The Bookshelf
The Bookshelf
ABC Australia
This week’s novels takes us to Zanzibar, Budapest and Renaissance Florence
54 minutes Posted Mar 20, 2025 at 6:00 am.
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Show notes
This week’s novels takes us to Zanzibar, Budapest and Renaissance Florence with Nobel Prize-winning English-Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Theft; while guest reviewers Tim Ayliffe reads Laurent Binet’s Perspectives; and Siang Lu reads David Szalay’s Flesh.
BOOKS 
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Theft, Bloomsbury 
Laurent Binet, Perspectives (translated from the French by Sam Taylor), Harvill Secker 
David Szalay, Flesh, Jonathan Cape 
GUESTS
Tim Ayliffe, journalist and crime writer – whose John Bailey series include the books The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy, and The Wrong Man
Siang Lu, writes for film and TV and is also the author of the books Ghost Cities and The Whitewash 
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Michael Connelly, works 
Leon Uris, works
John Le Carre, works
Stephen King, works
Andrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road; Mayflies
Nick Cave and Swan O'Hagan, Faith, Hope and Carnage 
Sara Foster, When She Was Gone
Camille Booker, The Woman in the Waves
Natasha Rai, An Onslaught of Light
Steve MinOn, First Name Second Name