The Waterstones Podcast

Latest Episodes:

25. OUTRAGE with Dotty Charles Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

Anyone who has spent any time on social media will have seen how outrage provides the fuel for many a discussion. And despite well-meaning intentions, is our desire to make the world a better place being clouded by the rush to insult and those moments where we can be baited into a response. BBC presenter and DJ Ashley ‘Dotty’ Charles is familiar with the provocations of the modern world and joined us for a discussion about returning to a truer course of activism, recorded in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Books mentioned: Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking

24. GUILTY PLEASURES with Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Daisy Johnson May 26, 2020

Show notes

With the recent announcement that Stephanie Meyer’s retelling of the Twilight saga from Edward Cullen’s perspective (Midnight Sun) will finally be published in August there has been some ravenous excitement around the original books and perhaps even a reappraisal of their value. Should one feel guilty about enjoying them so much and indeed should one feel guilty about reading anything at all? To help answer those questions I spoke to former Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-winner Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Booker Prize-nominee Daisy Johnson. Lockdown has allowed these near-neighbours to create a bookclub amongst their friends and things have get very intense recently with the Twilight saga turning them all.

Books mentioned: Twilight, Midnight Sun, The Mercies, Sisters

23. KINDNESS with Rutger Bregman May 10, 2020

Show notes

We have been told for centuries that humans are not much more than brutal animals with a thin veneer of civilisation on top but in his radical new history of humankind Rutger Bregman seeks to flip things on their head and ask if in fact we're pretty decent after all and if in fact our kindness has helped us to develop so far as a species. Challenging long-held views from philosophy and fiction, we spoke to him about his revolutionary perspective.
Books mentioned: Humankind

22. APOCALYPSE with Mark O'Connell May 10, 2020

Show notes

Now, it might seem a strange time to be calling a podcast episode Apocalypse but in many ways now is the perfect time to enjoy the insights of Mark O’Connell’s odyssey into the end times. We have much to learn from those preparing for civilisational collapse in America, or millionaire bolt holes in New Zealand, the drive to take humans to Mars and an engagement with nature much closer to home. We spoke to him from his home in Ireland about the end, parenthood, and finding hope amidst the chaos.

Books mentioned: Notes From An Apocalypse

21. TRANSLATION with Walter Iuzzolino and Sam Taylor May 05, 2020

Show notes

After bringing the best of world TV to UK screens with Walter Presents, Walter Iuzzolino is now doing the same with literature in conjunction with Pushkin Press. We spoke to him from lockdown in London about why it's so important to get cultural input from around the globe and to find out more about the first book in the series with translator Sam Taylor, who speaks to us from his home in the US to help us understand more about the process of translating from one language to another.

Books mentioned: The Mystery of Henri Pick, The Second Life of Inspector Canessa, HHhH, In Paris With You.

20. TOGETHERNESS with Vivek Murthy Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

A book about human connection would an essential read at any time but right now it seems vital. Vivek Murthy served as Surgeon General in the US and found that loneliness was at the heart of a lot of the health issues he wanted to tackle. We spoke to him from his home in America about why human connection is so powerful for mind, body and spirit and what we can do during this period of isolation to maintain that contact.

Books mentioned: Together

19. COPING WITH CHANGE with Julia Samuel Apr 08, 2020

Show notes

As a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience Julia Samuel knows that change can present moments of crisis and crisis can force moments of extreme change. Her new book, This Too Shall Pass, looks at the moments of change any of us might face in our lifetime and as well as speaking to her about that, we wanted to know what lessons from her book might help us all to navigate the current crisis.

Books mentioned: This Too Shall Pass

TABLE MANNERS BONUS EPISODE with Jessie Ware & Lennie Ware Mar 31, 2020

Show notes

A little bonus episode for you, recorded with Jessie Ware and Lennie Ware of Table Manners podcast fame when they came to launch their cookbook at Waterstones Piccadilly. What happens when you combine their passion for food with an equally greedy host and a fine selection of cheese from Paxton and Whitfield? A recipe for disaster? Far from it. Enjoy

Books mentioned: Table Manners

18. FEAR, HOPE & ACTION with Jenny Offill, Rosamund Lupton and Julia Ebner Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

In these uncertain times we bring you a podcast that confronts our fears and anxieties to bring a note of hope and even some ideas about what we can do to make the world a better place afterwards. Jenny Offill speaks to us from America about the current coronavirus pandemic, and how she managed to engage with climate change, the opioid crisis and American politics in her new novel, Weather. Rosmaund Lupton shares her techniques for creating suspense in the reader in her latest real-time thriller, Three Hours. And Julia Ebner shares details of her undercover work to document online extremism in Going Dark and what happens when you come face to face with such real world danger.

Books mentioned: Weather, Three Hours, Going Dark, House of Leaves, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

17. MEMORY with Nicci Gerrard, Eimear McBride and Meera Sodha Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

Memory gives us the chance to speak to three authors who all approach this theme from completely different directions. Eimear McBride takes us to a series of hotel rooms to see what memories they unearth and how they can warp and change over time. Bestselling food writer Meera Sodha shares some of her first food memories and why preserving family recipes is so important. And Nicci Gerrard shares her personal experience of her father’s dementia and why it encouraged her to write What Dementia Teaches Us About Love.

Books mentioned: What Dementia Teaches Us About Love, Strange Hotel, East, Somebody I Used To Know, The Sense of an Ending, Playthings

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected