The 15-Minute Book Club

Week 14: A Heart That Works

In A Heart That Works, Rob Delaney recounts the short life of his son Henry, who died at the age of two after going in and out of hospital for a year with a brain tumour. In his narrative style, Delaney has an uncanny ability to balance between humour and heartbreak. He manages to weave in humour while describing the most gut wrenching events. The book is a kind of reflection of life itself; a never ending fluctuation between comedy and tragedy. 
 
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Week 13: The Buddha in the Attic

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is a poetic narrative of the immigrant experience, written in first person plural from the perspective of Japanese picture brides in the early 20th century. Follow their journey to America, their false expectations of this new life, and the tragic mass incarceration of their community during WWII in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour. Based on historical events, this is a short read you don't want to miss. 
 
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Week 12: Nothing to Envy

Barbara Demick conducts extended interviews with six North Korean defectors. They describe their lives in North Korea before escaping, recounting the realities of a regime that puts its image at the cost of the lives and dignities of its own citizens. 
 
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Book mentioned: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.
Yeonmi Park interview with Joe Rogan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGJm4bjRaaE
Yeonmi Park interview with Jordan Peterson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yqa-SdJtT4 

Week 11: We Need to Talk About Kevin

A disturbing and eye opening novel by Lionel Shriver that raises difficult questions. What happens when a mother does not connect emotionally with her child? What if this child commits mass murder? Is the mother to blame? Has her lack of affection created a sociopathic killer?  
 
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Sue Klebold's TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXlnrFpCu0c&rco=1 

Hay Festival Adventures 2024

The Hay Festival is an annual literary festival in the town of books, Hay-on-Wye, in Wales. I spent 10 days at the festival this year taking in all the incredible energy. In total I attended about 20 events, each one packed with things to think about.
 
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Day 1 mentions:
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
For Ian Charleson by Ian McKellen
Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince
 
Day 2 mentions:
BBC Radio 4 Podcast You’re Dead to Me: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg 
Eat Your Words - Oyster mushroom grow kits: https://superfungi.co.uk/store/p/mushroomgrowkit 
Shelterbox Book club: https://shelterbox.org/book-club/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpRda82E9BICGEGd_p49goVogFYXUloiVdnU9VXmaEpv73U-7D6uWasaAhMfEALw_wcB 
Field & Found: https://www.fieldandfound.com/ 
Happy Maki: https://www.happymaki.co.uk/ 
Shepherds Ice Cream: https://www.shepherdsicecream.co.uk/
La Bonne Crepe: https://www.facebook.com/LaBonneCrepeBristol/?locale=en_GB
Day 3 mentions: 
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
The Morningside by Tea Obreht
Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa
Taste Tibet: https://tastetibet.com/
Lauren Silver Boutique: https://www.laurensilverboutique.com/
Day 4 mentions: 
Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anais Mitchell
Oakchurch Farm Shop: https://www.oakchurch.net/ 
Two Farmers Hand Cooked Crisps: https://twofarmers.co.uk/ 
Skittery Apple Juice: https://www.jusapples.co.uk/ 
Cradoc's Savoury Biscuits: https://cradocssavourybiscuits.co.uk/
Why We Build the Wal by Anais Mitchelll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGUqMyyvnI
 
Day 5 mentions:
We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Mania by Lionel Shriver
Lionel Shriver talks to Stephanie Merritt: https://www.hayfestival.com/p-21851-lionel-shriver-talks-to-stephanie-merritt.aspx?skinid=16#:~:text=Hay%20Festival%202024%2C%20Tuesday%2028%20May%202024&text=What%20if%20calling%20someone%20stupid,qualification%20to%20be%20a%20doctor
The Self-Sufficiency Garden by Huw Richards and Sam Cooper
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben 
Our Little Farm by Peter and Miriam Wohlleben
 
Day 6 mentions:
Meat & Greek: http://www.meatandgreek.co.uk/ 
Coal Town Coffee: https://www.coaltowncoffee.co.uk 
 
Day 7 mentions: 
Killing for country by David Marr.
Hay Cinema Bookshop: https://www.haycinemabookshop.co.uk/
The Beefy Boys: https://thebeefyboys.com/
Day 8 mentions:
Eve by Cat Bohannon
Womb by Leah Hazard
What about Men? By Caitlin Moran
My Octopus Teacher documentary: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81045007?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C81045007%2CVideo%3A81045007%2C 
Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster
Lola’s Fish and Chips: https://modern-amusement.com/lolas-ethical-seafood-sustainable-fish-and-chips-at-music-festivals-and-events-across-the-uk
Day 9 mentions:
Matrescence by Lucy Jones
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 
The Fritter Shack: https://thefrittershack.co.uk/ 
P&G Hats: https://www.pandghats.co.uk/ 
 
Day 10 mentions:
Less by Patrick Grant
Community Clothing: https://communityclothing.co.uk/ 
A Very Private School by Charles Spencer

Week 10: Lolita

This week I'm looking at the classic novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. A controversial tale of Humbert Humbert, a middle aged man who falls in love with a 12-year-old girl. 
 
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Week 9: Men in the Sun

This week I'm reviewing a short story by Ghassan Kanafani. Men in the Sun follows three Palestinian refugees in the early 1960s who are being smuggled across the border from Iraq to Kuwait in search of a better life. A gripping tale as old as old as time about what happens when we are excluded from every form of nationhood.
 
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Week 8: A Horse Walks into a Bar

This week's book is A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman, winner of the 2017 Man Booker International prize. Watch as Dovaleh slowly descends into madness while giving a stand-up comedy show at a comedy club in Netanya. Dovaleh's breakdown is perhaps a physical and emotional manifestation of the damaged psyche of a nation trying to live a normal existence, under extremely abnormal circumstances.
 
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Book mentioned in the episode: To the End of the Land by David Grossman
David Grossman’s interview with The Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/10/israels-grossman-reflects/ 
B'Tselem, NGO mentioned in the episode: https://www.btselem.org/

Week 7: Cobalt Red

This week's book is Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara. Kara travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the heart of the cobalt mining communities where unimaginable atrocities are happening on a daily-basis in the process of mining for cobalt, a vital element in the manufacturing of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. He gives first hand accounts of those being exploited by the cobalt mining industry. This is the very bottom of the manufacturing chain that makes it possible for all of us to use our phones, laptops, tablets and electric cars.
 
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Interview with author on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1914-siddharth-kara/id360084272?i=1000644538881 
 
Interview with John Bernthal on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1916-jon-bernthal/id360084272?i=1000644538935 

May 2024 - In Conversation With My Brilliant Friend Jeni

Join me and my friend Jeni in a conversation about books we’ve read, loved and hated. We talk about motherhood and the social and neurological changes that come with it; audio books and why many of us think of it as cheating; the controversy surrounding support for non-offending pedophiles and so much more!
 
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Books mentioned in this episode:
Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg
Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
Stolen focus by Johan Hare
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Matrescence by Lucy Jones
Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
How not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger and Gene Stone
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Confessions of a Sociopath by M. E. Thomas
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
The Lone Ranger and Toto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
Intimacies by Lucy Caldwell
Hurrah for Gin by Katie Kirby
 
Films/shows mentioned in this episode:
Peaky Blinders Seasons 5 and 6
Killers of the Flower Moon
Baby Ruby
Dances with Wolves
The Idea of You
Reservation Dogs
Abbot Elementary
Avengers: End Game
Song of the Sea
Dances with Wolves
 
Other materials:
Trevor Noah the difficulty of raising children without a support system: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3IOpompIXNkFUVUKRyvwYB
Podcast on Diana Mosley: https://wondery.com/shows/british-scandal/season/40/
This American Life interview with New York Rats: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/801/transcript
Oprah and Paulo Coelho on the popularity growth of The Alchemist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_SAHuua15U
Vice News on non-offending pedophiles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yWklRbXDOY
Columbine shooter’s mother’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXlnrFpCu0c&t=266s
A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers review episode: https://salmaintb.podbean.com/e/week-1-a-concise-chinese-english-dictionary-for-lovers/