Tea or Books?

A super quick mini-episode – well, not really an episode – asking for your contributions to the next episode of ‘Tea or Books?’. It will be TEN YEARS since Rachel and I first put an episode out into the ether

Elizabeth Jane Howard, Brian Moore, and authors’ personal lives – welcome to episode 138! In the first half of the episode, we do a question that Lindsey suggested: do we care about authors’ personal lives? It takes us to questions

Resolved endings, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Vincenzo Latronico – welcome to episode 137 of Tea or Books?! In the first half of the episode, we take a suggestion from Lindsey – do we prefer resolved or unresolved endings? In the second half,

Agatha Christie, Gwen Bristow, Bruce Manning and reading morality – welcome to episode 136 of Tea or Books?! In the first half of this episode, we discuss whether or not we take moral instruction from the books we read –

Isabella Hammad, Norah Lofts, comfort reads – welcome to episode 135!   In the first half, we discuss whether or not literary fiction can be comfort reads – thank you for the suggestion, Marcy! In the second half, we compare

Happy new year! In episode 134, Rachel and I share our favourite books reads in 2024 – counting down from ten to one. And we each pick one of the other’s top 10 to read for our next episode! Thanks

Willa Cather and reading rules – welcome to episode 133 of ‘Tea or Books?’! In the first half, we discuss reading rules – when we’re picking up a book, are there certain things that will definitely put us off? In

Edward Carey joins us to discuss his latest novel, Edith Holler. Welcome to episode 132! Rachel and I both love Edward Carey’s novels, so it was a real joy to have the opportunity to interview him. We discuss how he

Angela Milne, Theodora Benson, and reading deeply – welcome to episode 131 of Tea or Books?! In the first half of the episode, we discuss a topic suggestion by Heidi – do we read deeply or shallowly? Do we like critical

Emile Zola, Noel Streatfeild, and romantic books – welcome to Tea or Books? episode 130! In the first half of this episode, we do a topic suggested by Lindsey – do books need a romantic storyline? In the second half, we

Virginia Woolf, Jane Cholmeley, and authors who wrote too much or not enough – welcome to episode 129! In the first half, we use a great topic suggestion by David – do we prefer authors who wrote too many books

Polly Barton, Yoko Ogawa, and plays – welcome to episode 128! In the first half of today’s ‘Tea or Books?’ episode, Rachel and I revisit a topic from years ago – plays! Specifically, do we think that plays should be

George Orwell, E.H. Young, guilty pleasures – welcome to episode 127! In the first half of the episode, we ask: what is our guiltiest reading pleasure? Has that changed over time? Do we feel guilty about anything connected with reading?

Banned books, Bonnie Garmus and A.J. Pearce – welcome to episode 126! In the first half of the episode, we discuss banned books – should books ever be banned? Does a book being banned make us want to read it

Celeb memoirs, Michael Cunningham, Elizabeth Fair – welcome to episode 125! In the first half, Rachel and I discuss celebrity memoirs – do we read them? What do we count as a celebrity memoir? In the second half, we each

Our favourite books from 2023 – or reads, because of course we mostly read ‘backlisted’ titles. Always a fun one to record – this time with the added bonus that we were each going to choose one from the other’s

Beryl Bainbridge, Celia Dale, critical and charitable reading – welcome to episode 123! In the first half of the episode we use a suggestion from Susannah – do we read charitably or critically? In the second half we compare too

Mary Lawson joins us to talk about all her novels – welcome to episode 122! I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but THE Mary Lawson – Canadian author of Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge, Road Ends, and A Town Called

Jane Gardam and messages in books – welcome to episode 121! In the first half of the episode, Rachel and I discuss whether or not we think books should have a message. In the second half we pit two Jane

D.E. Stevenson, Eva Ibbotson, travel inspo – welcome to episode 120! We have our first returning guest – the wonderful Claire, who blogs at The Captive Reader. In the first half of this episode, we talk about inspiration from travel

Miriam Toews, Olga Tokarczuk and detective fiction – welcome to episode 119! In the first half of this episode, we discuss detective fiction – do we prefer the mystery-solver to be a professional or an amateur? And in the second

Julie Otsuka, Jamaica Kincard, adults’ and children’s books – welcome to episode 118! In the first half – a topic suggested by Aileen, where we discuss authors who wrote both children’s and adult’s books and whether we read both. In

Ursula Parrott, Winifred Boggs, unnamed characters – welcome to episode 117! We are so delighted to welcome Lucy Scholes as a guest for this episode. She’s is a reprint/old books superstar – you might know her Re-Covered column for the Paris

John Dickson Carr, Alan Melville, sports – welcome to episode 116! In the first half, we talk about sports in books – do we like them? Will we be able to think of any? Thank you to Lindsey for suggesting

Barbara Pym, May Sarton, and bookshops – welcome to episode 115! In the first half of the episode, we take up Sally’s suggestion of topic – and discuss whether or not we like books set in bookshops and libraries. More

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Elizabeth Bowen, linear narratives – welcome to episode 114! In the first half of this episode, we use a suggestion from listener Sarah – do we prefer linear or non-linear narratives? In the second half we look

Elizabeth Gaskell, Winifred Holtby, and more – welcome to episode 113! In the first half of this episode, we look at literary retellings – by which we mean authors using fairy tales or Greek mythology or basically whatever we fancy

Dorothy Whipple, May Sinclair, and favourite books of 2022 – welcome to episode 112! Happy new year! Welcome to the first episode of Tea or Books? for 2023 – recorded on two different days, so hopefully it’s not too awkward.

Molly Keane, M.J. Farrell, and characters’ appearances – welcome to episode 111! In the first half, Rachel and I discuss what characters look like – do we care, do we notice if it’s mentioned, etc. In the second half, we

Tove Jansson, Celia Dale, jobs in books! Welcome to episode 110 A bit of a longer break than usual because I lost my voice. But we’re back, asking – in the first half of the episode – whether we care

Penelope Lively, Helen Hull, boarding houses and isolation – welcome to episode 109! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I compare boarding houses novels and novels where people live alone – up to and including complete isolation.

Bite, E.M. Delafield, Elizabeth Taylor – welcome to episode 108! In the first half of this episode, we discuss a topic suggested by Gina – do we prefer books with bite or without bite? All will be explained in due

Books in books and Stella Gibbons – welcome to episode 107! In the first half, we continue our ‘do we care…’ series with ‘do we care what characters read?’ By which we mean we’re looking at the books that characters

Margaret Kennedy, Vita Sackville-West, and film adaptations – welcome to episode 106! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss whether you should read the book before you watch the film. In the second half, we pit

George Orwell and families – welcome to episode 105! Rachel is busy this month, so I put a shout-out on our Patreon page to see if anybody would be willing to step in and take her place. I was delighted

Olivia Manning, Cicely Hamilton and dreams – welcome to episode 104 of ‘Tea or Books?’! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss whether or not we like dreams in books, and how different authors use them.

Penelope Lively, Margaret Laurence, thinking and feeling – welcome to episode 103! Apologies for the unexpected delay in recording. Blame Rachel! But we are here and raring to go. In the first half, we follow a topic suggested by Mairad

D.E. Stevenson, Margery Sharp – and a special guest! In this episode, we have a special guest in the form of Claire – you’ll know her blog The Captive Reader. We were delighted to have her as a guest, especially

Rachel takes a look at Simon’s bookshelves – will she take any books away with her?? Way back in episode 70, I was in Rachel’s flat in London and took a look around her bookcases. We planned a return visit…

For our special hundredth episode, Rachel and I are doing a question and answer. Thanks so much to everybody who sent in questions – we didn’t get to all of them, but hopefully we answered at least one of yours.

Winifred Holtby, Susan Glaspell, and essays – welcome to episode 99! Sorry for an unintended long break, but we’re back and Rachel even has a new mic – hopefully has helped with the sound issues, though there may be some

Nature writing and some favourite novels by prizewinning women – welcome to episode 98! As mentioned in the podcast – we’d love to hear your questions as we gear up for our hundredth episode. Just email teaorbooks@gmail.com, or put your

How do we choose our reading, and E.M. Delafield – welcome to episode 97!   In the first half of the episode, we debate whether to read spontaneously or plan our reading. In the second half, two E.M. Delafield novels

In this episode, we ask whether or not offensive books should be republished – you might remember the same conversation happening here on StuckinaBook a while ago, and it was interesting to visit it with Rachel. In the second half,

Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Margery Sharp, Helen Ashton – welcome to episode 95. In the first half, we take a detour from our usual practice and pit two authors against each other. And it’s two very big hitters – Jane

Rosamond Lehmann, Antonia White, and authors’ houses – welcome to episode 94! In the first half of this episode, we do a topic suggested by Gillian – do we care where authors live? That is, do we want to visit

Summer, Winter, names – welcome to episode 93. In the first half, we ask: ‘Do we care what characters are called?’, looking at the strange and ordinary names that characters are given. In the second half, we compare Tove Jansson’s

Bernadine Evaristo, Kate Atkinson, and clothes – welcome to episode 92. In the first half of the episode, Rachel and I discuss clothes in books – do we care what characters wear? I forgot to mention, but do check out

Elizabeth von Arnim and settings of novels – welcome to episode 91! In the first half of the novel, we look at the settings of novels, and ask whether we prefer familiar or unfamiliar settings. In the second half, we

Betty Smith, Dorothy Evelyn Smith, and a review of our reading years… In the first half, we look back over a very unusual year and ask – was it a good reading year or a bad reading year? We’ve not

Marilynne Robinson and gardens – welcome to episode 89! We are scraping the barrel a little in our first half, and arguably repeating ourselves, but please enjoy our musings on gardens. In the second half, after answering a question from