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.

‘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:

Books mentioned:

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk /  by Time Out Bookstore

Winner of the 2018 International Booker Prize and 2018 Nobel Prize for literature, Olga Tokarczuk returns to fiction with a heady, atmospheric 'health resort horror story'. 

Written 100 years after the publication of The Magic Mountain, The Empusium is written both as a response and a feminist retelling of Thomas Mann's canonical work.

We follow Miczyslaw Wojnik's arrival at a sanatorium set in the lush and dense mountainous forests of Germany, where the alpine air is touted as an antidote to all its inhabitants' ills. 

Following strict regimens of diet and exercise and using their downtime to muse on the state of a nation on the brink of war, the patients are aware of beady eyes following every move- are they being watched by the staff? Or is there a more sinister presence lurking in the shadows of the mountain fauna?

A novel filled with socratic dialogue and a rich, divinical atmosphere, The Empusium is a stunning and sinister exploration into the roots of facism and misogyny, as relevant today as it's predecessor was almost a century ago.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Pātea Boys/Ngāti Pātea by Airana Ngarewa /  by Time Out Bookstore

I pānui a Abby i Pātea Boys/Ngāti Pātea nā Airana Ngarewa mō Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Ka kōrero ia ki a Jonny mō tēnei pukapuka whakamīharo: (arohamai, e ako tonu ana ahau!)

From the bestselling author of The Bone Tree comes a lively and playful bilingual collection of stories about growing up in Pātea. Interlinked and full of recurring characters, these stories are about growing up in small-town Aotearoa - sneaking away during cross country or doing bombs while the lifeguard isn't looking.

The collection is designed to bridge a gap between children's books in te reo and full-length literary works. With each story featured in both English and te reo Māori, it's the perfect resource for those on their reo learning journeys as well as for readers who enjoyed The Bone Tree.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Help Wanted by Adele Waldman /  by Time Out Bookstore

Biting, sharp and funny, ‘Help Wanted’ by Adelle Waldman follows the daily rhythms and tribulations of workers in the big box megastore, Town Square. Desperate to escape the grips of their line manager Meredith, the employees band together to plot her removal. 

Shifting perspectives between the workers, this novel explores the unimportant but omnipresent rules and structures governing the daily lives of workers chained to their jobs and class.

Irreverent, funny and whip-smart, ‘Help Wanted’ is a millennial workplace novel that unearths the bureaucracy of management and the physical and mental aches of working class life in America.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Brat by Gabriel Smith /  by Time Out Bookstore

Abby and Jonny chat about Brat, the debut novel from Gabriel Smith:

Jonas Gabriel is an aspiring writer struggling to come to terms with the death of his father and the terminal illness of his mother. Suffering from a rare condition that makes his skin to peel off like a reptile, he can’t seem to stop offending relatives and family friends, often at considerable physical cost to himself.

Escaping the spectre of the girlfriend who has left him and the literary agent chasing him for the novel he has not even started, he returns to his family home to prepare it to be sold. Alone in the house, his skin shedding in ever-increasing frequency and quantity, with nothing but benzos, booze and memories for company, things take an uncanny turn: a manuscript for a novel written by his mother keeps changing, an old home video is similarly unstable and may reveal unsettling secrets, the house is becoming encased in Russian vines and a man dressed as a deer keeps appearing in the back garden.

While handling age-old themes of mortality, familial love and the impermanence of art, Brat is not quite like anything you’ve ever read before. At once a dark and disquieting ghost story, a unique and brilliant meditation on grief, and a profoundly funny Bildungsroman in which the protagonist’s education is anything but sentimental, it is a work of electrifying originality and bravura virtuosity by a major new literary talent. 

Listen below!

95bFM's Loose Reads: Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti /  by Time Out Bookstore

Suri talks to Jonny about Sheila Heti’s latest memoir which is an exploration of form and a radical experiment in diary writing.

Each chapter includes diary entries out of chronological order and in a system of alphabetisation- every sentence within a chapter begins with the same letter. From reading Faulkner to kissing in the supermarket, Alphabetical Diaries offers an intimate insight into the minutiae of Heti’s daily life and habits with a playful, poetic flair.

Listen below!

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya /  by Time Out Bookstore

A cleverly told story which thoughtfully captures the uncomfortable space between the generational and gender divide of a daughter and a father.

Sophia’s father sits in a theatre to watch the debut of his young daughter’s play. But he soon realises the play is about him and a holiday they took together in Sicily.

For fans of Deborah Levy, Ian McEwan and Rachel Cusk!

Listen to Jenna chat with guest Nine to Noon host, Paddy Gower below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: The Survivors by Steve Braunias /  by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna has Father’s Day on her mind, with a recommendation that would be great for your Dad, or quite frankly, just yourself!

Auckland based journalist Steve Braunias has declared The Survivors is his last book of true crime. Some cases you will know, others Steve was the only media in the room. This series of essays that depicts the human condition, with insight, investigation and humour.

Listen to Jenna & Jonny chat about it below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner /  by Time Out Bookstore

Told through the eyes of sharp-eyed secret agent Sadie Smith, Creation Lake is a genre-bending espionage tale, with an unexpectedly philosophical core. Set in the ancient caves and dried lakes of France, this atmospheric novel follows Sadie as she infiltrates an extremist group intent on unraveling civilization and replacing it with a primordial society. Headed by the charismatic and evasive Bruno, the group plots violent acts intended to pull Europe back into the Bronze Age. 

A surprising and fascinating cat-and-mouse chase, Creation Lake asks existential questions about human and civilizational origins whilst remaining thrilling up to its last words.

This is Rachel Kushner's second Booker longlisted title and perhaps her most rigorous one yet. Creation Lake is released early September.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Mongrel by Hanako Footman /  by Time Out Bookstore

Mongrel, a Time Out staff favourite for 2024, follows three women’s explorations of cultural identity. Moving between England and Japan, the threads that connect these characters are revealed.

This is a coming of age debut that features an expert hand of character development and an articulate and compelling exploration of cultural identity.

Listen to Jenna chat with Kathryn below.

95bFM's Loose Reads: My Friends by Hisham Matar /  by Time Out Bookstore

Suri declares My Friends by Hisham Matar one of her favourite reads of 2024 and one to look out for on the Booker Longlist (which is announced next week).

My Friends is a political novel that follows three Libyan men, exiled in London, and their friendship’s journey, weaving together fictional characters along side real events. With themes of loss, grief and friendship, My Friends reveals uncomfortable truths about finding your identity whilst away from home.

Suri phoned into the studio, listen to her review with Jonny below.