The Shameless Book Club

Latest Episodes:

Review: Vladimir Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Happy Saturday, book clubbers!

This month, we read ‘Vladimir’ by Julia May Jonas. This novel is told from the perspective of a deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose husband, a charismatic teacher at the same small liberal arts college, is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple has long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extramarital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus, their tinder-box world comes dangerously close to exploding.

Join us in the all the book chat over on our Insta, @theshamelessbookclub, and our TikTok, @theshamelessbookclub. Or, if you’re after some variety, here’s a link to record a voice message via our website, too.

You can browse the eBook and audiobook versions of past book club picks in our room on Apple Books! Have a look-see right here. (You might spot our little baby, The Space Between, in the mix there, too.)

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Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

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Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: Alone With You in the Ether Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Happy Saturday, book clubbers!

This month, we read ‘Alone With You in the Ether’ by Olivie Blake. The book follows our two main characters, Regan and Aldo, who meet by chance at the Art Institute. Prior to the meeting, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. And then, well, they fall in love. But, like all good romance books, their love story is complicated, and we’re taken on the ride.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: The Thursday Murder Club Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Hello, book club friends!

This month, we read ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman. This number one best-seller takes place in a peaceful retirement village, where four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can this unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Happy Saturday, bookworms!

This month, we read ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ by best-selling author Gabrielle Zevin. The novel is, at its core, a love story between two brilliant gamers, but not a love story in the way you’d expect. Sadie and Sam form a friendship as children in a hospital gaming room and re-kindle as 25-year-olds years later at a train station. The natural connection that bonded them as kids instantly resumes, and, strengthened by their shared interest in video games, they become intrinsically linked as business partners, collaborators, and best friends. Together with the help of Sam’s housemate Marx and Sadie’s ex-professor slash lover Dov, they create the blockbuster hit, Ichigo, catapulting Sadie and Sam into great gaming success. With the wins though, came the losses - losses that shook their friendship and world entirely.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Hiya, book clubbers!

This month, we read You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. This is a book that flips the romance genre utterly on its head. It’s been five years since protagonist Feyi lost her husband in a car accident. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but there’s a bit of a problem: Feyi feels a deep thrill every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: Cleopatra and Frankenstein Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Happy Saturday, book club friends!

This month, we read Coco Mellors’s best-selling debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein. The book follows 24-year-old British artist Cleo, whose chance meeting with a man called Frank (who is some 20 years older than her), changes the course of both of their lives. In Frank, Cleo finds a future where she can paint, be happy and, well, land a green card. When the darkest parts of each of them meet each other, Frank and Cleo are forced to reckon with their demons, what it means to be their best selves and what it is they actually want out of their future.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: Seeing Other People Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Hello, book clubbers!

This month, we read Aussie author Diana Reid’s second novel, Seeing Other People. Seeing Other People follows two sisters, Eleanor and Charlie, living two very different lifestyles in Sydney after lockdown. When the novel begins, Eleanor has a corporate job and is in a relationship with Mark, Charlie is an actress living in a sharehouse with friends (namely, her long-time crush Helen). Then, all these characters suddenly collide, and Eleanor and Charlie’s seemingly sturdy bond is put to the ultimate test. Annabelle got to interview the very clever Diana Reid for this one - we will play that chat in the second half of this episode.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: Black Cake Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Hey there, book clubbers!

This month, we read the debut novel from author Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake. Black Cake is a novel that spans 60 years in the life of one Caribbean-American family. Byron and Benny’s mum, Eleanor Bennett, has died. She has left them a voice recording in which everything Byron and Benny ever knew about their family is upended.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: In Love Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Happy Saturday, book club fam!

This month, we read the incredible memoir from writer Amy Bloom, called In Love. In January 2020, Amy traveled to Switzerland with her husband Brian where he was helped by Dignitas to end his life after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The book details their love story, Brian’s slow decline, and Amy’s doggedness in ensuring her husband died with dignity. It’s a book about love, agency, and grief and encourages the reader to think a lot about what it means to live, and what it means to die. It was a heavy one, but a beautiful one.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.

Review: The Island of Missing Trees Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Oh haaaaiiiii, book clubbers!

This month, we read ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ by award-winning Turkish-British author Elif Shafak. The book follows the love story between two teenagers, Kostas (a Greek Cypriot) and Defne (a Turkish Cypriot), whose forbidden romance means they can only meet at a taverna on the island between their homes. Witnessing their relationship through its ebbs and flows over the many years this story encompasses, is the fig tree that lives inside the taverna - the place of safety for Kostas and Defne. Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ is an intergenerational story about past pain, tradition, and enduring love.

Still not enough? Well! Our hearts! See below for everything else.

Click here to subscribe to ShameMore: http://apple.co/shamelesspod

Subscribe to the weekly ‘ASK SHAMELESS’ newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gFbYLT

Join our book club: https://www.instagram.com/theshamelessbookclub/

Check out our website: https://shamelessmediaco.com/

Thanks for listening! We are very big fans of yours.