95bFM's Loose Reads: Endling by Maria Reva

The future had been a luxury, the future didn’t exist anymore.

This Booker longlisted first novel of Ukrainian-Canadian writer, Maria Reva, is a 2025 favourite of the Time Out team. What starts as a comical tale of snail conservation with a romance industry kidnapping plot, the linear narrative is upended with Russa’s invasion into Ukraine. Reva inserts herself into the narrative, crumbling the fourth wall, to question identity, hope and the role of creativity at a time of war.

Endling is filled with witty humour, whilst maintaining wisdom. Listen to Suri’s review with Milly & Rosetta below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine

On this week’s Loose Reads, Jenna delves into Wendy Erskine’s first novel, The Benefactors. An assault rocks four Belfast families, where the class & privilege of the three perpetrators’ mothers collide with the street smarts of the victim’s family.

Richly drawn & nuanced characters with bitingly funny dialogue and a surprising amount of heart, The Benefactors is a book about leveraging the power you have.

Listen to the full review below with Milly & Rosetta.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Among Friends by Hal Ebbott

America and it's writers have a long-time fascination with psychoanalysis. From Joan Didion's hard-nosed accounts of grief (The Year of Magical Thinking; Blue Nights) to Toni Morrison's exceptional exploration of the psychological toll of motherhood under oppression (Beloved) and post-9/11 authors like Franzen and Safran-Foer elucidating marriage and family life in a new millenia, the impacts of institutional changes on relationships and psychology have underpinned the American canon.

Hal Ebbott's Among Friends continues this tradition, charting the fractious, changing relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and- central to the novel- frenemies. Amos and Emerson are college friends tethered by a competitive friendship, a competitiveness that simmers quietly beneath their intertwined family lives. Over the course of a weekend getaway, tensions rise to the surface, ending in a shocking act that will change these relationships forever. 

This is a novel that creeps along quietly; an ebb and flow of drama and relationship tics that crescendo into a powerful ending- when the truth is unleashed, all that's left in its wake is shrapnel. 

Who will survive the ruin?

A compelling read for fans of Rachel Cusk's Second Place or Franzen's The Corrections.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Objects of Desire by Neil Blackmore

It’s been a week of book news!

First, Jenna delves into the Booker longlist. She then mentions Gareth Shute’s new music book, Songs from the Shaky Isles (including an event this Friday 8th August) and chats an upcoming event with Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine.

From there, we chat this week’s book. Jenna has brought in Neil Blackmore’s Objects of Desire. An entertaining romp through mid-century literature and literary characters through the eyes of a grifter who is caught between love and reputation. It’s funny, campy, bitchy and features fictional portrayals of well known writers such as James Baldwin, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal.

Listen to Jenna, Rosetta and Milly below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Parallel Lines by Edward St Aubyn

Edward St Aubyn returns to his characters from Double Blind (2021) in his latest novel, Parallel Lines. 

The novel opens with the stories of Sebastian and Olivia; twins who are separated at birth and experience vastly different upbringings- Olivia enjoys the comforts of upper middle-class life, whilst Sebastian, thrown into foster care from birth, is surviving life in an institution after a schizophrenic episode. 

Foisted into the lives of Sebastian and Olivia are Martin (Olivia's father and Sebastian's current psychotherapist) and his wife Lizzie- both psychoanalysts and scholars of Lacan. As each character strives to make sense of their identity in a glib world on the brink of ecological and civilisational collapse, St Aubyn weaves their lives into a broader story of humanity: the biological and environmental factors that shape us and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Through rigorous psychoanalysis and detailed plotting, Edward St Aubyn hides philosophical truths about human and nature's interconnectedness in an age of atomisation, in a sharp, coyly funny family drama.

Although Parallel Lines continues the journeys of characters from his previous novel, it can be read as a stand-alone story.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Flashlight by Susan Choi

Jenna was in the bFM studio with Rosetta & Milly this morning, chatting Susan Choi’s Flashlight.

This is a richly written novel that is an expansive character study following a father, mother and daughter whilst moving between Japan, America and Korea. It’s about identity and secrets - from others and oneself.

This is for fans of Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, Pachinko, Franzen and perhaps even The Bee Sting!

Listen below:

95bFM's Loose Reads: Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy

Today we welcome new 95bFM Breakfast hosts, Rosetta and Milly!

Mary McCarthy (author of The Group and The Company She Keeps) recounts her changing relationship to Catholicism in this darkly funny, punchy memoir.

Newly published as part of Fitzcarraldo's non-fiction collection, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood chronicles the life of an American girlhood steeped in Irish-Catholic Orthodoxy. 
When her parents die young, Mary McCarthy and her three siblings are taken under the care of her disciplinarian Irish grandmother and later, her uncle and aunts. 

From having mouths taped to prevent 'mouth-breathing', to having castor oil snuck into their juice, the McCarthy kids endure the sting of orthodox upbringing and Mary finds herself questioning her relationship to God.

A bolshy, sharp memoir that explores religion, the messiness of womanhood and finding meaning in post-religious life. 

Examining the changing structure of religious hierarchy and class in America, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood offers a spiky taste of America in the 1960s.  

95bFM's Loose Reads: Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter

Sunstruck is a searing read that makes you feel like you’re roasting in a European summer. Starting with a Saltburn-esque premise, Hunter’s characters move beyond a French chateau into London.
Exploring themes of masculinity, desire, power, class and sexuality, Sunstruck is great debut to add to the pile.

Sunstruck is the winner of the #Merky prize, which is Stormy’s imprint with Penguin.

Jenna with guest breakfast host Sam in the studio, listen to the full review below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Suri delves into Yiyun Li’s memoir of grief after the tragic death of both of her sons. This one is a tear jerker.

She visited Milly and Tuva’a in the studio - listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: We Do Not Part by Han Kang

We Do Not Part, is Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s latest novel. It starts with a curious premise: A woman, Kyungha, sets on a mission from Seoul to Jeju island on behalf of her artist friend, Inseon, who has badly cut her hand in an accident. The task is to feed her bird Ama before it dies. 

A poetic and political novel, We Do Not Part ultimately traverses trauma, loss, reparations and the desperate need not to forget the past.

Jenna buzzed through to breakfast hosts Milly and Tuva'a in the studio to discuss. Listen below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Suri has been procrastinating from her exams to read Booker shortlisted Elif Shafak’s There are Rivers in the Sky.

Following one drop of water from Mesopotamia to Victorian London to contemporary Turkey, Shafak’s lush writing has made her a favourite amongst our customers.

Listen to Suri’s thoughts on her call to the studio with Milly and Tuva'a below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: On the Calculation of Volume I & II by Solvej Balle

On the Calculation of Volume I & II are the first of a seven book series by Danish author Solvej Balle.
Following antiquarian book dealer Tara Selter as her 18th November day is caught in a groundhog time loop. These books are hypnotic, philosophical and we believe it will be a hugely followed series over the next few years.

Jenna joined breakfast hosts Milly and Tuva'a in the studio to discuss. Listen below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti

Acclaimed writer, Tina Makereti, has just released her first collection of essays. Spanning 15 years of writing, this collection explores whakapapa, whānau, whenua, whare toanga & connection in the life of a writer.

Published by Te Herenga Waka University Press, This Compulsion in Us is on the shelf now.

Jenna called into the studio this morning, listen below for more.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Auckland Writers Festival Recap

Suri phoned into the studio this morning to revise a HUGE week at Auckland Writers Festival, including the Ockham Book Awards. Listen below for a great recap!

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey

Jenna phoned into the studio this morning ahead of the biggest week in books for New Zealand.

The Auckland Writers Festival kicks of this week at the Aotea Centre. There are loads of events for the whole whānau, check out the programme here.

It’s also been a big week due to the hugely anticipated release of Catherine Chidgey’s The Book of Guilt, a compelling speculative novel, set in 1979 England. Perfectly plotted, full of twists and moral questions, this is set to be one of the biggest books of 2025 from one of New Zealand’s best authors.

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: 1985 by Dominic Hoey

Dominic Hoey's hotly anticipated new novel 1985 tells the story of a family on the brink of losing it all: their home, their lives, their sanity and their loves. 

We follow the book's narrator, ten year old Obie who, along with his best friend and loyal sidekick Al, embarks on quests to find treasure and slay digital dragons to keep his family alive. Obie and Al face down dangerous criminals, pimply bullies and the looming threat of gentrification, armed only with their newly-found street smarts and gaming skills. Will 

Told with an earnest love for its complicated heroes and their attempts to scrape together the resources to stay alive, 1985 is cinematic story-telling at its finest. 
A must-read novel by one of Aotearoa's most beloved artists, 1985 will be launched at Goblin Bar on Thursday 8th May- come along and grab a signed copy!

95bFM's Loose Reads: When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter

George visited his old mates at 95bFM this week to talk about When the Going Was Good, the new memoir from former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

At once a delightful chronicle of an extraordinary career, and a love-letter to the halcyon days of magazine publishing, this memoir neatly blends gossip and history.

Come for Carter’s juicy encounters with celebrities and politicians, stay for his moving reflections on the importance of investigative journalism and the unique beauty of the written word.

Listen at the link below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

Stag Dance is the latest outrageous literary offering by Women’s Prize shortlisted author Torrey Peters. Comprised of three short stories and a novella, Stag Dance writhes through genders and genres, refracting facets of gender through the light of romance, dystopia and classical Westerns.

Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones is set in a dystopian future, following dealers in a black market for hormones who hawk their wares to the trans and cis communities alike. The Chaser follows a young teenager at boarding school in his early stages of a crush that warps into a dysmorphic desire. The titular central novella, Stag Dance is a gripping Western centred around an annual courtship ritual amongst timber pirates.

This irreverent, pulsing collection of short stories explores the messy underbelly of gender identity and queer desire with shocking nuance and no easy answers.

The best short story collection I’ve read in ages!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

We have a book from the International Booker Prize longlist, the big prize for both authors and translators.

Perfection was written in Italian, but is set in Berlin. Following creatives Anna & Tom as they navigate life & search for meaning as Millennials in a changing city.

Other books mentioned on today’s episode:
No Words for This by Ali Mau
A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath
See How they Fall by Rachel Paris
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Listen to Jenna’s review with Jonny, in the bFM studio, below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Clay Eaters by Gregory Kan

Gregory Kan is an Ockham shortlisted author living in Poneke who has released two acclaimed poetry collections; This Paper Boat in 2016 and Under Glass in 2019. He's also a coder who's created an incredible text manipulator called leaves.glass.

Clay Eaters is an eagerly-awaited release by Kan. This is a book of fragments- strands that tenuously link the past, present and future.

Clay Eaters explores the ephemeral nature of our corporeal bodies; spectres springing forty from decaying ends. As all turns to ash and returns to soil, new life awaits birth in the subterranean.

This is an incredible collection of poetry spanning Singapore, Poneke and the US- a perfect morsel when a novel’s too long.