a vivid, evocative and compelling novel set in the early 21st century, by a multi disciplinary author, Keeping the House by Tice Cin.
Following a multi generational family in South London, Keeping the House studies the rich inner lives of women and immigrant communities.
There is a soundtrack for this book! You can listen to it here.
You can listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
Translated from Italian, Claudia Durastanti’s novel Strangers I Know explores the mythology of family, language, form and fiction. An incredibly smart read and highly recommended.
Listen to Jenna and Rachel discuss below.
Short, clear and concise. If you’re going to read any non-fiction title about America, this is it. National Book Award winner George Packer presents how politics, economics and culture has evolved into the America we know today.
You can listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
Danya Kukafka’s Notes on an Execution is crime fiction fit for true crime lovers. Set in the twelve hours before he is to be executed, Ansel Packer’s story is told by three women who have been affected by his crimes. A pacy and thought provoking read.
Listen to Jenna, Rachel and Zoe discuss below.
A sprawling history of human civilization, The Dawn of Everything rivals its predecessors by asking 'Are both Hobbes and Rousseau wrong about the state of human nature?'. Drawing on carefully chronicled indigenous histories and posing a challenge to existing understandings of the development of civilization, The Dawn of Everything is a must read for fans of Sapiens and Humankind.
You can listen to Suri’s review below.
The growth of tech, social media and personal devices has evolved the way our society interacts with the world today. Stolen Focus is an investigation into how this has happened, what it means and offers tools in how to get our focus back. A hot topic told in an engaging and thorough way, this a great non fiction read to start off the new year.
Read this excerpt from The Guardian and listen to Jenna, Rachel and Zoe discuss below.
Jenna is Rachel and Zoe’s first guest in the studio since August! Today, she reviews Lauren Groff’s Matrix. An imagining of the life medieval poet, Marie de France, who is sent away from the royal court to live as a nun. Never has a story set in the twelfth century felt so contemporary!
Richard Power's latest novel, Bewilderment, is a tender exploration of loss, climate anxiety and the binding love between father son. In the wake of his wife's death, scientist Theo tries to rescue his sensitive son from the noise and cruelty of the modern world. A rich mixture of philosophy, science and spirituality, Bewilderment is a powerful ode to the natural world.
This is another lockdown review! You can listen to Suri chat with Rachel below.
The prolific David Sedaris is back with his second volume of diaries, A Carnival of Snackery (2003-2020.)
With the usual ingredients of travels stories, languages, bad jokes, the Sea Section, taxidermy, rubbish, Hugh & the infamous Sedaris family, this is a must read for Sedaris fans. It’s the type of book that can sit over the coffee table over Christmas and have multiple readers at once.
Listen to Jenna’s lockdown review with Rachel and Zoe below:
Samuel Te Kani's debut erotic short fiction collection, Please, Call Me Jesus is an electric, moreish journey through suburbia and its dark pleasures.
From gaming housewives, to teenage werewolves and suburban fathers with secrets, Sam Te Kani's psychologically piercing and playful vignettes of suburban desire make for addictive reading.
Samuel Te Kani is a contributor to Metro NZ, The Spinoff, Pantograph Punch and formerly Vice NZ.
This is another lockdown review! You can listen to Suri chat with Rachel below.
This little book follows The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan and she follows, like a friendly(ish) ghost, The Woman in the Purple Skirt.
This is a portrait of single women in Japan, women who work in service and the hierarchy within those industries. It’s also a portrait of loneliness.
This is perfect Christmas present for fans of Sayaka Murata and also Korean authors such as Han Kang and Bae Suah. It’s completely bonkers but funny, creepy but innocent, compelling and mysterious.
Listen to Jenna’s lockdown review with Rachel and Zoe below:
