Reviews

95bFM's Loose Reads: Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra /  by Time Out Bookstore

Chilean Poet is a warm, soulful, hilarious novel about fatherhood, family, and of course, Chilean poetry. The tale begins with Gonzalo and Carla, who fizzle out after an awkward teenage fling in 1991, only to reunite 9 years later at a steamy Santiago night-club. Gonzalo, by now a frustrated poet and academic, moves in with Carla and her 6-year-old son Vicente, who quickly wins a spot in his heart. We follow the three of them along with their cat, Darkness, through the everyday trials and wins of family life, and what is the most tender portrait of the particularities of step-fatherhood I’ve read. Carla and Gonzalo separate, but Gonzalo leaves behind an indelible love for poetry in Vicente. 

Fast-forward another 9 years and a dreamy 18-year-old Vicente yearns to travel and write and fall in love, and refuses to go to university until education is free. Unlike Carla and Gonzalo, Vicente hasn’t grown up under Pinochet, and refuses to assume the trauma of his parents’ generation. One night he meets Pru, a lost American journalist, and urges her to chart the lesser-known poets of Chile. Her research takes her into the homes and parties and beds of an eccentric crowd of writers, forming a lively montage of Chile’s literary scene. When Pru heads home to New York, the story circles back to Vicente and Gonzalo - two beloved characters we long to see reunite.

This is the perfect winter warmer to laugh and cry over - light-hearted, meaningful, and filled with characters you wish you could meet. Without a doubt my favourite book of 2022 so far.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna speaks with guest host Guy Montgomery today about Jarvis Cocker’s delightful memoir, Good Pop, Bad Pop. This book is an inventory of ‘psychic lint’ from Cocker’s loft - items he’s accumulated without even realising - and in this, gives us the origins of his iconic band, Pulp.

Brightly designed with fantastic images, Good Pop, Bad Pop is very self deprecating, nostalgic and funny. Capturing schoolboys moving through a grimy music scene in 1980’s Sheffield, this is a grand read and we hope there is a sequel planned.

Listen to the full review below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh /  by Time Out Bookstore

The newest Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona, has just hit the shelves today!

An absurd historical fable that has been compared to Shrek, Moshfegh’s latest novel is a hilarious exploration of the human condition. Suri warns to approach this novel with caution as there are some grotestque scenes, but still declares Moshfesh a ‘filthy genius.’

You can listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland /  by Time Out Bookstore

The Escape Artist is the true tale of a man’s miraculous escape from Auschwitz. Written by journalist and thriller writer Jonathan Freedland, it makes for a pacy and compelling read.

Despite being an incredibly grim topic, Jenna still recommends you pick it up. This story lends incredible insight into how difficult it was to get the news of this horrifying mass murder into the right hands.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Time is a Lover by Ocean Vuong /  by Time Out Bookstore

Time is a Mother is the second collection from beloved poet Ocean Vuong, and his writing is as beautiful and raw and intimate as ever. Grappling with the death of his mother, as well as his own addiction, Vuong explores the grief and love and history that continues to shape him. Formally more confident than ever, these poems dance masterfully between prose, narrative, and sparse shreds, filled with Vuong's characteristically lyrical and dreamlike imagery. My personal favourite was 'Amazon History of a Nail Salon Worker' - a moving portrait of Vuong's mother in the last year of her life, composed solely from each of her mundane monthly purchases. Poetry isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Vuong is definitely one to try - there's bound to be something in here that gets you in the heart.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Pure Colour by Sheila Heti /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna reviews one of her favourite books of 2022 so far - it’s just a little difficult to explain what it’s about.

Canadian author Sheila Heti questions creation, love, grief, art, philosophy, nature & more in this quietly profound novel.

Listen to Jenna, Rachel and Zoe chat as they are reunited in the studio. Click the link below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight /  by Time Out Bookstore

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:

95bFM's Loose Reads: All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid /  by Time Out Bookstore

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:

95bFM's Loose Reads: Slow Down, You're Here by Brannavan Gnanalingam /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart /  by Time Out Bookstore

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:

95bFM's Loose Reads: Taste Makers by Mayukh Sen /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Toi Tū Toi Ora by Nigel Borell /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Mothers, Fathers, and Others by Siri Hustvedt /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Keeping the House by Tice Cin /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow /  by Time Out Bookstore

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.