Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club - Summer Reads 2026 and Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham with Katie Clapham

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

It's the last episode of the series and we're sending you off in style once again with some brilliant summer read recommendations.Sara and Cariad are joined by bookseller and author Katie Clapham and her wonderful book Receipts from the Bookshop, inspired by her independent bookshop Storytellers, Inc. She shares her hot tips with us for a summer of reading.Thank you for reading with us this series. We like reading with you!Follow Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club on Instagram @saraandcariadsweirdosbookclubProduced, recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive.Assistant Producer is Amy Townsend-Lowcock 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 weirdos 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 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 up. coming 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. It is the last episode of this series. We've had some incredible guests on Carriads Judge the Women's Prize. We met Lily King. And now we're taking a summer break to get on with some good reading for our next series. Thank you so much for reading or just listening along with us this series or if you came to any of our live shows. We appreciate it so, so, so much. We're going to be taking a break. But remember, if you sign up to our Patreon,

on. We'll be adding lots more extra bits while we're away. We're doing as much as possible now. We've got our head around it. Yeah, we're good. The grannies are figuring it out. And we've got our book giveaways on there. We're getting all of our guests to sign copies of their book now so that we can send you ones in the post extra specially. Yeah, we'll get behind the scenes stuff and we'll be showing some summer updates because we've got a show in Edinburgh as well. And there's a brilliant community of bookworms on there who can give you weird and wonderful book suggestions and chat as well. These people know their stuff about books. Come and join us. You might find love.

Do follow us on Instagram at Sarah and Carriaz Weirdo's Book Club. Recommend us to a friend if you think they might like us. And send us your suggestions and book recommendations for future series. We love that so much. It's so great to give us pointers. There's so many wonderful and weird books out there. We'd love to hear from you. Yes.

But for now, hopefully, as the perfect summer send-off, this week's book guest is Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham. Katie is a bookseller, and she joins us this week to discuss her own book, all about being an independent bookseller in a seaside town. and crucially to give us some fantastic summer read recommendations. Katie, welcome to Weirdo's Book Club. We're very excited to have you here. I feel like this is crossing a line.

Because we've got a bookseller on our book podcast. Who's written a book. A book about book selling. Book selling. And readers. I know. Yeah, it's all getting a bit better. It's really great.

It's really great. It's called receipts from the bookshop, a bookseller's year. And it is all about your bookshop that you run. Your mum. With your mum. I want to say, Litham. Lhythm St. Anne's is the area, but my bookshop is in the town of St. Anne's, which is a separate town to Lytth. But the area is Lytum St. And it's very confusing.

Okay, so it's in St. Anne's. Do you want to literally give the address so people can have the... It's on the Crescent. It's Seven the Crescent. Storytellers Inc. is my bookshop. And this, you also have a very successful substack. That's right. Which is kind of where this book began. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So I was on... I joined Substack in November 22. It had a different title. My substack was called Terrible. at that point. And I was writing like book reviews and just sort of general pieces about writing because I was already a published children's author and various kind of long form pieces on

whatever I felt like writing about. And then about six months into that, I got to a week where I didn't have a post ready to go and I was scheduled to be in a bookshop all day. And I was kind of, it wasn't so much that I felt like I'd be letting a huge amount of people down if I didn't post that week. My audience wasn't very big at that point. But I just thought, well, I'm here. The bookshop's generally very quiet. I'll just see how I go writing about the day. And I don't really know what possessed me to call it receipt from the bookshop or to label it as number one as if I would ever do it again.

But I just sort of did and went with it. And, you know, my readers at the time said, this is nice, do this again. And then I did it every week for the next three years. Wow. It is really nice. I didn't know what to expect when I opened a book. And the things that are lovely about going into a bookshop, especially an independent bookshop,

are things like dogs. Surprises. Love puppets. Funny conversations, irritating customers. Carrie Ed and I have both worked in Debraith Smith, which is obviously a big chain. Yes. In the book shop.

Yes, in the book section. And you still have that thing with people coming in trying to order things with very little information. They think you're just going to know about it. Well, my son's doing it for GCSE. Oh, okay And this is the name before school

Of mice and men Yeah Often you're right Yeah You're like You're like You're probably Yeah yeah

And so straight away We're sort of there with you Sort of behind the till Yeah Yeah And it's all sort of written In kind of these little vignettes And you go through the whole year

I completely can see Storytelling Having obviously not been to your shop And the till And the till and your mum bringing the milk for the tea Like yeah You feel very much that you're there

So did your mom buy the bookshop? Did you buy it together? We did it together. So I'd been at uni and had been working for a couple of years while I did my MA and then kind of did a bit of soul searching for a couple of months. I went to the Isle of Sky by myself and wrote every day because it was always the intention to be a writer. So I was kind of wondering how I could spend more time writing. And then I decided I was going to move out of London. I was going to move back to St. Hans and kind of prioritise writing. and my mum had also recently taken voluntary redundancy from many, many years of jobs that she hated, well-paid jobs and she'd had a nice payoff. So she was kind of looking for a new project and we said, well, how about a little shop together? She was quite keen on kind of kitchenware, statuilers, plates and things like that.

And I was like, oh, I'm not sure I'd stay for that. I'd probably go back to London if that's what we're doing here. Uh-oh, mum. But she was quite quick. convinced that books would be a much better idea. And then about nine months later we had a bookshop. Wow. And it was, I mean, it does sound really impulsive, but if the, if the right things hadn't happened in the right order, we wouldn't have done it. It wasn't like we were so desperate to do this that nothing would stop us. It was that a nice premises came up really close to, you know,

where we lived. It was reasonable. And it just kind of all felt like each successive next step was quite sort of reasonable to arrange. So we just did it and we opened as a children's bookshop. And for the first five years I didn't write anything because it's really time consuming being a bookseller and also really exciting. What's so nice about this book is it's the reminder that like to run a bookshop you do have to love books. Like the love of books is what you do get from independent bookshops even though as you say actually running a bookshop is not just sitting around reading, which is kind of what the fantasy is. We've talked about. Yeah, a bookshop. Yes. Because that's it. So it's the passion of matching a customer to a book they're going to

love that's going to make their life better. I said a nice feeling when you can literally say to someone, I know exactly what you want. It's so good. Because it's never going to be financial. You're definitely not in it for the money. You can't. No. So it's funny how often your customers seem to ignore the price printed on the back of the books because they expect you might have set your own price. either cheap, more cheap or more expensive because that's the majority of capitalism is how much money do we want to make on this thing what can we make someone pay for it

but with books there is a set price and it's there printed actually on the item it's one of the few things but we do get mistaken for a charity shop a lot but that's just because our town is overrun with charity shops because obviously retail units are very expensive charity shops can take them on

whereas other independent businesses can't you do capture this thing that we are all experiencing that the high street is like majorly suffering and there just isn't high streets in the way that we all grew up with. But you said a really nice sign in the book which is like a bookshop survives when a town wants it to be there. That is what it is. It's like people have to not buy from Amazon and like be willing to order from you and turn up. And there's something so heartening to know that a town is willing to do that. That's the thing. It is it is kind of an active choice at this point. And obviously you do have to make caveats for people's budgets and sometimes it is more

convenient for people to buy things elsewhere, you know, we understand that. And it's never kind of, you should never buy books from anywhere else. But if you can afford to buy the recommended retail price at an independent bookshop, obviously that money immediately is back in your own community. You know, we pay our taxes. It's the best, it's the best combination for the author and for the publisher. That's the other thing is that when people buy, I mean, especially like Amazon, no one in the publishing industry is making any money either. No, they're sold at a loss. Yes. And that's devastating for the industry. And then it becomes important for like, oh, the amount of sales. So customers are sort of pushed there by the

publishing industry because they want to go, oh, it's this number on Amazon or top seller or to gain publicity to then lose everybody money. As being a writer now, obviously a few months ago, I would only ever be saying, buy independent, buy independent. And now I have a book published that I have sort of have to go, you can buy on Amazon and leave me a review. That'd be really nice. And it's, you know, really quite conflicting, but at least I've kind of got a nice excuse to say, my preference is your own local independent bookshop always. Well, it's the reviews as well, which I think, again, like, I don't know if you know, there's a brilliant woman on Instagram called Nicola Washington who does an account called Too Much Social,

which is about helping authors use Instagram to promote stuff. And she's always doing this post of, like, what your author friend wants you to do. And it'll be like, leave a review on Amazon, leave a review on Goodreads. And it's such a, like, it is such a conflicted thing. Because if you even mention it, sometimes you get DMs from people being like, oh, you was a writer. And you're like, no, but I, if it's not on that chart, like, I will be affected. Like, my publishers will be, like, it's such a, I think it's such a confusing system if you're not in it.

And again, like, the pre-order thing that people don't understand, like, pre-orders make such a huge, huge amount of difference to where you are on the chart or like a bookshop thinking, oh, well, it's worth in them. Well, how many they actually print? Yeah. So the only thing with pre-sales is they, they're going. go, oh, there's this amount of demand. We're already on our second print. Well, let's make that print bigger.

And then they have to sell them. So they'll do more PR and marketing and put it into people's hands. One of the things I thought was such a great tip, Katie, was that when you send out to bookshops, quite often the publishers will put, like, a little gift in there or something. And that they should be practical for booksellers. I love that. I was like, I'm going to steal that. That's really helpful. I was like, my next book, I'm going to be like, post it notes.

Paper clips rubber bands. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we need. I know. But we get sent books, and you know this. Like, sometimes they send you really great stuff for the book. A nice bar of chocolate or some nice tea bags, that's fine.

But sometimes you get sent utterly used to things. I also asked for there to be no paper cover on the book. You know, no paper jacket because they get so damaged in transit. Often we unpack books and the paper cover is already torn or it's been folded slightly wrong and it's bashed. And then so immediately you've got to discount that book or you've got to return it. It's like, can we make it the most bookshop friendly book that we can. can have. I love this. I was thinking out on the train today. I was like, oh, it's hard back,

but there's nothing there. Nothing to get creased. And it's not yellow, because yellow books fade in the sun, you know, so it's, I had, you know, a few diva demands as a book sell. These are good. They're very useful. That's so good. Yeah, I did think that. I was like, oh, this is really nice to hold because it's actually printed. Yeah, we used to have that W. It's miss all the time with the folded, it would be bashed and then you just chuck like five back because you're like, they're ruined. But they're not actually ruined. But then they're just not allowed to put on sale.

Also, I've had a bad Amazon review because they said, ordered came damaged one star. That's not what you're reviewing. I know, I know. You're not reviewing the fucking packaging. People will think that's the book. So, yeah, always leave nice Amazon reviews, guys. If you enjoyed it, obviously, if you enjoyed it.

In terms of the industry, because it does seem to be hanging on, and that is because, and like you say with your customers, Are you amazing customers? There are people who are so invested in support in their local bookshop. Yeah, they are choosing. They are making that choice. And it's not that it's even going to take that much longer. We can often get next day delivery.

So it's not like a huge compromise. Often the price is going to be the difference. Especially, you know, now supermarkets carry the big. They've even started having those more literary hardback titles, you know, like Maggie O'Farrell is in Sainsbury's now, which feels like a bit of a crossing of a line. Especially in a town like Centaams where my bookshop is the only kind of new bookshop. We do have a W.H. Smith and we have a secondhand bookshop. But we also have a Sainsbury's, which is now offering the new literary hardback fiction for cheaper than I buy it from my suppliers.

So it becomes a very complicated kind of process. And obviously, you're, you're, you're, You don't want your shoppers to think that you are pocketing all that difference because you're not. That's not the price that you've paid. Because the books are expensive to you. They're more expensive to us. Sainsbries is getting them really cheap. Exactly. Because again, from the publisher's point of view, how incredible to find a new market for books.

Because all they're trying to do is sell more. Yep. But Sainsbors will be like, you know, it will be such an insultingly small amount so that they can make a profit on it. And that's what becomes quite difficult because obviously you can't lecture the public on where to buy their. things, you know, if a busy mom is out shopping in Sainsbury, she wants to grab that book there because she's parked in the car park, you know, you can't make a fuss about that. She really needs. She wants a history of Ireland told through maps. Yeah, they've all been there. Yeah, exactly all her, like, her kids are busy looking at the magazine.

Yeah. She gets a second to look at a book. You can't get too high and mighty about it, because people, books have to remain accessible and they have to remain, you know, on the high street, wherever that is. But for those people who do have the time, who do have the budget, it is just that extra step of kind of, you know, thought, I could buy it here, but if I want my independent bookshop to stay there, I have to take those extra few minutes and walk across the road and buy it from it. Also, the experience is much more pleasurable. So much more going to a bookshop. When you go to a holiday, like say you go to Paris and then you go to Shakespeare and co. You go into there for the whole experience of being part of literary

history and looking at their range and looking at their recommendations. So that is what those extra couple of pounds are for. I know and you don't get. That's the thing is it's hard because I think like you said a lot of towns don't have independent bookshops so people don't know that experience. Like I still remember that it isn't there anymore, the town I grew up in. There was an independent bookshop. I still remember like the door, the bell, the way the floor went down and then went up again to like get to the kids section. And that was such a fundamental part of like me becoming a reader. I just think it's, that's the problem. What I mean is that a lot of people now haven't grown up with that.

Like, they are just used to getting books turning up at their door cheaply within 20 hours. I truly believe that memories are preserved in books as well. So if you have shelves of books in your house, you have your memories, like, trapped in those books. I mean, I've got a really bad memory. But I know where I bought all the books in my house. Because as soon as I pick them up, I know where I was. I know what the bag looked like. I know where, you know, what kind of day it was that I bought their book.

But if you asked me, you know, about a holiday 10 years ago, where, were you? I've no idea, but you show me the book, and that's kind of unlocked that whole memory for me. I've got this quote from your book, which I think underlines what we're saying really well, and I really love this. Buying a book from a bookshop really is an act of resistance. A retro, active resilience and determination to maintain or regain some screen-free time, and a defiant stand against the big corpse that assume people value an extra couple of quid over keeping retail afloat in their own hometowns. Yes, even if you only picked one up on the way to get your venti mocha, a single paperback is enough to make a single paperback is enough to make

a difference to us every damn day. And I do, I really think it's a two-way street. It isn't an act of charity. It might be an act of sort of like privilege, privilege of time and economics, but also the experience. And I even think ordering from a bookshop and then as you say, getting it the next day or two days later, then you get double the pleasure. Like I'm going to get it. Now I'm waiting. Oh, I can go and pick my book up. It's here. Like it's, like you said, you have these amazing conversations with these customers who you can then recommend things in like, I just think it's an undervalued skill book selling. Like, even when I was selling at the kids department of W.A. Smith, like, like, that said,

that hit when you could, like, talk to someone and be like, oh my God, well, they like this, they've got to read this. Like, we have to preserve that. It's so important to preserve that. Because one of the amazing things about independent bookshops is that your brain is in large. That's not the world I wanted. But, like, you know, like you browse, you see other stuff. This is why we have a book podcast.

It's why so many people who love reading have books. clubs. Yeah. It's because reading can be quite, you do it by yourself, can be quite isolating. But it really is a social thing. Number one, you're reading about some other people's lives. But then number two, to talk to other people about it is the next stage of reading. But there's a whole social aspect that you get right from the beginning if it's a bookshop.

What I loved about working in Devres Smith, which was when I was at college, was that I, it was other people's reading choices. Yeah, so fascinating. They'd be like, do you not know this author? This is the third one. And I've been waiting for this to come out on all of that. God, when they're buying like take a break and crime and punishment. Wow. Who are you?

What's happening? I love this description. I hadn't ever heard of this book. So Mark Billingham has written one where he's a detective and a dancer. Who knew? Oh, I thought of you. I thought Sarah would love that. We've talked about Mark Billingham quite a lot.

Also the Joe Nesbo one where it's a death phone that you write about. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's just so, he's a detective, a dancer. He has no respect for all sovereignty. He's the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets. I mean, yeah. Amazing.

Buy it from your local independent. bookshop. And that's the thing. It's just that I, you know, this is a stupid thing to say, but I was on tour in Scotland last week. And it was a big shopping centre, but I had the time to like wander around the shops, which is something like, yeah, busy mums. I have no time to do.

But it was so nice. And there wasn't a bookshop because it was a busy shopping centre. But just that browsing thing that, again, we've just lost because you just go to the internet, you only buy what you want and then you leave. So you're just coming into a shop and shouting. like land by Maggio Fowrell and then you go and you don't get that like yeah that sense of community

like you said that there's nothing better than being an independent bookshop and talking to them and then getting a great recommendation or seeing something by the tail and being like oh I didn't know they had that out like it's such a joy it's such a joy but

again as you said it's such a complicated we're in such a complicated situation because of course not everyone can do that it is a privilege to talk about the things that we're talking about and to have the time and space to do that. But there's lots of things Like expensive coffees are privileged and a treat. And I think that's the same about buying a paperback.

You might already have a pile of paperbacks. But it's a privilege and a treat. And I feel like we get very fun. Like people get very proud of like their independent coffee shops. They go and get their special £7 coffee. Mind you, Puccini's at the station. There was $4.50. So it's like wherever you're going, it's a million times what it should be.

And you really can't complain about the price of a book when that's what we're prepared to pay for for a cup of coffee. I think that all the time. They really are one of the most. most good for value items that you can buy. Yeah, for a few reasons. Number one, they look gorgeous in your house, if you've read them or not. They are the best decorations. And then you have them forever. And as someone with like a big to be red pile, the reason I don't have any guilt about it is that what I've learned over my years as a reader is you might have a book there for eight years, nine years, and then suddenly it's the right time to read it. I'm so glad it was just

there. And it was because I was browsing my own books going, what do I need, what am I in the mood for, fiction or non-fiction. I do want to understand Octopus's minds now. I knew the day would come. And I'm ready for it. And you write that as well when people, there's lots of people walking past your shopping, like, oh, we don't need any more books. You don't need any more. And you said something like, I wish I could just stand outside and go, yeah, you do. Go on. Have a lovely one. I just, I don't say I don't need any more coffees. I've had enough coffees. But also people, people like browsing in the shops, not because they need things. We all have too much of everything, really. We do it because we get this.

lovely dopamine hit. I know. Of buying something. And also I love that browser in the shop when you then find something for someone else. Yeah. You see something. There's not like kids bookshops just like browsing that

and being like, oh, that would be good for them. Like, it's a joy. It's a real joy. You capture it really well in this book. And I think this book, if anybody likes books, I think I'm worried it's going to make too many people buy book shops. Oh, yeah. I mean, that is a bit of, although I don't know.

I mean, is it? I mean, I think I'm quite down on it sometimes. You capture it, but there's something about like, even though you're like, oh, we're not taking any money. There's like a whimsical fancy, which is like, but wasn't it romantic to take any money? Oh, maybe I should apologise. We've got you here with Ulterior Motive. Because we loved your book and we loved reading your book and we thought it would be a lovely sort of end of series to speak to someone who sells books. But also, going into our summer break, we like to talk about books we're planning to read, summer reads.

Summer rex. Summer rex. Summer rex. Rex is short for recommendation. Yeah, yeah. And we thought you might have some brilliant ones. For summer reading, I guess people are looking for books, not only that are set in maybe hot places,

they might want a book that's great to read on a train or a plane, something that passes the time really quickly, or something that people might have a bit more time. This is the book. I've saved it. Sometimes they save it, don't they, for the holidays? I'm going to read this book. So, yeah, Katie, do you have ones you want to talk? We've got some ones that we think about as well.

Well, I'll tell you what I'm saving. I haven't read it yet, but I am saving the new Anne Patchett, Wistler. I'm so excited. It's like glowing on my shelf. I don't know what I'm saving it for because I don't know when my summer is happening. But when it won't be interrupted, I think it's when you know, okay, I've got to have a good reading set. It's called Whistler.

We should say it's called Whistler. And what I've seen about it is everyone being like, oh, well, I've seen like snippy negative stuff saying, oh, it's a bit sentimental or it's a bit like soft and easy. And I was like, sounds great. Yeah. What do you expect from Ann Patch? I know. This is why we read Ann Patch.

It's for this exact flavor. I love your feelings. So hard. Where are you seeing these snippy thing? It was definitely a big review that I then saw crib notes, our other favorite book, being like, I think this is really unnecessary. Like, this is a lovely, lovely book. And it's just, and I read a tiny bit of it because I didn't want to read too much.

And I was like, I'm really excited about Whistler. It's odd when someone describes what something is, what it intentionally is and repackages that as a criticism. Yeah. That's not a mistake. No. That is what it is. That'd be like going to see Rambo and going, oh, it's a bit tough guy in it.

Yeah. What's he trying to prove? This is what we're here for. This is definitely what we're here for. Yeah. Yeah, very exciting. I'm so excited. I feel like sometimes people expect too much of Ampatchett

and don't give her the credit for just being a brilliant writer. I just thought it was a really interesting angle for a story. So it's about someone bumping into someone that was their stepdad. So they knew at a point in their life. And about being known for points of your life is really valuable as an adult, someone who saw a certain period. It's like, that's enough. I'm in.

I've never read anything about that period. Yeah, that's what I thought when I read it. I was like, oh. And she also wrote a really good. good article about, I think it must be promoting Whistler, about her three dads. So, like, her biological dad and her two step dads. I think he was in vogue or something like that. And she, there was some point, her sister's wedding, they were all happened to be there. And she made someone take a picture of her with the three dads. And her dad said, careful when we're dead,

she's going to use this to write about us. And she was like, my dad knew me. My dad's the one who knew me. We agree. I'm Patrick Wissor. Yes. She's on the summer reading list. But yeah, I haven't read that one yet. So what I have read is Pool House. by Mary, Educate Joy. Oh, do you know about this? So this looks very summary because it has a swimming pool on the front. So it's giving us the summer vibes.

But it's this really kind of biting novel about fame and celebrity and family and mother-daughter relationships. So it's about this young woman, Stevie, who her mother moon is a kind of cult actress. She was super famous when she was younger and then she was in kind of a long-running TV series about kind of a mixed family

and then her on-screen husband dies in real life and her on-screen son who is like Stevie's kind of long-time crush has to move in with Moon and Stevie in their house and it's really fun but also quite serious with the topics that it kind of discusses but then Mary Troy is such a brilliant writer she'll sometimes throw kind of this really

sort of savage line in there and you're like I can't really believe that she said that she's so fun yeah um I just I really enjoyed it and I sort of hadn't read her before so I went in with kind no expectations but I hugely enjoyed it so pool house is definitely one who has I'm writing it down yeah that I would pick up that sounds great another kind of summary one with that has a nice kind of watery picture on the front is um American fantasy if you read this by emma strobe so she's another like queen on patch it she is another right who is also a bookshop owner. She owns Bookshire Magic in New York.

And she's written this really fun novel about a boy band cruise. So this is a story. Yes, absolutely. So this woman goes on this weekend cruise where, like, her favorite boy band from when she was a child of kind of doing these like, you know, reunion concerts on the cruise. Oh, look at the cover. It's so fun. Oh, that's right up your street.

Yeah, it's a really good, it's a really good read. I mean, I read it and like, 48 hours. It was just such a, such a blast. So I would, I would really think that's a good kind of, that's a proper holiday read. I'm going to add one that also has a watery cover. Yeah. Yeah. This is All In by Claire Powell. Oh yes. I've heard of this one. No. Well, I know the name, yeah. Yeah. So it's, um, it's a really, really great set up and it probably is perfect to take on holiday because it's a married couple going on holiday with, um, the husband's brother and his girlfriend, who is planning to propose to and their dad.

And the brother's much richer, so he's paid for this holiday. And so right from the beginning, which is sort of like basically packing and taking the dog somewhere for them to look after it, it's an examination, I think, of marriage and family and what you tell people and what you don't tell people. And at a certain point maybe in your relationship where you're deciding, are we staying together or not? Oh.

But with a holiday backdrop. Ooh. And it is very, very funny. and you love the character straightaway you just want to stay with her and I'm really into stuff at the moment like the film The Invite that's examining long-term relationships

and when they stop serving us because you think we get really sort of we get loads of love stories at the beginning of relationships Is it the same Claire Powell There's a Claire Powell who does kids talk I think it's different I was like, I was like

I was like because what a What a achiever Yeah range because she had a the novel, didn't she with a face in the cake? At the table. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's, I think, a little bit like, who do we love, Rebecca Waite?

So she's someone who talks about, um, serious stuff really funnally, really easy to read. The quote on the fun is Rebecca Waite. And Andrew, your friend. And Jenny Godfrey. Andrew Hunter Murray, friend of the podcast, friend of, friend of real life. Oh, that sounds really interesting. Yeah, it's great. Villa Coco.

Yes. By Andrew Sean Greer. That's on my, I want to read this summer. Yes. probably the funniest book ever written, which is an accolade. And it won the Pulitzer and described by Dali Alderton as like absolutely perfect. Wow. And Villacoco, Andrew Greer, on purpose, has written a book that is joyful and full of pleasure and that you'll want to go back to and read again and again. He wanted, you know, the world is hard and he wanted to write a book that

was escapism. Oh, nice. And so I knew it was going to be like fun, but it. It's more than that. It's mystery and a lot of the characters are older women. And it's love stories, a gay guy in Italy. He's been sent to this woman's house. He thinks he's been hired as an archivist. And she won't let him look at any of the stuff. And he's staying in this room and there are these,

I'm trying to think of the name of the animal. I want to say like marmoset or something. Anyway, there's just lots of stuff. There's just lots of stuff going on and mystery and cars that don't work. and all in sweltering southern Italy. Yeah, so it's really great. He's supposed to be a really fun guy to my friend Natasha from Bookish interviewed him and she said he arrived in like a gold cape.

He sounds brilliant. Reading as escapism, I just think that's the perfect book. If you're just like, oh God, I don't want anything that's going to make me think about the real world right now. And that thing about being a young person at the beginning, because the character sort of just left university, trying to work out what his life is going to be. The next big love story is really great.

Oh, that sounds great. I'm going to shout out one which I've mentioned before, but it was on a women's surprise, but Kingfisher by Rosie Kelly. Have you read that one yet? No, not yet. It's a very light one and as in like it's not thick. And it's not escapism,

but it is quite a lot of like, it's quite a lot of like late summer vibes. Like there's quite a lot of like it being too hot and being out in a field in the same. sun just trying to like be by a lake because you're like you know that feeling of like everything's too well we know that feeling everything's too hot and like summer's stretching out but that's not really what it's about but that's making me think of summer because it's about a queer poet who um meets a very very established older female poets who's very successful sort of you know radio four

bastion type of person and that kind of power dynamic relationship between the two of them and it's also a bit griefy so it's very opposite to villa cocoa but if you want something a bit more Yeah, like a bit, it's not gritty at all. There is some grief in Villa Coco. There's a funeral and then they go and steal the urn. Okay. So it's like, james. Yeah.

Actually, Kingfisher has like funny moments as well, but it's much more, it's like it's not escapist. You'd never use the word escapism is what I mean. But that, again, I would say is like a good, if you just want to pack like a good novel. And it's not, and you're going somewhere for a weekend. Because again, it's light, it's short, you won't take you very long, but it's so well written. It's so well written.

I wanted to shout out one which, which, are going to talk about, I think, but transcription by Ben Lerner, which is a very short book and we are hopefully going to talk about it. And that is, it's just come out and it's about, it's really hard to describe. His books are always really hard to describe. And it's one of those books. You always want to recommend this for other people. Readers love Ben Lerner.

Yeah, I think. He's brilliant with form. He makes you think, and they're so difficult to tell them why you think they should read it. It's like, just read it and then we can discuss it. Yeah, the cover is black with like a red dot at the front, which is like a phone. recording and it's about a kind of intellectual writer going to interview his old mentor and basically his phone stops working. I think that's all I can kind of say and so he can't record the interview. But it also really reminded me of audition by Katie Kittamura, which again, we might do

an episode for a bit. And you said we could double up on that. I think we could double up because they're both thin books with black covers that are breaking forms. Yes. I think those would be, if you're looking, I would say transcription by Bel-Leanor and audition by Katie Kittamura, if you're someone that's like, I want to read something challenging this summer. I want my brain to be like broken open and reformed. Especially with audition, I'd say, and not, because sometimes what you do want is a really satisfying ending. It's tied up.

I know what happens. And I would say with audition, you don't get that. And sometimes you want to be unsettled, have questions, and then be desperate to talk to other people about it. I recommend it to my very good friend, Joseph Mulpergo. So if you know someone who's a bit avant-garde, doesn't always do things the way that everyone else is doing things. I was like, you will love this book. And I think transcription by Ben Lerner is similar. It's actually more accessible than audition. But it's, I read it on a train journey

and then I sat and really thought about it for an hour. I was like, wow, what did I just read? So again, if you want something a bit meatier, I would say that's a good one. Okay, so do you know the series on the calculation of volume? Yes. So this is a translated book. It's amazing. Oh, okay. It's so amazing. Who's it by? Who's it by? Solvebal.

Yes. So they're being translated and released slowly in the UK by Faber. And you all love them because they're very short, but they are. So it's a woman who is reliving the same day again and again. So the very first one. She's Danish. Yes. I think my dad's up to number three.

Yeah. So four. There's four currently available in English. Wow. There's going to be seven. Yeah. And I'm still not clear. on whether all seven are available in Danish yet or whether she's still writing it.

It's obviously this huge project that's taken a year. And it has had quite an interesting journey, you know, originally, I think perhaps self-published in the first parts and then we sort of has gained this incredible audience. But it's like a real treat now when the next one comes out. You're like really looking forward to it. And I'm not a big kind of, I don't read series or, and I'm always a bit apprehensive about sequels of any sort. But I really love the concept of this project because it's so unique, even though you feel like you've read lots of time slip stories before.

There's always an element of a kind of time slip story in which it's an adventure that we have to escape out of. Whereas on the calculation of volume is such a meditative book on what you do if you are trapped. And she's now finding, the character Tara is now finding ways to kind of, even though she is kind of the world is stuck in at this 24-hour period, she is able to move through it. That was the big thing, I think, with number three. Yeah. She can now move sort of, she's moving across time zones to find other seasons and to make, you know, find other kind of places to experience this same 24 hours. And it's just, it really is quite a transformative reading experience because you have to kind of retrain your brain to not be skimming for plot or, or, you know, reading for, you know, reading for, a conclusion because you know you're not going to get it.

And I suspect even at book seven, we will not get it. But the point will be that you have had to go through the process, which is frustrating for some people. But I think you feel yourself changing as you read it. Like you feel your heart rate slowing. You feel like you really have to get into that zone, don't you? That antidote to the modern world. Yeah.

It might be to actually, how do any of us actually experience anything anymore with phones and screens and the amount that we know and the amount that's put into us and it might be that that's what she's doing. Completely. And it really does make you think about, you know, appreciating what is actually in front of you. If there is no tomorrow, you know, then you've got time today to actually look at the sky.

And again, a marriage because she's in the house with her husband. Obviously she knows every single thing that he's doing and everywhere that he is, whether he's in the house or not. So that's a great recommendation. It's fascinating, isn't it? Wow, that's a great recommendation. It's nice for summer because it's, I think it's got that kind of slowing down sort of state. I mean, it's a great one for winter as well when you're sort of huddled down.

But now that we've got those other books, we can experience some of the seasons through it too. So I just love it. I've got Dad Had a Bad Day by Ashton Polytano. So this is a real unhinged Dad book. This is Dad having a breakdown. It's so much fun. It's quite a short novel. It's published by a bad thing.

one of my favorite publishers, Dawn Publishing. Oh, yeah. I've seen this, but I thought it was about tennis. Well, it is about tennis. But it's about this dad who's really supposed to be looking after his young son, but has rekindled his love for tennis. And he's becoming a much worse father, as he's becoming a much better tennis player. And it's really, it's one of those ones you have to just kind of let yourself experience. You know, it's quite stressful.

You're sort of on the edge of your seat sometimes. You know sort of bad things are unfolding. front of you, but it's a book and you have to just kind of, you know, accept that this is... Is it one of those ones that makes you a bit anxious? Yes, it does. It does. It's really hard when you can see, it's, please don't do that, please don't do that. Yeah, it definitely does give you a bit of that, which I think is why it's so good that it's a short book, you know, you can get through it.

Yeah. And but it's really fun. And I think it's really fun to have a stay-at-home dad novel. Yeah. And I like it so much. And it's a good, another one that I've written down is Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens. Oh, yes. That looks really good.

I've seen that everywhere. It's so funny. It's got an incredible cover. She's such a brilliant writer. If you haven't read her novel, not working from years ago. So her debut was compared to like Bridget Jones diary. It's so funny and so of a moment. And then Lisa Owens' life, like since then she's written a movie.

She's become a mother herself. And then it's like amazing for a generation who've, because not working is temping and being in your twenties and, you know, how do you know, how do you make your life to be the kind of life that you want? And now her generation of readers, who probably a lot of them are also parents, or if not, at least older and have friends with parents or they've got nieces and nephews.

She's written a book now for them. And it's such an experience read again. Like Dad had a bad day, it's a real sort of lived experience book. It's 24 hours with this mom, with these young children. And I would say, I mean, I'm a mum. And if I had been reading this when my children were still very young, I might have found it a bit too close to the bone. You know, like you don't need your heart rate to be any, you know, faster at that point.

But now my daughter's a bit more grown up. I could sort of see it from a distance and kind of acknowledge that, yes, this was the carousel of trauma that we were on and we have got past it. And it's really funny. It's the details are incredible. And it's, you know, it's a pretty stressy read. But also you just feel so seen, you know you've been there, you know you survived it. She's a brilliant writer. And it's a great, it's great because while I would say Dad Had a Bad Day is a very unhinged to dad novel.

This is absolutely not an unhinged mom novel. This is just a, you know, this is a reasonable woman trying to get through the day. And you just want to support her and you just want her to win the day. Sarah Savitt, who's the editor of that book, is also the reason I ever wrote a book because she was the person who told me to do a picture that became animal when she was at favour. Wow. She's a good woman. Good woman.

I wanted to shout out one that Gwendolyn Riley's new one. Oh yeah. The Palm House, which we haven't read, but we're keen. Robin Alenda, friend of the podcast, sent me lots of messages and then he said I read his substack about it. Talk about Gwendolyn Riley in general. So I'd recommend his substack to anyone who did like her Gwendolyn Riley. Any Riley heads out there.

Any Riley heads out there. But yeah, I've got another friend, a friend, Hi, Podrick, who said that he's a massive Gwrenelman Riley fan. And he said this new one is mind-blowing. It's like it's so good. And it's for the fans. And I think also now it's becoming clear that so much of what she's writing about are things that she's experienced. Another one I want to read, and I've heard good things about, is prestige drama by Seamus O'Reilly. You had this one.

Shamus wrote, I know Shamis I interviewed him on the grief cast. He wrote a book called Did You Hear Mammy Died, which was about his mum dying. He's one of, I think it's 11 or 12 siblings, and it's a very, very, very funny book about grief. It really is funny. I think he's one of the younger ones, and like, obviously the whole town knew that the mum and the dad had to raise like 11 or 12 kids.

And it's about the chaos. I can still, there's a description of his dad driving them all in like a van to Spain for a holiday with the doors had fallen off and their owners in the van. And his dad's just getting through. But this is his first fiction and he also writes a parenting column for The Guardian You might read that which is really funny

Yeah and this is the first novel Which is it just, yeah I think it's set in Derry is what it seems to be saying here But I would read anything that shows right Because I think that one would be a very funny But you know That kind of Irish writing that still has like That kind of bitter sweetness kind of like running through it

So yeah that was another one I wanted to shout out I've not read this one but I saw a poster for it on the way here I'd love to see a poster for a book next to to Apoll Spitz. I like both those things so much. And it's called Sunstruck. So I just thought, yes, it must be a summer read. And it's Waterstone's Book of the Month, and it's a debut novel.

And it's sort of, so it was nominated for their sort of best debut of the year as well. William Rayette Hunter. Yes. Oh, I've not heard of this one. Exactly. One, the shortlisted for the debut fiction prize 2025. And then does it have the blurb there sort of the story? It was very intriguing.

It's summer. An unnamed young man. Yeah, that's enough. It's summer. An unnamed young man walks through the gates of a luxurious mansion in the south of France, ready to join the Blake family on that annual holiday. Here during dreamlike days, lounging by the pool and nights blurring into opulent parties. He quickly falls for Felix, the Blake's eldest son.

Ooh, he's everything the man wants to be, handsome, charismatic, wealthy, and his desire is surprisingly reciprocated. Suddenly a new world of money and power fills within reach. Obviously, that's not going to turn that one. Oh. Yeah, I'm in. And when I was... Someone's hot as read, says Sunday time.

When I was 17, my dad lived in Australia. I'm for sure I was about 17. Maybe I was 18. But anyway, he came to the south of France to do a gig on an island. So like a rich man had paid for this jazz band. And there was going to be this gig on an island. And then my dad asked if I could come. So they had this like massive mansion.

Wow. And it was really incredible being around rich people. And obviously I was only there for my dad. And then someone from my dad's band, she told me that her husband left her. because she'd farted in his face when he went down on her. And I never really got over it. And I also always think, why would you say that to such a young person? So it's not where I thought that story was going.

That's my, that's my, that's, that's my, that's, that's, that's my, that's, that's, and now I don't have to write it as a novel. It's just a, it's a tweet, really. Wow. I was like, never, never forgot you. I was busy reading about William Rayfet Hunter. Yes. So that looks great, doesn't it?

Yeah, that's a good name, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And the other France one, and we've probably talked about this book before, but is the Lucy Steed, the artist, which every. everyone loves because of the art. Oh, which I still haven't read, but like it was a very big hit last year, so it must be out of paperback. And I was in a bookshop the other day and someone was recommending the correspondent,

which won the women's prize. And I was very smug behind there. And I wanted to say, well, you're welcome. And then the bookseller started recommending the artist, like so vociferously. I was like, gosh, I must read that. Yes, because I think that was the Waterstone's book of the year last thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've read it, haven't you?

Yes. My husband really kindly, because he knows how much. much I love reading, but when you're buying books for someone who reads a lot of books, the worries always read it. So I think he did a really clever thing, like, buying, knowing it was doing really well, but that it was so new I wouldn't have got it. Yeah. So he brought it for Christmas, I think, before. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually, I don't want to say anything negative, because I think it's a really, really readable book. I found it a little silly. But like it may be good. Sometimes books can be silly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know,

overly dramatic. I didn't feel like this really, I didn't feel like this really, really, happened. Yeah. It was just a little, yeah, a little silly. I think that's good. I think we've recommended lots of different vibes. Yes.

So I feel like there's something for everybody. And I've got now eight books to go and buy. I've got 20 tabs open for the thing that you've said. I was like, oh, I've got to quickly, quickly like write that. Remember that? Or we could just listen back to this. We don't have to write these things down. But yeah, that was some really good stuff there.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Katie. I hope that everyone in the bookshop. I hope that everyone in the district comes and buys lots of books from me brings their dogs to say hello and buys receipts from the bookshop from their own independent bookshop

you know this is one of the things we've had to keep kind of saying like it's very nice for you to buy my book from me but please do support your own local independent bookshops yeah more local one yeah more than it's it hive there's a website where you

Bookshop dot org is the preference I mean hive is good hive gives a little percentage to bookshops but bookshop dot org is really cutting bricks and water bookshops back into online book selling. So then you can do it. If you're not near one, you can buy a book online that will be delivered to your house, but the proceeds will go to.

And you can't choose what bookshop you're supporting as well. So if you're like, I can't get to my local bookshop, but I would like to support them. Yeah. You can do that. Thank you. Thank you. Happy much. Happy summer. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Weirdos Book Club this series. Don't forget you can join us on Patreon for more weird and wonderful staff behind the scenes. me and Sarah remembering to film stuff with our camera. It's a great place to be. Keep sending us your book recommendations on Instagram and Patreon at Sarah and Carriaz Weirdo's Book Club. Have a great summer. Let us know what you've been reading. We'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you.