95bFM's Loose Reads: Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon /  by Time Out Bookstore

His first novel in over a decade, Pynchon's Shadow Ticket is a swirling, heady noir diving into 1930's Milwaukee- Al Capone's been imprisoned, the Great Depression arrives with a bang, jazz rules the underground, the Western world sits on the cusp of war and a cheese heiress mysteriously disappears with (or perhaps without) her jazz musician lover. Hick McTaggart, a private investigator running from problems of his own, is tasked with finding the heiress and returning her to the Airmont. Tracking her to Hungary, McTaggart finds himself in a web of international espionage- in the crossfires of Russian and British double-agents, Nazis who bowl and a coven of psychics. 

Like all Pynchon novels, Shadow Ticket is at once a thrilling caper, absurd in the unreplicable style of one of America's greatest living political novelists; and on the other, a sharp meta-narrative about the clutches of US political power and the barons and titans of industry who fuel it.

Listen to Suri’s chat with Milly & Rosetta below!

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Moderation by Elaine Castillo /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna joined Milly & Rosetta in the studio to talk about Elaine Castillo’s Moderation.

You may have caught Elaine at the Auckland Writer’s Festival in 2019. Her new novel follows Girlie, a Filipnx American social media moderator in a Vegas-based, VR tech empire, Austen-esque romance genre bending novel. This is whip smart, entertaining and timely - for fans of Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride /  by Time Out Bookstore

Nate went into BFM to talk about Eimear McBride’s new novel, The City Changes Its Face. Weird, wonderful and full of emotional heft- a perfect portrait of a faltering romantic relationship.

Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin /  by Time Out Bookstore

This morning, Jenna chatted to Rosetta & Milly about the debut novel, Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin.

This is one for the Irish Catholics, it’s a story that delves into grief, family, faith & queer identity with a light touch. Ni Mhaoileoin was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize Discoveries shortlist and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.

Listen below!

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RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny by Kiran Desai /  by Time Out Bookstore

Today, on RNZ’s Nine to Noon book review, Jenna talked about Kiran Desai’s Booker shortlisted, The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny.

This is an epic & full tale of Sonia & Sunny, their families, East & West, India & America, love & loneliness. Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus /  by Time Out Bookstore

Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick, is back with ‘reinvention of the true-crime novel’ a book that uses both auto-fiction and fiction to explore class and addiction in America.

Suri visited the studio, listen to her to chat to Rosetta & Milly below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: 2025 Booker Shortlist & NZ Bookshop Day /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna visited the 95bFM studio this morning to delve into the Booker shortlist.

Flesh by David Szalay
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Flashlight by Susan Choi

Then, we chat about our upcoming activities for NZ Bookshop Day, Saturday 11th October.

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NZ Bookshop Day at Time Out

95bFM's Loose Reads: House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk /  by Time Out Bookstore

This morning, Suri reviewed the newest book by one of Time Out’s favourite authors and the winner of both the Nobel Prize in Literature and International Booker Prize, Olga Tokarczuk.

House of Day, House of Night delves into life onto a remote Polish village. A fragmented mosiac of fiction, mythology & collective consicousness. This book is in a constant diagloue, asking the question of how we and our dreams are shaped by the natural world.

Suri called into the studio this morning to chat to Rosetta & Milly. Listen below!

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RNZ's Nine to Noon: Seascraper by Benjamin Wood /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna called into the RNZ studio to talk about Booker longlisted, Seascraper, by Benjamin Wood.

Set in a seaside town, in 1960’s England, a teenage shrimp scraper dreams of a life outside of his grueling work. When a film director comes to town, his world suddenly opens up.

This is a tightly written narrative. Immersive, insular, timeless modern classic that explores asperation vs. duty.  A hot contender for the Booker shortlist!

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy /  by Time Out Bookstore

Nate visits 95bFM for his first ever radio review! Today, he brings in the brand new release, Mother Mary Comes to Me by Booker Prize winning author, Arundhati Roy.

A memoir exploring mother/daughter dynamics, Indian politics and what is likely to be a foundation for the storyline of The God of Small Things, this book will be one of Nate’s favourite reads of the year.

Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart /  by Time Out Bookstore

For our first day of spring, Jenna brought Gary Shteyngart’s sixth novel, Vera, or Faith into the studio.

A story of an anxious ten year old trying to keep it together as her family, friend and school life are in disarray. Set in a not-too distant future America; recognisable advances in AI and political control also affect Vera’s outer life.

Shteyngart wrote this book in just two months. It’s charmingly funny, sad and is a clear comment on the American Dream.

Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Endling by Maria Reva /  by Time Out Bookstore

The future had been a luxury, the future didn’t exist anymore.

This Booker longlisted first novel of Ukrainian-Canadian writer, Maria Reva, is a 2025 favourite of the Time Out team. What starts as a comical tale of snail conservation with a romance industry kidnapping plot, the linear narrative is upended with Russa’s invasion into Ukraine. Reva inserts herself into the narrative, crumbling the fourth wall, to question identity, hope and the role of creativity at a time of war.

Endling is filled with witty humour, whilst maintaining wisdom. Listen to Suri’s review with Milly & Rosetta below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine /  by Time Out Bookstore

On this week’s Loose Reads, Jenna delves into Wendy Erskine’s first novel, The Benefactors. An assault rocks four Belfast families, where the class & privilege of the three perpetrators’ mothers collide with the street smarts of the victim’s family.

Richly drawn & nuanced characters with bitingly funny dialogue and a surprising amount of heart, The Benefactors is a book about leveraging the power you have.

Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Among Friends by Hal Ebbott /  by Time Out Bookstore

America and it's writers have a long-time fascination with psychoanalysis. From Joan Didion's hard-nosed accounts of grief (The Year of Magical Thinking; Blue Nights) to Toni Morrison's exceptional exploration of the psychological toll of motherhood under oppression (Beloved) and post-9/11 authors like Franzen and Safran-Foer elucidating marriage and family life in a new millenia, the impacts of institutional changes on relationships and psychology have underpinned the American canon.

Hal Ebbott's Among Friends continues this tradition, charting the fractious, changing relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and- central to the novel- frenemies. Amos and Emerson are college friends tethered by a competitive friendship, a competitiveness that simmers quietly beneath their intertwined family lives. Over the course of a weekend getaway, tensions rise to the surface, ending in a shocking act that will change these relationships forever. 

This is a novel that creeps along quietly; an ebb and flow of drama and relationship tics that crescendo into a powerful ending- when the truth is unleashed, all that's left in its wake is shrapnel. 

Who will survive the ruin?

A compelling read for fans of Rachel Cusk's Second Place or Franzen's The Corrections.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Objects of Desire by Neil Blackmore /  by Time Out Bookstore

It’s been a week of book news!

First, Jenna delves into the Booker longlist. She then mentions Gareth Shute’s new music book, Songs from the Shaky Isles (including an event this Friday 8th August) and chats an upcoming event with Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine.

From there, we chat this week’s book. Jenna has brought in Neil Blackmore’s Objects of Desire. An entertaining romp through mid-century literature and literary characters through the eyes of a grifter who is caught between love and reputation. It’s funny, campy, bitchy and features fictional portrayals of well known writers such as James Baldwin, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal.

Listen to Jenna, Rosetta and Milly below!

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