podcast

Our favourite reads of the year! Welcome to episode 146.

We turn the whole episode over to our run-down of our ten favourite books from a year in reading. As has become a tradition, we will then choose one book from each other’s list to read for the next episode.

You can support the podcast at Patreon – where you’ll also get access to the exclusive new series ‘5 Books’, where I ask different people about the last book they finished, the book they’re currently reading, the next book they want to read, the last book they bought and the last book they were given.

Rachel’s top 10 books are:

10. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
9. Small Domb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans
8. The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris
7. Voyaging Out by Carolyn Trant
6. Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
5. Catherine Carter by Pamela Hansford Johnson
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
3. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
2. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
1. Braided Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Simon’s top 10 books are:

10. Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel by Mark Hussey
9. Bookish by Lucy Mangan
8. Love by Elizabeth von Arnim
7. Catherine Carter by Pamela Hansford Johnson
6. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
5. Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane
4. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
3. The Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson
2. Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton
1. Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro

The other books and authors we mention in this episode:

On the Calculation of Volume vol.1 by Solvej Balle
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Their Finest Hour by Lissa Evans
Anne Bronte
Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts
A Curious Friendship by Anna Thomasson
The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

It’s time for our favourite 10 books from 10 years of ‘Tea or Books?’!

Rachel and I have looked through the books we read for the first ten years of the podcast and have each picked our ten favourites – thank you for everyone who suggested this fun idea. Do get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com if you’d like to suggest anything for further episodes. Find us above, on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts.

Here are our top tens, with the episodes in which they first appear, if you’d like to read more. Don’t read this if you don’t want spoilers!

RACHEL’S TOP TEN

10. Catherine Carter by Pamela Hansford Johnson (ep 137)
9. Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton (ep 8)
8. A Winter Away by Elizabeth Fair (ep 36)
7. The Lark by E. Nesbit (ep 56)
6. Father by Elizabeth von Arnim (ep 91)
5. A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford (ep 47)
4. The Heir by Vita Sackville-West (ep 45)
3. A Pin To See The Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse (ep 34)
2. Four Gardens by Margery Sharp (ep 102)
1. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes (ep 13)

SIMON’S TOP TEN

10. Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee (ep 20)
9. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico (ep 137)
8. Enbury Heath by Stella Gibbons (ep 107)
7. The Ladies’ Paradise by Emile Zola (ep 130)
6. Four Gardens by Margery Sharp (ep 102)
5. The Semi-Detached House and The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden (ep 48)
4. The Sweet and Twenties by Beverley Nichols (ep 52)
3. The Diviners by Margaret Laurence (ep 103)
2. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (ep 20)
1. Greengates by R.C. Sherriff (ep 31)

The other books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Giving Up The Ghost by Hilary Mantel
On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf
Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans
Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick
Emma by Jane Austen
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
Mamma by Diana Tutton
The Young Ones by Diana Tutton
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Westwood by Stella Gibbons
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple
Babbacombe’s by Susan Scarlett
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Five Windows by D.E. Stevenson
The Stone of Chastity by Margery Sharp
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
Messalina of the Suburbs by E.M. Delafield
A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp
The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson

Shirley Jackson, Elspeth Barker, and your emails – welcome to episode 139 of Tea or Books?!

Can you believe we’ve been going for ten years? It’s wild to me! In the first half of the episode we compare two gothic-inspired novels – O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker and The Sundial by Shirley Jackson. In the second half, we share lots of lovely, lovely emails from you guys. We asked about the books and episodes that stand out from our first decade – and were so touched by everyone who got in touch. Apologies for the handful of people who messaged after we’d recorded. I’m afraid you aren’t in the episode, but we were grateful for the messages of course.

You can get in touch with suggestions, comments, questions etc (please do!) at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you, even if I’m quite bad at replying quickly. Find us at Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re able to, we’d really appreciate any reviews and ratings you can leave us. And you can support the podcast at Patreon.

Because there are so many books and authors mentioned in this episode, I’m not going to do a full list – but if you’d like anything clarified, do ask in the comments.