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Tea or Books? #123: Critical or Charitable Reading? and Sheep’s Clothing vs Harriet Said…

StuckinaBook All, Tea or Books? , , 11 Comments

Beryl Bainbridge, Celia Dale, critical and charitable reading – welcome to episode 123!

In the first half of the episode we use a suggestion from Susannah – do we read charitably or critically? In the second half we compare too rather dark novels – Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale and Harriet Said… by Beryl Bainbridge.

You can get in touch with suggestions, comments, questions etc at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you. Find us at Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. And you can support the podcast at Patreon. If you’re able to, we’d really appreciate any reviews and ratings you can leave us.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Mary Lawson
Stories for Winter and Nights by the Fire by various
Elizabeth Taylor
Angela Carter
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Temptation by János Székely
Family Album by Antonia Ridge
Miss Read
Grandma Went To Russia by Antonia Ridge
The Persimmon Tree by Marjorie Barnard
Katherine Mansfield
Ivy Litvinov
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Richmal Crompton
Stella Gibbons
Day by Michael Cunningham
Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham
A.A. Milne
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Dan Brown
Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh
Another Part of the Woods by Beryl Bainbridge
Anita Brookner
Barbara Comyns

Tea or Books? #122: Mary Lawson novels w/ Mary Lawson!

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Mary Lawson joins us to talk about all her novels – welcome to episode 122!

I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but THE Mary Lawson – Canadian author of Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge, Road Ends, and A Town Called Solace – joins us in this episode to talk through her work. We discuss how she approaches writing a novel, some of her creative decisions, and a little hint about her next book.

Do let us know any future episode suggestions, or any questions you have, at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com. Get episodes a little early, and some other bonus content, through Patreon. And get the podcast wherever you get podcasts! Your ratings and reviews really help too (except those people who give us one star, I guess).

The books and authors we mention in this episode:

Temptation by János Székely
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolány
Embers by Sándor Márai
Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Father by Elizabeth von Arnim
Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
Margaret Laurence
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘For Esmeé—With Love and Squalor’ by J.D. Salinger
Alice Munro
Margaret Atwood
Mick Herron
Anne Enright
Sebastian Barry
Colm Tóibín
L.M. Montgomery
Thomas King
Michael Crummey
Michael Ondaatje
Brian Moore
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
Arthur Miller
Road Ends by Mary Lawson
Elizabeth Strout
Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale
Harriet Said by Beryl Bainbridge

Tea or Books? #121: Should Books Have A Message? and Two Jane Gardam Novels

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Jane Gardam and messages in books – welcome to episode 121!

In the first half of the episode, Rachel and I discuss whether or not we think books should have a message. In the second half we pit two Jane Gardam novels against each other: Old Filth and the same story from another angle, The Man in the Wooden Hat.

For those looking for Rachel’s new blog, you can find it and subscribe at Substack.

Do get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com with any suggestions for topics, or questions for the middle section. You can support the podcast at Patreon, and we also really appreciate your reviews and ratings.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
A Helping Hand by Celia Dale
Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale
Margaret Laurence
Road Ends by Mary Lawson
Brian Moore
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Love and Salt Water by Ethel Wilson
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
An End to Running by Lynne Reid Banks
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The Double Heart by Lettice Cooper
The New House by Lettice Cooper
National Provincial by Lettice Cooper
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Jodi Picoult
Passing Go by Libby Purves
Holy Deadlock by A.P. Herbert
Palliser series by Anthony Trollope
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Jane Austen
Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge
Ian McEwan
Middle England by Jonathan Coe
Lady Audley’s Secret by M.E. Braddon
Wilkie Collins
Agatha Christie
Dorothy L. Sayers
‘The Case of Miss Dorothy Sayers’ by Q.D. Leavis
Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Ethel M. Dell
Last Friends by Jane Gardam
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Barbara Pym
God on the Rocks by Jane Gardam
A Long Way From Verona by Jane Gardam
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson

Tea or Books? #120: Travel Inspiration from Fiction or Non-Fiction? and The English Air vs The Morning Gift – with Claire / The Captive Reader

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 11 Comments

D.E. Stevenson, Eva Ibbotson, travel inspo – welcome to episode 120!

We have our first returning guest – the wonderful Claire, who blogs at The Captive Reader. In the first half of this episode, we talk about inspiration from travel – do we get it from our fiction reading or non-fiction reading?

In the second half, we compare two novels Claire suggested – Eva Ibbotson’s The Morning Gift and D.E. Stevenson’s The English Air, two novels starting just before the Second World War.

You can get in touch with suggestions, comments, questions etc at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you. Find us at Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. And you can support the podcast at Patreon.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry
The Princess of Siberia by Christine Sutherland
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber
So Big by Edna Ferber
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
The Jasmine Farm by Elizabeth von Arnim
Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Benefactress by Elizabeth von Arnim
In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim
Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
A.A. Milne
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
How The Heather Looks by Joan Bodger
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen by Elizabeth von Arnim
Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Provincial Lady in America by E.M. Delafield
Louisa M. Alcott
Essie Summers
Marianne North
A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird
A Visit to Don Otavio by Sybille Bedford
Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Karel Čapek
George Mikes
The Silent Traveller in Oxford by Chiang Yee
Stephen Leacock
Mary Lawson
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
The Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam

Tea or Books? #119: Amateur Sleuths or Professional Detectives? and Women Talking vs Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 15 Comments

Miriam Toews, Olga Tokarczuk and detective fiction – welcome to episode 119!

In the first half of this episode, we discuss detective fiction – do we prefer the mystery-solver to be a professional or an amateur? And in the second half we compare two fairly recent novels – Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and Women Talking by Miriam Toews.

Do get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions for the podcast – at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com – and you can listen wherever you listen to podcasts! You can support the podcast at Patreon, should you so wish, with various available rewards.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Mrs Hart’s Marriage Bureau by Sheena Wilkinson
Day by Michael Cunningham
No Leading Lady by R.C. Sherriff
Journey’s End by R.C. Sherriff
Marghanita Laski
The Dark Fantastic by Margaret Echard
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Love-Child by Edith Olivier
The Venetian Glass Nephew by Elinor Wylie
Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle
Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie
Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy L. Sayers
Jackson Brodie novels by Kate Atkinson
The Thursday Club Murders by Richard Osman
Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Sergeant Cluff series by Gil North
Mrs Bradley series by Gladys Mitchell
Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
Maigret series by Georges Simenon
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene
Balkan Trilogy and Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
William Blake
The Book of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
The English Air by D.E. Stevenson
The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson

Tea or Books? #118: Do We Read Children and Adult Books By The Same Author? and Lucy vs The Buddha in the Attic

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 22 Comments

Julie Otsuka, Jamaica Kincard, adults’ and children’s books – welcome to episode 118!

In the first half – a topic suggested by Aileen, where we discuss authors who wrote both children’s and adult’s books and whether we read both. In the second half, we compare two novellas about immigrant experiences – Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid and The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.

As ever, you can support the podcast at Patreon, get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Listen to the podcast wherever you get podcasts (including Spotify) and we’d love it if you could read and review.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Picnic in the Shade by Rosemary Edisford
Noble Ambitions by Adrian Tinniswood
The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood
Letty Landon by Helen Ashton
William series by Richmal Crompton
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Frost at Morning by Richmal Crompton
Matty and the Dearingroydes by Richmal Crompton
I Ordered A Table For Six by Noel Streatfeild
Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Edith Wharton
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The Lark by E. Nesbit
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
John Boyne
Sarah Crossan
The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
Barbara Euphan Todd
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Penelope Lively
C.S. Lewis
Chloe Marr by A.A. Milne
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Tea or Books? #117 w/ Lucy Scholes – Do We Like Unnamed Characters? and Ex-Wife vs Sally On The Rocks

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 8 Comments

Ursula Parrott, Winifred Boggs, unnamed characters – welcome to episode 117!

We are so delighted to welcome Lucy Scholes as a guest for this episode. She’s is a reprint/old books superstar – you might know her Re-Covered column for the Paris Review, her work as Senior Editor of McNally Editions, or her editing of A Different Sound: Stories of Mid-Century Women Writers. Or any number of other things. What excitement to have her on the episode!

In the first half, we discuss unnamed narrators and other characters – are we fans? In the second half we pit Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs against Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, both recently reprinted novels that are quite ahead of their time.

You can listen above or on Spotify or your podcast app of choice. You can support the podcast at Patreon or get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
West With The Night by Beryl Markham
English Journey by Beryl Bainbridge
J.B. Priestley
Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg
My Face For The World To See by Alfred Hayes
Foster by Claire Keegan
Making Love by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
The Forensic Records Society by Magnus Mills
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Milkman by Anna Burns
Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas
Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe
Mrs S by K Patrick
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Rebecca Watson
The Love Child by Edith Olivier
Elizabeth Bowen
They by Kay Dick
The Ice Age by Margaret Drabble
The Indignant Spinsters by Winifred Boggs
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Tea or Books? #116: Do We Like Books About Sport and Quick Curtain vs It Walks By Night

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 9 Comments

John Dickson Carr, Alan Melville, sports – welcome to episode 116!

In the first half, we talk about sports in books – do we like them? Will we be able to think of any? Thank you to Lindsey for suggesting the topic! In the second half we compare two murder mysteries: It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr and Quick Curtain by Alan Melville.

Get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com – get early access etc through Patreon, and do rate and review wherever you get your podcasts!

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

This Census-Taker by China Miéville
The City and the City by China Miéville
The Portrait by Willem Jan Otten
Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton
Hornet’s Nest by Helen Ashton
Dr Serecold by Helen Ashton
Yeoman’s Hospital by Helen Ashton
People in Cages by Helen Ashton
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman
How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup by J.L. Carr
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
A Season in Sinji by J.L. Carr
The Silence of Colonel Bramble by Andre Maurois
A.A. Milne
P.G. Wodehouse
Rudyard Kipling
Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
St Clare’s series by Enid Blyton
Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
Double Fault by Lionel Shriver
Morse series by Colin Dexter
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh
Cinderella Goes To The Morgue by Nancy Spain
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Death of Anton by Alan Melville
Weekend at Thrackley by Alan Melville
Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs
Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott

Tea or Books? #115: Do We Like Books About Bookshops? and Quartet in Autumn vs Journal of a Solitude

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 12 Comments

Barbara Pym, May Sarton, and bookshops – welcome to episode 115!

In the first half of the episode, we take up Sally’s suggestion of topic – and discuss whether or not we like books set in bookshops and libraries. More suggestions for books in this category, please!

In the second half, we compare Barbara Pym’s Quartet in Autumn with May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude and pick our favourite.

You can get in touch with suggestions etc at teaorbooks@gmail.com – get the episodes a few days early, and other bonuses, at Patreon.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck
House-Bound by Winifred Peck
Dorothy Whipple
E.M. Delafield
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin
Greenery Street by Denis Mackail
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Business As Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford
Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
Peter and Alice by Peter Shaffer
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Virginia Woolf
Barbara Cartland
Stephenie Meyer
E.L. James
Agatha Christie
Beryl Bainbridge
Margery Sharp
Muriel Spark
Miss Read
The House By The Sea by May Sarton
Castle Skull by John Dickson Carr

Tea or Books? #114: Linear vs Non-linear Narratives and Winter in the Air vs A World of Love

StuckinaBook All, Tea or Books? , , 8 Comments

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Elizabeth Bowen, linear narratives – welcome to episode 114!

In the first half of this episode, we use a suggestion from listener Sarah – do we prefer linear or non-linear narratives? In the second half we look at two books from Rachel’s tbr pile that don’t, honestly, have much in common – though we do manage cobble together some thoughts, as per: A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen and the short story collection Winter in the Air by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

As usual, we’d love to hear from you at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com with any questions, comments or suggestions – you can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review, it would mean a lot, and you can support us at Patreon too.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton
The Captain Comes Home by Helen Ashton
Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd
Return to Cheltenham by Helen Ashton
Babbacombe’s by Susan Scarlett aka Noel Streatfeild
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple
Free Air by Sinclair Lewis
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Spiderweb by Penelope Lively
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Which Way? by Theodora Benson
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
Dangerous Corner by J.B. Priestley
Constellations by Nick Payne
The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle
The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Wise Children by Angela Carter
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Swans on an Autumn River by Sylvia Townsend Warner
To The North by Elizabeth Bowen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton