Suri
Sorrowland tells the story of Verne, a pregnant teenager escaping the confines her strict religious community. Confronted with monsters both physical and metaphorical, Sorrowland is a masterful Southern Gothic that explores the ways in which surviving the institutions that rule us can change us irrevocably.
Listen to Suri’s chat with Amelia and Zoe below:
Winner of the 2021 International Booker Prize, At Night All Blood is Black is a brutal, intelligent insight into the mythologies and psychologies of war. Telling the story of Alfa, a soldier who loses his close comrade on the battlefield and finds purpose as ‘the collector of souls’, this is a novel that examines the ungluing of humanity and sanity in the fields of war. Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat below!
Deborah Levy's third memoir in her 'living-autobiography' collection is a meditation on home, female desire and art. Real Estate takes place during a time of change in the author's life. Divorcing her husband, leaving her London apartment for a residency in Paris and facing the departure of her youngest daughter for university, Levy explores these transient spaces in her life and asks what it takes to make a life of her own.
Have a listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below:
In Sea State, author and magazine writer Tabitha Lasley leaves her London job and a toxic relationship for the isolated shores of Aberdeen.
Interviewing oil rig workers and life on the precipice of danger, Tabitha Lasley sets out to understand the lives of men who spend months in the company of only other men. A fascinating look at masculinity, longing and the search for home.
Have a listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below:
Baltimore Sun crime reporter Justin Fenton's latest book is an investigation into Baltimore PD's corrupt Gun Task Force. In 2017, three officers, including leader Wayne Jenkins, were indicted for corruption. Looking at court testimony, victim and witness accounts and a history of policing policy, Justin Fenton builds a full picture of corrupt policing in Baltimore.
The perfect book for fans of true crime- it's being optioned for Television rights with The Wire writer, David Simon at the helm!
Have a listen to Suri’s review with Rachel and Zoe below:
The Hard Crowd spans 20 years of essays by Booker-shortlisted novelist Rachel Kushner. From riding motorbikes in the American midwest to analysing anti-facist imagery in Italian cinema and prison abolition, this collection of narrative essays shifts the inward gaze towards the collective and celebrates a history of global working-class culture.
Have a listen to Suri’s review below:
Patricia Lockwood explores the chaos and absurdity of the internet in her autofiction novel, No One is Talking About This. Told through the eyes of a writer who becomes popularized on the internet for tweeting 'Can dogs be twins?', the novel looks at the second life we inhabit on the internet and the chasm between it and the real world.
When a familial tragedy hits the writer, she is left to wonder if the jokes and declarations of the internet offer comfort or meaning in the face of loss.
No One is Talking About This is an extraordinary internet novel which peers into the gap between ourselves and our second skins on the internet.
Have a listen to Suri’s review below:
Tracey Slaughter's latest short-story collection, Devil's Trumpet, explores the intimacies and oddities of everyday life. Slipping between motels, Four Squares and small towns, Tracey Slaughter serves us offerings of yearning, lust and violence in 31 extraordinary short stories. This alive, pulsating collection is a masterwork of Antipodean goth.
Tracey Slaughter is a poet and writer and currently teaches Creative Writing at The University of Waikato.
Have a listen to Suri’s review below:
Hinemoana Baker's newest collection of poetry explores transient spaces; physical and psychological, with a sharp, enigmatic humour and deep warmth.
Using her acerbic wit and keen eye, Hinemoana Baker paints a vivid portrait of of a poet and intellect's inner world.
Hinemoana Baker is a musician and writer, who has won the the New Zealand Berlin Creative Writing residency in 2016 and continues to live and write from Berlin. Funkhaus has been shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry 2021, the winner of which will be announced at the Ockham awards in May.
Listen below to Suri’s review with Rachel and Zoe from 95bFM.
Nobel-prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro explores the world of AI in his newest novel, Klara and the Sun. Told through the eyes of a curious and keenly observant AI robot, Klara and the Sun examines love, loss and what it means to be human.
Listen to Suri’s review below with Rachel and Sarah from 95bFM.
Here’s Suri’s latest 95bFM review - we are sharing this today, on her birthday!
Simon Winchester's latest book examines humans' relationship with the land over centuries. Comparing the dueling philosophies of Rousseau and Locke, Winchester draws a compelling thread between private land ownership, climate crises, wealth inequality and political borders.
Listen below with Suri, Rachel & Tess. A big farewell to Tess who is leaving the bFM team - thank you for being so awesome.
In their new book about the erosion of Western democracy, Putin critic and New Yorker journalist Masha Gessen explores the rise of autocracy in Trump's America and offers practical ways of psychologically and physically surviving an autocratic state.
With deep insight from her Russian reporting, Masha Gessen builds on the work of Hannah Arendt to offer a full story on the creation of autocracy.
On our final review for 95bFM’s Loose Reads for 2020, Suri chose her top books of 2020.
Listen below for some last minute Christmas present advice on:
Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine by Monique Fiso, The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey, Railways Studios by Neill Peter Atkinson Alsop, What We'll Build: Plans for Our Together Future by Oliver Jeffers, Summer by Ali Smith, and Magnolia 木蘭 by Nina Mingya Powles.
Another Now is an an experiment in building utopias; in envisioning and implementing progressive futures. Bouncing between dystopia and Socratic dialogue, Another Now tells the story of three politically divergent characters who are connected through love and friendship. Telling the story of 2008-2035, Yanis Varoufakis explores the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and the long-term impacts in a refreshing and thoughtful new way.
For fans of Rutger Bregman, Yuval Noah Harari and Joseph Stiglitz.
'If Then' explores the origin story of the first data company in existence, The Simulatics Corporation. Started in the 50s at the height of the Cold War and housed in a sci-fi-esque geodome, this group of scientists, engineers, academics and ad-men pioneered the blueprint for today's data giants.
Revealing the political and philosophical underpinnings behind today's data economy and the growing power of trading human futures, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore sounds a warning bell about the future of our privacy and the quiet ways to resist its dissolution.
The perfect Christmas present for fans of strange history!
Set in the summer of 1975, Box Hill is a glorious queer love-story with biting wit and gentle humanity.
Told through the eyes of a young man exploring his new-found sexuality, Box Hill explores a submissive relationship in an England on the brink of change; a burgeoning gay rights movement and the genesis of Thatcher's new conservatism.
Bold, playful and keenly observant, Box Hill is a satirical love-story full of moments of genius.
Exploring familial relationships, native myths and gendered violence, Betty is a tender elegy to a mother and a cutting examination of race and class. Living with her family of ten in a white, working class town, Betty and her siblings escape inside swirling oral histories and the gentle comforts of familial myths. As Betty gets older and the smooth veneer of her childhood begins to crack, she uncovers the racist and sexist violence of her family and town's past.
Based on her own mother's life, Tiffany McDaniels latest novel is a stunning look at generational trauma and the unreckoned, uncomfortable truths of a nation.
For fans of Aue and Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Suri reviewed Megha Majumdar’s A Burning on this week’s Loose Reads. This book is a searing portrait of social mobility, class and racism in modern India. Told through the eyes of three central characters looking for fame and greatness, A Burning explores the Indian Dream with biting satire and political urgency.
A Burning was also our Lit Reads title for July! Listen to the review below:
Suri's in the studio this week, chatting to Rachel and Tess about a memoir that's an absolute must-read. The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom narrates stories from over 100 years in the same house, with a huge touch on the influence of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
This was our February Book of the Month! Listen below:
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Suri spoke about On Fire by Naomi Klein where we find essays on varying stages of ecological crisis to current calls for policy reform, in hope of saving our planet. A necessary read.
