The Bookshelf

Jan 29 2025 243 ep. 52 mins 594
The Bookshelf Podcast artwork

What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

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France, Sweden, New Zealand: books from around the world

Jan 29 2025 54 mins  
Cassie and Kate read Marie-Hélène Lafon’s The Son’s Story, a family story that spans the twentieth-century, full of melancholy beauty and secrets. Crime writer Hayley Scrivenor reads Geoff Parkes’ When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, a story of small towns, envy and threat in New Zealand; and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson reads Swedish bestseller The Group, by

Escaping a drunken rant in Catherine Jinks' Panic

Jan 22 2025 54 mins  
Kate and Cassie are back for 2025 to discuss Panic by Catherine Jinks, about a young woman looking for a fresh start after posting a drunken rant that went horrifically viral. Novelist George Haddad, and Professor Sue Turnbull, who specialises in crime drama and fiction, are also along, to take a look at new novels by Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran and American author Gart

Summer Reading: Quick, give me a recommendation!

Jan 16 2025 54 mins  
Reading Percival Everett's James, Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs and James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Cassie and literary interviewer Michaela Kalowski discussed Percival Everett's James in a conversation first broadcast on 15 March 2024 Kate and Jonathan Green reviewed Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs on 19 July 2024 And James McBride spoke to Kate a

Summer Reading from Australia and the World

Jan 09 2025 54 mins  
Books you might have missed: from England, Turkey and within the Australian Tongan community Cassie and critic Beejay Silcox agree to disagree over David Nicholls' You Are Here – from a conversation first broadcast on 19 April 2024 Kate, Richard Aedy and writer Patrick Carey reviewed Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends on 28 June 2024 Cassie, Beejay Silcox and academic Jioji

Summer Reading: Fiction for a new year

Jan 02 2025 54 mins  
Time to reassess your TBR pile – To Be Read, that is – ready for 2025. To help, some of the best books and literary discussions from the past year. Kate and Cassie's review of Rita Bullwinkel's Headshot was first broadcast on 16 August 2024 Kate and Richard Aedy's discussion of Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War was first broadcast on 28 June 2024 Cassie and Kate first delv

Summer Reading: Books to get your teeth into

Dec 26 2024 54 mins  
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 K

Summer Reading: What did you miss?

Dec 19 2024 54 mins  
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,

Crime fiction and why we keep coming back: The repeat protagonist

Dec 12 2024 54 mins  
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 lat

Best Books of 2024

Dec 05 2024 54 mins  
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

The much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami, and plenty more...

Nov 28 2024 54 mins  
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 wor