Tsundoku

By: Auscast Network
  • Summary

  • Welcome to Tsundoku – the podcast for addicted readers. Tsundoku is the Japanese word for that pile of books by your bed – the ones you fully intend to read – sometime! If you can’t resist a good story, are endlessly curious about new books and love nothing better than discussing an old favourite – this is the podcast for you. In Tsundoku we’ll talk to the authors of the moment, we’ll pull out the ‘hits and memories’ from years past and chat them back into life, and we’ll talk to readers from all walks of life about how they acquired their reading passion, their all time favourites … and what books they have waiting in their Tsundoku.

    2025 Auscast Network
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Episodes
  • Episode 51: “High Wire” by Candice Fox + new literary journal, “Splinter”
    Mar 28 2025

    Sarah is joined by Candice Fox who reflects how her “scrappy” upbringing in Bankstown and her Dad’s work in the local prison informed her crime writing. It still makes her a magnet for people willing to share their dark and strange story ideas.
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    Annie takes you to the launch of “Splinter”, a new literary journal, to meet its editor, Farrin Foster. In the tradition of such journals Splinter will be a place for new writing of any kind to get a showing, and a welcoming forum for South Australia’s literary community.
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    Sarah recommends “Australian Gospel: A Family Saga” by Lech Blaine
    Our random reader recommends “Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism” by Yanis Varoufakis and “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy.

    Guests
    Candice Fox, author of “High Wire”
    Farin Foster, editor of “Splinter”
    You can find more information about “Splinter” here: https://splinterjournal.com/

    INSTAGRAM
    @candicefoxauthor
    @penginrandomhouse
    @splinterjournal

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    44 mins
  • Episode 50: “The Burrow” by Melanie Cheng + “Alias Grace” by Margaret Atwood
    Feb 17 2025

    Cath and Sarah delight in sharing what they loved about Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey’s short novel, “Orbital”

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    Cath then settles into a cosy chat to author Melanie Cheng. She’s created a delicate and wise novella in which a family’s grief is articulated and haltingly addressed with the adoption of a pet rabbit.

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    Michaela enjoys revisiting Margaret Atwood’s enigmatic classic “Alias Grace” with Flinders University Associate Professors, Kylie Cardell and Lisa Bennett.

    Guests

    Melanie Cheng, General Practitioner and author of “The Burrow”, “Room for a Stranger” and “Australia Day”

    Lisa Bennett is Associate Professor of Creative Writing and English at Flinders University. She’s the author of “Viking Women: Life and Lore”. The follow-up volume, “Viking Women: Myth and Magic” is due out this year.

    Kylie Cardell is Associate Professor of Creative Writing and English at Flinders University. She’s the author of “Dear World: Contemporary Uses of the Diary” and Editor (with Kate Douglas) of “Telling Tales: Autobiography of Childhood and Youth” and she is the essays Editor for the Australian scholarly journal, “Life Writing”.

    INSTAGRAM

    @lisalhannett

    @kyliesays

    @text_publishing

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    47 mins
  • Episode 49: To Sing of War by Catherine McKinnon + remembering Beryl Bainbridge
    Jan 21 2025

    Catherine McKinnon’s tense but tender tale, “To Sing of War”, immerses the reader in the lives of three characters strung across the globe during the dying days of World War II …as the days tick towards the detonation of the first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima.

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    Poet Ken Bolton makes a good case for why British writer Beryl Bainbridge should not be forgotten.

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    ABC Broadcaster and poet Mike Ladd shares what’s in his tsundoku.

    Guests

    Catherine McKinnon, author of “To Sing of War” and the Miles Franklin Award shortlisted “Storyland”

    Ken Bolton, Australian poet whose most recent collection is titled “Salute”

    Our Random Reader is ABC broadcaster and poet Mike Ladd

    Other books that get a mention

    Catherine McKinnon mentions “The Regeneration Trilogy” by Pat Barker, “Cloud Cukooland” by Anthony Doerr.

    Ken Bolton mentions Beryl Bainbridge’s books, “An Awfully Big Adventure”, “Injury Time”, “Master Georgie”, “The Birthday Boys”, “Watson’s Apology”, “According to Queeney” and “A Quiet Life”.

    Mike Ladd mentions “The story of Wy-lah, the cockatoo” by Leslie Rees, “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller, “Selected Poems’ by Elizabeth Bishop, “The Years” by Annie Ernaux, “The Pole and Other Stories” by John Coetzee and “Salt Creek” by Lucy Treloar.

    INSTAGRAM

    @cathmckinnonauthor

    @harpercollinsaustralia

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    39 mins

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.