The Bookshelf

Ready for some Big Books? Ambition, money, philosophy, bodies and history – all explored through history. Cassie and Tom Wright's review of Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road was first broadcast on 28 March 2024 Kate and Cassie with Polish publicist Anna O'Grady, on Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium, was first broadcast on 20 September 2024 English writer Francis Spufford spoke to Kate about his novel Cahokia Jazz on Radio National's Big Weekend of Books in June 2024

Catch up on the best books and discussions about them from the last year. A songwriter, a plaintive guitar, time travel and a motel are all in the mix. Kate and Cassie's review of Willie Vlautin's Horse was originally was originally broadcast on 26 July 2024 Cassie and Jonathan Green's appraisal of Kaliane Bradley's Ministry of Time was originally broadcast on 30 May 2024 Kate, Kate Mildenhall and Beejay Silcox disagreed over Miranda July's All Fours back on 21 June 2024 And bookseller David Gaunt and NZ Festival Director Claire Mabey gave their book recommendations on 26 July 2024

Detectives, tea ladies, journos, psychologists – what's the appeal of the crime series and repeat protagonist? Kate Evans with crime writers Michael Robotham, Tim Ayliffe and Amanda Hampson onstage at the BAD Sydney Crime Festival. GUESTS Michael Robotham, internationally bestselling crime writer, whose books include the Joe O'Loughlin series and the Cyrus Haven series. His latest is Storm Child. Tim Ayliffe, journalist and novelist, whose central character is also a media man. John Bailey is his name – and the latest book in that series is The Wrong Man. Amanda Hampson is an author of many novels, whose crime novels, set in the 1960s, feature tea ladies. Her latest is The Cryptic Clue. CRIME SERIES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION Ian Rankin, Rebus series Michael Connelly, Bosch and McEvoy series Anne Cleeves, Vera series Janet Evanovitch, Stephanie Plum series Kerry Greenwood, Phryne Fischer series Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander series Peter Høeg, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow Stephen King's Holly Gibney series Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta series Mick Herron's Slow Horses Tom Clancy, works Peter Temple's Jack Irish series John Le Carre, works Jack Beaumont, Frenchman series Walter Mosley, Easy Rawlins series Adrian McKinty, Sean Duffy series Sulari Gentill, Rowland Sinclair series Candice Fox, works Sujata Massey, Perveen Mistry series Chris Hammer, works Candice Fox, works Don Winslow, works Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett Sound engineers: John Jacobs + Tegan Nicholls Executive Producer: Rhiannon Brown

The best books of 2024 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Jason Steger, Lev Grossman and Michaela Kalowski. Keep scrolling for a full (and somewhat idiosyncratic) list. GUESTS Jason Steger, literary journalist. Former literary editor at the Age and SMH; and regular guest on ABC TV's Tuesday Book Club. Lev Grossman, bestselling American novelist and journalist — whose books include The Magicians trilogy and (his latest), The Bright Sword (an Arthurian tale). Michaela Kalowski, literary interviewer and the curator of Radio National's Big Weekend of Books BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS (listed according to the person who made the recommendation) Lev Grossman: Percival Everett, James Paolo Bacigalupi, Navola Tana French, The Hunter Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook M.T. Anderson, Nicked Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Third Realm Nick Harkaway, Karla's Choice Cassie McCullagh: Percival Everett, James Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts Michaela Kalowski's selection (in categories) Uplifting (subject matter or style): Ailsa Piper, For Life Julia Baird, Bright Shining  International: Percival Everett, James Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz  Australian: Robbie Arnott, Dusk  Lexi Freiman, The Book of Ayn Tim Winton, Juice  Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War  James Bradley, Deep Water  Julian Borger, I Seek a Kind Person  Books in Translation: Greek Lessons by Han Kang Fantasy: Kelly Link, The Book of Love Jason Steger Uplifting/ positive: Colm Tóibín, Long Island Melanie Cheng, The Burrow Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time Other highlights Nick Harkaway, Karla's Choice Helen Garner, The Season Samantha Harvey, Orbital Heather Taylor Johnson, Little Bit Kate Evans Positive/ Joy or beauty: Niall Williams, Time of the Child Hanif Kureishi, Shattered Deborah Levy, the Position of Spoons International: Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings Richard Powers, Playground In translation: Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium Australian: Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War Robbie Arnott, Dusk Inga Simpson, The Thinning   CREDITS Presenters: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineers: Craig Tilmouth, Ann Marie Debettencor Executive Producer: Rhiannon Brown

What do Kate and Cassie make of Will Self’s Elaine, a portrait of a frustrated fifties housewife, based on his mother's own diaries. Plus, The City and its Uncertain Walls, the much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami with a dreamy library in a parallel universe at its centre; and Rosalia Aguilar Solace’s The Great Library of Tomorrow, another novel set in an alternate world that pays tribute to libraries. BOOKS Will Self, Elaine, Grove Press Haruki Murakami, The City and its Uncertain Walls (translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel), Harvill Secker Rosalia Aguilar Solace, The Great Library of Tomorrow, Text GUESTS Jon Page, long-time bookseller. General Manager, Dymocks, Sydney CBD store  C.S. Pacat, writer whose books include the Dark Rise and Captive Prince series, and the graphic novel Fence series.  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Stephanie Meyers, Twilight series Samantha Harvey, Orbital Asako Yuzuki, Butter Genevieve Cogman, Invisible Libraries Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel; Labyrinths  Anne Rice, The Vampire Chronicles Christine Dwyer Hickey, Our London Lives  Colum McCann, Apeirogon; Twist CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Beth Stewart Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A focus on literature in translation with special guests Bora Chung and Anton Hur, both of whom are South Korean authors and translators, who translate each others' work, and write outside the system of state-sanctioned literature. Anton translates from Korean into English; Bora translates Russian and Polish works into Korean. In this episode, they describe each others' work, discuss translation, give recommendations, and respond to fellow South Korean writer Han Kang's Nobel Prize in literature. We also meet Chinese podcaster and translator Yu Shi, who has translated Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson's fiction into Mandarin. GUESTS Bora Chung, lecturer, fiction writer and translator from South Korea, who translates from Russian and Polish into Korean. Her books include Cursed Bunny (which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize), Your Utopia and Grocery List Anton Hur, novelist and translator. He translates from Korean into English. His books are Toward Eternity and No One Told Me Not To. He also translated the global phenomenon I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-hee Yu Shi, Chinese podcaster and translator  Bora Chung and Anton Hur were in Australia as guests of the Korean Cultural Centre ALL BOOKS MENTIONED Han Kang, The Vegetarian; Human Acts; Greek Lessons; We Do Not Part Fyodor Dostoevsky, works Bruno Jasieński, works Bruno Schulz, works Olga Tokarczuk, works Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, works Witold Gombrowicz, works Margaret Atwood, The Testaments; The Handmaid’s Tale Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit Stephen King, works Paul Auster, works Mishima Yukio, works CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer: Peter Climpson Executive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s grand villains – as frustrated creators and gleeful wreckers. But what do critics really do? And why are they necessary for a healthy literary ecosystem? James Jiang, Beejay Silcox and Christos Tsiolkas join Kate and Cassie as part of a panel discussion at Canberra Writers' Festival - five Aussie critics - making the case for criticism.

Niall Williams’ Time of the Child might just be the big ‘feel-good book of the year’—but there’s more to it than that. This is a beautifully written Irish story, full of ordinary lives described in painfully funny detail. Also, Scottish writer Ali Smith and her too-real-to-be-allegorical Gliff; and in Alan Moore's The Great When, we're presented with a hallucinatory vision of an alternative London, anchored in post-World War ll realism. BOOKS Ali Smith, Gliff, Hamish Hamilton Alan Moore, The Great When, Bloomsbury Niall Williams, Time of the Child, Bloomsbury GUESTS Garth Nix, sci-fi and fantasy writer whose books include the Old Kingdom series, Angel Mage , and  The Left-Handed Booksellers of London; his latest is a middle-grade novel, We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord Chris Hammer, crime writer whose books include Scrublands, Silver, and The Tilt. His latest, featuring his characters Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic is The Valley  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These Fintan O'Toole, We Don't Know Ourselves Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove Chris Whittaker, We Begin at the End C.S. Robertson, The Trials of Marjorie Crowe CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Craig Tilmouth, Ann-Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Dressmaker’s backstory, a universe of stars to expand our ideas about nature writing, and fragments and tricks galore: Kate and Cassie read Inga Simpson’s The Thinning, Brian Castro’s Chinese Postman and Rosalie Ham’s Molly with guests Ella Jeffery and Amanda Hampson BOOKS Inga Simpson, The Thinning, Hachette Brian Castro, Chinese Postman, Giramondo Rosalie Ham, Molly, Picador GUESTS Dr Ella Jeffery, poet and lecturer in Creative Writing at Griffith University, Qld; ABC Radio National ‘Top 5 Arts’ candidate; currently examining insecure housing as a theme in 21st-century literature Amanda Hampson, novelist whose latest series feature tea ladies in 1960s Sydney . . . solving crime. The first, The Tea Ladies, won the 2024 Danger Award for Best Crime Novel. The second is The Cryptic Clue; and the third – The Deadly Dispute – will be published in April 2025. There will be five in the series. Other books mentioned: Patricia Wrightson, The Nargun and the Stars John Marsden, Tomorrow when the War Began James Bradley, Deep Water: The World in the Ocean Richard Powers, Playground Robert C. O’Brien, Z for Zachariah Cormac McCarthy, The Road  Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career A B Facey, A Fortunate Life Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Ruth Park, works  Helen Garner, Works John Birmingham, He Died with a Felafel in his Hand Andrew McGahan, works Bernadette Brennan, Brain Castro’s Fiction: The Seductive Play of Language CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan, Peter Climpson, Emrys Cronin Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The latest from double Miles Franklin Award winner, Michelle de Kretser, Theory and Practice, a novel that evokes the 1980s and Virginia Woolf. Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet plays a French literary game in A Case of Matricide; and summer days under the light of a strange star in Norway in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Third Realm. BOOKS Graeme Macrae Burnet, A Case of Matricide, Text Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, Text Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Third Realm, (Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken), Harvill Secker GUESTS Clare Monagle, Professor of Mediaeval History, Macquarie University – who specialises in the history of ideas, and theology in the Middle Ages Mark Mordue, freelance music writer and poet whose latest book is the biography, Boy on Fire - The Young Nick Cave. He is also co-director of the Addi Road Writers Festival  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED  Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca Helen Garner, works C.J. Sansom, Shardlake series Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose  Jack Gilbert, Collected Poems Juno Gemes, Until Justice Comes: Fifty Years of the Movement for Indigenous Rights  CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Ann Marie de Bettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown