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.
Tommy Orange’s latest novel, Wandering Stars explores the decimation of American indigenous communities; from colonial violence to economic repression and addiction. Told through the eyes of Orvil Red Feather and his ancestors, ‘Wandering Stars’ explores a patchwork of characters reckoning with the violence of past and present, at all times searching for the beauty and wisdom of their ancestors. Painful, beautiful and at times funny, this piercing companion to There, There strikes at the heart and offers human truths impossible to look away from.
Your Ockham Fiction Champions, Hollie & Abby, have a double pass to the 2024 Ockham NZ Book Awards to giveaway!
To be in to win, head over to our Instagram. Make sure you’re following us and @newzealandbookawards , tag a friend in the comments, and use one word to describe your fave book on the fiction shortlist!
The winner will receive 2x tickets to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards on Wednesday 15 May, 7-10pm, at Aotea Centre - part of the Auckland Writer’s Festival.
French author Eilsa Shua Dusapin (Winter in Sokcho) is back with another atomospheric novel.
Nathalie arrives in Vladivostok to work on costumes for the Russian bar trio who are preparing their dangerous routine for the winter circus season.
This book captures a snapshot of a creative and physical undertaking by a small team of people. Punchy sentences, a sense of danger and a strong sense of place enrich Dusapin’s prose.
Translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
Listen to Jenna, Rachel and Stella’s conversation below.
If We Burn by Vincent Bevins (author of The Jakarta Method) explores a decade of the largest mass protests in modern history- from the Arab Spring to the Hong Kong uprisings. Combing through academic research and conducting interviews and with organisers, politicians and protesting participants, Bevins unearths the reasons why an era of mass mobilisation failed to materialise into political change. A sweeping look at the history of mass protests and its successes and failures, If We Burn is a sharp and fascinating analysis of a phenomena forgotten in a post-COVID era.
Listen below!
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Suri visited the 95bFM Breakfast crew to chat about the late Celia Dale’s Sheep’s Clothing. Originally published in 1988, this book is a black comedy crime, following two women schemers in Thatcher’s England.
Listen below!
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.
Jenna called into the studio this morning, to chat about The Beautiful Afternoon, a collection of essays from Airini Beautrais. You may know her from her short story collection, Bug Week, which was the winner of the 2021 Acorn Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Combining research with the personal; exploring feminity, sexuality, motherhood, pop culture, consumerism, activism and more, this is a insightful delve into a different genre of writing for Beautrais.
Listen below!
The debut novel by Olga Tokarczuk’s translator, Jennifer Croft.
Eight translators are brought to Polish forest to translate a beloved author’s latest work and the translators’ love of the them, becomes almost cultish. However when the author goes missing, all goes awry.
Surreal, absurd and clever, The Extinction of Irena Rey asks questions of authorship. role and credit of a translator. This is great read for language lovers.
Listen to Suri’s review with guest host, Aneeka and producer, Stella.
Jenna visited the studio to speak about Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan, translated from French by Alison Anderson.
Two women are brought together when Clara (a policewoman) meets Melanie, an influencer whose child has just been kidnapped.
Spanning the begiining of the Big Brother generation to 2031, this is a cautionary tale about family youtube channels, this is a literary thriller that observes the ethics of putting your children online.
Listen below!
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
On the first day back at Uni, Suri slipped into the bFM studio to talk about two books that she’s been reading lately.
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein was shortlised for the Booker in 2023. When a woman returns to her ancestral land to become a housekeeper for her newly separated brother,
Allusive, observational and atmospheric.
Auto-fiction Argentinian queen, Clarice Lispector is here with her complete publicatoin of her essays (Too Much of Life), which she started writing when she was 7 years old. A great mix of writing - the relationship between humanity and technology, the domestic, philosophy and literary critique.
Listen below!
Jenna dialed into the bFM studio today from her tent at the Camp A Low Hum festival, in Wainuiomata.
Lord Jim at Home is a fantastically strange found classic from 1973. With an introduction by Ottessa Moshfegh, Lord Jim is based on the true story of the ill-fated Miles Giffard, this book explores class and violence - all with a very black sense of humour.
The 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist has been revealed. To celebrate, Jenna talks about one of the longlisted fiction titles, Backwaters, a debut novel set between Auckland & China by Emma Ling Sidnam. A gentle read about origins, identity and family?
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below!
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
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.
Today, Jenna reviewed Patrick deWitt’s The Librarianist, a book that’s at risk of being too light or cheesy, but is actually very good.
Bob Comet, a retired librarian, finds himself volunteering at a retirement centre, when he realises he already knows a resident. deWitt’s expert dialogue leads us through a most heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) and funny return to significant events from Bob’s life.
Listen to Jenna’s chat with Rachel and Stella below!
Suri reviews this beautiful, funny, clever, poignant novel - from the author of The Colour of Water & Deacon King Kong. Part mystery, part Dickensian tale, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store explores race, class & the American dream whilst revealing subtle universal messages through character,
One of Barak Obama’s top reads 2023.
Listen below to Suri’s in studio chat with Stella.
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
