On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Notes from An Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell. This is a book about right now, to read right now! In search of preppers getting ready for the end of the world, O’Connell travelled to bunkers in South Dakota, to a conference in Los Angeles about the colonisation of Mars, to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to wilderness reserves in the Scottish Highlands, and… New Zealand. The result is this throughly engaging reportage-cum-travelouge which is equal parts terrifying and hilarious. Reading Notes From An Apocalypse is like listening to your brainiest and funniest friend!
RNZ
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos /
In a small village in France, sits a library of unpublished manuscripts, which must be delivered in person.
A Parisian editor find a manuscript of genius while browsing the shelves. The book is published, taking the book world by storm - but is this a hoax? How can Henri Pick, a grouchy pizzeria owner, have written this when no one in his lifetime saw him pick up a pen?
A charming literary mystery with a kooky cast of characters, reminiscent of the film Amélie. Listen to Jenna’s review below and buy the book here.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Square Haunting by Francesca Wade /
A fascinating group biography of five women who lived on Melkenburgh Square between WW1 and WW2.
For fans of English literature, feminist leaders and the Bloomsbury set.
You can order the book here.
Listen to Jenna chat about Square Haunting as well as book store life in Level 2 below:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Halibut on the Moon by David Vann /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Halibut on the Moon by David Vann which is shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Content warning: This is a powerful but dark read.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Weather by Jenny Offill /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Weather the new novel by Jenny Offill, author of the hugely, widely adored Dept. of Speculation. Set during the 2016 US election, it examines the dual catastrophe of political doom and the accelerating climate crisis with a parallel of domestic anxiety. It’s a beautifully poised and refined novel, and it’s not all doom and gloom - Weather is cheerfully wry, witty and funny.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Actress by Anne Enright /
A new novel from Anne Enright is an exciting event! Kiran reviewed Actress on RNZ’s Nine to Noon. Actress is an imagined biography of fictitious iconic Irish actress Katherine O’Dell, told through the eyes of her novelist daughter Norah FitzMaurice. It deals with legend, family, mythmaking and playing a role.
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:
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.
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.
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:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez /
You may remember that Jenna reviewed Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award winning The Friend earlier in the year, which still remains one of her favourite reads for 2019. When a prolific, yet not as well known author wins such a prize, publishers often go to their backlist to republish an older title to give it a second life and this is what has happened with Nunez’s The Last of Her Kind, originally published in 2006.
This is a layered, intelligent and considered tale of female friendship, politics and cultural disruption in the 1960’s, New York City. Scholarship student Georgette George is roomed with the wealthy Ann Drayton at Barnard College. An intense friendship develops but ends as Ann’s journey into activism becomes more hard line and extreme.
However, Ann is brought back into George’s life years later after she is arrested for murder.
Listen to Jenna’s review below:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Girl by Edna O'Brien /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed our Book of the Month, Girl by Edna O’Brien. O’Brien is an important writer who has long given a voice and created a space for girls and women in crisis. This novel tells the story of Maryam, one of a group of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. Girl will rip your heart out, but you won’t be able to put the book down. What a writer!
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon Kiran reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss who will be appearing in conversation at Time Out in October and Verb in November. It’s an atmospheric novel about 17-year-old Silvie who goes on an excursion with her mother and father to live on an archeological replica of an Iron Age settlement with the goal of living like ancient Britons did for a flavour of Iron Age life. This is a very mesmerising novel. It’s an exquisite novel, a tremendous mood piece with a heck of an impact.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Doxology by Nell Zink /
For fans of the great American novel, Nell Zink’s Doxology takes the reader from 1980’s New York City to the ill fated USA 2016 election.
Investigating generational shifts & responses, Doxology is a compelling, intelligent & witty observation on thirty years of history and cultural change. For fans of Franzen, Wolitzer and Tartt.
Listen to Jenna’s review below:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon Kiran reviewed Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize. Charlie and Maurice are two ragged Irish gangsters from Cork who are waiting at a Spanish port for a night boat from Tangier. This is a dark novel about crime and its effects, but it’s also very funny and touching, and beautifully deals with love, loss, ageing, parenthood and the fraternity of male friendship.
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner /
Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a book about divorce that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Toby is handling his divorce fairly well. He’s joined dating apps, is working towards a promotion and is spending quality time with his children on the weekends. However, when his ex Rachel does not turn up to pick up the kids as planned, and just doesn’t...come back, Toby’s new life is turned upside down.
A novel with humour and depth, Brodesser-Akner’s journalistic touch explores gender roles and the expectation of working mothers. For fans of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less and Maria Semple’s Where’d you go, Bernadettte?
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Furious Hours by Casey Cep /
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee is a meaty investigative true crime novel that is well worth a read. Listen to Jenna’s review below:
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Sinead Gleeson’s Constellations. This striking collection of essays is a wise, diagnostic and generous look at trauma, the body, illness, pain, faith, pregnancy and motherhood, with brilliant flashes of art criticism and political commentary. Nuanced, rich and rewarding, this is a tremendously great book!
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Years by Annie Ernaux /
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Annie Ernaux’s collective history The Years, which was shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker International Prize. A generous and attentive book, it is where autofiction, biography and sociology intersect. A radical approach to the memoir, Kiran says The Years is extraordinary, a treasure and a tonic.
