Tea or Books? – Page 12 – Stuck in a Book

Tea or Books? #29: short stories (yes or no?) and Bricks and Mortar vs Princes in the Land

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? November 28, 2016Ashton, Cannan, Persephone, podcast 5 Comments

Two more Persephones in this episode – Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton and Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan – along with a discussion of short stories: which writers we like and don’t like, and whether or not we’d race towards short stories in a bookshop.

As always, we’d love to know your choices – and any topics or books you’d like us to cover in future episodes.

Listen to us above, or via a podcast app, or (if you’re feeling daring) at our iTunes page. Our ratings button there has stalled at ‘not enough ratings to display an average’ since day one, so cheer us up and give us a rating. Unless it’s one star, then amuse yourself elsewhere.

Here are the (many!) books and authors we discuss in this episode:

H.G. Wells and His Family (as I have known them) by M.M. Meyer
Ivy Compton-Burnett: A Memoir by Cicely Greig
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton
The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
The Golden Age by Martin Edwards
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Terms and Conditions by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
Edgar Allan Poe
Agatha Christie
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
Katherine Mansfield – ‘At the Bay’, ‘Prelude’, ‘Miss Brill’, ‘Bliss’, ‘The Garden Party’
The Closed Door and other stories by Dorothy Whipple
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
Elizabeth Taylor
The Woman Who Borrowed Memories: Selected Stories by Tove Jansson
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Love-Child by Edith Olivier
Richard Yates
William Maxwell
‘A Christmas Memory’ by Truman Capote
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl
‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
‘After You, My Dear Alphonse’ by Shirley Jackson
Daphne du Maurier
A Table Near the Band and other stories by A.A. Milne
The Birthday Party and other stories by A.A. Milne
A.L. Kennedy
The Montana Stories
Tea With Mr Rochester by Frances Towers
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Tell it to a Stranger by Elizabeth Berridge
The Woman Novelist and other stories by Diana Gardner
Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan
Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton
Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge
High Table by Joanna Cannan
Parson Austen’s Daughter by Helen Ashton
Return to Cheltenham by Helen Ashton
Greengates by R.C. Sherriff
Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple
The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark

Tea or Books? #28: scary vs not scary, and The Home-Maker vs The Victorian Chaise-Longue

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? November 10, 2016Canfield, Laski, podcast 3 Comments

Two Persephone titles will help solace us in these bizarre post-election days.

We’ve been away for a while because I lost my voice – sorry! – but Rachel (Book Snob) and I are back, talking about The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski and The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Before that, we chat scary books, because we haven’t recorded since Hallowe’en.

The world is a scary place right now. I have not come to terms with Trump being President-Elect at all. The idea that somebody could wage a campaign in that way and win… it’s just inconceivable. So let’s turn to books, at least for a moment or two.

We’d love to hear what you’d pick in each of these categories, and any ideas for future episodes. Listen above, via your podcast app of choice, or at our iTunes page. Why not even rate and review us?

Here are the books and authors we mention in this episode…

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Terms and Conditions by Ysenda Maxtone Graham (I think I forgot to say the title of any of hers…)
The Real Mrs Miniver by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Mr Tibbits’s Catholic School by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
Private Demons: the Life of Shirley Jackson by Judy Oppenheimer
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Agatha Christie
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Edgar Allan Poe
Mist and other stories by Richmal Crompton
Ghost stories by Edith Wharton
Casting the Runes by M. R. James
Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Don’t Look Now and other stories by Daphne du Maurier
Goosebumps
Point Horror
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym
The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Seasoned Timber by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Her Son’s Wife by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Love on the Supertax by Marghanita Laski
Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood
Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
To Bed With Grand Music by Marghanita Laski
The Village by Marghanita Laski

Tea or Books? #27: cats vs dogs in literature, and Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward vs The Dover Road by A.A. Milne

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? October 18, 2016October 17, 2016Coward, MilneA, podcast 8 Comments

Cats! Dogs! Noel Coward! A.A. Milne! I always start off these descriptions with exclamation marks, but seldom has it been more justified…

In this episode, we pit literary cats against literary dogs, and almost instantly regret it (while also having plenty of fun, of course) – and, on more secure ground, discuss Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward and The Dover Road by A.A. Milne, especially as we had the good fortune to see the latter together recently. (The text is available online here.)

Sorry this episode has been a while in coming – the 1947 Club took over instead – but we’ll be back on track now hopefully! Listen above, download via a podcast app, or visit our iTunes page.

As usual, here are the books and authors we discuss:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Jennie by Paul Gallico
Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico
Mrs Harris series by Paul Gallico
The Fur Person by May Sarton
As We Were by May Sarton
The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiradie
Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burford
Marley & Me by John Grogan
Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend
The Queen and I by Sue Townsend
Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Dover Road by A.A. Milne
Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward
Private Lives by Noel Coward
Mr Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne
It’s Too Late Now by A.A. Milne
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Hayfever by Noel Coward
Design for Living by Noel Coward
Still Life by Noel Coward
Miss Elizabeth Bennet by A.A. Milne
Success by A.A. Milne
The Great Broxopp by A.A. Milne
Three Plays by A.A. Milne
Four Plays by A.A. Milne
Mr Pim by A.A. Milne
Toad of Toad Hall by A.A. Milne
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski

Tea or Books? #26: give up vs soldier on, and Matilda by Roald Dahl vs Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? September 27, 2016Dahl, Magorian, podcast 15 Comments

Roald Dahl, Michelle Magorian, and whether or not to give up on books – I’m back from holiday, and Rachel and I have a lovely new (…long) episode of Tea or Books?

In our first half, we discuss whether or not we give up on books, and what factors might play into that decision – and in the second half we get all children’s-literature-focused. We’re supposedly pitting Matilda by Roald Dahl against Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian (which only have in common that Rachel and I loved them both as children) – but we end up talking about every Dahl we can think of.

This is the excellent airbnb place I stayed in Siena, and this is our iTunes page. Listen to the ep up above, over there, or any which way you choose. We’re not the bosses of you! Having said that, I do want to boss you into telling us what you’d choose for each half. And more ideas, please! We got so many good ideas from people a while ago… and we’re running out.

Here are the books and authors we talked about in this episode:

Collection of Sand by Italo Calvino
Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Sword of Bone by Anthony Rhodes
Chatterton Square by E.H. Young
Miss Mole by E.H. Young
But What If We’re Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman
Jane Austen
The Dover Road by A.A. Milne (book your tickets here!)
Private Lives by Noel Coward
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Zadie Smith
P.G. Wodehouse
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Crash by J.G. Ballard
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Black Dogs by Ian McEwan
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Elizabeth Bowen
Jane Austen
Muriel Spark
Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns
Who Was Changed and Who was Dead by Barbara Comyns
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
P.D. James
The Chateau by William Maxwell
A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor
Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
Going Solo by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach: a play by David Wood
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The Twits by Roald Dahl
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Doreen by Barbara Noble
Kisses on a Postcard by Terence Frisby
Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh

Tea or Books? #25: to adapt or not to adapt, and To The North vs The House in Paris

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? September 12, 2016September 13, 2016Bowen, podcast 8 Comments

Elizabeth Bowen and novels adapted into films – though not in conjunction…

In the first half of this podcast, we discuss novels adapted into films – and whether or not we would like our favourite novels to be adapted into films – along with our takes on many different films we’ve seen. (By the by, do go and listen to my brother’s films podcast, The C to Z of Movies, which you can also find on iTunes.)

In the second half, we pit two Elizabeth Bowen novels against each other: To The North and The House in Paris, and I get into a mess trying to work out what I think of her. I’d love to hear what Bowen fans (and antifans) think of these books.

Listen in the player above, or a podcast app, or visit our iTunes page. Sorry for slightly lower quality than usual – we spoke for so long that the file size was too big for the usual quality!

Here are the (many!) novels and authors we mention in this episode:

The Dover Road by A.A. Milne (on at the Jermyn Street Theatre)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Persuasion by Jane Austen
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
To The River by Olivia Laing
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
A History of England by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
High School Musical: the book of the film (so sorry)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Sister Sister (look, I don’t know why I’m typing these out)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Ghost and Mrs Muir by R.A. Dick
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
Beryl Bainbridge
The Cazalet Chronicle by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes)
‘The Birds’ by Daphne du Maurier
To The North by Elizabeth Bowen
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett
The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Muriel Spark
Friends and Relations by Elizabeth Bowen
Family and Friends by Anita Brookner (is what I meant!)
The Little Girls by Elizabeth Bowen
A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen

Tea or Books? #24: careful or manhandle, and The Love-Child vs Lolly Willowes

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? August 25, 2016Olivier, podcast, WarnerST 18 Comments

I have forced two topics on Rachel – firstly, are you careful with books, or do you manhandle them? (It will all make sense in context.) And then two books that were lynch pins of my doctoral thesis – The Love-Child by Edith Olivier and Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Prepare yourself for hearing lots about my research, partly because it’s the first time since my viva that anybody has sat down and listened to me talk about it.

(Btw Great British Bake Off recap coming SOON, promise, but it takes longer than putting this episode up and I didn’t have time tonight!)

It feels like ages since we recorded, so it’s really nice to be back. We’ve missed it! Do let us know what you’d pick in each category, and any topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Listen above, via a podcast app, or at our iTunes page. One day we’ll have enough ratings and reviews for them to show up on the page.

Here are the books and authors we talk about in this episode…

The Victorians by A.N. Wilson
Winnie and Wolf by A.N. Wilson
Angus Wilson
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Why I Read: The Series Pleasure of Reading by Wendy Lesser
The Shelf by Phyllis Rose
The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett
Henry James
Susan and Joanna by Elizabeth Cambridge
Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
Present Laughter by Noel Coward
The Love-Child by Edith Olivier
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Henrik Ibsen
Winifred Holtby
The Witch-Cult of Western Europe by Margaret Murray
Sarah Waters
Lady Into Fox by David Garnett
Mr Fortune’s Maggot by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner
William Maxwell
Dwarf’s Blood by Edith Olivier
The Seraphim Room by Edith Olivier
The Venetian Glass Nephew by Elinor Wylie
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson
A Harp in Lowndes Square by Rachel Ferguson
The Haunted Woman by David Lindsay
His Monkey Wife by John Collier
To The North by Elizabeth Bowen
The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

Tea or Books? #23: keep or cull, and They Came Like Swallows vs Time Will Darken It

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? August 3, 2016Maxwell, podcast 6 Comments

Two William Maxwell novels go up against each other in this episode – but not before we’ve got to the heart of the emotional issue of whether to keep books or cull books. (Obviously we don’t want to cull ALL our books – we’re not certifiable – but you know what we mean.) It gets unexpectedly heated. YOU ARE WARNED.

Listen above, via the podcast app of your choice, or visit our iTunes page. Take a picnic; make a day of it.

Pop over and say hi to Rachel, and don’t forget to follow her on Twitter. It’s quite the journey. OH and here’s the article by Teresa, which we talk about in the first half.

We didn’t end up talking that much about specific books and authors this time – but here is what we did mention:

Time Will Darken It by William Maxwell
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (read Rachel’s full review)
The Ballroom by Anna Hope
To The Bright Edge of the Road by Eowyn Ivey
Love Notes to Freddie by Eva Rice (not quite what I said…)
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Foe by J.M. Coetzee
Robinson Crusoe by Jonathan Swift
Stoner by John Williams
Brensham Village by John Moore
Elmbury by John Moore
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Takeover by Muriel Spark
Margaret Atwood
The Love-Child by Edith Olivier
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
Virginia Woolf
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Elizabeth Taylor
The Chateau by William Maxwell
The Element of Lavishness by William Maxwell and Sylvia Townsend Warner
A William Maxwell Portrait: Memories and Appreciations ed. by Charles Baxter
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Spinster of This Parish by W.G. Maxwell
The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett

Tea or Books? #22: set in the time vs written in the time, and 84, Charing Cross Road vs Howards End is on the Landing

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? July 18, 2016podcast 11 Comments

Historical fiction and books-about-books are the themes for episode 22 of Tea or Books? – and we have a LOT to say on these topics. And we hope you do too! Let us know your thoughts for each category. And I hope you enjoy the little moment that I left in before the theme tune… sorry, Rachel, I couldn’t resist.

You can visit our iTunes page or download via your app of choice. WHY NOT even rate and review us, if you’re looking for a way to pass the time. And you can now even follow Rachel on Twitter, as she has joined us all on social media!

Here are the books and authors we talk about in today’s episode. (Btw, if the episodes are generally too loud or quiet, let me know and I’ll see what I can do with audio adjustments.)

The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett
London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins
Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Thank Heaven Fasting by E.M. Delafield
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Mrs Harter by E.M. Delafield
Virginia Woolf
Stella Gibbons
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Zadie Smith
The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp by Eva Rice
A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Sarah Waters
When We Were Alive by C.J. Fisher
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Middle Window by Elizabeth Goudge
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
Q’s Legacy by Helen Hanff
Arthur Quiller-Couch
Letters From New York by Helene Hanff
Marilynne Robinson
T.S. Eliot
Roald Dahl
Iris Murdoch
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
In the Springtime of the Year by Susan Hill
Counting My Chickens by Deborah Devonshire
Jane Austen
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Stet by Diana Athill
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
When I was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson
The Shelf by Phyllis Rose
My Year of Reading Proust by Phyllis Rose
Browsings by Michael Dirda
The Love Child by Edith Olivier
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Tea or Books? #21: children narrators vs adult narrators, and Shakespeare comedies vs tragedies

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? July 6, 2016July 5, 2016podcast, Shakespeare 10 Comments

Shakespeare! That’s right, we’re getting very classy and/or GCSE English in our discussion of his comedies and tragedies – following a fairly haphazard chat about child narrators vs adult narrators. This is what happens when Rachel only tells me the topic we’re going to cover mere moments before we start recording.

We’re always on the look-out for suggestions for future episodes (srsly, we’re running out) – so let us know in the comments if you have any thoughts. You’ll definitely get a name check – unlike poor Faith, whose suggestion of child narrators we forget to properly appreciate. Thanks Faith! I thought Rachel probably hadn’t come up with the topic herself.

Here are the books and authors we talk about in this episode:

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
This is Sylvia by Sandy Wilson [NB not the title I said!]
The Old Wive’s Tale by Arnold Bennett
Literary Taste: How to Form It by Arnold Bennett
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Great Western Beach by Emma Smith
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend
Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
Enid Blyton
William series by Richmal Crompton
Alfred and Guinevere by James Schuyler
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Moliere
Othello by William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

Tea or Books? #20: first vs third person and Cider With Rosie vs My Family and Other Animals

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? June 21, 2016Durrell, LeeL, podcast 11 Comments

Happy birthday us! We actually passed our birthday by a couple of weeks, but this is the first podcast after the big day. Can you believe it’s been a whole year? And it might be our longest episode yet.

In episode 20 we tackle first person vs third person (with, spoilers, some confusion and no research at all) and two wonderful childhood memoirs – Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee and My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. It’s a tricky decision, guys (and, of course, the correct decision is to read both).

Check out our iTunes page (rate! review! I’m sick of the ‘not enough ratings to show’ text) or listen via your podcast app of choice. And don’t forget that my brother has a movies podcast that you might enjoy too.

Let us know which you’d choose in each category! Here are the books and authors we mention today…

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar
Orphan Island by Rose Macaulay
The Rain Girl by Herbert Jenkins
A Cup of Tea for Mr Thorgill by Storm Jameson
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
Cazalet Chronicles series by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Poor Relations by Compton Mackenzie
Saki
Speaking of Love by Angela Young
Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman
Wish Her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar
A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Emma by Jane Austen
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Art of the Novel ed. Nicholas Royle
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Rose Macaulay
Beryl Bainbridge
Muriel Spark
Barbara Pym
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Richmal Crompton
Margaret Atwood
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Impassioned Clay by Stevie Davies
The Great Gatsy by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Laurence Durrell
William Shakespeare