A special episode: Anna chats with Kate Slotover of the Book Club Review podcast.

Our book of the week is THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION by Beth Brower. Recommended by our friend Shawn Mooney of Shawn Breathes Books, we enjoyed this novel set in Victorian London about a young woman returning to claim her inheritance. Light and witty, these books have been compared with Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse. Kate has become obsessed with the series and has now read all eight books. But will she convince Anna to do the same?

Books mentioned:

JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL by Susanna Clarke

DEATH IN THE STOCKS by Georgette Heyer

ARABELLA by Georgette Heyer

FREDERICA by Georgette Heyer

THE GRAND SOPHY by Georgette Heyer

THE SQUARE OF SEVENS by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Coming up: WHITE NIGHTS by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Follow us!

Kate:

Instagram: @ bookclubreviewpodcast

Web: https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk/

Substack: Book Club Review

Anna:

Instagram: @ abailliekaras

Substack: Books On The Go

Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode: Anna is joined by author and U-Go founder John Wood.

We discuss our reactions to the 2025 Women’s Prize Longlist.

Our book of the week is PATRIOT by Alexei Navalny translated by Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel. This is Navalny’s autobiography detailing his rise to be a Russian opposition leader, but is also a prison diary following his arrest in January 2021. He died in prison in February 2024. A New York Times bestseller, best book of the year (New Yorker, Atlantic, NPR) and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. We highly recommend it - essential reading.

Books mentioned

SO BIG by Edna Ferber

DAYS IN THE CAUCASUS by Banine translated by Anne Thompson-Ahmadova

RED NOTICE by Bill Browder

THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE by Masha Gessen

SECOND-HAND TIME by Svetlana Alexievich translated by Bela Shayevich

THE TRIAL OF VALDIMIR PUTIN by Geoffrey Robertson KC

TRAVELS IN SIBERIA by Ian Frazier

DISAPPEARING EARTH by Julia Phillips

A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN by George Saunders

Films

Navalny

Coming up:

WHITE NIGHTS and THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Follow us!

John:

Linkedin : John Wood

www.ugouniversity.org

Anna:

Instagram: @ abailliekaras

Substack: Books on the Go

Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff react to the 2025 Booker International Longlist.

Our book of the week is EUROTRASH by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles. A middle-aged man goes on a dubious road trip through Switzerland with his 80-year old mother, recently discharged from a mental institution. Blackly comic and written as autofiction, this was the Financial Times Best Translated Book of 2024 and a Time best book of 2024 and has been longlisted for the 2025 Booker International Prize.

Other books discussed:

THE QUANTITY THEORY OF INSANITY by Will Self (the story THE NORTH LONDON BOOK OF THE DEAD)

DR FISCHER OF GENEVA by Graham Greene

FRENCH EXIT by Patrick deWitt

Follow us!

Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @abailliekaras

Substack: Books On The Go

Credits

Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz