Classic Female Writers

Cult Books

Backlisted Podcasts

backlist

Emmy award winning writer and broadcaster David Quantick (Veep, The Thick of It, TV Burp) joins John and Andy in the Unbound offices to discuss his favourite novel, Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson. Plus how to pronounce Velasquez, Silbury Hill, the death of the possessive apostrophe in retail, and Mathew Clayton's tenuous link. 

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
4'23 - On Silbery Hill by Adam Thorpe  
9'29 The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velazquez by Laura Cumming 
15'21 - Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson

Raymond Chandler's 'The High Window', his third book featuring world weary detective Philip Marlowe, is introduced to Backlisted by Mojo magazine's Andrew Male. Plus the joys of walking in the rain in England, remembering Anita Brookner, and JG Ballard's unintentional mind games...

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
4'38 - Rain by Melissa Harrison
13'58  - Latecomers by Anita Brookner
21'53 - The High Window by Raymond Chandler

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The High Window by Raymond Chandler

Rachel Cooke, Observer writer, New Statesman TV critic and author joins John, Andy & Mathew to discuss 'All the Devils Are Here', the astounding travelogue through Kent and the depths of human behaviour from David Seabrook. Plus, the drinking habits of Carry On stars, and what to read in Iceland.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
3'36 - Dalva by Jim Harrison
8'46 - Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair
17'55 -  All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook

Writer, academic and contributing editor of Bookanista Lucy Scholes joins Andy, John and Mathew on the pod to talk 'The Vet's Daughter', the extraordinary novel of an extraordinary girl in late Victorian South London. Also, how some books just shouldn't be turned into musicals, and the best name for a dog ever. 

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
6'19 - First Signs by Barry Hinds
13'40 - The North Water by Ian Maguire
21'09 - The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns

Writer and journalist Alex Clark joins John Mitchinson and Andy Miller in a stormy (and then hammery) podcast to discuss 'Letters from a Fainthearted Feminist', a collection of very funny columns by Jill Tweedie, originally published in The Guardian.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
8'56 - The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger 
15'23 - A Life Discarded by Alexander Masters
26'14 Letters From a Fainthearted Feminist by Jill Tweedie

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Letters from a Fainthearted Feminist by Jill Tweedie

Author and poet Saleena Godden joins John Mitchinson, Andy Miller and Mathew Clayton to discuss Hubert Selby Jr's legendary transgressive novel of dead end life in working class 50's Brooklyn. WARNING: contains obligatory reference the The Fall. 

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
4'02 - Spire by William Golding
6'51 - Golden Hill by Francis Spufford, 
17'57 - Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr

Slang lexicographer extraordinaire Jonathon Green joins John and Andy in this episode to discuss Absolute Beginners, the classic novel of London teenage life set around Soho and Notting Hill.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
13'25  - Beast by Paul Kingsnorth
19'06 - Absolute Beginners by Colin Macinnes

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes

Recorded live at the Durham Book Festival 2016, John and Andy are joined by Sally Bayley (author, The Private Life Of The Diary) to discuss Stevie Smith's third and final novel The Holiday.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
13.28 - The Holiday by Stevie Smith

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Holiday by Stevie Smith

Monocle culture editor Robert Bound joins John and Andy to discuss JG Ballard's Spanish set thriller Cocaine Nights. Also, The Ballard-Bond connection, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad, and the phrase you never want to hear John Mitchinson say in person...

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
4'10 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
11:51 - Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard

John and Andy are joined by Laura Cumming, the art critic for The Observer and author of 'The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez', and Hilary Murray Hill, CEO at Hachette Children's Books, to talk bout Jane Gardam's debut novel 'A Long Way from Verona'.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
5'39 - The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
6'28 - Hark the Herald by Magnus Mills
6'55 - Christmas Day at the Work House by Angus Wilson
8'00 - What to Look For In Winter
8'26 - An Advent Calendar by Shena MacKay
12'03 - Between the Lights by E F Benson
17' 18 - A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam

In a bid to get our fear and creeping dread about the state of the world in early for 2017, author Travis Elborough (A Walk in The Park, The Bus We Loved, and The Long Player Goodbye) joins us to discuss A State of Denmark, the dystopian vision of England by Derek Raymond (a/k/a Robin Cook). Worst. Happy New Year. Programme. Ever. Enjoy!

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
3'00 - Food For All Seasons by Oliver Rowe
9'30 - Good Evening, Mrs.Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
18'44 - A State of Denmark by Derek Raymond

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

A State of Denmark by Derek Raymond

John Grindrod, author of Concretopia, joins John Mitchinson and Andy Miller to discuss Memento Mori, the third novel by Muriel Spark. They also pay tribute to the author and agent David Miller, who passed away recently, and read a short story in his memory.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
3'00 - Food For All Seasons by Oliver Rowe
9'30 - Good Evening, Mrs.Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
18'44 - A State of Denmark by Derek Raymond

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

Writer and critic Catherine Taylor joins John and Andy to discuss Vladimir Nabokov's parting love letter to Russia and it's literature, The Gift. Also; singing with nightingales and reading Richard Mabey's book about the same bird, David Storey's Booker Prize winning  'Saville', and Bob Dylan's song and dance routine.

Timings: (may differ due to adverts)
9'22 - The Book of Nightingales by Richard Mabey 
14'56 - Saville by David Storey 
25'04 - The Gift - Vladimir Nabokov


* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Gift - Vladimir Nabokov

Author and illustrator Alice Stevenson and her childhood friend, playwright Elinor Cook join John and Andy to talk about Diana Wynne Jones's novel of memory, childhood and friendship.

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)

4'02  - Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
10'14 - The Journey Home and Other Stories by Malachi Whittaker
17'13 - Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

The poet Rishi Dastidar joins John and Andy to talk about Sebastian Faulks' least known and first non-fiction title, The Fatal Englishman: Three Short Lives.
Also in this episode Andy talks about the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn while John has been enjoying Folk by Zoe Gilbert. 

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)
8'35 - The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St Aubyn
16'55 - Folk by Zoe Gilbert
21'45 - The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks

Italo Calvino's third novel The Baron in the Trees (Il barone rampante) is the subject of this episode. Joining John and Andy to discuss the book is writer and fabulist Caspar Henderson.  Elsewhere, John discusses Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy and Andy talks about and reads from W.H. Auden's late collection of poetry About the House.

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)
7'08 - Some Kids I taught and What the Taught me by Kate Clanchy
14'26 - Listen Poetry recommendations, 
23'56 - The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

Absalom, Absalom! is the subject of this episode and William Faukner's ninth novel first published in 1936. Returning to Backlisted as our guest is Professor Sarah Churchwell. Also under discussion are Sweet Home, a book of short stories by Wendy Erskine, and Thomas Bernhard's classic Old Masters.

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)
7'03 - Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine
11'56 -The Voice Imitator by Thomas Bernhard
17'15 - Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

It's Halloween! Daphne du Maurier's The Breaking Point AKA The Blue Lenses is a collection of psychological horror stories that was first published in 1959. Joining John and Andy to discuss it are academic and du Maurier expert Dr Laura Varnam and, returning for Halloween, writer and critic Andrew Male. We also talk about the haunting books Andy and John have been reading this week: Copsford by Walter J.C. Murray (Little Toller) and The World of the Unknown: All About Ghosts by Christopher Maynard (Usborne).

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)

6'19 - The World of the Unknown: Ghosts by Christopher Maynard
12'16 - Copsford by Walter JC Murray
17'53 - The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier

William Golding's second novel The Inheritors (1955) is the book featured in this episode of Backlisted. Joining John and Andy to explore this intense, visionary account of the fall of Neanderthal man, published just a year after Lord of the Flies, are two returning Backlisted guests, SF novelist Una McCormack and writer and critic Andrew Male. Also in this episode Andy has been reading Square Haunting by Francesca Wade, while John talks about Staying Human, a forthcoming poetry anthology from Bloodaxe Books.

Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length)
7'52 - Square Haunting - Francesca Wade
12'36 - Staying Human (Poetry Anthology)
17'56 - The Inheritors by William Golding

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Inheritors by William Golding

Susan Cooper's magical novel The Dark Is Rising (1973) is the subject of a bumper Christmas special episode of Backlisted. Joining John and Andy to discuss this classic winter solstice read, and the four other books that make up the Dark Is Rising sequence, are writer Robert Macfarlane and writer and illustrator Jackie Morris, co-authors of The Lost Words and The Lost Spells and fellow Susan Cooper devotees. And because it is Christmas, John also talks about a beautiful ice-and-snow bound story from the Chuckchi people of the Bering Sea, When the Whales Leave by Yuri Rytkheu, and Andy reads The Tree Room, a poem from Caroline Bird's new collection The Air Year that seems to sum up the spirit of Christmas 2020. Wherever this podcast finds you in the world, Merry Christmas from us all. When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back...

Music in todays episode is:
The Dark is Rising album by Handspan https://handspan.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-is-rising
Hard Road by Johnny Flynn http://johnny-flynn.com/

* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

The literary podcast presented by John Mitchinson and Andy Miller. Brought to you by Unbound. Visit www.backlisted.fm