RNZ's Nine to Noon: This is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin

On RNZ’s Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan, Jenna spoke about Daniyal Mueenuddin’s This is Where the Serpent Lives.

Set in Pakistan over 50 years, post-Partitian, Serpent hosts a wide range of characters demonstrating a deeply ingrained feudal class structure that appears not to be able to be shaken.

Vividly told - in descriptions of place, expertly weaved characters and symbols of betrayal and culturally rich, this is an epically told fable, full of corruption, that leads to a truly electrifying final 50 pages. Great for readers who have recently enjoyed Kiran Desai’s Sonia & Sunny or Andrew O’Hagan’s Caledonian Road.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Best of 2025

Today on RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Jenna chatted with Kathryn about three of her 2025 highlights: Helen Garner’s How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978 - 1998, Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection and The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (And his Mother) by Rabih Alameddine.

Listen below!

RNZ's Culture 101: Best Books of 2025 with Time Out Bookstore's Jenna Todd

Jenna popped into RNZ’s Culture 101 today to chat with Perlina Lau to chat long books of 2025 as well as some category favourites.

Listen below!

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

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.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

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!

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Endling by Maria Reva

Jenna chatted to Kathryn about Maria Reva’s Endling. This starts as an innocent narrative about snails, Ukraine’s romance tourism industry and a kidnapping. However, the Russian invasion explodes the novel’s structure; asking the question, how can one write and create art in a time of war?

This novel is genuinely funny, it’s adventurous, it’s sad. It’s meta. It asks the big questions. What are art and love in a time of tragedy? How can we have hope? And perhaps Reva gives that in the form of a left swirling snail.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Gabriele by Anne and Claire Berest

This ‘true novel’ was published in French before Anne Berest's brilliant novel, The Postcard. Here, you can see where it all began. 

Based on the authors' great grandparents, who were the great pioneers of cubism and the Dada movement, Gabriele is atmospheric, lively and captures an incredible time in art and world politics. 

Listen below for the full review with Jenna and Susie Ferguson.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Perspectives by Laurent Binet

Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna was in the studio to chat to Kathryn about French author, Laurent Binet’s new novel. Perspectives is an epistolary novel that tells a playful tale of murder, art & moral panic in Renaissance Florence. Featuring real life figures such as Michelangelo, Vasari and the Medicis, this is one for the art history buffs.

Listen below for the full review.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Best of 2024

Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna was in the studio to chat to Kathryn about some of her favourite 2024 reads.

Listen below for the full review.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Gliff by Ali Smith

Jenna chatted to Nine to Noon’s Kathryn Ryan, about Ali Smith’s new dystopian novel, Gliff.
The companion novel, Glyph, will be released in 2025.

Listen below!

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

Jenna phoned into the Nine to Noon studio today to talk about the fantastic memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club. Following the famous Dunne family, through celebrity, hilarity and then deep tragedy, this book has something for everyone.

A masterclass in storytelling! Listen below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya

A cleverly told story which thoughtfully captures the uncomfortable space between the generational and gender divide of a daughter and a father.

Sophia’s father sits in a theatre to watch the debut of his young daughter’s play. But he soon realises the play is about him and a holiday they took together in Sicily.

For fans of Deborah Levy, Ian McEwan and Rachel Cusk!

Listen to Jenna chat with guest Nine to Noon host, Paddy Gower below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Mongrel by Hanako Footman

Mongrel, a Time Out staff favourite for 2024, follows three women’s explorations of cultural identity. Moving between England and Japan, the threads that connect these characters are revealed.

This is a coming of age debut that features an expert hand of character development and an articulate and compelling exploration of cultural identity.

Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Take What You Need by Idra Novey

Take What You Need follows an estranged stepmother and stepdaughter whilst commenting on the rural and urban divide, class, poverty and racism in America and the lives of artists.

It’s a fantastic read - compelling, nuanced and contemporary. Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire

Set on the coast of Northern Ireland, Maguire’s debut novel Night Swimmers is another to add to the pile of great Irish writing. Local woman Grace, is known as a bit a grouch, who lives an independent life. However, after a meeting between two new village arrivals - Evan and his young son Luca - the three are drawn together, which may bring healing for them all.

The warmth of community and connections between strangers are highlighted in this novel about loneliness, with both humour and profound sorrow.

Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen

The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions tells the tale of a lifelong friendship and a schizophrenia diagnosis which leads to murder.

Told through a historical, political and scientifc context, mental health and American healthcare are explored.

Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: My Brilliant Sister by Amy Brown

Jenna called into the RNZ studio to review My Brilliant Sister, a Trans-Tasman novel linking three women who observe balancing creativity and domesticity - all with a connection to Australian author and feminist, Stella Miles Franklin.

Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Best of 2023

Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna was in the studio to chat to Kathryn about some of her favourite 2023 reads.

Listen below for the full review.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Today on Nine to Noon, Jenna chatted to Susie about The Bee Sting. This has been shortlisted for the Booker, which will be announced in just over a week!

A supremely Irish tragi-comedy, this is Jenna’s favourite novel of 2023.

Listen below for the full review.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Cousins by Aurora Venturini (trans. by Kit Maude)

Described as a “punk” by Mariana Enriquez, Aurora Venturini wrote this novel as an 85 year old, submitting the typewritten manuscript anonymously to a newspaper competition in 2007. After she won, she said, “Finally, an honest jury.” She had previously written 30 novels.

This is a story of vulnerable women, bad men and revenge in 1940’s Buenos Aires. Cousins is the first Venturini novel to be translated into English.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn below for more.

PHOTO BY CLAUDIA BERNALDO DE QUIRÓS