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Welcome to The Bookseller Podcast

The monthly podcast for book lovers

Introducing The Bookseller's monthly podcast, hosted by acclaimed author Cathy Rentzenbrink. From interviews with award winning authors to the latest reviews and book recommendations, our unique place at the heart of publishing means The Bookseller Podcast has something for every book lover.

Each month, we will deliver a variety of bookish delights for you to consume – wherever the mood takes you. Whether you’re commuting, listening at work, or relaxing at home, take The Bookseller Podcast with you.

Listen to Episode #11

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE – NOV 2019

Top titles of the month with Tom Tivnan and Alice O’Keeffe

Interview with Derek Owusu

Meet the Indie with Patrick Neale from Jaffé and Neale

The best book/author events coming up this month in the UK from BookGig

Extract from Be My Guest written and read by Priya Basil 

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INTERVIEW WITH DEREK OWUSU - NOV 2019

An interview with writer and podcaster Derek Owusu. Derek chats to Cathy about his early love of classic literature, his own struggles with mental health and creating his novel-in-verse That Reminds Me.

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MEET THE INDIE - NOV 2019

In this month’s Meet the Indie section Nigel chats to Patrick Neale at the Jaffé and Neale bookshop in Stow-on-the-Wold.

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Previous Episodes

Missed last month's episode? Catch up on previous episodes of The Bookseller Podcast here.

Catch up here

ASK THE INDIE!

Get advice from the bookselling experts! Ask Indie Bookshops about their recommendations for your next read by filling in this simple form.

ASK HERE

books featured in episode eleven

  • That Reminds Me

    by Derek Owusu

    Category: Poetry, Non-fiction
    Imprint: Merky Books
    Publisher: Cornerstone
    Publication date: 14 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781529118599

    This work is heartfelt.' Benjamin Zephaniah 'Honest and beautiful.' Guy Gunaratne, author of IN OUR MAD AND FURIOUS CITY 'When writing is this honest, it soars.

     

  • Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space

    edited by Derek Owusu

    Category: Current Affairs, Non-fiction, History
    Imprint: Trapeze
    Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
    Publication date: 7 Mar 2019
    ISBN: 9781409182634

    The Good Immigrant meets Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, SAFE is an anthology of writing by Black British men, edited by Mostly Lit podcast host Derek Owusu.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Be My Guest

    by Priya Basil

    Category: History, Non-fiction, Current Affairs
    Imprint: Canongate Books Ltd
    Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
    Publication date: 24 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9781786898494

    A meditation on the meaning and limits of hospitality today, from the shortlisted author of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize

  • The Testaments

    by Margaret Atwood

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction
    Imprint: Chatto & Windus
    Publisher: Vintage Publishing
    Publication date: 10 Sep 2019
    ISBN: 9781784742324

    And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light. When the van door slammed on Offred's future at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead. With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story 15 years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Time for Lights Out

    by Raymond Briggs

    Category: Graphic Novels, Non-fiction, Family & Health
    Imprint: Jonathan Cape Ltd
    Publisher: Vintage Publishing
    Publication date: 14 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781787331952

    In his customary pose as the grumpiest of grumpy old men, Raymond Briggs contemplates old age and death... and doesn't like them much.

  • The Body

    by Bill Bryson

    Category: Non-fiction
    Imprint: Doubleday
    Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
    Publication date: 1 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9780857522405

    `We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and what goes on inside it. The idea of the book is simply to try to understand the extraordinary contraption that is us.' Bill Bryson sets off to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself.

    Read reviews for this book.

     

  • For the Record

    by David Cameron

    Category: Biography & Memoirs, Non-fiction, Current Affairs
    Imprint: William Collins
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
    Publication date: 19 Sep 2019
    ISBN: 9780008239282

    The referendum on Britain's membership of the EU is one of the most controversial political events of our times. For the first time, the man who called that vote talks about the decision and its origins, as well as giving a candid account of his time at the top of British politics.

    Read reviews for this book.

     

  • The Tenth Muse

    by Catherine Chung

    Category: Historical Fiction & Sagas, Fiction
    Imprint: Little, Brown
    Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
    Publication date: 7 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781408709580

    A brilliant and gripping novel about a young woman's gift for mathematics, and the secret of her past bound up in World War II.

  • The Fowl Twins

    by Eoin Colfer

    Category: Children's
    Imprint: HarperCollins
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
    Publication date: 5 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9780008324810

    Criminal genius runs in the family...

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Confessions of Frannie Langton

    by Sara Collins

    Category: Historical Fiction & Sagas, Fiction, Romance, Crime & Mystery Fiction
    Imprint: Viking
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 4 Apr 2019
    ISBN: 9780241349199

    They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?' 1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth. For the first time Frannie must tell her story.

    Read reviews for this book.

     

  • Breathe

    by Dominick Donald

    Category: Crime & Mystery Fiction, Fiction, Thrillers
    Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
    Publication date: 6 Sep 2018
    ISBN: 9781444775532

    A stunning debut crime novel for fans of Robert Harris, Philip Kerr and C.J. Sansom's Dominion.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Vanished Bride

    by Bella Ellis

    Category: Crime & Mystery Fiction, Fiction
    Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
    Publication date: 7 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781529388985

    A mystery series with a literary twist, featuring the Bronte sisters as amateur detectives.

  • Acid for the Children

    by Flea

    Category: Biography & Memoirs, Non-fiction, Music
    Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
    Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
    Publication date: 5 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781472230812

    Flea, the iconic bassist and co-founder, alongside Anthony Kiedis, of the immortal Red Hot Chili Peppers finally tells his fascinating origin story, complete with all the dizzying highs and the gutter lows you'd expect from an LA street rat turned world-famous rock star. With a foreword by punk rock legend, Patti Smith.

  • Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code

    by Rebel Girls

    Category: Children's, Non-fiction
    Imprint: Rebel Girls
    Publisher: Timbuktu Labs, Inc
    Publication date: 14 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781733176187

    From the world of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes the fictionalized biography about the exciting life and adventures of Ada Lovelace.

  • Fucking Good Manners

    by Simon Griffin

    Category: Humour, Non-fiction, Beauty, Fashion & Lifestyle
    Imprint: Icon Books Ltd
    Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
    Publication date: 1 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781785785511

    The author of Fucking Apostrophes takes on another of life's biggest irritations.

  • Sudden Traveller

    by Sarah Hall

    Category: Fiction, General & Literary Fiction
    Imprint: Faber & Faber
    Publisher: Faber & Faber
    Publication date: 7 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9780571345045

    Sudden Traveller is Sarah Hall's third story collection. From Turkish forest and coastline to the gorges of the Pacific Northwest and the rain-drenched villages of Cumbria, Hall's characters walk, drive, dream, and fly, trying to reconcile themselves with their journeys through life, death, and love.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Finding My Voice

    by Nadiya Hussain

    Category: Biography & Memoirs, Non-fiction, Current Affairs, Family & Health
    Imprint: Headline Home
    Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
    Publication date: 17 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9781472259967

    Since the moment she was born, Nadiya Hussain has taken on many different identities assigned to her by her gender, culture, society and religion. From daughter to wife, mother to celebrity baker, this very personal book documents her experiences of the roles that have moulded her life to date.

  • Pages & Co.

    by Anna James

    Category: Children's
    Imprint: HarperCollins
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
    Publication date: 19 Sep 2019
    ISBN: 9780008229900

    A magical adventure to delight the imagination. The curl-up-on-the-sofa snuggle of a series from a uniquely talented author.

  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball

    by Jeff Kinney

    Category: Children's, Graphic Novels
    Imprint: Puffin
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 5 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9780241396636

    Big changes are in store for Greg Heffley and his family. They are making home improvements! But with unwelcome critters, toxic mould and the walls coming down, soon Greg discovers renovations aren't all they are cracked up to be. When the dust finally settles, will the Heffleys be able to stay . . . or will they need to get out of town?

  • Agent Running in the Field

    by John Le Carré

    Category: Thrillers, Fiction, General & Literary Fiction
    Imprint: Viking
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 17 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9780241401231

     

    Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department and a Ukrainian oligarch with a finger in the Russia pie. Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. Ed hates Brexit, hates Trump and hates his job at some soulless media agency. And it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Prue, Florence and Nat himself down the path of political anger that will ensnare them all.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Underland

    by Robert MacFarlane

    Category: Non-fiction
    Imprint: Hamish Hamilton Ltd
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 2 May 2019
    ISBN: 9780241143803

    The highly anticipated new book from the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old Ways Discover the hidden worlds beneath our feet... In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse

    by Charlie Mackesy

    Category: Philosophy, Non-fiction, Graphic Novels
    Imprint: Ebury Press
    Publisher: Ebury Publishing
    Publication date: 10 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9781529105100

    Charlie's first book includes his most-loved illustrations and new ones too.The conversations of the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared thousands of times online, recreated in school art classes, hung on hospital walls and turned into tattoos. 'A wonderful work of art and a wonderful window into the human heart' Richard Curtis

  • The Summer Isles

    by Philip Marsden

    Category: Travel, Non-fiction
    Imprint: Granta Books
    Publisher: Granta Books
    Publication date: 3 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9781783782994

    One of Britain's foremost writers of place takes an evocative journey along the western coast of Ireland and Scotland to chart the perennial allure of this perilous and myth-rich stretch of sea

  • The Starless Sea

    by Erin Morgenstern

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy
    Imprint: Harvill Secker
    Publisher: Vintage Publishing
    Publication date: 5 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781910701454

    This door leads to a subterranean labyrinth filled with stories, hidden far beneath the surface of the earth.When the labyrinth is threatened, Zachary must race with Mirabel, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, through its twisting tunnels and crowded ballrooms, searching for the end of his story.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Overstory

    by Richard Powers

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction
    Imprint: William Heinemann Ltd
    Publisher: Cornerstone
    Publication date: 5 Apr 2018
    ISBN: 9781785151637

    `Autumn makes me think of leaves, which makes me think of trees, which makes me think of The Overstory, the best novel ever written about trees, and really, just one of the best novels, period.' Ann Patchett 'It's a masterpiece.' - Tim Winton 'It's not possible for Powers to write an uninteresting book.' - Margaret Atwood

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Secret Commonwealth

    by Philip Pullman

    Category: Children's, General & Literary Fiction, Fiction, Crime & Mystery Fiction
    Imprint: Penguin and David Fickling Books
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 3 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9780241373330

    It is twenty years since the events of La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Grand Union

    by Zadie Smith

    Category: Fiction
    Imprint: Hamish Hamilton Ltd
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 3 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9780241337028

    The first ever collection of stories from the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Swing Time and White Teeth, Zadie Smith.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Dinky Donkey

    by Craig Smith

    Category: Children's
    Imprint: Scholastic
    Publisher: Scholastic
    Publication date: 1 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781407198514

    The laugh-out-loud follow-up to the viral sensation THE WONKY DONKEY is finally here! The Wonky Donkey has a daughter in this hilarious picture book sequel to the runaway hit. Readers will love the antics of this stinky punky plinky-plonky winky-tinky pinky funky blinky dinky donkey! The Wonky Donkey has sold over 2 million copies.

  • Olive Kitteridge

    by Elizabeth Strout

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction
    Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
    Publication date: 9 Jun 2011
    ISBN: 9781849831550

    A dazzling portrait of one woman's life

  • Olive, Again

    by Elizabeth Strout

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction
    Imprint: Viking
    Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
    Publication date: 31 Oct 2019
    ISBN: 9780241374597

    An extraordinary new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Number One New York Times bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton 'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel Olive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply loveable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • Oligarchy

    by Scarlett Thomas

    Category: General & Literary Fiction, Fiction
    Imprint: Canongate Books Ltd
    Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
    Publication date: 7 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9781786897794

    The new adult novel from the bestselling author of The End of Mr. Y, about power, privilege and peer pressure.

  • The Order of the Day

    by Eric Vuillard

    Category: Historical Fiction & Sagas, Fiction, Thrillers, General & Literary Fiction
    Imprint: Picador
    Publisher: Pan Macmillan
    Publication date: 8 Jan 2019
    ISBN: 9781509889969

    A gripping and compelling fictional account of the key meetings and events which led up to the outbreak of World War Two: how egos flourished, diplomacy failed, and a few powerful men brought Europe to the brink of disaster. For fans of HHhH and To Die in Spring.

    Read reviews for this book.

  • The Beast of Buckingham Palace

    by David Walliams

    Category: Children's
    Imprint: HarperCollins
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
    Publication date: 21 Nov 2019
    ISBN: 9780008262174

    Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world... Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross!

Production

The Bookseller Podcast is a Heavy Entertainment Production.