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Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Anna and Geoff discuss their reaction to the 2025 Booker Prize winner, FLESH by David Szalay, and the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, Australian author Helen Garner for her collection of diaries HOW TO END A STORY. Our book of the week is CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Her follow-up novel after the Booker-shortlisted Mars Room, this centres on Sadie Smith, an undercover agent who infiltrates a commune in rural France. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. This raised questions we weren't expecting from a literary novel, such as: Is it a spy thriller? Is Sadie enough of a slob to be compared with Jackson Lamb? Which Sesame Street character does Bruno remind us of? Coming up: NESTING by Roisin O'Donnell Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
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Flashlight by Susan Choi
Anna and Geoff discuss their Booker Prize winner predictions. We haven't read enough of the shortlist to know who will win, but Geoff is tipping THE LAND IN WINTER (a DNF for Anna). Our book of the week is FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi. This is Choi's follow-up novel after winning the National Book Award for TRUST EXERCISE. It is a sweeping family saga set in America, Japan and Korea. Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, we could not say we loved this one but it got us talking. How much cat litter detail is too much? Would Tobias really have gone to Japan or would he be trekking around Nepal? Could we read a whole novel of Serk? How many unlikeable characters in a novel is too many? And we revisit 'that year' when Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo won jointly. Coming up: CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras Email: [email protected] Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
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Seed with Bri Lee
Annie was lucky enough to catch Bri Lee on her book tour for her second novel, Seed. Set in Antarctica, Seed follows two scientists, Mitch and Frances, as they spend a month at the seed vault that they have been creating and protecting. But as strange things keep happening to the facility, culminating in their helicopter failing to pick them up, they both have to grapple with their life choices and the secrets they have been keeping from each other and themselves. We chat about Bri's research trip to McMurdo Sound, interrogating the Antarctic literary tradition, visions of utopia and Bri's ongoing project News & Reviews. Bri's latest book crush is Plain Life by Antonia Pont - an essay collection she describes as life changing. Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @mr_annie / @brilee Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
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I Make Envy On Your Disco with Eric Schnall
A special episode: Anna chats with author and Tony-award winning Broadway producer Eric Schnall about his debut novel I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO. Sam Singer flies to Berlin for an art gallery opening, needing a break from his partner in New York. He meets enigmatic hotel receptionist Magda and ex-pat Jeremy, goes clubbing, and discovers the 2000s nostalgia for East and West Berlin. Named a GQ Editor's Pick and winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction, we loved this novel and recommend the audiobook read by Charlie Carver. Eric tells us some of the surprising reactions to Disco, a great game for book clubs, why Jennifer Egan is his literary hero, how to receive writing advice from Joan Didion, and his recommendations for books set in Berlin. Eric recommends the podcast Tracks of Our Queers and the TV show Somebody Somewhere. Coming up: SEED with author Bri Lee. Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras / @ericschnall Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
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Endling by Maria Reva
Anna and Annie discuss the settlement offer by Anthropic to pay $1.5bn to settle a book piracy lawsuit and the 2025 National Book Awards fiction longlist. Our book of the week is ENDLING by Maria Reva. Yeva is a snail conservationist in Ukraine who becomes caught up in Nastia and Sol's scheme to disrupt the romance tour industry. A heist ensues but everything changes when Russia invades Ukraine. Longlisted for the Booker Prize and one of the New Yorker's Best Books Of The Year So Far, this is Reva's debut novel. We can't wait to see what she does next. Coming up: I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO by Erica Schnall Follow us! Email: [email protected] Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
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