Suri
Rapture - a brand new Auckland University Press anthology, edited by Carrie Rudzinski and Grace Iwashita-Taylor, is one for the home library.
Listen to Suri wax lyrical about this collection to Rachel, as well as read out a poem by our very own staff member, Abby Irwin-Jones.
In anticipation of Claire Keegan’s new novella, Suri delved into Foster.
Purposefully told, this is a tale of beauty with an underlying dark backstory. Touching, beautiful and a great distraction from studying for exams.
So Late in the Day is due next month.
Suri called into the studio to chat to Rachel.
Professor, commentator and activist, Naomi Klein’s latest book analyses the mirroring of truth online.
Underpinning this cultural exploration with her Klein’s own experience of being constantly misidentified as author and conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf, this is a critique of existing on the internet that is unlined with hope.
Suri does often say this, but declares Doppelganger one of the best books she has read in a long time.
Listen to Suri, Rachel & Stella chat below!
From the one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2023, Strangers at the Port depicts what happens when foreign arrivals shake up an archipelago community who live a quiet and repetitious existence.
Suri describes this book as gothic cottage-core, that is reflective of late nineteen century events.
Listen to Suri and Rachel chat below!
On this week’s Loose Read’s review, Suri deep dives into the weighty tome that is Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris. (Not to be confused with James Franco’s novel of the same name).
Connecting the explosion of the gold rush to what is now the epicentre of Silicon Valley, Harris presents an emotive, interesting and clear-eyed history of California.
Suri also recommends If Then by Jill Lepore.
Listen Suri’s chat with Frances and Stella below.
Suri is in the 95bFM studio this week to review Jenny Erpenbeck’s fourth translated novel, Kairos. Set in Berlin, a 19 year woman starts an affair with an older, married man. An observational love story & psycho-drama that mirrors the tension of East and West Germany and the fall of the Berlin wall.
One of the most interesting fiction novels Suri has read this year!
Listen Suri’s chat with Rachel and Stella below.
Suri was in the studio this morning to talk about the coming-of-age tale, The Gospel of Orla, written by Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls. Young Orla travels on her bike from England to Ireland to seek her Mother’s gravesite and meets a mysterious man named Jesus along the way.
Fable-like, filled with magic realism and reminiscent of the Booker longlisted, Treacle Walker, Suri recommends this strongly.
One of Suri’s favourite books for 2023 (so far!) A found classic from the 80’s, this book that explores the life of a teenager and her love of books in the time of political change in the Philippines.
Sexy, clever and surprising, listen to Suri’s great review with Rachel below.
This morning, Suri reviewed the highly anticipated novel by Lorrie Moore. I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home is a tender and playful little novel about the hauntings of ghosts of the past - imaginary and literal.
Exploring the philosophies of love and joy and how people cope with grief, this is strange, clever and
highly recommended.
Listen to Suri’s review with Annabel below.
Suri reviews the new novel from Brandon Taylor, who was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize for his novel Real Life.
A fun take on a campus novel, that explores class, sex, race and the moralities of fiction.
Want to know more? Listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
A camp, satirical page-tuner that is the perfect post-exam read. Yellowface is a book about lies and identity, capturing the conversation of own voices and the sometimes brutal publishing machine.
Listen to Suri’s review with Rachel below.
Ruby Solly’s The Artist is already Suri’s favourite poetry book of the year. A kōrero between iwi, whānau & whenua, this collection’s whakaaro is that artist is ever and has always been present.
Listen to Suri’s fantastic review with Rachel below.
Suri is back with a new review on 95bFM’s Loose Reads.
Prolific Chinese author, Yan Lianke explores secularism, money and faith in his new novel. This is a book to read if you want to take the pulse of what’s happening in China.
Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat about Heart Sutra below
This morning, Suri reviewed Salman Rushdie’s new novel, Victory City.
Set in fourteenth century southern India, this novel gives context to the nation buidling myths of India.
By giving contemporary facets to his characters, Rushdie installs starting points for those who may want to understand India and its racial divide.
Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat about Victory City below
Australian author, Tom Lee, pushes the boundaies of narrative form in his new novella, Object Space. Suri recommends this for philosophers, tech nerds and those interested in AI and ChatGBT.
Listen to Suri and Rachel’s great chat about this book below.
Suri believes that Bret Easton Ellis is back to American Psycho form with his new novel, The Shards. Think Gossip Girl meets Scream in this hedonistic horror based in 1980’s LA.
Want to know more? Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat below.
This morning, Suri reviewed the new novel by the author of the bestselling, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.
Cho Nam-Joo’s Saha is a dystopian thriller following various characters living in an abandoned building. The truth of their lives reveals a larger truth of society.
As Suri calls it, ‘a dark book for dark times.’
Listen to Suri and Rachel’s chat below.
Alan Garner's latest novel, Treacle Walker, follows young Joe and his curious friendship with a rag and bone salesman, Treacle. Swapping his old clothes and a lamb shoulder blade for two of Treacle's treasures, Joe begins to see things which were once invisible to him- are they real or a trick of his imagination?
Filled joy, folklore and charm, this playful little book explores the trickery of the human eye and the perspectives we gain in unlikely friendships. A gorgeous little book for fans of Max Porter's Lanny.
A review for chilly peak reading weather. A debut novel by a Pakistani British writer, Taymour Soomro.
Leaving his London life of theatre & literature in London, Fahad is brushing up against his father’s expectations of masculinity whilst traveling to his family’s Pakistani farmlands.
A beautiful, evocative and sensory novel with a tender love story that will make you feel far away on a rainy day.
2022 Pulitzer Fiction Prize winner, The Netanyahus has instantly become a staff favourite. Political, brave and absolutely hilarious - Suri highly recommends this one.
Listen below to Suri’s review with Zoe & David Feauai-Afaese Vaeafe (LEAO, Noa Records) below as well as a wonderful reading from the book.
