Our Book of the Month for August is The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award for his 2016 novel The Underground Railroad. Based on a real and brutal segregated Florida reform school in the 1950s, the Nickel Academy claims to provide “physical, intellectual and moral training” that will equip its inmates to become “honorable and honest men”. Time Out’s owner Wendy loved this book!
95bFM's Loose Reads: Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing by Sean Mallon & Sebastien Galliot /
Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing by Sean Mallon and Sebastien Galliot published by Te Papa Press cleaned up at the PANZ Book Design Awards last week, picking up awards for Best Illustrated Book, Best Typography, Best Book and the People’s Choice Award. Our Kiran was a judge at the awards and spoke about this triumph of a book on 95bFM’s Loose Reads.
Bestsellers for July 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk /
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, Drive your Plow has been a great favourite of the Time Out staff in 2019.
Translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, this book is smart, funny & feminist literary crime novel, with an unforgettable protagonist.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Furious Hours by Casey Cep /
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee is a meaty investigative true crime novel that is well worth a read. Listen to Jenna’s review below:
95bFM's Loose Reads: Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine. It’s a collection of ten quietly powerful, poised and beautifully observed short stories set in East Belfast. If you usually love short stories, read this collection. If you don’t usually read short stories, read this collection!
95bFM's Loose Reads: Bunny by Mona Awad /
Bunny is one of the weirdest books that Jenna has ever read. In a good way!
Listen to Jenna, Rachel & Tess chat about this black comedy, set at a narrative arts college is worth picking up.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Sinead Gleeson’s Constellations. This striking collection of essays is a wise, diagnostic and generous look at trauma, the body, illness, pain, faith, pregnancy and motherhood, with brilliant flashes of art criticism and political commentary. Nuanced, rich and rewarding, this is a tremendously great book!
BOOK OF THE MONTH: July 2019 /
Our Book of the Month for July is Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi which has won the Man Booker International Prize. It’s a powerful saga about three sisters living in al-Awafi, an Omani village on the brink of change. Exploring themes of slavery, urbanisation, women’s wisdom, patriarchy and masculinity, it’s a beautiful read. Celestial Bodies is also our Lit Reads title for July.
Click here to hear Kiran’s review on 95bFM’s Loose Reads.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed our July Book of the Month and Lit Reads title Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi which has won the Man Booker International Prize. It’s a powerful saga about three sisters living in al-Awafi, an Omani village on the brink of change. Exploring themes of slavery, urbanisation, women’s wisdom, patriarchy and masculinity, it’s a beautiful read.
Bestsellers for June 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: The Farm by Joanne Ramos /
The Farm is Joanne Ramos’ first book. Jane arrives to the luxury resort Golden Oaks to become a ‘host’ - a surrogate for a wealthy client. Jane sees this well paid gig as a opportunity for her and her young daughter to get a step up in life, but the strict conditions of Golden Oaks, leads her to question a choice she can’t reverse.
Narrated by a cast of characters on all sides, The Farm is an educated insight into ethics, class and privilege & service culture.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Being Various: New Irish Short Stories Edited by Lucy Caldwell /
The short story is enjoying a resurgence and this new anthology which Kiran reviewed on 95bFM’s Loose Reads Being Various: New Irish Short Stories edited by Lucy Caldwell brings together 24 vibrant and fresh pieces by Irish authors including Sally Rooney, Sinead Gleeson, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery, Lisa McInerney and Eimear McBride. The short story is in fine form!
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Years by Annie Ernaux /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Annie Ernaux’s collective history The Years, which was shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker International Prize. A generous and attentive book, it is where autofiction, biography and sociology intersect. A radical approach to the memoir, Kiran says The Years is extraordinary, a treasure and a tonic.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Then It Fell Apart by Moby /
Jenna was a HUGE fan of Moby’s first autobiography Porcelain, but the follow up has been bathed in controversy. Listen to Jenna, Rachel & Tess discuss Then It Fell Apart, which Jenna can only describe as ‘feral.’
Don’t forget, your bCard qualifies you for a 10% discount at Time Out.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt /
Memories of the Future explores themes of time and memory in Hustvedt’s new novel.
Tying together three threads of narrative, S.H from the past and S.H. from the present project towards each other, questioning philosophy, literature, art and feminism along the way.
Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn Ryan below:
BOOK OF THE MONTH: June 2019 /
Saltwater
Jessica Andrews
We are thrilled to introduce you to our June Book of the Month! Saltwater by Jessica Andrews is a stunning work of working class autofiction about fragility, place, class, the mother/daughter relationship and the body. It's a firecracker. Velvety, sensuous, and wonderfully allusive, it's a sublime evocation of a young woman's inner world as she moves between London and a small village on the coast of Ireland. Saltwater crackles with raw energy and real feeling, and Jessica Andrews' writing is intensely beautiful. Click here to listen to Kiran’s review on RNZ’s Nine to Noon.
Bestsellers for May 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson who was just here for the Auckland Writers Festival. It’s a great book for anyone interested in the changing landscape of journalism, and scrutinises four news outlets - the old guard of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and the “disruptive mavericks” Vice and Buzzfeed.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Attraction by Ruby Porter /
Jenna had a big weekend at the Auckland Writers Festival, so on tofay’s Loose Reads she chats to Rachel and Tess about this incredible book event which included the Ockham Book Awards.
Books that we have spoke about before on Loose Reads came away with gongs. The Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize was awarded to This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman. Tayi Tibble’s Poukahangatus won best first poetry book and Chessie Henry’s We Can Make a Life won best first non-fiction book. Check out the rest of the winners here.
Then, Jenna reviews Ruby Porter’s Attraction. Winner of the inaugaral Michael Gifkins Prize. You can also listen to Ruby’s interview from last week here.
Don’t forget, your bCard qualifies you for a 10% discount at Time Out.