Episodes
-
A special episode: Anna and Amanda chat with best-selling author Sally Hepworth about her new novel The Soulmate. The Soulmate is a gripping story about Pippa and Gabe, who are happily married until a woman dies near their home and they become entangled in the mystery that follows. A compulsive read which raises questions about marriage and loyalty, we could not put this down.
Sally also recommends:
Authors Jane Harper, Liane Moriarty, Kate Morton and Holly Ringland;
Podcasts The First Time Podcast and The Lise and Sarah Show; and
TV show Bad Sisters.
Coming up: I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai.
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abailliekaras , @vibrant_lives_podcast and @sallyhepworth
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Annie and Anna discuss the 2023 Stella Prize Longlist.
Our book of the week is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, the follow-up to his best-selling and Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the Light We Cannot See. Cloud Cuckoo Land was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks and was a National Book Award finalist. Set in 15th century Constantinople, modern day Idaho and a future spaceship, it is about children in times of peril who find hope in a book.
Coming up: The Soulmate with special guest Sally Hepworth.
Follow us!
Facebook: Books On The Go
Email: booksonthegopodcast [at] gmail.com
Instagram: [at] abailliekaras and [at] mr_annie
Twitter: [at] abailliekaras and [at] mister_annie
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Missing episodes?
-
A special episode as we chat with Eve Thomson about her debut novel She Too.
She Too is a legal thriller about a young lawyer who acts for a man accused of being an abusive husband as he sues a news website for defamation. It looks at the nature of truth, celebrity and power.
Eve recommends the book Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr and the podcasts Conversations, Chat 10 Looks 3 and Head Noise.
Coming up: Cloud Cuckoo Land.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras
Facebook: Books On The Go
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @abailliekaras
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
A special episode - our interview with Louise Adler, Director of Adelaide Writers' Week! We discuss Louise's 'Director's Picks', some new authors to discover and the challenges of curating a literary festival.
Books discussed:
Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee
Beat the Devil by David Hare
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
The Singularities by John Banville
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958 by Fintan O'Toole
A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work by Bernadette Brennan
Coming up: Cloud Cuckoo Land.
Follow us!
Adelaide Writers' Week: @adelaidewritersweek
Instagram: @abailliekaras
Facebook: Books On The Go
Email: [email protected]
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the 2023 Dublin Literary Award Longlist.
Our book of the week is Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel. Like Station 11 and The Glass Hotel, it is speculative fiction with warmth, heart and great story-telling. A New York Times Bestseller and a Best Book of 2022 (New York Times, Oprah Daily, NPR) it has been described as 'transporting and brilliant and generous' (USA Today).
Coming up: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the man arrested for stealing manuscripts and whether new AI technology ChatGPT can write novels.
Our book of the week is Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. Set in 1970s Belfast during the Troubles, it tells the story of a young Catholic woman and her affair with a married Protestant man. Described as "brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking" (New York Times) and named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post, we loved this book.
Louise Kennedy will be at Adelaide Writers' Week in March. We can't wait!
Also mentioned:
Scriptnotes podcast
In Suspense podcast
AlphaGo documentary
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Facebook: Books On The Go
Email: [email protected]
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf and Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka in our Keep or Cull segment.
Our book of the week is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov translated by Michael Glenny. We have been meaning to read this Russian classic for ages. A surreal, absurdist satire, it features Satan, Pontius Pilate, a poet and a talking cat. Not what we were expecting!
We'll be back in a few weeks.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Books On The Go
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna, Annie and Amanda discuss our best books of 2022.
Our favourite reads were:
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
Border by Kapka Kassabova
Devotion by Hannah Kent
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi translated by Elena Pala
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide translated by Eric Selland
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras , @mr_annie , @vibrant_lives_podcast
Email: Books On The Go
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss how BookTok is helping young people discover a passion for reading.
Our holiday reading recommendations are:
Willowman by Inge Simpson
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
Better the Blood by Michael Bennett
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margo by Marianne Cronin
Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer by Christopher Clary
Coming up: Our Best Books of 2022
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Amanda discuss book shopping on TikTok.
Our book of the week is Crossroads by award-winning author Jonathan Franzen. This is a family drama set in 1971 American suburbia and is the first in a trilogy. It was an instant New York Times best-seller, a Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2021 and has been described as 'a Middlemarch-like triumph' (The Telegraph).
Coming up: our Holiday Reading Recomendations and TBR.
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Amanda discuss the National Book Award winner for fiction, The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty.
Our book of the week is The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell, the follow-up novel to her hugely successful Hamnet. It's set in the Italian Renaissance and follows Lucrezia de'Medici and her marriage aged 15 to the Duke of Ferrara. All the ingredients for a great read, we had high expectations for this one!
Coming up: Crossroads by Jonanthan Franzen and our Holiday Reading recommendations and TBR!
Follow us:
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the court blocking the acquisition by Penguin Random House of Simon & Schuster.
Our book of the week is The Trees by Percival Everett. This novel set in Money, Mississippi starts with a brutal murder which detectives Ed and Jim struggle to solve. Satirical with absurdist elements and a whodunnit, but confronting racism and lynching in America, it has been described as a 'gory pulp revenge fantasy' (Bookforum) and 'explosive in every way' (Dua Lipa). It was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.
Coming up: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Facebook: Books On The Go
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the Readings Prize winner, Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au.
Our book of the week is Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford. Set around the Arkansas River, this is a suspense thriller about Jane, who returns to her home town to face up to a murder that was committed years before. Described as Southern noir or Grit Lit, this was an Amazon Best Book of the Month and is recommended for Ozark fans.
Coming up: The Trees by Percival Everett.
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Facebook: Books On The Go
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the Booker Prize winner, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka.
In Keep or Cull, Anna culls Mrs March by Virginia Feito and Annie keeps Seeing Other People by Diana Reid.
Our books of the week are Sweet Danger and Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham, one of the queens of classic crime. Both books feature gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. Described as 'addictive as cocaine' (Independent), Agatha Christie said 'Margery Allingham stands out like a shining light.'
Coming up: Real Bad Things by Kelly J Ford and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the latest book sales and our theories on TikTok or #BookTok . We also preview our new segment Keep or Cull, as we will be reading from our ever-growing TBR shelf!
Our book of the week is Limberlost by award-winning author Robbie Arnott. It's a coming-of-age story about Ned, who lives on an apple farm in Tasmania and spends the summer of 1944 hunting rabbits while his brothers are at war. Annie loved this and has tipped it for the Miles Franklin already.
Coming up: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Books On The Go
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the death of Hilary Mantel and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux.
Our books of the week are Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer and After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz, both long-listed for the 2022 Booker Prize.
We also discuss the Booker Prize Shortlist and our winner predictions.
Coming up: Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Amanda discuss our favourite small books.
Our book of the week is Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, the inaugural winner of the Novel Prize. This inspired us to talk about other short novels that we have loved:
Guest Cat by Tikashi Hiraide translated by Eric Selland
Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
Japonisme: The Art of Finding Contentment by Erin Niimi Longhurst
Summerwater by Sarah Moss
A Chess Story by Stefan Zweig translated by Alexander Starritt.
Coming up: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @vibrant_lives_podcast
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras
Email: [email protected]
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the 2022 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction shortlist.
Our book of the week is Bodies of Light by award-winning author Jennifer Down. This novel explores survival against the odds and is wonderfully engaging despite the subject-matter. Winner of the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Coming up: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au and small books.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Facebook: Books On The Go
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth II and recommend these books:
An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Queen by Ben Pimlott
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
Our book of the week is Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra. This New York Times Bestseller is set in Mussolini's Italy and 1940s Hollywood. Described as 'a wonderful novel' (Sunday Times), 'epically entertaining' (San Fancisco Chronicle) and 'A gorgeous book ... sublime' (New York Times). We agree!
Coming up: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au and our small book recommendations.
Follow us!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Facebook: Books On The Go
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
-
Anna and Annie discuss their predictions for the 2022 Booker Prize Shortlist.
Our book of the week is Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley. This novel about a young woman in Oakland has been described as 'an electrifying debut' (Dave Eggers). It is a New York Times Bestseller, an Oprah Book Club pick and is longlisted for the Booker Prize. We think it more than lives up to the hype!
Coming up: Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down and Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra.
Follow us!
Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie
Facebook: Books on the Go
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @abailliekaras and @mister_annie
Litsy: @abailliekaras
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
- Show more