This is a new books special episode to fill the gap before we release the Hallowe’en episode next weekend and as part of our episode 200 celebrations. In it, we each select a book we’ve particularly enjoyed over the past year. Andy says The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan (Tyrant Books) is the best novel he's read since Gwendoline Riley's My Phantoms and also his favourite; Backlisted Editor, Nicky talks about Wifedom by Anna Funder (Granta), an genre-busting account of the life Eileen Maud Blair, the first wife of George Orwell, linking it back to the themes of The True History of the First Mrs Meredith episode; and John praises Cuddy by Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury), a rich and formally audacious novel based on the life and legends of St Cuthbert, the patron saint of North East England. The discussion leads us in all kinds of unexpected directions in classic Backlisted fashion.
Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)
00:00 Intro
04:22 The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan
19:32 Wifedom by Anna Funder
38:26 Cuddy by Benjamin Myers
The traditional Backlisted 'what have you been reading this week?' slot which used to appear at the start of each episode, has now been moved to our Patreon only show (for those subscribers on the Locklisted level). Subscribers can hear fortnightly programmes with John, Andy and Nicky talking about books they have been reading as well as films, music and TV they've enjoyed.
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted
* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
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The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
The Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan
The Altar of the Dead and Other Tales by Henry James
Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy
Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux
Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg
Escape to an Autumn Pavement and Jamaica by Andrew Salkey
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
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