Our Book of the Month for February is The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. A memoir of place, class, race and inequality, it tells the story of a hundred years of Broom’s family and their relationship to home after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
”An extraordinary, engrossing debut… kinetic and omnivorous… instantly essential.” - New York Times Book Review
95bFM's Loose Reads: Braised Pork by An Yu /
An Yu’s debut novel tells the story of Jia Jia who after discovering her husband dead in the bath, finds a curious drawing from his dream.
From Beijing to Tibet - Braised Pork weaves together domesticity, Chinese traditions and myth - resulting in a gentle exploration of grief.
Braised Pork is also our March Lit Reads pick! Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel below:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Jenna's Best of 2019 /
Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport a 1000 page, stream of consciousness of an Ohio mother as she bakes pies. Is it worth it? Yes!
Also, Jenna almost missed this incredible memoir, The Copenhagen Trilogy by Danish author Tove Ditlevsen, republished as a Penguin Classic forty years after publication.
Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn Ryan below:
Bestsellers for January 2020 /
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TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
95bFM's Loose Reads: All Who Live on Islands by Rose Lu /
Kiran reviewed All Who Live on Islands by Rose Lu on 95bFM’s Loose Reads. In this collection of nine essays which move between China, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Whanganui, Lu writes with a lightness of touch about food, friendship, relationships, casual and internalised racism, sex, working in the tech industry, and what it’s like to grow up as a Chinese migrant in a multicultural society that has a monocultural focus. Kiran says, “we need more writing like this and I think it’s coming, which is exciting.”
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Kiran's Best of 2019 /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon with Lynn Freeman, Kiran reviewed Make it Scream, Make it Burn: Essays by Leslie Jamison. And in this special ‘Best of 2019’ recap, she also very briefly mentioned The Years by Annie Ernaux (her Book of the Year for 2019, you can listen to Kiran’s previous full RNZ review here ) and Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann.
Summer Afternoons with Karyn Hay: Summer Books with Kiran Dass /
Kiran popped up to RNZ to chat to her childhood hero Karyn Hay about some of the books she read over the summer break: The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk, Fangirls: Scenes from Modern Music Culture by Hannah Ewens and At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid /
Are you looking for a great summer read that’s so compelling that you can’t put it down?
Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age is a topical page-turner that’s funny and sharp. Brilliant dialogue gives depth to her complex characters as they navigate race, privilege and wokeness.
This book has been bought by Lena Waithe’s production company and will soon be a TV series.
Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Tess below!
Time Out's Bestsellers in 2019 /
Our top 10 bestselling books of the year.
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Bestsellers for December 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: Jenna's Christmas Picks /
Alright, it's the end of the year and wowee, Jenna has a full list of reckons for the last Loose Reads of 2019.
NOVEL OF THE YEAR The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
ADVENTURE STORY OF THE YEAR The Burning River by Lawrence Patchett
EPIC SUMMER READ Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman
BEST BOOK FOR KIDS The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith
BEST BOOK FOR BABIES My First Words In Māori by Stacey Morrison
BEST FANCY BOOK Private Gardens of Aotearoa by Suzanne Turley
BEST CLIMATE SCIENCE BOOK Fifteen MIllion Years in Antarctica by Rebecca Priestley
BEST BOOK FOR A 2020 RESOLUTION Tales from a Hot Financial Mess by Frances Cook.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Great Music Books for Summer! /
For Kiran’s final 95bFM’s Loose Reads slot for 2019, she raved about three great new music books for the music nut in your life, or maybe to go on your own Chrimbo wishlist. Acid for the Children by Flea, Face It by Debbie Harry and Bowie’s Books: The Hundred Literary Heroes that Changed His Life by John McConnell.
BOOK OF THE MONTH: December, 2019: Olive, Again by Olive Kitteridge /
Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout
Our Book of the Month for December is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. Readers will be thrilled by the return of the much-loved character Olive Kitteridge. Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Me by Elton John /
Jenna reviews this bloody excellent memoir by Elton John. Filled with incredible tales of celebrity, drugs and music - you will find yourself repeating these anecdotes around the dinner table.
This is the perfect Christmas present for any music lover in your life. Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Tess below:
Bestsellers for November 2019 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Murmur by Will Eaves /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Murmur by Will Eaves. It is a mesmeric novel where science, imagination and literature intersect. It re-imagines the inner world of brilliant mathematician Alan Turing who was a computer science and number theory pioneer and WWII codebreaker. Bringing together deep philosophy, maths and the body, Murmur is also about exclusion, socio-economic stability and human rights - and what happens when these things are threatened. This exquisite novel was the winner of the 2019 Wellcome Book Prize, a prize which celebrates health and medicine in literature.
95bFM's Loose Reads: It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track by Ian Penman /
This beautiful collection brings together music criticism, history, social commentary and biography in eight intelligent and elegantly written long-form pieces by music journalist Ian Penman who has contributed to the NME (when it was still a class act!), Guardian and London Review of Books (from which some of these essays originated). Penman eloquently covers the mod revival, James Brown, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, John Fahey, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Prince.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Beautiful Ones by Prince /
In early 2016, musical genius Prince announced that he was writing a memoir with editor Dan Piepenbring, however it was only a few months later that he died suddenly.
Piepenbring was given the task by Prince’s estate to put together The Beautiful Ones with what material they’d put together as well as full access to Prince’s Paisley Park.
The result is a lush illustrated hardback in which reading feels like you’re moving through a museum. For what material was available to put this together, it’s pitch perfect for the Prince fan.
Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn Ryan below:
95bFM's Loose Reads: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo /
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo is the ‘other’ winner of the 2019 Booker prize, alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments.
Perhaps deserving of being the only winner, Evaristo’s novel takes us into a deep character study of 12 mostly black, mostly women.
Investigating the complexity and variety of gender, class, feminism, politics and sexuality - Girl, Woman, Other explores form with whip smart observation. Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Tess on 95bFM’s Loose Reads below:
95bFM's Loose Reads: Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock & Roll by Nick Tosches /
Think you know about country music? Think again! To celebrate the wild, gutsy and pioneering music journalist Nick Tosches who just passed away, Kiran reviewed Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock & Roll on 95bFM’s Loose Reads. Looking at the history of country music from honky tonk hell to rockabilly heaven, Tosches goes way beyond Hank Williams and excavates the true dark heart of country music, activating the colourful personalities behind it. A super juicy book, filled with tales of brawling, murder and intrigue, it will appeal to any music lover - whether you like country music or not!
