95bFM's Loose Reads: Holding the Line by Barbara Kingsolver /  by Time Out Bookstore

Reprinted 29 years after its original publication, Holding the Line delves into one of the largest worker strikes in American history. 

Through extensive interviews with the women working gruelling manual jobs and fighting for collective rights at a huge personal cost, Kingsolver paints a portrait of some of America's historically most vulnerables workers.

Bold, extensively researched and written with as much flair as her later novels, Holding the Line illuminates a rarely explored part of history, told through the voices of some of America's most marginalised voices.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Some Strange Music Draws Me In by Griffin Hansbury /  by Time Out Bookstore

Named after Patti Smith’s Dancing Barefoot, Some Strange Music Draws Me In is both a visceral 1980’s, small town coming of age story and a modern day exploration of gender, generation differences, family & relationships.
Fun fact: As well as being an author, Griffin Hansbury is a psychoanalyst.

This shot up to being one of Jenna’s favourite books of 2024.

Listen below to Jenna & Jonny reunite in the studio for 2025.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Jenna's Christmas Agony Aunt answers /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna called into the studio for Time Out’s last session for the year! Listeners texted in for book advice, including sci-fi for teens, Egyptology for an 8 year old and non-mainstream reads for a dude. Jonny needs a summer read too, plus some advice on 2024 cookbooks.

Time Out is open from 9am-9pm to help with all your Christmas needs. Gift wrapping included.

Listen below!

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Suri's Christmas picks & Agony Aunt answers /  by Time Out Bookstore

Suri & Jonny are in the studio with a HEAP of Christmas recommendations.

Listen in for some agony aunt answers - including advice on science fiction, graphic novels and self help.

Then, Suri picks out some of her top gift picks, including:

Time of the Child by Niall Williams
The Garden of Time by Olivia Laing
James by Percival Everett
The Gavin Bishop Treasury
What I Ate by Stanley Tucci
Ātūa Wāhine by Hana Tapiata

Click the link below for audio.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Juice by Tim Winton /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna & Jonny talk Juice, the new dystopion novel by Australian living legend, Tim Winton. This pacy novel set in the North Western Australian desert, imagines a world of climate crisis but underpins the fear with the hope of humanity.

Listen to the full review below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates /  by Time Out Bookstore

Author of the National Book award-winning title Between the World and Me, Ta Nehisi-Coates returns to non-fiction with The Message. In this concise but powerful title, Nehisi-Coates explores the human impulse to mythologise the world around us. 

Part travelogue, part history, Ta Nehisi-Coates moves between Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine to reveal the connective tissues that allowed for the exploitation of certain ethnicities in all three countries. Coates explores how racism and colonialism are constructed in the pursuit of capital and in the process of national-building.

A great intro to the history of segregation and colonialism, The Message is the perfect gift for a new reader of critical theory and a great companion to Baldwin, Arendt and Fanon.

Listen to Suri’s review in the 95bFM studio with Jonny below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Orbital by Samantha Harvey /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna dives into the newly minted 2024 Booker winner, Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. Orbital is due back in stock in December - order below!

Listen to Jenna’s review with Jonny below, as well as some big gig chat from the weekend.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru /  by Time Out Bookstore

The third title in Hari Kunzru’s Colours trilogy, Blue Ruin is a COVID-era novel taking aim at the art world. The novel follows Jay, a former artist whose descent from rising young art star to middle-aged manual labourer leaves his body and heart in disrepair. Crossing paths with his former lover Alice and her husband Rob (Jay’s art-school rival and a benefactor of wealthy corporate philanthropists), Jay’s life begins to take new shape.

Blue Ruin shifts between the 1990's and current day, covering the Young British Artists movement and the COVID-era landscape. Exploring the relationship between philanthropists and artists, between art and assets and between artistic integrity and survival, Blue Ruin unveils the winners and losers in art and in life and the financial precarity of those who lose. 

Listen to Suri’s review in the 95bFM studio with Jonny below.

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Author Interview: Ali Smith /  by Time Out Bookstore

 

Hollie spoke to Ali Smith ahead of the publication of her new novel, Gliff.

Your new novel Gliff nods to dystopian fiction - is there something in our current climate that inspired this?

Er ... how could there be? Everything is such sweetness and light nationally, internationally, geopolitically and climate-wise and right now, and the future looks ever rosier! I'm clearly being ornery on purpose for some dark personal reason writing something mildly dystopian... but between you and me, there's very little, in fact nothing, in this book (except for a creaky (literally) metaphor involving red paint) that isn't already happening somewhere in the world. 

Is there anything you can tell us about the connection between Gliff and its companion novel Glyph (coming 2025)?

Forgive me, I can't. If I do, the unwritten book will run off like a creature in the wild that's seen me see it.

The Accidental is one of my favourite books of yours, what do you think is the biggest thing that’s changed about your writing since it was published? 

Thank you. I've no idea. I try not to think about it, because the more conscious you are if you're writing fiction, I find, the less the un- and sub- consciousnesses necessary can find their way through the tough hide of the conscious.

How do you structure the layout of a story? Do you write with an outcome in mind? 

Never. What would be the point of writing something if you already knew what happened?

Favourite bookstore moment? 

When Euan, one of the booksellers in the Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh, said I could have his spare ticket for one of the Taylor Swift concerts if his brother in law didn't want it or couldn't make it. As it happens, his brother in law did want it and could make it. But even the thought of the offer moved me, which is why the latest book is dedicated to that independent bookshop and its marvellous booksellers (and by extension to all marvellous  booksellers, as a model of their typical generosity).

What author or book is a recent discovery for you? 

Joanna Kavenna. What a writer. Check out her story, The Beautiful Salmon, in a recent Paris Review.

What is your favourite snack to enjoy while writing?

Grapes.  

 

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna visited the studio this morning to give a rundown on the upcoming announcement of the 2024 Booker Prize (November 13th NZD time and talk about the deut Dutch shortlistee, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden.

Set in the 1960’s, in a house in a small Dutch village, Isabel’s rigid routine is upended when her brother’s new girlfriend comes to stay for the summer. However, not is all what it seems.The less you know about this book, the better!

Clcik the link below to listen to Jenna and Jonny’s chat.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Delirious by Damien Wilkins /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna phoned from the shop floor to talk about Wellington author Damien Wilkins’ new book, Delirious.

As Mary and Pete prepare to move out of their home and into a retirement village, the past comes back to visit. A deceptively simple read that is masterly crafted about family, memory and grief.

Listen to Jenna & Jonny at the link below.

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95bFM's Loose Reads: A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez /  by Time Out Bookstore

The queen of South American horror fiction is back with a new collection of short stories for the spooky season! From hauntings, cults, surgical disasters and beyond, Mariana Enriquez’s new book ‘A Sunny Place for Shady People’ explores the human-made violence and terror inflicted in unique ways onto each of her characters. From body horror, ghosts and psychological torture, this short story collection has something to sate the appetite of all fans of horror. 

Pre-order now to nab your copy just in time for Halloween!

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Kataraina by Becky Manawatu /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna was back in the bFM studio this morning after being overseas. First, she delves a little into her booky trip to the UK. Then, talks about the highly anticipated sequel to Auē, Kataraina.

Listen to the spoiler free chat with Jonny below, you can also read her spoiler-filled review on The Spinoff here.

Finally, Jenna also chats about Aotearoa NZ Bookshop Day, which is this Saturday 12th October.

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‘I am a proud reader of some objectively terrible books’ - Abby's Bookseller Confessional! /  by Time Out Bookstore

Our Abby is the latest entry to The Spinoff’s Bookseller’s Confessional! Read about her highs and lows of bookselling, as well as her absolute favourite (and least favourite!) books:

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Books mentioned: