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Our book this episode is the joy bomb that is Victoria Hannan’s I Love the Whole World! This novel stars Leslie McDonald, 43, newly divorced and feeling diminished by the experience and her ex-husband, physiotherapist Dennis (who left her for his Alexander Technique teacher). Her art history degree, and her love of art has been put in a box, forgotten for the past twenty years, and her relationship with her adult daughter, Moose, is prickly. Then Leslie starts entering competitions and wins an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas. Her best friend pulls out at the last minute, and Leslie goes anyway. It’s the year 2000, and she discovers, as the book’s title suggests, that she actually loves the whole world. It is thoughtful, guileless, funny, generous and earnest. We both loved it. Books and things we mentioned in this episode * Germaine is reading Proof of Progress by Elizabeth Castellano and listening to The Agatha Cure by Cathy Rentzenbrink. And she’s dreaming of cooking this buttery apple cake from Elizabeth Hewson. * Sophie’s been reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang and listening to The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. And she’s been making custard tarts. * Other books that popped up in our conversation: Nigella Lawson’s iconic How to Eat, and Chocolat by Joanne Harris. * Author Victoria Hannan about her book on the podcast Book Matters. * The book Yesteryear also popped up a few times, and in case you haven’t listened to our episide on this one, here’s a link to listen. * Melissa Broder’s Milkfed also got a mention. * As did our Feast on Your Life by Tamar Adler episode Artist Michael Heizer’s famous Double Negative sculpture in Nevada Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada Something to Eat and Something to Read is a podcast for people who love reading and eating and reading about eating (and cooking), hosted by Sophie Hansen, a food writer and farmer from Orange in central-west New South Wales and Germaine Leece, a bibliotherapist and psychotherapist based in Sydney. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are recording today – Sophie on Wiradjuri Country in central-west New South Wales and Germaine on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation in Sydney. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people listening. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

How would you cope if time fell apart for you but kept ticking on for the rest of the world? This is what happens to Tara, the protagonist of this episode’s ‘book guest’. The Calculation of Volume, Part 1, by Solvej Balle. Tara Selter is an antiquarian book dealer who keeps waking up on November 18. She realises that she is trapped in a time loop and seems to be reliving this one day indefinitely while the rest of the world, including her husband, friends and family, all move on to November 19 completely unaware. While everyone and everything (except the food she consumes) resets to their exact state each morning, Tara ages and her memories accumulate. This first volume was shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year, and the judges said, “It takes a familiar narrative trope – protagonist inexplicably stuck in the same day – and transforms it into a profound meditation on love, connectedness and what it means to exist.” It gave us plenty to talk about in this episode, and as always, you don’t have to have read the book to (we hope) resonate with the threads we pull from it. And there are no spoilers. Links and show notes are coming to subscribers shortly. Something to Eat and Something to Read is a podcast for people who love reading and eating and reading about eating (and cooking), hosted by Sophie Hansen, a food writer and farmer from Orange in central-west New South Wales and Germaine Leece, a bibliotherapist and psychotherapist based in Sydney. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are recording today – Sophie on Wiradjuri Country in central-west New South Wales and Germaine on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation in Sydney. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people listening. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and welcome back to Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love food and cooking and reading, hosted by Germaine Leece, a bibliotherapist and psychotherapist based in Sydney and Sophie Hansen, a food writer and farmer from Orange in central-west New South Wales This episode’s book ‘guest’ is the hugely successful Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. And the conversation we have around it is a juicy one, spanning everything from returnism, the ‘performance’ of eating, cooking and parenting, friction-maxing, trad wife culture, cooking as care vs cooking as control and how this book ‘misses the most important point of all’. What did you think of this page-turner? Show notes are coming to our subscribers shortly. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are recording today – Sophie on Wiradjuri Country in central west New South Wales and Germaine on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation in Sydney. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people listening. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s book ‘guest’ is Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day by Tamar Adler and how reading it has nudged us both to think more about noticing the small pleasures we can so easily miss every day and what it means to actually pay attention to your own life. Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for joining us for another episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, where we think about pleasure and reading and throw away the idea of “challenging” reads. We discuss the ways that being more conscious of what we are reading and the journey this takes us on will lead to a depth of experience that is much more pleasurable than staying on the surface of a story. Most importantly, we can get this depth of experience from ANY novel we read, including Sophie’s beloved Jilly Cooper and Germaine’s beloved Patricia Cornwell. The book we’re reading for our next episode is Tamar Adler’s Feast on Your Life. Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss. We will also follow this up with a letter to our subscribers that further explores the richness of reading what we love. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! We’re back for another year of reading and cooking and are kicking off with a big, juicy summer round-up. In this episode, we share 16 books we read and all the things we cooked, watched, listened to and loved most over summer. Germaine’s summer read was The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers, a story about the secret life we live alongside our public lives and what happens in long-term marriages when you love but are not in love. Sophie devoured Heart the Lover by Lily King, a beautiful story of first love, growing up and losing people. We also discuss The Transformations by Andrew Pippos, When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, Hamnet the film, and so much more. We talk about summer cooking – peaches wrapped in prosciutto, chilli and fruit, Sophie’s halva with cold peaches, and Germaine’s beetroot and pickled cherry salad. We share thoughts on A Brain that Breathes by Jodi Wilson and heartily agree with and are trying to stick to her advice to start each day by reading instead of scrolling. Plus films including My Brother’s Band and Somebody to Love, exhibitions, podcasts about slowing down in the kitchen, and recommendations for good psychological thrillers. The book we’re reading for our next episode is Tamar Adler’s Feast on Your Life. Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Reading and cooking are doorways into Christmas for many of us. And because this year we need it, and perhaps you might too, we have made ourselves an Advent calendar of 25 things to read, cook, eat, listen to and do throughout the month. All things that might help slow us down, help us feel the festive feels, fill our tables with good things to share, and have a happy, calm month. Show notes with links, recipes, and the full list of things are heading to our subscribers’ inboxes. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome back to Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love reading and eating and talking and thinking about both. This episode’s book guest is TART - Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef by Slutty Chef a 20-something chef based in London who became famous via her Instagram page @sluttychef and a few posts calling out the misogyny in the high-end (or all) world of food. The book is sort of a memoir, but also, the author says, an amalgamation of fact and fiction. As she told UK Cosmo, “Some parts are incredibly true and accurate, and others have been juiced up.” Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

We have talked about dinner parties in literature before, but none have been quite so much of a struggle to sit through as this one! Happiness and Love by debut author Zoe Debno is a treat for the senses … in quite a different way. And via this book, and the conversation it sparked, we experience how appetites can be lost and food can be nauseating depending on the company we keep. This is about becoming curious about our reactions to a book, how food creates atmosphere and adds to character and how wealth, class and education can be a cover for the emptiest of internal lives. As ‘the actress’ says in Happiness and Love; “You act like all you want to do is have serious conversations about art and about literature, and that only a select group of people who have studied enough, who have the credentials you think are important, are smart enough to engage with you, but what is even inside of a book but people’s thoughts and feelings. Everyone can understand thoughts and feelings. Everyone can read a book and understand it.” Bibliotherapy in action! We hope you enjoy this conversation as we join our narrator on the “white linen sofa” for a long night ahead. Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss. In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

What books will you never let go of? What recipes will you cook forever? In this episode, we talk about letting go, holding on and the recipes and books that we turn to when we need to fall in love with cooking or reading again. We share the books that ‘wallpaper’ our minds and the things we’re cooking, reading and loving this month. Show notes are coming shortly, with lists of all the books and things we talk about, plus Sophie’s heart-shaped sponge recipe. Thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Germaine and Sophie x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

‘Lonely mouth is a Japanese expression. It means, like, you feel like you want to eat something, but you don’t know what it is. You’re looking for just the right thing. But maybe there is no right thing. Maybe you don’t need anything at all.’ This episode, we are talking and thinking about Jacqueline Maley’s latest novel, Lonely Mouth. It begins with two young girls being abandoned by their mother at the Big Merino just out of Goulburn and goes on to be the story mostly of the elder sister Matilda, her hungers, losses, relationships, relationship to her sister Lara and her body. And it sparked this conversation which we hope you enjoy listening to. And as always, you don’t have to have read the book to listen along, we deal more with the themes of the book than the plot (no spoilers we promise). Show notes with all the links and a soup to soothe and calm are coming to our wonderful subscribers shortly. Germaine and Sophie x Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Thanks for reading Something to Eat and Something to Read! This post is public so feel free to share it. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

What do you read before you go away? Do you research your trips/holidays through ‘place-rich’ novels? What genre do you prefer while ‘in transit’? How does travel affect the ‘shape’ a book or meal leaves on you (how can it not?). This episode meanders through the above and more, and we hope you enjoy it. We would love to hear about the books you love to read while dreaming of, planning for, and during your own travels. The afternoon we recorded this episode, Germaine had just arrived back from a trip to Germany and the UK, and Sophie was heading to the airport to visit Italy and Slovenia. Thank you for listening; we hope you enjoy this one. Show notes are coming to our subscribers shortly. Germaine and Sophie x Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. Thanks for listening to Something to Eat and Something to Read! If you know of someone who might also enjoy our podcast, please do share with them. Thanks so much x We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love cooking, reading and talking about both! Hosted by food writer Sophie Hansen and Germaine Leece, psychotherapist and bibliotherapist. This episode, because we think we all need it, we’re talking about optimism and the books and foods we reach for when we want/need to be reminded that everything is going to be ok in the end. Here below are some of the books that came up in this one. From baking to re-reading, poetry and the inherent optimism of leftovers, we have a list of 20 things to be optimistic about. We hope you enjoy them. We’re optimistic you will! Show notes will be sent out to our subscribers shortly. Germaine and Sophie x Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love reading and eating, and talking and thinking about both. In this episode, we're wondering if reading and cooking too much—is there such a thing?—can ever stop us from living. Maybe sometimes we need a pause to give us time to respond to all the stimuli (and there's a lot out there at the moment). After we've had that pause, we've got some good things to read and cook and ways to approach both so they're as nourishing as possible. We loved this chat, flipping the narrative a little on our passions and hope you do too. Thank you for listening. Show notes are coming to our subscribers shortly. Germaine and Sophie x Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, and welcome to the 2025 season of Something to Eat and Something to Read!!! This is a podcast for people who love to eat and read and talk about both, hosted by bibliotherapist Germaine Leece and food writer Sophie Hansen We all, thanks to writer Katherine May and her book of the same name, are familiar with the idea of Wintering. Of recognising and resting through fallow seasons, of re-grouping, healing, hibernating through days when the light is low, as she says, “doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it is essential.”. For our first episode of the year, we’re talking about the idea of ‘Summering’ and what that means for us in terms of reading and eating. Plus there are loads of good things to read and cook as we share our top five good things from this summer. We hope you enjoy listening. Show notes with all the links and things mentioned will be sent to our subscribers shortly. Sophie and Germaine Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe