Episode notes
A warm, bookish chat hosted by Donna Scott, joined by three brilliant authors — Melanie Bell, Shona Kinsella, and Helen Cooper — as they dive into summer reading habits, holiday book choices, airport fiction, fantasy favourites, and the strange modern trend of “raw‑dogging” flights.
This episode is cosy, funny, and full of great recommendations across fantasy, horror, crime, poetry, and literary fiction. Perfect whether you’re reading by the pool… or the swamp!
This episode covers: summer reading challenges (complete with childhood pizza prizes); holiday reading rituals from Kindles to chunky fantasy tomes and irresistible airport impulse buys; the way parenting reshapes summer reading time, the surprising truth behind WH Smith’s airport charts; the clash between bold block‑colour covers and fantasy prettiness; the joys of reading on planes, trains, and ferries (plus a bit of audiobook diplomacy); the rebellious pleasure of choosing crime, horror, or cosy fantasy over “expected” summer genres, and the delight of matching books to holiday destinations.
We discuss:
- The Woman in the Villa — Helen Cooper
- Daughters of Nickevin — Shona Kinsella
- The Heart Decided to Move — Melanie Bell
- Lisa Jewell novels
- Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Karin Slaughter
- A Memory Called Empire — Arkady Martine
- Hot Chocolate on Thursday — Michiko Aoyama
- The Gods Below — Andrea Stewart
- Flame Tree Press anthologies including Discontinue If Death Ensues
- The Enchanted Greenhouse — Sarah Beth Durst
- Obsidian — anthology by The Slab Press
- Daphne Du Maurier
- Winston Graham's Poldark novels
Links for this episode: