What Page Are You On?: Recent Episodes
What Page Are You On?
Prolific readers Alice Slater and Bethany Rutter take a literary theme, from ghost stories to crime to fat women, and chat about it for the next 40 minutes.
Follow us on Twitter @WhatPagePod (https://twitter.com/WhatPagePod)
What have Alice and Bethany been reading in July? Only one way to find out.
This episode has been tagged as containing explicit content due to Alice quoting a VERY rude song.
Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.
[Content note: several of the books discussed in this episode involve sexual violence] Alice and Bethany had a big reading month, though it was very heavy on the non-fic. We even read one book in common!
What have Alice and Bethany been reading this month? Turns out, a WHOLE LOT and they liked it all! Huge amounts of recommendations for your earholes.
What have Alice and Bethany been reading this month? You'll just have to listen to find out...
Alice and Bethany pick one book they read each month of 2025 and pit them against each other to determine their book of the year. Full lists available on the What Page Are You On account on Instagram!
Alice and Bethany catch up halfway through 2025 and chat about some new releases and backlist titles that have charmed them thus far.
Alice and Bethany make a cheeky little top 10 of their favourite books of the year! Head to our Instagram for the full list.
Doing a spot of Christmas book shopping and thirsty for recommendations? Alice and Bethany have you covered. They each choose a fiction, a non-fiction, a food and drink, a reissue and the book they'd most like someone to give them.
Alice and Bethany catch up on what they've been reading, but it turns out it's been a weird reading year for them both. Much yapping lies ahead.
Alice and Bethany chat through a few of the books they're excited about for the rest of the year, and ask their author and bookseller friends for more recommendations! Because of the way we have to record episodes in advance, at least one of the books is already out, so if any of them sound good to you, it may be possible to read them already rather than wait!
Following the escandalo that has dogged the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, Alice and Bethany discuss a few forthcoming adaptations of books, plus one that's taking up a lot of Alice's brain space, released on the same day as this episode...
Alice and Bethany look inward and discuss the two books Bethany has released this year! First up, Big Date Energy, aka what happens when you try to write a romcom where the main character is more like 'The Friend', and then Slowcoach, where we talk about how weirdly horrible and borderline traumatic PE lessons were.
Alice and Bethany talk through what they've been reading so far in 2024, and how not recording the pod has affected their reading habits.
Inspired by the New York Times' list of the 100 greatest books of the 21st Century, Alice and Bethany each compile their own top 10s, and find they have only one book in common, but don't agree on what that book is about...
Bethany's list:
The Fact of a Body - Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan
Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Crimson Petal & The White - Michel Faber
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Alice's list:
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori)
Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi
In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado
Just Kids - Patti Smith
Lanny - Max Porter
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl - Andrea Lawlor
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt
Alice and Bethany have the huge pleasure of talking to girlie of the moment, Eliza Clark, largely about her new novel Penance but also about true crime, Tumblr, the wild success of Boy Parts and its upcoming stage adaptation!
Alice and Bethany have the great pleasure of talking to Heather Parry about her short story collection This Is My Body Given For You, which is a gnarly little thing full of troubling images and ideas. She also talks about the great work she does at the Society of Authors, and lots more!
Alice and Bethany have the great pleasure of talking to the film journalist and programmer Anna Bogutskaya about her new non-fiction book Unlikeable Female Characters! They take a dive into the world of 'unlikeable' women through film and TV from erotic thrillers to Skyler White via the Hays Code and Amy Dunne from Gone Girl.
Bethany has the huge pleasure of chatting to Virginia Sole-Smith about her revolutionary new book Fat Talk: Coming of Age in Diet Culture, which investigates the radical possibility of abandoning our cultural fears around 'childhood obesity' to create bodily autonomy in children and beyond.
Alice's debut novel, Death of a Bookseller, is out NOW! So obviously Bethany had to ask her all the nosy questions about it!
Alice and Bethany have a whale of a time with the funny, smart Katherine Heiny, author of the new collection Games and Rituals, as well as the novels Standard Deviation and Early Morning Riser. Games and Rituals is out now!
Alice and Bethany atone for not putting out an episode for the first three months of the year by telling you all about everything they've read in the first quarter of 2023.
Alice and Bethany are BACK from their unplanned hiatus! And they've got a long, juicy episode for you about their favourite books of 2022, which obviously they should have recorded weeks ago... but didn't. Enjoy!
If you've been listening to WPAYO for a little while you'll know that a true Book of the Pod is Come Closer by Sara Gran. We are so hyped that she has a NEW book out, called The Book of the Most Precious Substance, and that we got to talk to her about it for this episode! The Book of the Most Precious Substance is out NOW from Faber!
If you've been listening to WPAYO for a little while you'll know that a true Book of the Pod is Come Closer by Sara Gran. We are so hyped that she has a NEW book out, called The Book of the Most Precious Substance, and that we got to talk to her about it for this episode! The Book of the Most Precious Substance is out NOW from Faber!
Alice and Bethany have the great pleasure of interviewing Chelsea G Summers, author of the bloody and brilliant A Certain Hunger!
Alice and Bethany have the extreme joy of interviewing friend of the pod, thee Erin Kelly, author of Alice's fave, The Poison Tree and Bethany's fave, The Burning Air, as well as huge bestseller He Said She Said! Her new novel, The Skeleton Key, is out on September 1.
Alice and Bethany discuss the dark and delicious novella We Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets, translated by Emma Rault. We Had To Remove This Post deals with the corrosive nature of repeated exposure to violence on a content moderator for a tech giant, and we loved it.
It's no secret that WPAYO loved Detransition, Baby - we dedicated a whole episode to it! So we're beyond delighted to speak to Torrey Peters ahead of the British Book Awards, where she's nominated in the Discover category. Detransition, Baby is out now in paperback!
Alice and Bethany go deep on Red Dragon by Thomas Harris as part of their Blockbusters series, since they both love Silence of the Lambs.
This week we had the huge pleasure of talking to literary legend Joanne Harris about her latest book, A Narrow Door, which is absolutely brilliant, thrilling and haunting. We also chatted about the great work done by the Society of Authors, and Joanne's generosity with informal creative writing education via Twitter! A delight.
Alice and Bethany go through the five books they're each planning to read in the near future. If you want to see a list of the books, head to the podcast Instagram or Twitter!
Alice and Bethany take a look at a few categories from the British Book Awards and chat through their thoughts and feelings, as well as trying to predict what will win. Lots of chat, speculation and conjecture!
Alice and Bethany take messy gal fic into a darker direction with New Animal by Ella Baxter, which is out now from Picador.
Alice and Bethany absolutely loved Coco Mellors' glittering debut Cleopatra & Frankenstein, a portrait of a marriage in early noughties NYC, and in this episode they get to ask the author all about it! The book is available now from 4th Estate.
Bethany's adult debut novel is out NOW and she and Alice have a lil chat about the book and its creation!
You can buy it from Waterstones here - https://www.waterstones.com/book/welcome-to-your-life/bethany-rutter/9780008469948
Bethany attempts to keep calm as she and Alice meet Catherine Ryan Howard, author of several of the best 21st century thrillers, including her latest novel 56 Days. Catherine talks about her frankly fascinating writing process, her relationship with true crime, writing a 'lockdown novel' and loads and loads more.
Alice and Bethany do a deep dive on the brilliant Notes On An Execution by Danya Kukafka, exploring the life and death of a murderer on death row and the women whose lives he affected.
Alice and Bethany get to sit down with the 21st century's answer to Agatha Christie, the excellent Lucy Foley! They chat all things murder mystery as they celebrate the launch of Lucy's latest thriller, The Paris Apartment, which is out now.
Over the past two months, Bethany has become obsessed with the crime author Attica Locke, so this episode is a little introduction to her major themes and her most famous novel Bluebird, Bluebird.
Alice educates Bethany on the wonderful world of BookTok, a place that Alice is spending a lot of time these days. They talk virality, what makes a BookTok hit, and what publishers can do to hop on the TikTok train.
If you don't know about Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades, where have you been?! It's one of the most anticipated books of the year, and in the words of Raven Leilani, 'an ode to girlhood'. We've been so lucky to talk to Daphne on today's episode, and we hope you enjoy the chat and the book, which is out now from 4th Estate.
Alice and Bethany wrap up the year in style and let you know their respective top 10s of 2021! For a full list, please see our Instagram account for WPAYO!
She's sold over 2 BILLION COPIES and is the most-translated author in history. Alice has never read any Agatha Christie, so the WPAYO gals read And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express.
Jen Campbell is a Proper Expert on fairytales, especially as they relate to disability and disfigurement, so Alice and Bethany were extremely keen to talk to her about her new book, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers And Other Gruesome Tales. They travel around the world discussing the fairytale tropes from different countries and continents and ask Jen all their burning fairytale questions like why disability is so prevalent in tales of yore.
What are the essential ingredients of a romantic interest? Are people gagging for escapism right now? Why do you love Twilight so much? These are all questions that baby romance author Bethany asked very well-established romance author Lindsey Kelk to celebrate the publication of her new novel, On A Night Like This!
Alice and Bethany celebrate the release of Tell Me I'm Worthless with an interview with the book's esteemed author Alison Rumfitt. A truly audacious addition to the great tradition of haunted house novels!
Alice and Bethany continue their slow and intermittent series on blockbuster books with an episode about Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Has it stood the test of time?
Bethany interviews the extremely interesting Calla Henkel about her phenomenal novel Other People's Clothes, which - if you listen to this podcast and enjoy Alice + Bethany's recommendations - you will almost certainly adore.
Alice and Bethany kick off Spooky Season with this rundown of 10 scary novels, from thrillers to horror to noir, that they rate in three very important categories.
Alice and Bethany take a look at two recent reissues of novels about women getting very intimate with nature, Bear by Marian Engel and Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls.
Alice and Bethany do a rest-of-the-year reading tag as seen on Ariel Bissett's YouTube channel and talk about their plans, ruminate on ghostwritten books and start cautiously thinking about 2022 books.
Alice and Bethany navigate Rooney Fever by discussing the masterful marketing campaign by Faber for Beautiful World, Where Are You? which is released this week.
Alice and Bethany read each other the first line of five books from their TBR pile and try to guess what they're from.
Alice and Bethany take you through a non-comprehensive list of some translated fiction they've enjoyed for Women In Translation month.
Alice and Bethany take you through some quick reads: novellas to consume on a train journey, on the beach or chilling in a pub garden this summer.
Alice and Bethany are so lucky to be able to speak to Nina Mingya Powles, author of previous WPAYO fave Tiny Moons, about her new book, Small Bodies of Water. It's out now from Canongate and you can buy it at all good bookshops!
Alice and Bethany discuss The Service by Frankie Miren, a genuinely brilliant book that you should buy and read right now.
Alice and Bethany discuss the article Cat Person And Meby Alexis Nowicki and try to grapple with the question of whether it's okay to lift other people's lives to use as material in your writing.
Alice and Bethany take a look at the best-selling books of all time, and attempt to crack the key to the DaVinci Code('s success).
Alice and Bethany go through their books of 2021 so far. A full list will be posted on the What Page Are You On account on Instagram!
Alice and Bethany answer YOUR questions about writing, from the first draft all the way through to what we would avoid in a publisher.
Alice and Bethany survey the terrain of post-apocalyptic novels, from The Road to Severance.
Alice and Bethany discuss the brilliant Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore before musing over the Women's Prize shortlist. Spoiler: they're not happy.
Alice and Bethany try to navigate the wild behaviour of a fellow author online this week, who prompted a backlash by complaining about 4* reviews.
Alice and Bethany celebrate the reopening of bookshops in England with an episode singing the praises of bookshops they've known and loved, and recommend you some titles to purchase in your favourite bricks and mortar store.
Alice and Bethany think about the role of the internet in their reading habits, from posting your monthly reads to whether they get negative online.
Alice and Bethany talk about Night Shift by Kiare Ladner, a book that appears to be treading familiar ground and then sneaks up on you.
Alice and Bethany chat about their experience of reading, or in many cases not reading, the 'classics', from Carmilla to the Divine Comedy to Jane Eyre.
Alice and Bethany attempt to pair some of their favourite books of recent years with films that they feel captures the vibe or theme, from The Vanishing Half to The Vegetarian.
Alice and Bethany take a look at the longlist of the Women's Prize and lament some notable omissions.
Alice and Bethany have a spoiler-free discussion of one of the year's buzziest books so far - Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
After Alice revisits American Psycho, she discusses the experience of reading violence in books with Bethany.
Following a viral tweet this week that drew some criticism, Alice and Bethany contemplate the role of book boxes and libraries.
Alice and Bethany talk about writing, from drafting to editing and getting an agent, and discover they are very different beasts.
Alice and Bethany opened their inbox to questions from listeners for 24 hours and the results are here, in their last episode of 2020.
Alice and Bethany compile their top 10 of the year, after what they perceive to be a slightly disappointing 2020 for books.
Alice and Bethany tell you about their Christmas fundraiser, and discuss The Truants by Kate Weinberg, which seemed like it would be right up their street. But was it?
Alice and Bethany give you a hand with your Christmas shopping and reading plans by taking you through the WPAYO gift guide.
Alice talks us through the shortlist of Waterstones' Book of the Year and puts her tin foil hat on to develop some conspiracy theories. Bethany airs her grievances against a previous year's winner.
Alice and Bethany rise like a phoenix from the ashes of lockdown and regroup for their first episode in.... many months.
Alice and Bethany discuss non-fiction works by two queer writers that each take different formal approaches to the idea of 'memoir'. And keep listening at the end of the episode for Alice's chat with Michelle Tea- a delight.
Alice and Bethany discuss two short story collections by female authors from Northern Ireland - Multitudes by Lucy Caldwell and Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine.
Joined once again by Jordan Taylor-Jones, Alice and Bethany go through their anticipated books of the year - some of which they've already read...
We robbed you of a 2019 faves episode by doing a 'best of the decade' instead, but we can't bear the thought of leaving you wanting, so here's a roundup of some of our faves of last year, PLUS special guest, Jordan Taylor-Jones.
Alice and Bethany forego a best of the year episode and instead compile a best of the decade list while you listen!
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Just Kids - Patti Smith (2010)
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Dark Matter - Michelle Paver (2010)
- The Poison Tree - Erin Kelly (2011)
- A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan (2011)
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Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (2012)
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Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel (2014)
- Dumplin' - Julie Murphy (2015)
- The Vegetarian - Han Kang (2015)
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Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh (2015)
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The Girls - Emma Cline (2016)
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Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo Lodge (2017)
- The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas (2017)
- Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney (2017)
- Attrib. - Eley Williams (2017)
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Lullaby - Leila Slimani (2018)
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Give Me Your Hand - Megan Abbott (2018)
- Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (2018)
- Skin Deep - Liz Nugent (2018)
- The Red Word - Sarah Henstra (2019)
- Fun Home - Alison Bechdel (WE FUCKED UP THIS WAS ACTUALLY 2006!)
Alice and Bethany head to North London and into the world of prying middle-aged women with Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and Bitter by Francesca Jakobi.
Alice and Bethany discuss a pair of books about women who, to one extent or another, hibernate. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and The New Me by Halle Butler.
Alice and Bethany come back from their extended hiatus with an episode about a phenomenal book from 1995 that was just reissued: In The Cut by Susannah Moore.
Before Alice and Bethany take a summer break, they go through their respective top 10s of books they've read this year. Not just books released in 2019, but of all the books they've read.
Alice and Bethany have the great pleasure of talking to Lucie McKnight Hardy about her brilliant debut, Water Shall Refuse Them, published by Dead Ink Press. It's a story about ritual, heatwaves, folklore and loss, and we hope you enjoy this live recording we did at Foyles to celebrate the book. The discussion is spoiler-free, and the section that Lucie reads will also not impact your enjoyment of the book!
Alice and Bethany indulge in new fiction release Supper Club by Lara Williams and pair with last year's non-fiction banger Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh.
Alice and Bethany talk about two recent-ish books that are set in the Bay Area and deal with the American experience in a different way to their usual fare.
There There - Tommy Orange
American Is Not The Heart - Elaine Castillo
Alice and Bethany discuss two recently-released books with similar titles that both deal with sexual assault, but find their content and execution to be polar opposites.
What Red Was - Rosie Price
The Red Word - Sarah Henstra
We have the great pleasure of talking to Louise O'Neill, author of Only Ever Yours, Asking For It, Almost Love and The Surface Breaks, which is a feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid.
In this episode, Alice and Bethany discuss two short story collections with a taste for the darker side: Salt Slow by Julia Armfield which is out this week, and Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Alice and Bethany are joined by author Elizabeth Macneal to discuss her novel, The Doll Factory, as well as Michel Faber's Victorian masterpieces, The Apple and Crimson Petal & The White, which is one of Bethany's all-time favourite novels.
Alice and Bethany realised there was a trend in 2018-2019 for books with citrus fruits in the title, so decided to read them for this episode. The books were:
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce Tangerine by Christine Mangan Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
WPAYO had the great pleasure and honour of interviewing Michelle Paver, author of [among others] Dark Matter and Thin Air, two of our favourite novels of recent years. Her new novel, Wakenhyrst, is a change of direction which is no less absorbing, lifelike and haunting. Wakenhyrst is out now.
In a special bonus episode, Alice and Bethany talk to Beth McColl aka internet fave TeddyBless about her new book, How To Come Alive Again, which is out now from Unbounders.
Alice and Bethany take a look at two fictionalised accounts of the music industry via newly-released faux oral history Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and revisits A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.
Alice and Bethany tackle something that Alice knows something about and Bethany knows nothing about: poetry. They talk about a series of modern poems that have achieved some kind of internet fame or virality for reasons to the artistic to the potentially criminal.
Alice and Bethany lean into the winter by reading two contemporary Nordic novels with a queer angle, Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval, and Crimson by Niviaq Corneliussen.
You've heard Alice and Bethany gush about My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, now hear Bethany chat to Oyin herself about what inspired the character Ayoola, how she feels about that cover, and the charmed road to publication...
This week, Alice and Bethany talk about different kinds of isolated communities. They discuss Skin Deep by Liz Nugent and Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, as well as The Beach by Alex Garland, The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh and Little Eve by Catriona Ward.
Alice and Bethany usher in 2019 with an episode about girls covering up for each other. They discuss Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott, and My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ahead of releasing a mini episode featuring an interview with Oyinkan.
Alice and Bethany finish up the year with their top 10s of 2018.
Alice's book of the year is Women by Chloe Caldwell - https://amzn.to/2QiG9PM
Bethany's book of the year is Skin Deep by Liz Nugent - https://amzn.to/2zP3IFm
Bethany's top 10:
Skin Deep by Liz Nugent - https://amzn.to/2zP3IFm
Women by Chloe Caldwell - https://amzn.to/2QiG9PM
Normal People by Sally Rooney - https://amzn.to/2AYKxc0
House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara - https://amzn.to/2QCrheq
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro - https://amzn.to/2B3ktML
Lullaby by Leila Slimani - https://amzn.to/2Pqi8B0
Revolting Prostitutes by Molly Smith and Juno Mac - https://amzn.to/2L598QU
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - https://amzn.to/2Pp96E1
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso - https://amzn.to/2B3lbcT
I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara - https://amzn.to/2L1o56P
Alice's top 10:
Women by Chloe Caldwell - https://amzn.to/2QiG9PM
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - https://amzn.to/2SC1259
Normal People - https://amzn.to/2AYKxc0
Lullaby by Leila Slimani - https://amzn.to/2Pqi8B0
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro - https://amzn.to/2B3ktML
What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah - https://amzn.to/2PseLJA
Ponti by Sharlene Teo - https://amzn.to/2Qig1El
I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara - https://amzn.to/2L1o56P
Little Eve by Catriona Ward - https://amzn.to/2B3ljsT
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott - https://amzn.to/2PkWcqR
The 2019 releases we can already recommend are
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Red Snow by Will Dean
Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly
Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Alice and Bethany discuss two brilliant novels set in the darkest heart of suburbia, and think about the nature of young female friendship, what suburbia means and why these books so often revolve around women.
The books of the episode are:
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - https://amzn.to/2OWkRBT
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott - https://amzn.to/2OZFPjd
and a special mention for:
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - https://amzn.to/2PST6j2
Bethany is currently reading The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek - https://amzn.to/2ScG6Bg and listening to Disobedience by Naomi Alderman on Audible - https://amzn.to/2PT5zDn
Alice is currently reading The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal - https://amzn.to/2PTtwdt and listening to Pet Sematary by Stephen King on Audible - https://amzn.to/2ApVymC
This week Alice and Bethany discuss two very recent books about Japanese shop employees: The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami and Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.
The Nakano Thrift Shop - https://amzn.to/2PoXrtK
Convenience Store Woman - https://amzn.to/2z4smS9
In this episode, Bethany interviews Molly Smith and Juno Mac, authors of Revolting Prostitutes, a rare example of a book about sex worker rights written by current sex workers.
They discuss their process of writing collaboratively, their attempts to shift how we think about 'sex work issues' and the impossibly high standards they're forced to work to.
Their book, Revolting Prostitutes, can be found here: https://amzn.to/2DjaZk7
They also recommend:
Playing the Whore by Melissa Gira Grant - https://amzn.to/2yPJNWB
Sex at the Margins by Laura Maria Augustin - https://amzn.to/2F3pp9P
To Live Freely In This World by Chi Adanna Mgbako- https://amzn.to/2OszDjG
Alice and Bethany return from their wedding-induced hiatus just in time for Hallowe'en. They discuss two creeptastic masterpieces by gothic queen Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and The Haunting of Hill House, with much bonus chat about the Hill House adaptation on Netflix, leading to broader discussions about horror in books and films.
Alice and Bethany grapple with Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. They don't necessarily agree on it but have a lot to say about it anyway, before going on a meander towards classics, contemporary classics, the literary legacy of Jane Eyre and more. Join us at 8pm on Tuesday 7th August for the Twitter chat on the hashtag #WPAYOSargasso.
This week, Alice and Bethany take you through their favourite books of the year so far and tell you about what they're looking forward to in the second half of the year.
In this Book Club episode, Alice and Bethany discuss When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy, and then go off-piste to chat about book prizes and celebrity-endorsed book clubs...
Alice and Bethany discuss three books that deal with women on the edge.
Problems by Jade Sharma - https://amzn.to/2yptG4i
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - https://amzn.to/2t59GPb
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen - https://amzn.to/2t4Qot8
In this episode Alice and Bethany discuss classic-in-the-making I'll Be Gone In The Dark with Grace and Emma from Foul Play magazine, which you can find out about here - http://www.foulplaymag.com
In this episode Alice and Bethany talk about 5 thrillers that were released in either hardback or paperback this year which they think would make amazing summer holiday reads.
They are:
He Said She Said by Erin Kelly - https://amzn.to/2shIeMZ
Darling by Rachel Edwards - https://amzn.to/2saLt8O
The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton - https://amzn.to/2xciXcQ
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - https://amzn.to/2GRd1FL
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn - https://amzn.to/2KXzIKu
In this episode, Alice and Bethany go deep and spoilerish on Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. Join us at 7pm on Tuesday 15th May on the What Page Are You On Twitter account (@whatpagepod) for a live Twitter chat if you feel like joining in!
In a little extra episode, Bethany talks to Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, authors of the hilarious and moving novel Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling!, which was born out of a Facebook group started by the pair 10 years ago. They talk about working collaboratively, turning a Facebook group into a novel and their hopes for the 8th amendment referendum.
This week, Alice and Bethany talk about girls going wild, whether thats for booze or love. The books we discuss are
Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth - https://amzn.to/2JBmGlm
Eat My Heart Out by Zoe Pilger - https://amzn.to/2KnbJF6
I Love Dick by Chris Kraus - https://amzn.to/2jiIeYW
We also mention
Ponti by Sharlene Teo
Marlena by Julie Buntin
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
In today's episode we focus on Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter, and are joined by writer, academic and former waitress Rebecca May Johnson. There will be a Twitter chat to accompany this Book Club episode at 7pm on Tuesday 10th April under the hashtag #WPAYOSweetBitter.
[You can buy Sweetbitter here - https://amzn.to/2GAIU5U]
Alice and Bethany take it back to 1976-1996 in New York and have a look at a couple of different scenes. First, the ball scene courtesy of House of Impossible Beauties, then the club kids and their disco bloodbath in Party Monster and What I Loved. They finish up with The Future Won't Be Long which doesn't just perfectly blend the two worlds but takes in a whole lot more.
The House of Impossible Beauties - Joseph Cassara - http://amzn.to/2pn5p6Z
Party Monster - James St James - http://amzn.to/2DCT181
What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt - http://amzn.to/2pm9OrN
The Future Won't Be Long - Jarett Kobek - http://amzn.to/2G4zySM
Alice and Bethany kick off their new regular feature - the What Page Are You On book club - with Leila Slimani's Lullaby. There will be a Twitter chat at 7pm on 6th March using the hashtag #WPAYOLullaby.
In this episode, Alice and Bethany are riding the Valentine's wave of romance, and discuss a few books that deal with forbidden love.
We talk about:
The Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam [which regretfully both of us were unable to finish as we did not anticipate how long it was]
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
Women by Chloe Caldwell
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro
[We also refer to I Love Dick by Chris Kraus]
In this episode, Alice and Bethany talk about three thrillers set in nature - Dark Pines by Will Dean, Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski and Exquisite by Sarah Stovell. This is followed by a conversation between Bethany and Will about writing and publishing his first novel and everything he's learned along the way.
Alice and Bethany round off the year with 10 books they're looking forward to in 2018. For people who love spoilers, those books are
- Dark Pines by Will Dean
- Lullaby by Leila Slimani
- From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty
- Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro
- Ponti by Sharlene Teo
- The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Suicide Club by Rachel Heng
- Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
- The Curses by Laure Eve
In this episode Alice and Bethany have drawn up their own lists of their top 10 books of the year, and come together to compare notes. Will there be overlap? Will there be disagreements? Only time will tell...
In this episode, Alice and Bethany interrogate each other about what they read, how they read it, who they listen to when they want recommendations and how they treat the books in their possession. You probably won't get too many new book ideas from this episode, but it'll make you laugh.
Alice and Bethany were both born in the eighties, so while we're riding the Stranger Things nostalgia wave, we decided to take it back and do an episode on literature of the 1980s.
We discuss
Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis Beloved - Toni Morrison The White Hotel - DM Thomas Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins Perfume - Patrick Suskind Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson Mort - Terry Pratchett The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
Alice and Bethany celebrate the most wonderful time of the year by chatting about ghost stories, classic and contemporary.
The books discussed: The Woman In Black - Susan Hill The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell The Upstairs Room - Kate Murray-Browne Thornhill - Pam Smy
And, not a ghost story but a gothic banger we wanted to talk about- Such Small Hands by Andres Barba
The Travelling Bag - Susan Hill
In this episode, Alice and Bethany talk through their favourite film adaptations of great books, adaptations they feel missed the mark, and what we're looking forward to coming out in cinemas.
In this episode, Alice and Bethany wrestle with ethical questions around how much they enjoy true crime books, what makes true crime fiction good or bad, and whether fiction inspired by real crimes is any different to non-fiction marketed as true crime.
The books we discuss are:
The Fact of a Body - Alexandria Marzano Lesnevich
The Red Parts - Maggie Nelson
The Adversary - Emmanuel Carrere
Forensics - Val McDermid
See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmidt
Little Deaths - Emma Flint
The Girls - Emma Cline
This is the first episode of the new books podcast What Page Are You On! In this episode, Alice and Bethany talk about books that have a high fat content, both fiction and non-fiction.
The books we discuss are: Hunger - Roxane Gay Shrill - Lindy West Dumplin' - Julie Murphy Girls Series - Jacqueline Wilson Just As Long As We're Together / Here's To You Rachel Robinson - Judy Blume Butter - Erin Lange The Cat Ate My Gym Shorts - Paula Danziger Daisy In Chains - Sharon Bolton The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris