READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jodie Remarkably Bright Creatures features an all-knowing giant Pacific octopus as its key narrator. Marcellus knows only captivity and is astute in his observations of those observing him, which helps connect missing family members. Day 1,361 of My Captiv- Oh, Let Us Cut the Shit, Shall We? We Have a Ring to Retrieve. ● Marcellus the Octopus was one of the three main narrators and was very cleverly written. He truly made this novel come together. I really enjoyed Marcellus’s observations on the humans in the novel which were laced with humour and wisdom. The nov ..read more

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy Set in Japan with memories of New Zealand, Bird Life is about Dinah, a young Kiwi woman who moves to Tokyo to escape grief only to gravitate towards a colleague who is also in the grip of loss. Both tell their stories of the past and the current, experiencing a spiral into madness as they try to rescue themselves and one another. “When you are a child, you should have a chance to be a child. That is what I think. There are some kinds of love that are very hungry. It is probably very selfish of me, but I wanted a chance to live without getting eaten up”. ● Pr ..read more

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo Gladiators fight to the death to win their freedom In America’s private prisons. Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, a televised, profit-making programme. This book is an exploration of the American prison system, asking what freedom really means. Does disappearing one person from the earth clean it some? I seen men I knew were a danger to the world and they too deserve better than this. A shame for me to hope for better, but I know it’s better that can be done. Ain’t no magic potions for these bleeding h ..read more

Bookclub has come of age – it is 18 years old, officially grown up! And what an upbringing it has had. From simple beginnings, it has changed and flourished and developed a life of its own. Now, with a mass of memorable evenings, blog posts, discussions and analysis behind it, bookclub has a unique and distinct identity. That identity is made up of our club members’ sometimes complimentary, sometimes contrasting opinions and is buoyed by the feedback and thoughts of our friends, whanau and followers. As bookclub comes of age, so too does our evolving literary knowledge, our ability to analyse ..read more

After loving the Women’s Prize shortlist in 2023, we have decided to back read the Women’s Prize shortlists. The finalists for the year we have completed were so readable, meaningful and highlighted the female experience. That’s a winning reading combo we want to chase more, so it’s off to the 2022 shortlist. Late in 2023 Suzy and Rachel completed the titles they had not already read and over the hot summer shared their thoughts and analysed the six titles, deciding which book they would have picked as winner. The finalists were: The Bread The Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agnostini. Trinidadian ..read more

There’s an intriguing stream of literature being published post Covid. That time of constraint and restriction appears to have spurred a greater range of freedoms post pandemic, especially in the way in which writers examine the human psyche and societal change. Characters we met this year seemed to be strong and oh so convincing but often set in surreal environments to challenge traditional thinking. These alternative realities and magical elements really pushed the character to react, and the reader to examine today’s world, and to re-imagine it. When put under this spotlight, crises of the ..read more

READ FOR BOOK CLUB Chosen by Rachel 16yo teenager Charlie Rabbit goes missing in the midst of an Australian heatwave. The story is about the collateral damage to the already dysfunctional family which must now navigate Charlie’s absence, too. A contemporary story with a touch of magical realism. I have a theory that a person spends half their life thinking they’re the normal one but the reality is that normal doesn’t exist. People are complicated and they make the wrong choice all the fucking time. They’ve had chicken-shit parents or punchy boyfriends or long, long lives no matter how many y ..read more

The announcement of the Booker longlist in 2023 elicited a wide spectrum of reactions in the literary world. There were many unheard of titles amongst the finalists, and those expected to make the list did not. The absence of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead was the biggest surprise. After winning both the Women’s Prize and the Pultizer Prize, some thought it would take home the trifecta. But also absent were Salman Rushdie’s Victory City, Eleanor Catton’s Birnham Wood, Deborah Levy’s August Blue, Zadie Smith’s The Fraud … the list goes on. Many book reviewers scored poorly with their pr ..read more

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In this coming of age novel, 11-year-old Gopi takes up competitive squash as a way to cope with the grief of her mother’s death and the challenges of being an ethnic minority living in Britain. ● After some wordy novels on the Booker Prize shortlist this year, I very much appreciated the brevity and sparseness with which Chenta Maroo presented Western Lane. There is talent in being able to convey so much emotion and purpose not only with words used, but in words not used. Like many others I had wondered how engaged I would be with a book about squash, but the characters dr ..read more

READ FOR BOOKERTHON After inhabiting Apple Island for six generations, the small, multi-racial community face the authorities who decide its time to “cleanse” them. Real events that happened to the people of Malaga Island in 1911. ● While I appreciate that Paul Harding has educated the reading world about the plight of a group of people in history who were displaced and mistreated, I don’t feel like I heard from the people themselves. More, the story was about what happened to them, without their input on the physical, emotional and cultural consequences. Some parts of the story were com ..read more