95bFM's Loose Reads: A Good Winter by Gigi Fenster /  by Time Out Bookstore

Keep the spooky season alive with Gigi Fenster's chilling new novel, A Good Winter! The 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize winner is an absorbing psychological thriller told through the neurotic and increasingly frenetic observations of Olga, a lonely woman who befriends her neighbour Lara. As Olga's life becomes more entwined with Lara's and her feelings become more obsessive, her paranoia begins to take over until the shocking end.

A compulsive and addictive read, A Good Winter is a dark and fascinating insight into the mind of a woman alienated from family, love and desire.

This is another lockdown review! You can listen to Suri chat with Rachel below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall /  by Time Out Bookstore

Alice is ‘the person nobody cares about in the movie if they die’. She’s in her late thirties and lives with her mother (whom she only communicates with by morse code), she has an extraordinary IQ and low empathy for others.

Aotearoa is in a state of political and social change. A chance encounter with one of Aotearoa’s new weathugees,Pablo, leaves Alice living with his 15 year old daughter, Erika - who also happens to be a genius.

Set in a bleak future that we can almost touch with our fingertips, She’s a Killer has a perfectly formed plot, funny & considered dialogue and a thrilling twist. Not a single character is wasted.

Listen to Jenna’s lockdown review with Rachel and Zoe below:

95bFM's Loose Reads: My Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard /  by Time Out Bookstore

After a brief hiatus, Karl Ove Knausgaard returns to fiction with The Morning Star, a rich 666-page exploration of human existence told through the lives of nine interconnected characters. In The Morning Star, the spectre of the unreal and imagined hovers over the prosaic rituals of daily life, as Knausgaard's characters try to find meaning in the modern world. A stunning novel for turbulent times.

This is another lockdown review! You can listen to Suri chat with Rachel below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr /  by Time Out Bookstore

An epic tale that spans the past, present and future from the author of All the Light We Cannot See. Jenna reviews this highly anticipated read from the shop floor, which was delivered by the courier during the review.

Author Talk: Megan Dunn with Yvonne Todd /  by Time Out Bookstore

Things I Learned at Art School is Megan Dunn’s brand new collection of bite-sized, infectious essays that tell of an eighties childhood, a nineties art school education and a stint as a brothel barmaid on Karangahape Road.

Spend an hour with Megan Dunn & photographer Yvonne Todd as they chat about book covers, art school life, wedding shoes and Desiderata.

Introduced by Claire Murdoch from Penguin Random House NZ and recorded on Zoom.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Nostalgia has Ruined My Life by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle /  by Time Out Bookstore

Auckland writer Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s devastating little novella ‘Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life’ explores the emptiness of dating and work in the modern world. Told through darkly funny and painful little vignettes, ‘Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life’ is a deliciously twisted and intoxicating work. For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sakaya Murata!

Listen to Suri’s lockdown review with Rachel below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: I Laugh Me Broken by Bridget Van der Zijpp /  by Time Out Bookstore

A gentle and funny love story, great for a lockdown read.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Zoe below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead /  by Time Out Bookstore

Twice-Pulitzer Winning author Colson Whitehead’s latest novel ‘Harlem Shuffle’ follows the life of fictional Ray Carney, a black furniture salesman whose middle-class aspirations lead him to a criminal underworld of heists, blackmail and corruption. A punchy, zinging noir, Harlem Shuffle looks at the hypocrisy of the American Dream with a sharp sense of humour.

Due at the end of September, you can pre-order this book now.

Listen to Suri’s lockdown review with Rachel below.

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RNZ's Nine to Noon: People Like Them by Samira Sedira /  by Time Out Bookstore

Set in a French Village, People Like Them is an immersive and compelling thriller inspired by the murder of five members of a family, by their neighbour.

Narrated by the murderer’s wife, we watch how this tragedy unfolds. Does race play a factor in this murder? Where does humiliation take a human?

Listen to Jenna chat about People Like Them to Kathryn Ryan below. You can buy the book here for delivery in Auckland’s Level 3.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Things I Learned at Art School by Megan Dunn /  by Time Out Bookstore

From the home office, Jenna reviews Megan Dunn’s essay collection, Things I Learned at Art School.

An eighties childhood, a nineties art school education and a stint as a brothel barmaid on Karangahape Road. This is a collection of bite-sized, infectious essays where Dunn displays her trademark deadpan humour and observation.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Zoë & pre-order below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad /  by Time Out Bookstore

Omar El Akkad's latest novel, What Strange Paradise tells the story of nine year old Amir, a lone survivor of a storm-wrecked ship carrying refugees to Greece. Aided by the ordinary kindness of Greek teenager Vanna, Amir navigates the unfamiliarity of a new country and the bureaucratic systems he's ensnared by, never forgetting the ghosts of his past. Subtly written and powerfully rendered, What Strange Paradise explores the sheer urgency and existential dread of those escaping conflict.A great read for fans of Ali Smith and Colson Whitehead.

Listen to Suri’s chat with Rachel and Zoe below:

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Ghost of Frédéric Chopin by Éric Faye /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna presents some Level 4 cosy crime goodness for you in today’s Loose Reads review. The Ghost of Frédéric Chopin is the newest title in the Pushkin Press’ Walter Presents imprint.
Prague, 1995: Vera Foltynova claims that the ghost of Chopin is visiting her with new compositions and journalist Ludvík Slany is sent to expose the truth.

This book is inspired by and dedicated to Rosemary Brown.

Listen to Jenna, Rachel and Zoë chatting below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon /  by Time Out Bookstore

Sorrowland tells the story of Verne, a pregnant teenager escaping the confines her strict religious community. Confronted with monsters both physical and metaphorical, Sorrowland is a masterful Southern Gothic that explores the ways in which surviving the institutions that rule us can change us irrevocably.

Listen to Suri’s chat with Amelia and Zoe below:

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Going West and The Commercial Hotel by John Summers /  by Time Out Bookstore

Today Jenna chats about the upcoming Going West Festival and then gives a quick review of The Commercial Hotel - a thoughtful and curious collection of essays about small town New Zealand.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop /  by Time Out Bookstore

Winner of the 2021 International Booker Prize, At Night All Blood is Black is a brutal, intelligent insight into the mythologies and psychologies of war. Telling the story of Alfa, a soldier who loses his close comrade on the battlefield and finds purpose as ‘the collector of souls’, this is a novel that examines the ungluing of humanity and sanity in the fields of war. Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat below!

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