Time Out's Best Books of 2022 /  by Time Out Bookstore

As seen in Metro Magazine

Wendy

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Romantic by William Boyd
All the Broken Places by John Boyne

Cait

Fight Night by Miriam Toews
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

Sophie

Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka
The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

Jenna

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti
The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
He Reo Tuku Iho by Awanui Te Huia

Abby A

Poor People with Money by Dominic Hoey
Arms and Legs by Chloe Lane
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Hollie

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
How to Loiter in a Turf War by Jessica Hansell

Suri

The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
Treacle Walker by Alan Gardner
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

Roman

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Towards a Grammar of Race by Anisha Sankar et al

Abby I-J

How to Be a Bad Muslim by Mohamed Hassan
Poor People with Money by Dominic Hoey
Everyone is Everyone Except You by Jordan Hamel

Katie

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

Elijah

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
We Uyghurs Have No Say by Ilham Tohti

Paris

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Grand by Noelle McCarthy
Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

95bFM's Loose Reads: Three 2022 music book recs! /  by Time Out Bookstore

Poor Suri is sick today, so Jenna dialed for a last minute review. She gave advice on three great music books, which would be great for a Christmas present (or just yourself.)

Surrender by Bono - a life story told in forty songs which contains beautiful images & drawings.

Re-Sisters by Cosey Fanni Tutti - a memoir spanning centuries, Tutti interweaves the amazing lives of three women (including herself) who paved the way in both music, writing and creativity.

A Book of Days by Patti Smith - a diary of of year, told in images. As only Smith can be, this is considered, thoughtful and is an ode to art, thinkers, music, family and politics.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez /  by Time Out Bookstore

This morning, Jenna reviewed the first novel to be translated into English, by Argentine author, Mariana Enriquez. This is a horror, but as a non-horror fan, Jenna thinks okay for those who are squeamish (mostly!)

Filled with the dark arts, magic and politics, this is the perfect summer saga at 700 pages.

Listen to much more about this book in Jenna’s review with Rachel and Zoe below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel /  by Time Out Bookstore

Still Born is the fourth novel from Mexican author Guadalupe Nettel, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

The story follows the narrator, Laura, as she writes her PhD in Mexico City. While Laura decides to be surgically sterilised, her good friend Alina is undergoing IVF to conceive, but the two women’s conception of motherhood is set to keep evolving as their lives take unexpected turns.

Told in Nettel’s typically simple, unflowery prose, this is a quietly profound story about motherhood. More generally, it’s about care and the forms it might take beyond conventional roles and communities, teasing out what connects women to children and to each other.

Anyone who’s battled with the decision to have children, or looked after other peoples’ children, or even fancied themselves a feminist, will find a lot to love and think about in this honest and smart read.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Poor People with Money by Dominic Hoey /  by Time Out Bookstore

Poet and storyteller, Dominic Hoey, brings us a tale of Avondale ratbags in Poor People with Money. Monday has a ‘face like a broken dinner plate’ and can barely hold together her minimum wage job but dreams of being a champion kickboxer. When she gets an opportunity to fight in a tournament in Thailand, she needs to get some money quick. 

Narrative threads from both Monday’s mysterious past and adventurous present are weaved together in a compelling read, where you find yourself rooting for the underdogs.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Zoe below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Treacle Walker by Alan Garner /  by Time Out Bookstore

Alan Garner's latest novel, Treacle Walker, follows young Joe and his curious friendship with a rag and bone salesman, Treacle. Swapping his old clothes and a lamb shoulder blade for two of Treacle's treasures, Joe begins to see things which were once invisible to him- are they real or a trick of his imagination?

Filled joy, folklore and charm, this playful little book explores the trickery of the human eye and the perspectives we gain in unlikely friendships. A gorgeous little book for fans of Max Porter's Lanny.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey /  by Time Out Bookstore

The Axeman’s Carnival is narrated by a magpie called Tama, which is short for Tamagotchi. He lives in the yolk-yellow house of Marnie and Rob, which sits on a struggling High Country sheep farm in Central Otago.

Tama is quite clever and much to the delight of Marnie and the horror of Rob, starts parroting back what he hears around him. Marnie casually starts a Twitter account for him and this soon brings fame to this small town family.

This story is not all comedy. Marnie recently had a miscarriage and there’s a leering, nasty side to Rob that Marnie bears the brunt of. Marnie needs to leave, however her ties to Tama keep her home.

Chidgey is a master of voice. She’s a funny writer, but this humour cuts to a darkness beneath the surface. As with her previous works, the research and descriptions of place are impeccable. An excellent read from one of the best writers in Aotearoa right now.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Zoe below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler /  by Time Out Bookstore

The Mountain in the Sea is a thrilling new sci-fi read from Ray Nayler. Meticulously researched, crafted, and paced, Nayler brings new colour to the age-old question of what we as beings and minds are - or could be - and how we might know one another.


In a near-ish future, Ha Nguyen, a prominent marine biologist and author of 'How Oceans Think,' signs on for a research mission to a remote Vietnamese archipelago to study a dangerously intelligent new species of octopus living in the bowels of a shipwreck. The islands have been purchased by an AI tech corporation named DIANIMA, whose murky motivations Ha ignores in the opportunity of her lifetime, obsessed with deciphering the strange symbols the octopus flashes on its skin to communicate.

She is joined on the island by a highly sophisticated android named Evrim, and a war-scarred Mongolian security guard named Altantseg - each fascinating characters in their own right. Meanwhile, two subplots bubble: in Astrakhan, a hacker named Rustem attempts to find a way into the android's brain, and out in the open sea a man named Eiko, who has been captured and enslaved by a sinister automaton fishing vessel, fights for freedom.

This is a mind-bending and at times super spooky read, laced with philosophy and science surrounding the non-human mind, intelligence, and language. Pacy yet cerebral - a perfect beach read as you look out at the waves and ponder what goes on beneath.

95bFM's Loose Reads: This Devastating Fever by Sophie Cunningham /  by Time Out Bookstore

The first novel in 15 years from Australian author Sophie Cunningham. Alice, a writer, has spent 15 years researching Leonard Woolf, husband of Virginia.

This is a novel for deep readers and for writers. Exploring colonialism, health, ideas, ghosts, viruses, war, sexuality and research, This Devastating Fever shows us that since early twentieth century, perhaps not much has changed at all.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Other Names for Love by Taymour Soomro /  by Time Out Bookstore

A review for chilly peak reading weather. A debut novel by a Pakistani British writer, Taymour Soomro.

Leaving his London life of theatre & literature in London, Fahad is brushing up against his father’s expectations of masculinity whilst traveling to his family’s Pakistani farmlands.

A beautiful, evocative and sensory novel with a tender love story that will make you feel far away on a rainy day.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au /  by Time Out Bookstore

Manon reviews this ‘slippery whisper’ of a book that stays with you. Jessica Au’s Cold Enough for Snow follows a mother and daughter as they move through Tokyo. A subtle, deeply thought and artful read.

This book won the inaugural Novel Prize, a new, biennial award offered by New Directions, Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK), and Giramondo (Australia), for any novel written in English that explores and expands the possibilities of the form.

Manon phoned into the bFM studio chat to Rachel, listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Fight Night by Miriam Toews /  by Time Out Bookstore

‘My family should never be out in the world.’

9 year old Shiv has been suspended from school (for fighting) and is under the supervision of Grandma - a vivacious and hilarious woman (to the reader) but incredibly embarrassing (to Shiv.)

Miriam Toews’ Fight Night is the feel good book of this summer.

Listen below for for more as Jenna phones in to Rachel from the bookshop.