Curious Readers

This week’s episode is one of deep dives, this time into Audition by Katie Kitamura, an ambiguous and destablising read that packs a lot into very few pages. We also share some recent book and literary prize news and talk about what’s on our TBRs.Books:Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Bhasth)i  The Book Of Sand by Geetanjali ShreeKairos by Jenny ErpenbeckThe Vegetarian by Han KangSmall Boat by Vicent Delacroix (translated by Helen Stevenson)Clear by Carys Davies (Winner of the Ondaatje Prize 2025)The Adversary by Michael Crummey (Winner of the Dublin Literary Award 2025)Red Milk by SjónCareless People by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsAudition / Gone To The Forest / The Longshot / A Separation / Intimacies by Katie Kitamura My Tender Matador by Pedro LemebelThe Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe Also mentioned: Teatime Book Club, @Teatime.picturesRosemary’s Baby by Roman PolanskiSuspiria by Dario Agento (with a 2013 remake by Luca Guadagnino)Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes 

This week’s episode is all about our favourite reads by Korean and Korean-American authors, including books about sulky giant octopuses, sinkhole tourism, empathy bypasses, diasporic depression, simulated marriages, and tearful encounters with gochujang. And as always, we discuss recent reads and what’s next on our TBRs.Recent readsIn Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (tr. Terence Kilmartin)Sweat by Emma HealyThe Meteorites: Encounters With Outer Space And Deep Time by Helen GordonKorean books and authors Crying In H Mart by Michelle ZaunerSea Change by Gina ChungThe Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun (tr. Lizze Buehler)Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home by Eric KimThe Hive And The Honey by Paul Yoon The Trunk by Kim Ryeo-Ryeong (tr. The KoLab)Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn (tr. Sandy Joosun Lee)Black Girl From Pyongyang: In Search Of My Identity by Monica MaciasUp nextThe Women by Kristin HannahThe Husbands by Holly GramazioAtmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins ReidMy Friends by Frederik BackmanKakigori Summer by Emily ItamiEndling by Maria RevaAlso mentioned @angelazbaoSnow Piercer, Parasite by Bong Joon HoLibro FMFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes 

This week’s episode is a BIG one. Or at least, one in which we talk about big things, namely big books and why – or why not – we find them intimidating. And as always, we discuss recent reads and what’s next on our TBRs.Recent readsOn The Calculation Of Volume (Volume I) by Solvej Balle Confessions by Catherine AireyBig Book Fear The Book of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk The Bee Sting by Paul Murray Middlemarch by George Eliot – narrated by Juliet StevensonThe Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor DostoevskyA Suitable Boy by Vikram SethLost Illusions and Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac2666 by Roberto BolañoIn Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust Pachinko by Min Jin LeeThe Eighth Life by Nino HaratischvilliDhalgren by Samuel R. DelanyReader, Come Home: The Reading Brain In A Digital World by Maryanne Wolf11.22.63 by Stephen KingAngle Of Repose by Wallace StegnerLonesome Dove by Larry McMurtrySecondhand Time: The Last Of The Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich Shantaram by Gregory David RobertsThe Luminaries by Eleanor CattonA Little Life by Hanya YanagiharaThe Goldfinch / The Secret History / The Little Friend by Donna TarttCherry by Nico WalkerThe Name Of The Wind by Patrick RothfussFuture ReadsDays Of Light by Megan HunterThe Silence Factory by Bridget CollinsWild Ground by Emily UsherAlso mentioned The Ondaatje Prize 2025 shortlist Chatsworth HouseThe Storygraph The Book Club Review Podcast PatreonFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes 

This week’s episode is a brief encounter with short contemporary classics and the lilliputian tomes under 200 pages we recommend if you’re looking for something to get you out of a reading slump. We also talk book news, what we’ve been reading recently, and the titles we’re looking forward to picking up in May. Recent readsMinistry Of Time by Kaliane BradleyPlayworld by Adam RossEx-Wife by Ursula ParrottShort classicsFair Play by Tove JanssonThe True Deceiver by Tove JanssonLucy by Jamaica KincaidSuch A Fun Age by Kiley ReidThe Fifth Child by Doris Lessing Ben, In The World by Doris LessingWe Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver The Tenth Man by Graham GreeneWhat we’re reading nextSoft Core by Brittany NewellDeep Cuts by Holly BrickleyThe Emperor Of Gladness by Ocean VuongLet Me Tell You by Paul GriffithsLet Me Go On by Paul GriffithsAlso mentioned @LadiesLitSquadDisney+ Dying for SexDolly Alderton and Netflix’s Adaptation of Pride & PrejudiceCan You Ever Forgive Me DuneA Complete UnknownWellness by Nathan HillLong Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-AknerFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes

On this week’s episode we dive deep into Rejection – not the emotion – the novel in stories by Tony Tulathimutte. We also discuss things we’ve read and want to read in April and revisit the Women’s Prize nominations now that they have been shortlisted.Our deep dive Rejection by Tony TulathimuttePrivate Citizens by Tony TulathimutteRecent readsThe Iliad by Homer and translated by Emily WilsonThe Odyssey by HomerHype Machine: Inside the Cult of Crypto by Joshua OliverI Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline HarpmanGreen Dot by Madeline Gray  Women’s prize shortlist Good Girl by Aria AberAll Fours by Miranda JulyThe Persians by Sanam MahloudjiTell Me Everything by Elizabeth StroutThe Safekeep by Yael Van Der WoudenFundamentally by Nussaibah Younis What we’re looking forward to in April  Twist by Column McCannTilt by Emma PatteeThe Colony by Annika NorlinAudition by Katie KitamuraNotes to John by Joan Didion Also mentioned The Coach and Horses Pub Quiz, WhitstableThe Book Lovers’ Pub QuizThe BookClub Review PodcastAdolescence on NetflixLet the Great World Spin by Column McCannApeirogon by Column McCannIntimacies by Katie KitamuraBlue Nights by Joan Didion

On this week’s episode we catch up on what we’ve been reading, share our thoughts on the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, and talk about some of the April releases we’re looking forward to picking up soon. Recent readsCarnality by Lina Wolf, tr. by Frank PerryHurricane Season by Fernanda MelchorThe Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas The Women’s Prize for Fiction LonglistGood Girl by Aria AberThe Ministry of Time by Kaliane BradleySomewhere Else by Jenni DaichesAmma by Saraid de SilvaCrooked Seeds by Karen JenningsAll Fours by Miranda JulyThe Dream Hotel by Laila LalamiThe Persians by Sanam MahloudjiDream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieNesting by Roisín O'DonnellA Little Trickerie by Rosanna PikeBirding by Rose RuaneThe Artist by Lucy SteedsTell Me Everything by Elizabeth StroutThe Safekeep by Yael van der WoudenFundamentally by Nussaibah YounisOur ContendersColored Television by Danzy SennaOrbital by Samantha Harvey There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif ShafakGliff by Ali Smith  The Echoes by Evie WyldeIt Lasts Forever And Then It’s Over by Anne de MarckenExcited to Read in AprilRoom on the Sea by Andre AcimanGirl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie GilbertOpen, Heaven by Seán HewittAlso mentionedThe Stella PrizeThe Carol Shields Prize for FictionFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes 

Join either side of the Atlantic as we dive into our favourite London/New York novels. It’s an episode full of stiff upper lips, demonic possessions, sociopaths, bedsits, alcoholic dollmakers, sassy parrots, and white asparagus. Plus we talk about our must visit NY-LON bookshops and reading spots, and we look ahead to new releases set in and around the Big Smoke and the Big Apple we can’t wait to read. Recent readsUniversality by Natasha BrownHunchback by Saou Ichikawa (translated by Polly Barton)Stories of Place:///zinc.level.blindfold edited by Niamh McAnallyOur Favourite NY-LON NovelsLong Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-AknerThe Lonely Londoners by Sam SelvonThe Vulnerables by Sigird NunezLook At Me by Anita BrooknerBig Swiss by Jen BeaginThere Are More Things by Yara Rodrigues FowlerNY-LON Books We're Excited to Read in 2025Confessions by Catherine AireyWake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay MacCleod ChapmanLorne by Susan MorrisonCursed Under London by Gabby Hutchinson CrouchAn Opinionated Guide to Literary London by John CleggAlso mentionedThe Strand BookstoreBooks Are MagicCodexThe London LibraryHousmans BookshopJohn Sandoe BooksJudd Books Daunt BooksFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes 

This week, we deep dive into Liz Moore’s viral woodland thriller The God of the Woods - and we have opinions. We also talk about the new releases we’re looking forward to reading in March. Recent readsThe Future by Catherine Leroux (translated by Susan Ouriou)Rejection by Tony TulathimutteYou Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue (translated by Natasha Wimmer)March 2025 releasesThe Horse by Willy Vlautin Show Don’t Tell and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Universality by Natasha BrownFollow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes

This week, we have a chat about why reading is an act of resistance and delve into the books we turn to during a crisis–whether climactic, sociological or existential. We also discuss our favourite reads for a complete escape.Recent readsShy Creatures by Clare Chambers The Long View by Elizabeth Jane HowardNuclear War: A Scenario by Annie JacobsenReading for resistanceDemon Copperhead by Barbara KingsolverThe Young Team by Graeme ArmstrongA Personal Matter by Kenzaburō ŌeThe Last White Man by Mohsin HamidFor a crisisNot the End of the World by Hannah RitchieOn Freedom by Maggie Nelson Eating Animals byJonathan Safran FoerSurrender by Joanna PocockOrbital by Samantha HarveyIn the Distance by Hernan DiazEmpireland and Empireworld by Sathnam SangheraThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshanna ZubenoffTo escapeThe Moomins and The Summer Book by Tove JansonYou Are Here by David NichollsStandard Deviation by Katherine HeinyAlso mentioned in this episode:NYRB Classics ChallengeIndigenous Reading CircleThe Galle Literary FestivalFaversham Literary FestivalMargate BookieThe Margate BookshopBrick Lane BookshopBirchbark Books & Native ArtsHarbour Books (@harbourbooks)Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes