Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Roland Bisshop is reading Elmet by Fiona Mozley

I can’t help feeling that it may be somewhat redundant for a lowly bookseller to review a novel which has already been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, but here it is. Fiona Mozley’s Elmet was actually longlisted for the aforementioned prize before publication, which is remarkable…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Bronte Coates is reading Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

I’ve always felt slightly guilty for my indifference towards Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Visit from the Good Squad, and especially at Readings where it is such a favourite with my colleagues. It’s not that I thought the novel was badly written but…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

This week I’ve been reading Jessica Townsend’s hotly anticipated children’s fiction book. I don’t often get around to reading middle fiction, so when I do, the book has to be extra special, and this book is definitely extra special.

Morrigan Crow is…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Jo Case is reading Lynch on Lynch by David Lynch and Chris Rodley

My spare time is pretty much entirely absorbed with thinking about Twin Peaks: The Return right now (and anyone who wants to discuss the ending should bail me up). On Monday night, I fell asleep listening to A Twin Peaks Podcast’s post-mortem…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

This week I read the debut novel from American newcomer, Gabriel Tallent. This is the sort of book I wish I’d been able to read as part of a book club, because I have so many feelings about it. The subject matter is very dark…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

When the 2017 Booker longlist came out, I had the silly idea that I’d read the whole thing. I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll make it the whole way through, but I’m glad I had the idea because it’s led me to Kamila Shamsie’s stunning novel…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Jo Case is reading You Play The Girl by Carina Chocano

You Play The Girl, for me, just surpassed Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist in the category of ‘smart, thoughtful, completely engrossing read that makes feminist arguments through deep engagement with popular culture’. (That’s a category, right?)

In this book, Carina Chocano critically reflects on…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Robbie Egan is reading Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

I have been reading Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, a novel of remarkable historical accuracy that details the lives of its characters with an economy and precision that almost belies the lavishness of its achievement.

I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone, so will…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Jo Case is reading The Mouth that Roared by Les Twentyman with Robert Hillman

I initially picked up a copy of Les Twentyman’s memoir, written with award-winning author Robert Hillman, because it was on my desk. But I’m now carrying it around because it’s so compelling, charismatic and full of rough-hewn heart.

Les is that…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading two memoirs that explore dark territory

I recently read The Trauma Cleaner, an amazing biography due to hit shelves in October. It tells the story of Sandra Pankhurst, a woman who runs a cleaning business. Except this isn’t any ordinary cleaning business – it is one that deals in astronomical…

Read more ›