Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club - Summer Reads 2025

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

We asked our Weirdos listeners for their summer read suggestions and they delivered! In this episode Sara and Cariad chat about some of the books they're excited to read.Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you!Tickets for Sara's tour show I Am A Strange Gloop are available to buy from sarapascoe.co.ukCariad’s children's book Where Did She Go? is available to buy now.Sara’s debut novel Weirdo is published by Faber & Faber and is available to buy here.Cariad’s book You Are Not Alone is published by Bloomsbury and is available to buy here.Follow Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club on Instagram @saraandcariadsweirdosbookclub and Twitter @weirdosbookclub Recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive.Artwork by Welcome Studio.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Pasco. And I'm Carriead Lloyd. And we're weird about books. We love to read. We read too much. We talk too much. About the too much that we've read. Which is why we created the Weirdo's Book Club. A space for the lonely outsider to feel accepted and appreciated. Each week we're joined by amazing comedian guests and writer guests to discuss some wonderfully and crucially weird books, writing, reading and just generally being a weirdo. You don't even need to have read the books to join in. It will be a really interesting, wide-ranging conversation and maybe you'll want to read the book afterwards. We will share all the upcoming. books we're going to be discussing on our Instagram, Sarah and Carriads, Weirdo's Book Club. Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you. Hello. Hello. You feel shy and it's just the two of us? You're doing your shy smile. No, I wanted to say, Summer reads, makes me feel fine. And I wasn't sure how you'd vibe about that. I'm really vibing. You're vibing it. Yeah. Join in then. Summer reads makes me feel fine. This is Summer reads. This is Summer Reeds. We, now you did a video on the Instagram at Sarah and Carriads Widow's Book Club.

Yes. And you asked... I wanted to know what people were reading, what they were planning to read, their recommendations. I don't know why Summer Reads is a thing, but I guess it's the desperate plea of a dying industry, saying please buy your book before you go on holiday. No, it's because people have more time to read in summer. I think Christmas is reading time, surely. Well, I guess some...

Winter, winter. Winter reads. Winter reads. Winter reads. By the fire. Exactly. I did it. Yes. That's when people read.

And in the summer we're playing Frisbee, we're swimming. I guess people go on the, the idea is you go on a beach and you sit there for two weeks. Yeah, beach reads is sort of different as a, because beach reads suggests, oh, this isn't going to, this isn't going to stimulate your brain too much. You can just be this sort of fat slug, all hot and oily covered in sand. Just because how it feels to be on a beach. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess, well, and I guess maybe it's like, maybe it's a seasonal thing as well of like, oh, I feel like really. something different for my summer read. But I do think, no, I just think it's advertising.

I think it means that they can sort of push books again. Yeah. But they do often push. This is what I want to say. They do often push, like you said, a lighter read. Yeah. Because you're on the beach. What I love about our listeners, Sarah, that's not the road they went down. I went through everyone's suggestions. Yeah. They were all amazing. There were some that I would really describe as a bleak midwinter read. So I took out some of the real bleak midwinter reads. Can we still, I least hear them? Please, when we do the bleak midwinter suggestion, which, of course, will be In the bleak midwinter, books can be your home. Lovely.

So we'll do that in winter. But then because some people would argue, I'm not arguing. But if the weather's are slightly a little bit depressing rather than cozy, then that's when you need your hot books. Anyway, look. Books, books are not seasonal. Books, books, books. How do you like them? How do you like them?

P.R.S is going to be off the charts. Sorry, sorry. Trying to keep it 10 seconds. And also the other thing I've done, top of the list, there was a few that were mentioned several times. Oh, right, okay, great. Let's do that. Popularity.

So can I tell you, our most suggested book? Evenings and Weekends, Ashine McKenna. Oh, we have been sent this. And, you know, the lovely, lovely Jack Edwards book, Talk Man. Yeah. He also, when I did Between the Covers, that's the book he recommended. That was his book of the year last year. So I feel like we're being pushed.

Because it's like many people recommended. Let me read, it says, this is the other thing I did. Blub. I googled and I chose one sentence about most of these books. Now sometimes it did not give me the full sentence, so sometimes you won't get the full sentence. Have you not paid for the full Google? I didn't play for full.

Are you paying for full Google? Yeah, tax-eductible. I won't do it. I won't do it. So I only get half the internet. I don't need any more. The precarity and dreams of 30-something Londoners who were adroitly explored in this 10,000,

portrait of contemporary queer life. But everyone has said it's a really good read. I know it's all set in London. Lovely. And I think it's set a summer in London. Lovely. So that was... Summer in London.

Great. The next most suggested... Okay, so... But have we agreed we're going to read evenings? Yeah, we'll do that. For the podcast. Okay, yeah, let's do it. Second most popular in our top ten was Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Read.

Oh, because this is the new Taylor Jenkins Read. This is the new one. Taylor Jenkins' read novel, Atmosphere is the fast-paced, emotionally charged story of one ambitious young woman finding both her voice and her passion. Yeah, brilliant. Sounds great. Taylor Jenkins reads, she wrote Daisy in the Six. She's got another long title one. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. That's absolutely brilliant that book. She likes a long line. That's absolutely brilliant that book. This one is set in the 1980s at NASA. Cool. Sounds quite interesting. Yeah. Okay. Well, so far, two for two. Yeah. But those are the most recommended.

Yeah. So that's like... People are already reading it because they're with Taylor Jenkins read like, oh I have to read her new one. You've got some of our listeners suggestions. One of the ones is Careless People by Sarah Wyn Williams, which I'm halfway through at the moment. Yes, and you like it. This is nonfiction about Facebook woman. I think it's really important to know,

not in a worthy way, because it's a really readable, well-written book by a woman who is phenomenal. And the book starts with her being attacked by Shark as a teenager. And it's a really important thing, weird way to open. Yeah, this book about working at Facebook. She's a Kiwi, and she's a bit and person.

buy a shark and it then goes septic and her parents don't take her back to hospital. They leave her overnight because the doctor said she might be a bit hysterical afterwards. And so she's having sepsis and she can't breathe and her parents aren't taking her and she's so determined to save her own life and she's passing out in the back of the car the next day when they wake up they realise that she's very very sick. And afterwards she's basically in a coma, the doctor's fight for her life. As she comes back into consciousness, her mother says, you're so lucky, I can't believe. You're so lucky that the doctors managed to save you. And she sort of like whispers hoarsely to my mother, I saved myself. Oh my God. So she's the most tenacious,

incredible woman. It's interesting in every level, but essentially that Mark Zuckerberg goes from something who's apolitical and not interested in politics to, because in terms of growing Facebook, they have to play ball with countries like South Korea and China. He becomes a statesman of not only a country, a huge, powerful country. And she invented her job and campaigned for a year because she saw the future and how Facebook was going to become. And then she had a very small baby at the very beginning of all of this. So she was also juggling it with motherhood. So it's a lot also about how people like Cheryl Sandberg say one thing outside

and behave very, very differently when you're a woman working with them. She was congratulated once at work when another woman found out she had a two-year-old. She went, oh, congratulations. I had no idea. Well done you. Because that was the whole point is that people didn't know. Anyway. Oh, my God.

There's a reason I think everyone's reading it. Some of it is shocking about it. It's also the reality of the world that we live in. Not only the internet we use that our children are using. The thing that's been quoted a lot at the moment is that in 2007, 2008, they came up with the technology so that when a teenage girl deleted a selfie, she would instantly be advertised because of our products. So there's things like that that we should know because we are accessing those things and it's not accidental. Instagram does a thing that it knows your time, your average time and you're about to leave. It would then send you how many people have liked your picture.

as recently. Like, it drops them at the right time. So you're like, oh, likes, likes are so nice. And then you stay another 15 minutes. Oh, wow. I know. I wondered why it always, because I check Instagram very quickly. Yeah. Why, just as I was logging off, it always comes up with a heart. And it's like, why does it wait a minute? Yeah, it's because it knows you about to log off. It's like, hey, wait, Sarah. Someone loves you. Yeah. I'll stay here. Yeah, I want to read that one. That looks like a good summer read as well, because I feel like, it's interesting, thought-provoking, but not so traumatic that you're going to be like weeping. You'll be crying as I just came back from Benadour when I was reading it on the beach.

Yeah. And so it actually just makes you want to talk to other people around you. And a lot of people go, oh, that's about that. And you go, I'm on this bit now. This has just happened. That's a good summary. Yeah, it's a really good summary. It's a good recommendation.

You could start a book club at the hotel, for example. Yeah. Well, quite a lot of hotels. So I used to work in, both from Nantzabotty and Nottingham, we used to have a book box. Where the guests who were leaving, you didn't want to carry a hard back home, left them in there. People don't like a heavy books. Sarah, they don't like a heavy book. Also, lots of people don't keep them once I read them.

Yeah. Okay. I want to talk about one that was recommended, where one of our listeners. I'm giving it more than one sentence because I'd never heard of it. Have you heard of Assembly by Natasha Brown? Yes, I read it. You read it? It's a faber book, it's very short and it's brilliant.

It sounded amazing. It's really good. And Natasha Brown's first book did really, really well as well. Shall I read you? It's about anarchism, yes, please. So very briefly, narrative assemblies is a black British woman. She's preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend's family estate. set deep in the English countryside.

At the same time, she's considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can't escape the question. Is it time to take it all apart? I was like, that's a blurb. Yeah, it's a really great read. You'd love it so much, Carriette. I feel like I've won a prize because I've read one that's been recommended. Yeah, yeah, you have.

Another one that's recommended that I thought you might like the sound of. It's Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker. Kourazeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing way the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. Wow. Amazing contemporary horror. I thought you would like that. I was a bit, I was aware of that. Yeah. I would love that. And did the reader, did the recommendation come from someone who has read it? Yeah. And saying that they loved it. Yeah, they said. Loved it, great. Cool. Loved it great. I think they probably said more than that. Pong, geez. That's what coats on the back of books should say. This is another one that I think you might have read. Station 11. I love Station 11. By Emily's Sinjun Mandal, not St John Mandel. No, you say Sinjan. Oh, do you say Sinjin? You say Syngon. How would anyone know that? I'm 44 years old. I read that book.

And no one said to me, oh, Sinjin's new. Who won? I know that, because I, this is how you know that it's Sinjin. One time in your life as a British person, you say, oh, Emily, St John Mandel. And an old person's Sinjan. And you go, what? And they go, it's Sinjin. If it's St John, you say Sinjin.

And you're like, what? Why? On like road names as well, on churches. Is this all the time? In the Bible. No, no. No. What's happening?

Station 11 is a dystopian. Flu pandemic. Yes. So I read it because I was researching for the play that I haven't finished about. the apocalypse and I was trying to read lots and lots of the most famous dystopian apocalypse bubbles it's great I love dystopias I love there's no one left they're walking through what's that under there what's moving I love it wow that's and that's in all of the top five top ten dystopian future is is

section 11 yeah well it was recommended by one of our I wondered if you'd read this one Ali Smith glyph with a nod to the traditions of dystopian fiction a glance at the Kafkaesque and a new take on the notion of a classic. It is a moving and electrifying read. Love, Alice Smith. Two children come home to find a line of wet red paint encircling the outside of their house. What does it mean?

It's a truism of our time that it'll be the next generation who sort out our increasingly toxic world. What would that actually be like? In a state turned hostile, a world of insiders and outsiders, what things of the past can to sustain them and what shape can resistance take?

And what's a horse got to do with any of this? This sounds amazing. I thought that'd be up your street as well. Oh, Mrs's got too long to read pile. I've now got four more. Yeah. I've got another one that I think you're going to like. Which again I hadn't heard of.

The Stepdaughter by Caroline Blackwood? No. Okay, let me read you the one sentence that Google gave me. Okay. Because this to me is the epitome of a weirdo's book. Ready? Caroline Blackwood tells us the tale of a very unhappy housewife. She writes letters in her heads to imaginary friends lamenting her many woes and frailties.

Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yeah, stick us on the mailing list. Stick us on the mailing list. Caroline Blackwood, the stepdaughter. But yeah, that was another recommendation from a listener that I had not heard of at all. I think it's a bit of a 70s classic that I was like, I never heard of. The other one that keeps coming up, which I'm sure will be very readily available if you were listening to this at the airport, is the names by Florence Knapp.

Everyone's losing their shit about this. Have you heard about this one? No, I haven't. And I've been in airports constantly for the last three months. The names is like I got given a proof of it. almost like a year and a half ago. Like people were like, oh my God. It's like in this strikingly assured sliding doors tail,

three alternative narratives unfold showing how the choice of a name influences a life. So it's like she goes to name her child and the husband says you have to call him, like my name basically. And it's three different narratives of like one she does call him the name, one she doesn't, I don't know whether the one is. And then it's all interwoven. They let the baby name themselves.

The baby knows of itself. And apparently it's like very, very, very, brilliantly structured and amazed. I had a lot of people being like, oh, the idea, it's like a gripping. And it's a debut, it's a debut novel. Yeah, it came out this year. That sounds really great. Can a name change the course of one life?

Which I thought you like a bit of nominative to terminalism. I think I do. Would you think you'd have had a different life if you had a different name? That's, let's be silly. Did your parents ever say to you, oh, we were going to call you, did it? Yes. And what's the name? Dillis.

Dillis for a girl. Yeah. It's a Welsh name. Yeah. you offend the entire nation. And they wanted to call me Dillis. And my brother's most favorite thing to say, it was like, you could have been Dillis.

Yeah. And now I actually think it's quite a nice name. But as a child, which is a child in the 80s, rough, that'd be rough. I think you would have had a different life. Yeah.

If you'd been called Dillis. Someone pointed out the other day, I was telling the story, they wanted to find Dillis. And they were like, Oh, you would have been called Dildo. Yeah. Dillis Willis, that's what we'd have called you.

Dillis Willis. Dillie. Yeah, maybe. Dilly Willie. It's actually a very beautiful name. I was told a lot as a child about the name that I was going to have if I was a boy. Oh, yeah. And so I was, there's a sort of, that was sort of haunted through my childhood of boy me, Roland.

Yeah, Rowley and Dillis. Imagine how different satellites would have been. Rowley and Dilley. Well, we would have been a folk band rather than comedian. No, I think we'd have been a sort of right-wing comics. Rowley and Dilley. Because I think it would have been a bit angrier. And I think I'd have gone, I'd have gone into comedy sort of harder.

Do you have another on the list that you've read that you want to say, yes, I agree with you listening? Okay, well, green dot by Madeleine Gray. Which I still haven't read, and you said was brilliant. It's really, really great. Again, it's a debut. She's an Australian author. When we were at the Clang, Women's Prize Party. Clang, we were at the Women's Prize Party.

Did you see the Instagram? Clang. One of the people I spoke to you by the toilets is her British agent. I was saying that her new one is even better. And it's got really well. It's about a woman, have a crush. having a crush on a man at work, and that man is a married man. And so, and I think what, I think it's very modern in its take of relationships, monogamy, having a big, big, big,

big, big, fat old crush on someone. Great. Yeah, I want to read Green Dot. I know you said it was good. I think Green Dot is because that's when he's online. So it's that little thing of like, oh, huh. Yeah. Nice cover as well, that Green Dot. Yes. Yeah. I enjoyed the cover work. One, I just wanted to shout out that I've read that someone else recommended, which I would genuinely say wins the prize for most perfect summer read. The Summer Book by Tovia Janssen. Oh, yes, which I did on Between the Covers. Oh, I didn't choose it.

Someone else suggested it. No, I think the show suggested it. Oh, have you read it? Yes, I love it. It's really wonderful, isn't it? Beautiful. Yeah. An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter

while away a summer together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. I think they just made a film of it as well. Yeah, I think they have. But it's a, if you haven't read Tovey Jansson, or you think, oh, she's just a kid's writer who writes the Moominns. Firstly, secondly. Firstly. Apologies. I'm just underline.

that energies were both No, no, this is what can happen People get dismissive of things Because they're popular Or they mean something to say else Or we all hate being recommended things So we don't all hate being recommended things We're bloody do

But but To, I mean, it's She writes so beautifully She writes so meditatively And it will slow you down And there's a reason There's a reason to pick that up in summer Or spring I really think there is

Oh I think it's I think again If you're someone who's like I really just want a summary I don't want to be challenged I just want to summer read You can still be sort of challenge I just like hotness. Did anyone recommend Deborah Levy's hot milk?

No, which I agree. Hot milk, I would say, is absolutely amazing. Summer Reed. One another one I thought you might like. Nora by Nula O'Connor, which is about James Joyce's girlfriend. When Nora Barnacour, a 20-year-old from Galway, working as a maid at Finn's Hotel

meets young James Joyce on a summer's day in Dublin. She is... I didn't get the rest of the Google sentence. She is... turned into a vampire. Message us to let us know. A love story of Nora and James Joyce. But I thought you might like the sound of that.

I do like the sound of it. I like the sound of too many of these. I know, I know. I'm excited. We've got good, the thing is, as I was going through the suggestions, I thought, we've got good listeners. Because all the most, like, I'd say, 99.9% were like, wow. A few people said, Sarah, that's not a bookshop.

Because you were outside a wine shop. What must they think of me? I think they, I don't know. What must they think of me? Yeah. As I go into the bookshop once again coming out, I don't like you're so drunk in the bookshop. I can't read this, it's liquid.

Why wouldn't they take my waterstone's voucher? I think we can continue this as a joke. On the Patreon, like how many shops can I stand outside and now in? Yes, we should say, we have a Patreon. We have a Patreon. And I'm so excited about the things that we can do. Yes. And basically what I'd like to do is, you know, we went to see the years at the theatre.

And so incredible. time we do that, I would like us to make that into a mini documentary. So we talk about it before, we have the interval chat, we then respond to it. Yes. So we could do like a little half an hour sort of blog if blogging's still a thing. That's my new idea. Well, it is a thing. And we're also, we've already been recording behind the scenes content.

Yes. When we went to the women's prize, our to be red pile. Yeah. So if you sign up to Patreon, you just get this but more. And it will only get better as we get more confident with our phones. That's it. Okay, another one that I think you've read, Stoneyard Devotional. I haven't.

My step-mom read it and loved it. I got sent it. It's in my house. It was on the book of short list. Yes. Oh, definitely that is a quiet, contemplative book. This story of a woman retreating from the world to a convent in New South Wales considers guilt, forgiveness and human connection. So different too.

Have you been watching? And just like that. No, we haven't. From high to low. Because we can't do that. They've already done that podcast. I know. SJP?

It doesn't exist. We can commande it. Not SJP. Ginger One. Oh, Miranda. Miranda takes a nun's virginity. And that nun is... She takes a nun's virginity.

And that nun is... Oh, my God. Another female comedian. American, really famous. She was in hacks as well. Oh, my God. Rosie O'Donnell. Rosie O'Donnell is the nun, who's a virgin.

And it's so funny. And she sings wicked to her. Oh, my God. It's really, really funny. I know people probably don't... People are snobby about that program. I've seen lot of people saying it's dreadful, but I love it. Oh, it's cringgy.

And I think they... I think they have lent into the cringiness because of the cringy lists. Oh, I see. They are not trying. They are not trying not to be cringy. Yeah. They're being gloriously. They're going for it.

Yeah. Okay. And there's now a subplot about a reality TV show and what and hate watching shows. Oh, that's funny. Watching things that are crap are really compulsive. That's in an episode. Oh, that's great. Yeah.

I'm very happy with that. Yeah. So, don't know a devotional. I definitely am going to read them. And that makes you feel better. I don't have to buy that one. I've got it. Another one that I'd never heard of,

which I thought was very, it sounded very interesting, called Herland by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. Yeah. Which was written in 1915. And it's when three American men discover a community of women living in perfect isolation in the Amazon.

They decide there simply must be men somewhere. How could these women survive without man's knowledge, experience and strengths, not to mention reproductive power? In fact, what they have found is a civilization free from disease, poverty and the weight of tradition. All alone, the women have created a society of calm and prosperity,

a feminist utopia that dares to threaten the very concept of male superiority. We definitely have to do this for the podcast, God. Herland, it sounds insane, isn't it? And again, to pick a book from 1915, talking about an issue like that, how funny. I was like, interesting. Yeah. Also, a huge shout out for James by Percival Everett. Yes, lots and lots of suggestions for that.

Another one that definitely needs to be read. Yes, I know. That's on the list as well. Sky Daddy by Kate Foke. That's the one where she's in love with airplanes. Oh, cool. That does look really good. That does look really good. Oh, yeah. I heard someone else talking about that the other day. Sky Daddy. Yeah, Kate Foke. Yeah. Who is the author of Nightbitch, isn't she?

Oh, I love Nightbitch. Yeah, I haven't read or seen it. Bad. I haven't seen it, but I absolutely loved it. And I read it overnight when my baby wasn't sleeping. Oh, when I was like very much in the, in it. Oh, it's absolutely brilliant. And so that definitely is a weird dose. That's definitely a bit of us to actually do all the podcast as well, isn't it? Carla by Colin Walsh. Taylor, Carla.

I read that one when I was in Turkey in Istanbul the other day. And so that's one of the ones that's been in my shelf for a while. And it is set in Ireland and it's got a character who's a sort of a famous pop star now. There's a girl who went missing when they were all 17. 2023, that one came out. Yes, that's very recent. So it is, it's a literary crime thriller, I guess. It's a debut as well.

Is it a debut? Yeah. So it's very well written. Page Ternary. Summer read, absolutely. It really is. So many Irish writers. They're all so good.

Storytellers. Like the Welsh and they're singing. The Welsh and that's. One I think you've read, Matrix. That Lauren Gruff, Lauren Gruff? Oh, no, I haven't. Lauren Groff, you're right. She's written, but not just that book, lots of books.

Yeah, she's written not. I feel like this might be the most. All the substack authors go on about Lauren Groff. I think this is her most recent? Oh, 2021. This came out. Maybe she's got others. But lots of people, that, again, that's been...

Matrix. And there was that... I think the one that came after was in the woods or the river... In outdoors, anyway. The Vasta Wilds. Yeah, that's the one I mean. Yes. And actually that looked really good.

She gives us a character study to rival Hillary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell. I was like, whoa, okay. Oh, God. We have to buy all the... I'm getting Gryph and I'm... Glyph and Gryff. Glyph and Gryff. Good evening, Mr. Waterstones.

Glyph and Gwoff for me, please. I've still got money left on my voucher for my birthday, see. Okay. So it really is good money. There was another shout-out, which I thought was another good summer read, Avocado Hotel by Bob Mortimer. And the Satsuma printed. So it's the second, so the third in the trilogy or the second.

He's writing three. But I thought, I bet that's a nice beach kind of. I think they're really, really funny and adorable. And obviously, he's a genius. Yeah. So I thought, I bet that's a good if you're looking for something. Yeah. Just like, no, I just want something funny and easy.

I thought, yeah. I agree with you, listener who recommended that. I thought I bet that would be a good one. Miss Blaine's Prefect. Miss Blaine's Prefect by Olga, W-O-J-T-A-S, watched us. And it seems to be a series. And, yeah, for fans of Mirus Bark. Wow, yeah, really good.

One of the other ones we've recommended is, my name is Leon by Kit de. Oh, Kit de Wao, yes, yes. And you've interviewed her. I have interviewed, and she recently was the chair of the Women's Prize fiction list, and I read her memoir without warning and only sometimes. Oh, yeah. So yeah, we would recommend my name is Leon by Kit DeWil,

but she has a new one out called The Best of Everything. It's brilliant. The memoir is amazing. Like, yeah, the life that she had as a small child is, yeah, just one of those. And again, amazing storyteller, Irish family. Yeah. And West Indian family and living in Birmingham. And I actually went to an event recently.

Annie Mack, former guest, friend of the show, does a book event at the London Irish. And she was interviewing Kit Deval and Michael McGee, who wrote close to home, another one that I would highly recommend. And they were both talking about their Irishness in terms of their influence on their literature. So, do you think we should just give everyone Irish a book deal? Just like, just cut out. So let's stop waiting. Let's just stop it. Yeah, all right. Let's just, who do we talk to? We just need to grow the Patreon to the point that we've got a publishing wing. Oh, that would be nice, isn't it? Yeah. And then we'd do it one. And then we'd do it one. nation at a time.

I think the population of Ireland is about six million people. I literally can't conceive of what million people. I had no idea about population at all. Nor do I. I just pulled that out of my ass. I know, I think it's really... 2505,000, 18, says Wikipedia.

It must have had a huge exodus since I last counted them all. 5.3 million in 2023. Yeah, I did all right then. Anyway, I think we can give them all the book deals, what I'm trying to say. Especially, a million of those will be kids. Kids can't have book deals. Do we need to wait till they're a bit older? we'll see how it works with the first five million

and what quality of books we get when we've forced every Irish person to write one I don't think we'll be forcing I think people will be keen Do you reckon? Yeah, I think so Finally someone wants to hear my tails Someone mechamended Which I don't think I've read this one

But I have read and she was also recently nominated For the Women's Prize My name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout All Elizabeth Strout I think they're exceptional Well they're very She's very economical with words Yes

So you think you'll be like, this sentence is so simple. Why am I weeping? Why is my heart never felt this moment? My name is Lucy Barton. She goes to Lucy Barton, which is a character that comes up a lot in these. She keeps revisiting her, didn't she? Yeah, at different points in her life and the books are published at different points in her story. So the one that was recently nominated was Tell Me Everything, which is later. And then there's Olive Kitteridge as well. Yes, she's a different character. Lucy Raston's not in that. No, no. And that's also been made into a series on Sky. Olive again. Olive Kittridge is brilliant. William is incredible.

That's the most recent Elizabeth Stratt I read. But when I read the first one, Lucy Barton, I then just bought all of the other sort of published. I have read Lucy Barton. I think I had to do it and between the covers. And I liked it, but I didn't make me one. I didn't sort of then become like, oh, I've got to read all of them. Yeah, I know.

I felt a bit like, you know, and you're like, I should like this. I'm surprised. I also think, but sometimes writers who are economical or slightly quieter, if you read them at the wrong point or after another book or in a rush, let's say a book program, I think those, they're the ones who suffer. Well, I think I read it after persuasion. I think it was tough follow.

Yeah. Because I was really in the depth of, you know, words. Yeah. Can I do a quick shout out? Yes. To Jane Austen fans if they haven't watched the BBC documentary three part. Oh, is it good. It's so good.

Yeah. It's so good. There's too many actors talking about stuff. But the historians are really enjoyable. The actors because they've been in Austin. I don't want to slack anyone off. They've been in Austin. Yeah.

Would you say that qualifies you to talk about Jane and her life? Depends how much research they did for their character Okay, depends how much further But is it, do you think that's the BBC going, no one will watch this? Yeah, yeah. Even though it's a 200th anniversary of her... 250th anniversary of her birth.

She's the greatest female... Comic novelists we've ever had. Living. Novelist. Novelist, not even comic novelist. She's the greatest... Yeah, she's incredible. She invented a new form of writing. She's our female Shakespeare.

Yeah. Oh, but if we don't put Tom Hiddleston... He's our male Austin. Putting it that way, Will. Yeah, if we don't put Tom Hiddleston in it. it, they want to watch it. Yeah, and do you know what else was weird? For BBC adaptation, they didn't use any,

the clips of the TV or film versions. They didn't use any BBC ones. So for Pride and Prejudice, they chose the Joe Wright film. I was like, why are you not showing me 1995? Anyway, that was a small, but I would say... Because they're on Netflix, maybe Netflix owns them. No, they took them off Netflix, because they were so popular. Oh, really?

Yeah, so basically BBC just was like, oh, sure, have it. It was on Netflix. And then they were like, oh, everybody watches it. So they took it back to Eye Players. It's on iPlayers. still like playing. Because they were like, oh, why are we doing?

Yeah, why have we sold that for 50 pounds? Oh, did you, did you not think it was game changing? Anyway, if you're a Jay Nelson fan, you should watch that documentary. It's really, really, really, really good. Yeah. Yeah. And apparently there's some new audible adaptations coming out.

Full cast, like, with like big names. Yeah. In September. It's a big last in year. I was just starting as if it was really written in a big way. And then Anne! Came into the room. Yeah, someone told me about it at the Women's Prize.

event that I did with Jill Hornby. Actually, that's another shout out. Jill Hornby, who wrote Miss Austin, which was adaptive for the BBC, has a new one out called The Elopement. And I interviewed her and Nikki May, friend of the pod, who did her motherless land, which was inspired by Mansfield Park. But if you like Austin, the elopement is, oh, just a lovely. It's about Jane Austen's niece, and it's true.

Oh, yeah. It's based on true that she did a runoff with somebody unsuitable. And it's just written in the style of an Austin book. And I, like, hoovered it up in two days. It was just like, oh, it was just like, yes, please. Like, yeah, I want this. Tasty, tasty. Yeah.

Oh, good, good. Someone else, I think maybe a couple of people, or maybe it's one person said, I Love Dick by Chris Kraus, which came out a while ago. I read it and I didn't get on with it very well. It's not a charming book. Yeah, I found it. I remember we finding it really hard to pick up all this time. But it's an important book, I would argue.

Yes, important. Which is why it's funny for a summer read, actually. Yeah, yeah. I think I'd be then going, well, I guess it's important. I mean, it's important for feminism. It's important for female sexuality. I think it's important for a depiction of female anger and then also just a certain moment in time actually.

Yeah, I'm just looking at when it was, it came out. Oh, 1997. Yeah. So it's very obvious time, isn't it? Yeah. I would say, if we are saying to you, I love Dick by Chris Krause and you were like, I have never heard of that, what are they talking about?

I would be like, Google it and see what you're saying. Yeah, have a look. Or even, I actually, when I read it, then listened to her talking on podcasts because I wanted to find out a bit more about her. And, you know, it's based on a, real infatuation with a real man who existed in the world. And so the story outside it is as interesting as the book itself. Yeah, I think it's interesting. Also, if you've just got like a

horrible crush that won't go away, sometimes you just need, you know that sort of literature therapy thing. Yeah. Like read about someone who's much, much worse than you and you might feel a bit better. Yeah, that's a good idea. Are there, oh, another one that we might, that is on both on our list that William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love. We've been sent that. It's massive. We're going to need a leader. By Philip Hort. Now, we have been sent that and a friend of the show. I've got to stop saying that's awful. Catherine May wrote about it on her news letter saying how amazing it was. So I was like, oh, then I would like to read that.

Okay, well, let's definitely do that. That will take, if we're going to do that, like, in October, we need to start reading it now. Yeah, okay. And then is there any others that we haven't mentioned that, like, on your list? You don't mean of like at home. Have you bought any? At home, I mean, I do have, I do, what have I bought to read? Oh, well, I'm really excited because I tell you who's got a new book out is, Jane Austen. It's crazy. She's been so quiet. I think it's Dr. Crippin.

Because, you know, for years and years, they thought the body in the, I mean, he was hanged, the body in his fireplace was his wife. And then they did DNA and it wasn't. And so it's true, so it's true crime from history, but she's such a brilliant writer. Hallie Rubenhold Hallie Rubenhold And so I interviewed her on my Sex Power Money podcast

All of that time ago Is it story of a murder? Yeah So I bought that Actually came out In March this year Story of a month Oh yes I remember the cover

Yes The wives of mistress The mistress and Dr. Crippin So even though I've got a huge To Read Parlor I sort of ran down there to buy that And then because I was there I bought the Kate Summer Scale

Which is again she writes Really great Historical Nonfiction About murderers I'll do my Jane Austen you tell the murder of fans and again sort of pleasure read

and again sort of pleasure summer reading I'm travelling lots on aeroplanes at the moment and you do need a book where you're just like so glad you're reading it and you're doing an airplane yes oh god it's nice isn't it when you got one

when you're like pleased to pick up yes I did also buy at Hay Festival the new Guadalupe Nettle oh yeah so we read her stillborn with Emma Gannon that episode and it's called

The Accidentals we did her other books Stillborn. She's a Mexican writer and we did Stillborn with Emma Gannon an earlier episode but she's one of, I loved her writing and it's a Fitzcaraldo. Our favorites. Our favorites. I think that's it, isn't it? It's really good. So I've got this idea for a substack finally. Okay. So I wrote my show, I'm a Strange Gloop based on a philosophy book called I'm a Strange Loop. Yeah. And I think I might do a substack taking the book one page at a time because none of it's in the show. Like, who's the one that you

that your dad and me both like James Joyce? Swim in the pond in the rain Oh George Saunders George Saunders So he takes in Swin Pondon Rane takes a page at a time with Russian stories

But you'd be doing that with Yeah yeah and stuff that I thought I was going to write stand up about and I haven't In terms of this book is about the self And what it is to be A person aware of your own self And what I thought my show was going to be much more about Was the my complete erosion of self from having children

So now I can just do it as a soft attack maybe on the train to the gigs. That's a great idea. Thank you. I'm, you need to set it up before this episode goes out so that people then can

immediately click and subscribe. Yes, okay. Well, they can still follow me on Substack because I'm on there just haven't published anything yet. Okay, well they should follow you. I'm also on Substack. I just write bullshit about Gladiators and Cake.

But that sounds so up Substacks Alley that you're going to be hounded with subscribers. Once the show is sort of like polished, it'll give me something to do on the way to shows or the way back from shows or even like in the hotel. I go, oh I'd just spend an hour writing my substack.

I'll be me with my cup of suit. I was like you could rest. But no. Fuck rest. Fuck rest. Yeah. Fuck rest. That sounds like an amazing idea.

That's perfect substack. Yeah. First page would be about the inscription, you know, the dedication at the beginning. Oh yeah. Because you know what his dedication is in his book. He says to him, I won't say their names, but he's like, so to Natasha who really gets it. And to Claire, who doesn't. So right for the beginning, bitchy sisters anyway.

So, you know, some of them aren't even long pages that I can talk about. He won't sue me, right? No. No. I don't know why you're asking me, but I'm very confidently, because you're my lawyer. No. I am, Your Honor, representing Sarah Pascoe today. So we met at university doing English, so I don't think you need any more information about my...

She's my oldest friend. What other qualifications does she need? What editor do I need? I have known her first child and woman and now murderer. That's our summary. Reads. Summer reads. Thank you so much, listeners for sending all these suggestions in.

Yeah, thank you. And if we didn't mention yours, we will mention them all the time. We've printed them out. We've got so much reading to do. That's the thing. But keep sending them. Tell us things that you like. Tell us things that you'd hope to see coming up in the future.

Please stop preparing your bleak midwinter list. Yes. The seasons are changing already. And don't forget, you can find us on Patreon. We are there doing lots of behind the scenes stuff. So sign up to our substacks and our Patreon. Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you.

You know,