Jenna popped into RNZ’s Culture 101 today to chat with Perlina Lau to chat long books of 2025 as well as some category favourites.
Listen below!
95bFM's Loose Reads: The Silver Book by Olivia Laing /
Nate reviewed Olivia Laing's The Silver Book, a new Time Out staff favourite. A beguiling story set in the world of 1970’s Italian cinema, it examines the thin line between art and reality - as well as the destructive power that hides in our societal systems. The perfect book for that arty friend that you never know how to buy for!
Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.
Bestsellers for November 2025 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery 2022
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers 2022
95bFM's Loose Reads: Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood /
Will There Ever Be Another You is the latest by author of Priestdaddy, No-One is Talking About This and most importantly, Twitter's Poet Laureate of the 2010's, Patricia Lockwood.
Will There Ever Be Another You is autofiction- a free-wheeling portrayal of the physical and psychological effects of long-COVID and the resulting ego death.
Experiencing amnesia and body dysphoria in the wake of her first COVID contraction, Lockwood details the slow journey to recovering her identity.
What happens to a writer when they lose their relationship to language and themselves? What more can we plunder from the mind when the self exists as a mere spectre?
Lockwood retains her wicked wit and playful warmth in her latest novel, but layers the jokes with a sincere excavation of the self.
Moving at a hazier pace than her previous work, Will There Ever Be Another You still packs emotional punches and humour that's become a Patricia Lockwood signature.
Listen to Suri’s review below with Rosetta and Milly.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent /
Jenna visited the 95bFM studio this morning to talk about Laura Vincent’s (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) debut novel, Hoods Landing.
Four generations gather for Christmas, small-town gossip and tragedy, tarot cards and secrets are revealed in this funny and sharp ensemble tale.
If you’re going to buy any book this Christmas - this is the one! A local author, from indie publisher Āporo Press.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon /
His first novel in over a decade, Pynchon's Shadow Ticket is a swirling, heady noir diving into 1930's Milwaukee- Al Capone's been imprisoned, the Great Depression arrives with a bang, jazz rules the underground, the Western world sits on the cusp of war and a cheese heiress mysteriously disappears with (or perhaps without) her jazz musician lover. Hick McTaggart, a private investigator running from problems of his own, is tasked with finding the heiress and returning her to the Airmont. Tracking her to Hungary, McTaggart finds himself in a web of international espionage- in the crossfires of Russian and British double-agents, Nazis who bowl and a coven of psychics.
Like all Pynchon novels, Shadow Ticket is at once a thrilling caper, absurd in the unreplicable style of one of America's greatest living political novelists; and on the other, a sharp meta-narrative about the clutches of US political power and the barons and titans of industry who fuel it.
Listen to Suri’s chat with Milly & Rosetta below!
95bFM's Loose Reads: Moderation by Elaine Castillo /
Jenna joined Milly & Rosetta in the studio to talk about Elaine Castillo’s Moderation.
You may have caught Elaine at the Auckland Writer’s Festival in 2019. Her new novel follows Girlie, a Filipnx American social media moderator in a Vegas-based, VR tech empire, Austen-esque romance genre bending novel. This is whip smart, entertaining and timely - for fans of Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time.
Bestsellers for October 2025 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery 2022
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers 2022
95bFM's Loose Reads: The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride /
Nate went into BFM to talk about Eimear McBride’s new novel, The City Changes Its Face. Weird, wonderful and full of emotional heft- a perfect portrait of a faltering romantic relationship.
Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.
95bFM's Loose Reads: Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin /
This morning, Jenna chatted to Rosetta & Milly about the debut novel, Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin.
This is one for the Irish Catholics, it’s a story that delves into grief, family, faith & queer identity with a light touch. Ni Mhaoileoin was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize Discoveries shortlist and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.
Listen below!
RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny by Kiran Desai /
Today, on RNZ’s Nine to Noon book review, Jenna talked about Kiran Desai’s Booker shortlisted, The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny.
This is an epic & full tale of Sonia & Sunny, their families, East & West, India & America, love & loneliness. Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn below.
95bFM's Loose Reads: The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus /
Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick, is back with ‘reinvention of the true-crime novel’ a book that uses both auto-fiction and fiction to explore class and addiction in America.
Suri visited the studio, listen to her to chat to Rosetta & Milly below.
Bestsellers for September 2025 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery 2022
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers 2022
95bFM's Loose Reads: 2025 Booker Shortlist & NZ Bookshop Day /
Jenna visited the 95bFM studio this morning to delve into the Booker shortlist.
Flesh by David Szalay
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Flashlight by Susan Choi
Then, we chat about our upcoming activities for NZ Bookshop Day, Saturday 11th October.
95bFM's Loose Reads: House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk /
This morning, Suri reviewed the newest book by one of Time Out’s favourite authors and the winner of both the Nobel Prize in Literature and International Booker Prize, Olga Tokarczuk.
House of Day, House of Night delves into life onto a remote Polish village. A fragmented mosiac of fiction, mythology & collective consicousness. This book is in a constant diagloue, asking the question of how we and our dreams are shaped by the natural world.
Suri called into the studio this morning to chat to Rosetta & Milly. Listen below!
RNZ's Nine to Noon: Seascraper by Benjamin Wood /
Jenna called into the RNZ studio to talk about Booker longlisted, Seascraper, by Benjamin Wood.
Set in a seaside town, in 1960’s England, a teenage shrimp scraper dreams of a life outside of his grueling work. When a film director comes to town, his world suddenly opens up.
This is a tightly written narrative. Immersive, insular, timeless modern classic that explores asperation vs. duty. A hot contender for the Booker shortlist!
95bFM's Loose Reads: Speaking my Language Te Kōrero o Tōku Reo by Mike McRoberts /
I kōrero a Jenna rātou ko Milly, Ko Rosetta i a Te Kōrero o Tōku Reo nā Mike McRoberts mō Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Whakaronga mai!
95bFM's Loose Reads: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy /
Nate visits 95bFM for his first ever radio review! Today, he brings in the brand new release, Mother Mary Comes to Me by Booker Prize winning author, Arundhati Roy.
A memoir exploring mother/daughter dynamics, Indian politics and what is likely to be a foundation for the storyline of The God of Small Things, this book will be one of Nate’s favourite reads of the year.
Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.
Bestsellers for August 2025 /
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
Bestsellers Gallery 2022
KID'S BOOKS
Kids' Bestsellers 2022
95bFM's Loose Reads: Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart /
For our first day of spring, Jenna brought Gary Shteyngart’s sixth novel, Vera, or Faith into the studio.
A story of an anxious ten year old trying to keep it together as her family, friend and school life are in disarray. Set in a not-too distant future America; recognisable advances in AI and political control also affect Vera’s outer life.
Shteyngart wrote this book in just two months. It’s charmingly funny, sad and is a clear comment on the American Dream.
Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.
