Books, Baby!

Books, Baby! continues its sixth season with a discussion of The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante, a novel that begins with a seemingly ordinary holiday and unfolds into a piercing examination of motherhood, desire, and identity.
In this episode, we explore the novel’s unsettling honesty, its complex portrayal of maternal ambivalence, and the questions it raises about the versions of ourselves we leave behind in order to become who we are. A conversation about expectations placed on women and mothers, and the uncomfortable truths that lie beneath the stories we tell about our lives.

Books mentioned in this episode:
The Days of Abandonment - Elena Ferrante
The Lying Life of Adults - Elena Ferrante
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante
The Story of the Night - Colm Tóibín
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enriquez
Rejection - Tony Tulathimutte
The Mushroom Tapes - Helen Garner et. al.
Earthlings - Sayaka Murata
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
Fruit Fly - Josh Silver

Connect with us via email (⁠booksbabypod@gmail.com⁠) and on Instagram!
Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosts:
Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

In the Season 6 premiere of Books, Baby!, we dive into Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor—a tender, searching novel set against the heat and loneliness of a New York summer.
On the surface, this novel reads like a romance. But beneath the intimacy is a deeper meditation on art, race, ambition, and the quiet ache of wanting to be fully seen.
In this episode, Ian, Bev and Alo unpack the emotional restraint, the tension beneath the dialogue, and the way Taylor turns New York into a backdrop for both reinvention and isolation. A conversation about connection, creativity, and the fragile distance between seeing and understanding.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Valencia - Michelle Tea
Rejection - Tony Tulathimutte
Cinema Love - Haming Tang
The South - Tash Aw
The Morning Star - Karl Ove Knausgård

Oisín McKenna

Connect with us via email (⁠booksbabypod@gmail.com⁠) and on Instagram!
Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Hosts:
Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠

December brings our Season 5 finale, and what a way to wrap the year! In this final episode of Books, Baby!, Ian, Bev, and Alo look back at a year of reading, reflecting on the stories that stayed with us long after the last page.
We chat about our favourite reads of the year, the books that surprised us when we least expected it, the ones that didn’t quite live up to the hype, and our standout favourite books in translation. Along the way, we weave it all together with a look at our Spotify Wrapped stats for the podcast — the numbers, the milestones, and what they say about the year that was for Books, Baby!
It’s reflective, opinionated, and full of love for books and listeners alike — the perfect send-off for Season 5 and a celebration of another year spent reading together.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Rest of Our Lives - Ben Markovits
The Slip - Miriam Webster
A Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry
Indeterminate Inflorescence - Yi Seongbok
Days of Reading - Marcel Proust
The Emperor of Gladness - Ocean Vounge
Gravity Let Me Go - Trent Dalton
Lessons in Chemestry - Bonnie Garmus
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist - Various Authors
Separate Rooms - Pier Vittorio Tondelli
Flesh - David Szalay
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Iserwood
On the Calculation of Volume I, II, III - Solvej Balle
Heart Lamp - Banu Mustaq
Hunchback - Sao Ichikawa
Medea Sang Me a Corrido - Dahlia de la Cerda
Reservoir Bitches - Dahlia de la Cerda
Between a Wolf and a Dog - Georgia Blain
Before Night Falls - Reinaldo Arenas
Hunger - Cho Jin-Young
The Makioka Sisters - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
The Hours - Michael Cunningham
Minor Black Figures - Brandon Taylor
Connect with us via email (⁠booksbabypod@gmail.com⁠) and on Instagram!
Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Hosts:
Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

It’s Books, Baby! Booker Prize episode and Bev, Ian and Alo dive into the 2025 winning novel Flesh by David Szalay. We explore its sharp examination of masculinity, emotional restraint, and the quiet turning points that shape István’s life from adolescence to middle age. This episode also features Sim, joining us for a second guest appearance this season.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Audition - Katie Kitamura
Seascraper - Benjamin Wood
Flashlight - Susan Choi
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai
The Rest of Our Lives - Ben Markovits
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
My Friends - Hisham Matar
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Open Water - Caleb Azumah Nelson
Boy Friends - Michael Pedersen

Seán Hewitt

Solvej Balle

Chloe Hooper, Helen Garner, and Sarah Krasnostein

Sarah Waters

Suzumi Suzuki

Brandon Taylor

Connect with us via email (⁠booksbabypod@gmail.com⁠) and on Instagram!
Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Hosts:
Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Guest Host:
Sim – ⁠⁠⁠@sims_solace

This month, Ian, Bev, and Alo dive into The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, joined by special guest Nell.
The Bee Sting is a sweeping, tragicomic family saga that captured readers (and Booker Prize judges) alike. We unpack its unforgettable characters, explore Murray’s distinct writing style through each point of view, and debate that twist ending that left us reeling.
But before we get stung by all that drama, we kick things off with a lively chat about ABC Radio National’s Top 100 Books of the 21st Century — the surprises, the snubs, and the titles that made us cheer (or roll our eyes).
Books mentioned in this episode:
Burial Rites - Hanna Kent
Lola in the mirror - Trent Dalton
Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton
Stag Dance - Torrey Peters
Detransition, Baby! - Torrey Peters
The burrow - Melanie Chang
Too Much Lip - Melissa Lucashenko
Dark Emu -Bruce Pascoe
Carpentaria - Alexis Wright
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Prophet Song - Paul Lynch
The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
The Cannibal's Daughter - Rosa Montero
Bad Girls - Camila Sosa Villada
Thesis on a domestication - Camila Sosa Villada
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
A room above a shop - Anthony Shapland

Connect with us via email (⁠booksbabypod@gmail.com⁠) and on Instagram!
Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Hosts:
Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠⁠

Guest Host:
Nell - @nellreadsbooks