It was a bittersweet Loose Reads today as it was our last slot with dear Mikey Havoc who is leaving this week. Kiran spoke about America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo who will be appearing in conversation with Kiran at the Auckland Writers Festival. It’s an extraordinary novel about three generations of Filipina women in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Spring by Ali Smith /
Ali Smith is back with the third book in her Seasonal Quartet, Spring.
We are introduced to three characters that are soon to meet - Richard, an elderly film & TV director who is mourning the death of his friend, Brittany, a young, educated, security officer at a UK Immigration Removal Centre and 12 year old Florence, who is traveling on her own from London to Scotland.
Smith’s ability to form this intricate web of connections between fictional characters and current events is masterful and self aware. She’s constantly pushing the boundaries of fiction, as well as publishing. This is a modern classic that is a true joy to read. Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn Ryan below:
95bFM's Loose Reads: Auckland Writers Festival with Anne O'Brien /
We were so lucky Auckland Writers Festival director, Anne O’Brien, join us to talk about what we need to see this coming May 13-19.
Some of Anne’s picks for bFM listeners are Shayne Carter, Jeff Tweedy, Akala and Kate Raworth.
We also give some tips about how to tackle the free events line.
95bFM's Loose Reads: The New Me by Halle Butler /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Kiran reviewed The New Me by Halle Butler, a book she thinks people are going to love! It’s a fresh, modern, dark and cynically funny novel about a 30-year-old temp named Millie. A sharp and sometimes abject look at social mores, neoliberalism, anxiety, female friendship and the modern workplace.
BOOK OF THE MONTH: April 2019 /
Spring
Ali Smith
The days may be getting shorter and cooler, but spring has definitely sprung at Time Out! Our Book of the Month for April is Spring by Ali Smith, who returns with the eagerly awaited third installment of her seasonal quartet of novels.
”Spring will come. The leaves on its trees will open after blossom.Before it arrives, a hundred yards of empire-making. The dawn breaks cold and still but, deep in the earth, things are growing.”
Riffing on the work of Katherine Mansfield and Rilke, Greek myths and the lyricism of the season spring itself, Smith’s luminous and hope-filled novel is an empathetic look at the fallout of contemporary politics and current affairs.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: For the Good Times by David Keenan /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon Kiran reviewed For the Good Times by David Keenan. Set in Ardoyne in North Belfast during The Troubles in the 1970s, it follows a group of friends who are foot soldiers in the provisional IRA. Bold and energising, it’s a novel about faith, shared identities and everyday transcendance.
95bFM's Loose Reads: The Library Book by Susan Orlean /
Today on 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Jenna reviewed a new favourite, The Library Book by Susan Orlean.
This memoir starts with a mystery - who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986? On our way to find an answer, we look at the incredible role that libraries have in our communty and how that came to be all the while meeting the weird and wonderful people who helped make it happen.
This is a warm & joyful read full of facts and stories that you will share for years to come.
Susan Orlean is coming to the Auckland Writers Festival! Book tickets here.
Bestsellers for March 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia by Tracey Thorn /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia by Tracey Thorn. It’s a lovely memoir about family, music, culture and the crushing boredom of growing up in 1970s suburbia. It’s a wonderful book which celebrates the ordinary over the extraordinary.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Kamila Shamsie, Zoya Patel & Sabrina Mahfouz /
Whether you’re reading a reflection of your own community, or stepping inside the stories from another culture, the joy of reading has no boundaries.
On the latest 95bFM Loose Reads, Jenna suggests some wonderful Muslim writers to delve in to.
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie - see her in May at the Auckland Writers Festival.
No Country Woman by Zoya Patel
The Things I Would Tell You - British Muslim Women Write ed. by Sabrina Mahfouz
95bFM's Loose Reads: The Wall by John Lanchester /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Kiran reviewed our Time Out Book of the Month for March - The Wall by John Lanchester. It’s a startlingly prescient allegory for our times where The Defenders patrol a Wall to keep out The Others. Looking at climate change and political turbulence, John Lanchester is a brilliant writer.
95bFM's Loose Reads: You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian /
Today we talk short stories and how GREAT they are!
Before today’s review, Jenna gave Tess some homework: To read the viral, December 2017 short story, Cat Person, from The New Yorker.
This collection of twelve stories (including Cat Person) was published off the back of this success. Dark, twisted and humourous (sometimes), You Know You Want This explores the power dynamics of sex, relationships and gender.
If this sounds good to you, you may also like the following short story collections: Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country & Her Body and Other Parties. You can also buy Cat Person on its own!
BOOK OF THE MONTH: March 2019 /
The Wall
John Lanchester
Our Book of the Month for March is The Wall by John Lanchester.
"It's cold on the Wall. You look for metaphors. It's cold as slate, as diamond, as the moon. Cold as charity - that's a good one. But you soon realise that the thing about the cold is that it isn't a metaphor. It isn't like anything else. It's nothing but physical fact. This kind of cold, anyway. Cold is cold is cold."
After a catastrophic environmental disaster, sea levels have risen, there are no beaches, and a Wall encircling Great Britain has been erected. Beset by cold, loneliness and fear, it is on the Wall that the Defenders stand guard to keep the Others out. A dystopian allegory about the current political and environmental climate, The Wall also looks at intergenerational disparity and will hook you in from the first line.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon Kiran reviewed Billy O’Callaghan’s My Coney Island Baby which is also our March Lit Reads title.
Bestsellers for February 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: Nothing is Real: The Beatles Were Underrated And Other Sweeping Statements About Pop by David Hepworth /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran reviewed Nothing is Real: The Beatles Were Underrated and Other Sweeping Statements About Pop by music journalist David Hepworth. Entertaining and informative, this collection of essays shows how to take music seriously but at the same time, not drain the life out of it.
Guest Post: A Poem for Time Out Bookstore by Kiri Piahana-Wong /
Republished with permission from NZ Author. Issue 315 Summer 18/19. Read the whole issue here.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou /
On today’s Loose Reads, Jenna and Tess chat about one of the latest fraud cases to be in the midst of a media frenzy.
With two upcoming documentaries, a podcast and a movie due, the case of Elizabeth Holmes and her now failed, fraudulant medical company Theranos is being dissected by all angles.
However, Bad Blood is the book that started it all. John Carreyrou’s thorough reporting is transfixing, culminating in a truly compelling tale of corporate crime.
For fans of the Fyre Festival documentaries and the latest scoop on Dan Mallory AKA A.J.Finn, this is an another intriguing tale of millenials gone bad. The new b-format edition is due back in stock very soon, so pre-order now.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez /
Jenna popped into the RNZ studio in Wellington to review National Book Award-winning novel The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. It’s a wry and moving story of companionship based around the unlikely friendship between a woman and a Great Dane.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Dirt: Food and Words by Gemma Walsh and Katie Kerr /
On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Kiran spoke about the locally produced and beautifully crafted Dirt by Gemma Walsh and Katie Kerr. Not your average cookbook, Dirt is experimental and brings together delicious plant-based recipes paired with poems, writing, and conversations with local writers and thinkers. It would make a lovely gift!
