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Anna and Geoff discuss the Singapore government paying people to read books, and the 2026 National Book Awards longlist for fiction.   Our book of the week is SWITZY by Emma Cline. Switzy is Cline's latest novel after her best-sellers The Girls and The Guest. David, a retired executive suffering from Alzheimers, is travelling to Zurich to end his life.  We follow David's point of view as he visits his daughter and an old school friend, while pretending he is fine. Switzy is a national best-seller, a Most Anticipated Book of Fall and has been longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.    Read-alikes: WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH by Sigrid Nunez MAYFLIES by Andrew O'Hagan Podcast: Better Off Dead   We also give our (wrong) predictions for the Booker Prize shortlist!   Coming up: THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY by Elizabeth Strout and THE RENOVATION by Kenan Orhan.   Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the challenges facing our local bookstores: rising taxes in the UK and a cyber-hacking event affecting a major distributor in Australia.  We also take a look at the current front-runners for the Booker Prize.   Our book of the week is debut novel ALL THEM DOGS by Djamel White. A gritty neo-noir story about Tony Ward who returns to Dublin and starts working for an enforcer in a local gang, it has been long listed for the 2026 Booker Prize.   We talk about: What makes a good underworld crime thriller and what are some of the pitfalls for literary authors venturing into this area. Why this is not a gangland Heated Rivalry. When a book leaves you wanting more.    Coming up:  TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout   Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss THE PALM HOUSE by Gwendoline Riley.  Set in London, it centres on friends Laura and Putnam, both journalists facing a changing work landscape. It is longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.   We enjoyed this book, especially the spare writing. It got us talking: How important is plot? Is this a comic novel? Geoff's alternative title for the book. We also pick our next reads from the Booker Prize Longlist.   Other books mentioned:   The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey Capture by Amanda Lohrey The Gate at The Stairs by Lorrie Moore Birds of America by Lorrie Moore Foster by Claire Keegan The Friend by Sigrid Nunez   Coming up: All Them Dogs by Djamel White Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

A special episode: Anna and Geoff are joined by Kate Slotover of the Book Club Review Podcast, on location in London.  We discuss our top holiday reading recommendations.   Our picks:   FAMESICK by Lena Dunham THE PALACE PAPERS by Tina Brown ENOUGH SAID by Alan Bennett   SLOUGH HOUSE by Mick Herron WAITING ON A FRIEND by Natalie Adler LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION by Ben Lerner PARADISO by Michele Masneri translated by Richard Village RECEIPTS FROM THE BOOKSHOP by Katie Clapham THE LINE OF BEAUTY by Alan Hollinghurst     Also discussed: TRANSCRIPTION by Ben Lerner VILLA COCO by Andrew Sean Greer THE SILVER BOOK by Olivia Laing SUNSTRUCK by William Hunter THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller EUROTRASH by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles EARTH 7 by Deb Olin Unferth   Pressing questions:  What makes a good holiday read? How many ghosts are too many? Is running a bookshop the dream job? Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras (Anna) / @bookclubreviewpodcast (Kate) Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the Dublin Literary Award winner, Gliff by Ali Smith.   Our book of the week is HOUR OF THE STAR by Clarice Lispector translated by Benjamin Moser. Lispector was the Ukrainian-Brazilian novelist writing from the 1940s to 1970s who is widely referenced and is having a moment on BookTube and BookTok.  She was compared with Virginia Woolf and Cubist artists. A short book (80 pages) but not a quick read as we discovered.  Geoff has an intriguing theory about the first section (spoiler alert).  Anna found it too abstract and meta but maybe it all makes sense?    Apologies for the audio quality, Anna's microphone was not working (we realised belatedly)!   Coming up: our top holiday reads. Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff react to the 2026 Women's Prize winners:  Virginia Evans' THE CORRESPONDENT for Fiction, which prompts Geoff to recommend 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, and Lyse Doucet's THE FINEST HOTEL IN KABUL for Non-Fiction.    Our book of the week is JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart, the Booker Prize-winning author of SHUGGIE BAIN. Set in the remote Scottish Hebrides among a weaving community, this story of John and his son Cal was an Oprah Book Club pick, a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and picked by many as a Most Anticipated Book of 2026. Is it more Brokeback Mountain or Greek tragedy, or something else?   Coming up: HOUR OF THE STAR by Clarice Lispector translated by Benjamin Moser. Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Stella Prize winner, CANNON by Lee Lai and the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction shortlist.  We also react to the Guardian list of 100 best books of all time. Is there a difference between your 10 favourite novels and your top 10 best books of all time?   Our book of the week is LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe.  This is Keefe's latest book, after his widely acclaimed EMPIRE OF PAIN. It explores the death of 19 year old Zac Brettler, who had been posing as a Russian oligarch's son and became entangled with the London underworld.  LONDON FALLING was a Most Anticipated book of 2026 and is a New York Times Best Book of the Year So Far.   There are twists and turns aplenty and much to discuss: Were the Met police incompetent or was there more to it? If your teenager has £850,000 in their bank account, is this a red flag? What did we think of the ending? Coming up: JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff react to the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, ANGEL DOWN by Daniel Kraus, a World War 1 novel written in one sentence. We also discuss Dwight Garner's New York Times article about the lack of book critics and our views on book influencers and reviews that make news, such as the Harper's review of To Paradise by Hana Yanagihara.   Our book of the week is TRANSCRIPTION by Ben Lerner. This novel about a writer who writes an article about his mentor from his memory of their interview after dropping his phone in a sink tackles issues such as phone addiction, parenting and eating disorders. It was a Telegraph 'most anticipated book of 2026' and a New York Times 'book everyone will be talking about'. Recommended for book clubs.   We had to ask: Why did he not put his phone in a bowl of rice? Is this a book about tech addiction? How does it differ from an Ian McEwan novel? How many unreliable narrators do we have here? Read-alikes: AUDITION by Katie Kitamura LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION by Ben Lerner   Coming up: LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist. Is it  more commercial than usual?   Our book of the week is LÁZÁR by Nelio Biedermann translated by Jamie Bulloch. This sweeping historical novel about the aristocratic von Lázár family during the 20th century from the Austro Hungarian empire through to Russian occupation is a buzzy debut which has received much praise. Patti Smith, Dua Lipa and Christian Kracht are fans.    It prompted some questions: Is One Hundred years of Solitude a good comparison? What is the meaning of the translucent skin and gothic forest? Can you spot the modern literature references (Anna missed most of them!) Here are some read-alikes if you enjoyed Lázár: Held by Anne Michaels Beddebrooks by Thomas Mann The Director by Daniel Kehlmann translated by Ross Benjamin The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth translated by Michael Hofmann Coming up: TRANSCRIPTION by Ben Lerner Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the news that Helen deWitt has turned down the Windham Campbell prize.  Are authors expected to do too much publicity?     Our book of the week is PEDRO PÁRAMO by Juan Rulfo translated by Douglas J. Weatherford.  'Wuthering Heights located in Mexico written by Kafka' gives a hint - this book is a trip. It broke Anna's brain but Geoff found it richly rewarding once you get into it. Pedro Páramo inspired a generation of Hispanic writers including Gabriel Garcia Márquez and is considered a classic. It's now a Netflix film - but is it too faithful to the book?   We needed the Wikipedia plot summary for this one.   Read-alikes THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez A SUNNY PLACE FOR SHADY PEOPLE by Mariana Enriquez translated by Megan McDowell HURRICANE SEASON by Fernanda Melchor translated by Sophie Hughes   Coming up: LÁZÁR by Nelio Biedermann translated by Jamie Bulloch  Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the 2026 Booker International Shortlist.   Our book of the week is HEART THE LOVER by Lily King. This buzzy novel follows three friends at university and into adulthood.  A follow up from King's best-seller WRITERS AND LOVERS, it is an instant New York Times best-seller and is long-listed for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction (shortlist to be announced on 22 April). It's also Zadie Smith's pick for 'the book that made me weep uncontrollably.'   More literary romances: THE EVENING OF THE HOLIDAY by Shirley Hazzard SEEING OTHER PEOPLE by Diana Reid   Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Annie discuss the news that Hachette has pulled the book SHY GIRL by Mia Ballard from publication after concerns it was written by AI.   Our book of the week is A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF by Megha Majumdar.  This follow-up to her novel A Burning is set in near-future, dystopian Kolkata.  A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF is full of ethical dilemmas, flawed characters and memorable food scenes - a good book club pick. It has been long listed for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction.     Read-alikes: THE DIRECTOR by Daniel Kehlmann translated by Ross Benjamin (iykyk) LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam   Coming up: HEART THE LOVER by Lily King   Follow us! Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist. We're intrigued by  Women Without Men: A novel of Modern Iran by  Shahrnush Parsipur translated by Faridoun Farrokh and The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar translated by Ruth Martin.   Our book of the week is SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood. This short novel about a man who works as a shanker on a foggy beach and a film-maker who wants to set a movie there was long listed for the 2025 Booker Prize.   There is much to discuss: Are we now shrimping experts? How do we feel about dreams in novels? Do we like bleak, isolated settings? Annas suggests two read-alikes if you enjoyed Seascraper: The Horse by Willy Vlautin Clear by Carys Davies Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, including Flashlight, The Correspondent and Audition.  Some of the other long-listed books feature writers as characters, which gets us talking about turn-offs in novels.   Our book of the week is DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes. This is the final book by the Booker Prize-winning author. It is a novel about a couple who reunite later in life, with authobiographical elements from Barnes' own life, or it could be a memoir containing a short story.  There is also Proust, philosophy and some observations on memory. Described as 'elegant' (The Times) and 'unmistakably Barnes' (Observer), it got us thinking:   Where is the line between memoir and novel? Is DEPARTURE(S) a love story? Are the memory bits too Oliver Sacksy?   Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood.   Follow us:   Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras Substack: Books On The Go   Credits   Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week 2026 amid the controversy after the Adelaide Festival Board disinvited Palestinian-Australian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fatteh.  Among the authors who withdrew from Writers' Week was Richard Flanagan, who wrote this article (sorry for the paywall).  Director Louise Adler resigned with this letter to the Guardian. Since we recorded this episode, the new Board has retracted the decision and apologised to Dr Abdel-Fatteh.   In other book news, Random House has dropped David Walliams, as discussed on this episode of The Rest is Entertainment podcast.   Our book of the week is THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden, a debut novel set in 1960s Netherlands which was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the 2025 Women's Prize.   Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood. Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz