Podcasts by Tea or Books?
Simon (Stuck in a Book) and Rachel (Book Snob) debate the difficult decisions of books and reading.
Further podcasts by Simon and Rachel
Podcast on the topic Bücher
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Tea or Books? #122: Mary Lawson novels w/ Mary Lawson! from 2023-11-22T09:08:50
Mary Lawson joins us to talk about all her novels – welcome to episode 122! I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but THE Mary Lawson – Canadian author of Crow Lake, The O...
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Tea or Books? #121: Should Books Have A Message? and Two Jane Gardam Novels from 2023-10-14T18:32:38
Jane Gardam and messages in books – welcome to episode 121! In the first half of the episode, Rachel and I discuss whether or not we think books should have a message. In the second half we p...
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Tea or Books? #120: Travel Inspiration from Fiction or Non-Fiction? and The English Air vs The Morning Gift – with Claire / The Captive Reader from 2023-09-02T18:03:17
D.E. Stevenson, Eva Ibbotson, travel inspo – welcome to episode 120! We have our first returning guest – the wonderful Claire, who blogs at The Captive Reader. In the first half of this...
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Tea or Books? #119: Amateur Sleuths or Professional Detectives? and Women Talking vs Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead from 2023-07-30T11:11:32
Miriam Toews, Olga Tokarczuk and detective fiction – welcome to episode 119! In the first half of this episode, we discuss detective fiction – do we prefer the mystery-solver to be a pr...
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Tea or Books? #118: Do We Read Children and Adult Books By The Same Author? and Lucy vs The Buddha in the Attic from 2023-06-28T10:29:58
Julie Otsuka, Jamaica Kincard, adults’ and children’s books – welcome to episode 118! In the first half – a topic suggested by Aileen, where we discuss authors who wrote bot...
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Tea or Books? #117 w/ Lucy Scholes – Do We Like Unnamed Characters? and Ex-Wife vs Sally On The Rocks from 2023-06-06T05:52:51
Ursula Parrott, Winifred Boggs, unnamed characters – welcome to episode 117! We are so delighted to welcome Lucy Scholes as a guest for this episode. She’s is a reprint/old books supers...
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Tea or Books? #116: Do We Like Books About Sport and Quick Curtain vs It Walks By Night from 2023-05-12T07:13:51
John Dickson Carr, Alan Melville, sports – welcome to episode 116! In the first half, we talk about sports in books – do we like them? Will we be able to think of any? Thank you to Lind...
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Tea or Books? #115: Do We Like Books About Bookshops? and Quartet in Autumn vs Journal of a Solitude from 2023-04-17T06:17:47
Barbara Pym, May Sarton, and bookshops – welcome to episode 115! In the first half of the episode, we take up Sally’s suggestion of topic – and discuss whether or not we like book...
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Tea or Books? #114: Linear vs Non-linear Narratives and Winter in the Air vs A World of Love from 2023-03-20T05:02:37
Sylvia Townsend Warner, Elizabeth Bowen, linear narratives – welcome to episode 114! In the first half of this episode, we use a suggestion from listener Sarah – do we prefer linear or ...
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Tea or Books? #113: Do We Like Literary Retellings? and South Riding vs Ruth from 2023-02-15T05:48:53
Elizabeth Gaskell, Winifred Holtby, and more – welcome to episode 113! In the first half of this episode, we look at literary retellings – by which we mean authors using fairy tales or ...
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Tea or Books? #112: Best Books of 2022 and They Were Sisters vs The Three Sisters from 2023-01-11T06:35:25
Dorothy Whipple, May Sinclair, and favourite books of 2022 – welcome to episode 112! Happy new year! Welcome to the first episode of Tea or Books? for 2023 – recorded on two different d...
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Tea or Books? #111: Do We Care What Characters Look Like? And Good Behaviour vs Full House from 2022-12-08T05:51:40
Molly Keane, M.J. Farrell, and characters’ appearances – welcome to episode 111! In the first half, Rachel and I discuss what characters look like – do we care, do we notice if it...
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Tea or Books? #110: Do We Care Where Characters Work? and A Helping Hand vs The True Deceiver from 2022-11-06T13:02:31
Tove Jansson, Celia Dale, jobs in books! Welcome to episode 110 A bit of a longer break than usual because I lost my voice. But we’re back, asking – in the first half of the episode ...
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Tea or Books? #109: Boarding House Novels vs Living Alone and Heat Wave vs Heat Lightning from 2022-10-03T11:26:08
Penelope Lively, Helen Hull, boarding houses and isolation – welcome to episode 109! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I compare boarding houses novels and novels where people liv...
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Tea or Books? #108: Books with Bite or No Bite; Late and Soon vs A Game of Hide and Seek from 2022-08-27T14:00:30
Bite, E.M. Delafield, Elizabeth Taylor – welcome to episode 108! In the first half of this episode, we discuss a topic suggested by Gina – do we prefer books with bite or without bite? ...
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Tea or Books? #107: Do We Care What Characters Read? and Two Stella Gibbons Novels from 2022-08-04T18:20:46
Books in books and Stella Gibbons – welcome to episode 107! In the first half, we continue our ‘do we care…’ series with ‘do we care what characters read?’ By wh...
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Tea or Books? #106: Book or Movie First, and The Feast vs Grand Canyon from 2022-07-11T06:07:09
Margaret Kennedy, Vita Sackville-West, and film adaptations – welcome to episode 106! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss whether you should read the book before you watch...
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Tea or Books? #105: Big Families vs Small Families and Animal Farm vs Nineteen Eighty-Four from 2022-06-09T14:17:40
George Orwell and families – welcome to episode 105! Rachel is busy this month, so I put a shout-out on our Patreon page to see if anybody would be willing to step in and take her place. I wa...
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Tea or Books? #104: Do We Care What Characters Dream? and William – an Englishman vs The Great Fortune from 2022-05-10T16:44:48
Olivia Manning, Cicely Hamilton and dreams – welcome to episode 104 of ‘Tea or Books?’! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss whether or not we like dreams in bo...
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Tea or Books? #103: Thinking vs Feeling and Moon Tiger vs The Diviners from 2022-04-11T07:18:45
Penelope Lively, Margaret Laurence, thinking and feeling – welcome to episode 103! Apologies for the unexpected delay in recording. Blame Rachel! But we are here and raring to go. In the firs...
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Tea or Books? #102: Do We Read Books about Grief? and Five Windows vs Four Gardens – with Claire The Captive Reader from 2022-02-02T07:46:15
D.E. Stevenson, Margery Sharp – and a special guest! In this episode, we have a special guest in the form of Claire – you’ll know her blog The Captive Reader. We were delighted to...
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Tea or Books? #101: Rachel explores Simon’s shelves from 2022-01-07T16:29:01
Rachel takes a look at Simon’s bookshelves – will she take any books away with her?? Way back in episode 70, I was in Rachel’s flat in London and took a look around her bookcases....
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Tea or Books? #100: Q&A Special from 2021-12-09T20:30:06
For our special hundredth episode, Rachel and I are doing a question and answer. Thanks so much to everybody who sent in questions – we didn’t get to all of them, but hopefully we answe...
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Tea or Books? #99: Do We Like Essays? and Brook Evans vs The Crowded Street from 2021-11-16T06:47:12
Winifred Holtby, Susan Glaspell, and essays – welcome to episode 99! Sorry for an unintended long break, but we’re back and Rachel even has a new mic – hopefully has helped with t...
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Tea or Books? #98: Nature Writing (yes or no) and Favourite Women Prize Winners from 2021-09-14T19:35:07
Nature writing and some favourite novels by prizewinning women – welcome to episode 98! As mentioned in the podcast – we’d love to hear your questions as we gear up for our hundre...
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Tea or Books? #97: Spontaneous or Planned Reading, and Tension vs Thank Heaven Fasting from 2021-08-09T06:28:27
How do we choose our reading, and E.M. Delafield – welcome to episode 97! In the first half of the episode, we debate whether to read spontaneously or plan our reading. In the second h...
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Tea or Books? #96: Should Offensive Books Be Republished? and two Barbara Pyms from 2021-06-14T05:45:27
In this episode, we ask whether or not offensive books should be republished – you might remember the same conversation happening here on StuckinaBook a while ago, and it was interesting to v...
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Tea or Books? #95: Woolf vs Austen and The Foolish Gentlewoman vs The Half-Crown House from 2021-04-21T06:02:39
Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Margery Sharp, Helen Ashton – welcome to episode 95. In the first half, we take a detour from our usual practice and pit two authors against each other. And it...
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Tea or Books? #94: Do We Care Where Authors Live? and Dusty Answer vs Frost in May from 2021-03-27T16:06:57
Rosamond Lehmann, Antonia White, and authors’ houses – welcome to episode 94! In the first half of this episode, we do a topic suggested by Gillian – do we care where authors live...
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Tea or Books? #93 Do We Care What Characters Are Called? and Two Tove Jansson Novels from 2021-03-01T06:18:07
Summer, Winter, names – welcome to episode 93. In the first half, we ask: ‘Do we care what characters are called?’, looking at the strange and ordinary names that characters are g...
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Tea or Books? #92: Do We Care What Characters Wear? and Girl, Woman, Other vs Life After Life from 2021-02-02T19:25:17
Bernadine Evaristo, Kate Atkinson, and clothes – welcome to episode 92. In the first half of the episode, Rachel and I discuss clothes in books – do we care what characters wear? I forg...
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Tea or Books? #91: Familiar or Unfamiliar Settings? and Two Elizabeth von Arnim novels from 2021-01-11T06:14:13
Elizabeth von Arnim and settings of novels – welcome to episode 91! In the first half of the novel, we look at the settings of novels, and ask whether we prefer familiar or unfamiliar setting...
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Tea or Books? #90: Good or Bad Reading Year? and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn vs O, The Brave Music from 2020-12-13T14:58:03
Betty Smith, Dorothy Evelyn Smith, and a review of our reading years… In the first half, we look back over a very unusual year and ask – was it a good reading year or a bad reading year...
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Tea or Books? #89: Do we care about gardens?, and Gilead vs Home from 2020-11-10T20:15:55
Marilynne Robinson and gardens – welcome to episode 89! We are scraping the barrel a little in our first half, and arguably repeating ourselves, but please enjoy our musings on gardens. In th...
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Tea or Books? #88: Blurbs or No Blurbs, and The Remains of the Day vs Never Let Me Go from 2020-09-22T20:30:25
Blurbs and Kazuo Ishiguro – welcome to episode 88! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I talk about whether we want blurbs – i.e. do we do research on what we’re reading...
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Tea or Books? #87: Biographies vs Novels about Real People and Emma by Jane Austen and Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater from 2020-08-16T15:26:32
Jane Austen, Jane and Mary Findlater, and – it’s episode 87! We recorded this episode a little while ago and I have been lazy at editing – but here we are. Hope you like ou...
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Tea or Books? #86: Empathy vs Sympathy and The Child That Books Built vs When I Was A Child I Read Books from 2020-07-06T14:42:23
Marilynne Robinson, Francis Spufford, empathy and sympathy! Welcome to episode 86, in which we talk about characters we feel empathetic towards and those we feel sympathetic towards. And if you are...
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Tea or Books? #85: One House or Many Houses, and A Thatched Roof vs Fresh From The Country from 2020-06-06T19:41:33
Houses, Miss Read, Beverley Nichols! In the first half of today’s episode, we look at whether we prefer novels that stay in one house or those that go all over the place. In the second half, ...
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Tea or Books? #84: Sea vs Mountains and Her Son’s Wife vs Auntie Mame from 2020-05-06T19:24:35
Dorothy Canfield [Fisher], Patrick Dennis, sea, and mountains – episode 84! In the first half of this episode, we talk about novels set in the mountains vs those set by the sea. The cl...
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Tea or Books? #83: Comfort Zones (Yes or No?) and Two Willa Cather Novels from 2020-04-06T05:18:50
Comfort zones, comfort novels, and two novels by Willa Cather – welcome to episode 83! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I talk about whether or not we have comfort zones when it ...
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Tea or Books? #82: Australia vs New Zealand and two Adrian Bell books from 2020-03-09T05:02:55
Australia, New Zealand, and Adrian Bell – welcome to episode 82! In the first half, we do a topic suggested by Lindsay – books by Australians and books by people from New Zealand. And m...
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Tea or Books? #81: Style vs Plot and Living vs Loving by Henry Green from 2020-02-18T05:07:17
Henry Green, style over substance, and some listener questions – here’s episode 81! In the first half of this episode, we discuss style vs substance – or, to put it another way, w...
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Tea or Books? #80: Should Authors Only Write What They Know? and Agatha Christie vs Dorothy L Sayers from 2020-01-12T17:37:50
A couple of Queens of Crime and an important question about what writers should be allowed to write… In the first half of episode 80, we ask if writers should only write what they know...
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Tea or Books? #79: Political Books (Yes or No?), and The Diary of a Bookseller vs Bookshop Memories from 2019-12-10T19:21:12
Shaun Bythell, George Orwell, and a whole host of politicians – it’s episode 79! We have a special guest for this episode – my very good friend Lorna, who was meeting Rachel for t...
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Tea or Books? #78: 19th Century vs 20th Century and Two Unfinished Jane Austen Novels from 2019-11-14T19:31:58
Sanditon, The Watsons, and a whistle-stop tour of the centuries – we’re back! In the first half of this episode, we take a suggestion from Elizabeth – do we prefer the nine...
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Tea or Books? #77: Fantasy vs Fantastic Fiction and Wine of Honour vs Beneath the Visiting Moon from 2019-10-03T17:26:31
World War Two fiction and the difference between fantasy and fantastic fiction – welcome to episode 77! In the first half of this episode, I dive back into the topic of my DPhil and we talk a...
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Tea or Books? #76: Illustrations (yes or not), and Miss Hargreaves vs Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves from 2019-08-22T04:00:36
Miss Hargreaves! Finally! But also illustrations and a novel by Rachel Malik. In the first half of this episode, we discuss whether or not we want illustrations in our books – taking a little...
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Tea or Books? #75: Moral Readers or Amoral Readers and The Summer Book vs Birthday Letters from 2019-07-16T20:09:11
Tove Jansson, Ted Hughes, and fictional morality – welcome to episode 75! We’re back after a bit of a break – and we’re doing poetry for the first time ever. In the f...
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Tea or Books? #74: YA (yay or nay?) and Stoner vs The Easter Parade from 2019-06-18T19:04:28
Young Adult fiction – are we fans? And Richard Yates vs John Williams. In the first half of this episode, we venture into potentially controversial territory as we discuss young adult ...
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Tea or Books? #73: One Chance or Many Chances, and Two Margery Sharp Novels from 2019-05-16T17:46:15
How many chances will we give an author? And Margery Sharp! In the first half of the episode, we ask whether we’re one-strike-you’re-out people or if we’re willing to give ...
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Tea or Books? #72: Reading at Home vs Reading Elsewhere and The Hours vs Mrs Woolf and the Servants from 2019-04-24T15:51:03
Where do we like to read? And books inspired by Virginia Woolf. It’s a very ‘us’ episode. In the first half of this episode, we’re adopting a question suggested by Te...
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Tea or Books? #71: Multi-Narrative vs Single Narrative, and Period Piece vs A London Child of the 1870s from 2019-04-03T14:49:17
Lots of perspectives or a single narrative, and two 19th-century childhood memoirs – here we go! In the first half of this episode, we discuss multi-narrative novels and whether or not we pre...
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Tea or Books? #70: Simon Takes a Tour of Rachel’s Bookshelves from 2019-03-20T14:49:35
Simon visited Rachel – so naturally took a look around the shelves. Come for the tour! In a change from scheduled programming, we do a slightly different episode. I was staying with Rachel in...
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Tea or Books? #69: Small World vs Wide World and Blue Remembered Hills vs Seasoned Timber from 2019-02-20T17:56
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Rosemary Sutcliff, and the scope of the books we love. Happy February! In the first half of this episode, we discuss small world vs wide world in novels – do w...
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Tea or Books? #68: Tact vs Attack, and North and South vs Pride and Prejudice from 2019-01-29T21:36:12
The books we hate (and should we tell you?) and Elizabeth Gaskell vs Jane Austen. In the first half of this episode, we talk about the books we’ve hated – prepare for thin...
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Tea or Books? #67: Books as Gifts: Yes or No, and Little vs Alva&Irva from 2019-01-08T20:51:49
Edward Carey and books as gifts – happy new year; we’re back! We had a bit of a longer break over Christmas, but we’re back and raring to go with a post-Christmas discussio...
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Tea or Books? #66: Domestic Books vs Worldly Books and Elizabeth Bowen vs Elizabeth Taylor from 2018-11-27T12:26:04
Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, and venturing into the worldly… In the first half of this episode, we look at… domestic books vs worldly books? Or something like that? ...
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Tea or Books? #65: cars vs bicycles, and Hons and Rebels vs Tory Heaven from 2018-11-08T19:45:43
We are finally back! Apologies for the lengthy break – all is explained in this episode. We’re not back as soon as intended, because we recorded an episode a few days ago that...
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Tea or Books? #64: WW1 vs WW2 and Coronation vs Love of Seven Dolls from 2018-09-12T14:31:16
Paul Gallico and two World Wars – quite a mix! In the first half of this episode, we look at the books of the World Wars – whether written at the time or later – and decide...
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Tea or Books? #63: First Edition vs Worst Edition and Parnassus on Wheels vs The Education of Harriet Hatfield from 2018-08-28T05:57:22
Women opening bookshops, and how we feel about the physical book. In the first half of this episode, we look at first edition vs worst edition – in a fairly sprawling discussion about ...
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Tea or Books? #62: Internet vs Bookshop and Mr Pim Passes By vs Four Days’ Wonder from 2018-08-13T08:00:50
Two novels by A.A. Milne and we get deep about Amazon. In the first half, we talk buying books in bookshops vs buying books online – taking our cue from a suggestion by Karen – a...
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Tea or Books? #61: Do We Care What Characters Eat? and The French Lieutenant’s Woman vs Remarkable Creatures from 2018-07-24T19:58:47
John Fowles, Tracy Chevalier, and eating in books – Lyme and limes, if you will! Sorry for a bit of a delay (because I had to read two quite long books) – and advance apologies f...
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Tea or Books? #60: married vs unmarried characters, and Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day vs Patricia Brent, Spinster from 2018-06-27T14:46:11
This episode is all about married and unmarried people – in general, and two ‘spinsters’ in particular. Buckle up! (Apologies if the podcast in your app overlaps the intro ...
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Tea or Books? #59: Hard vs Easy Holiday Reading, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle vs The Haunting of Hill House from 2018-06-13T05:29:56
Shirley Jackson and holiday reading – welcome to episode 59! In the first half of this episode, we look at holiday reading – chiefly whether we prefer easy or difficult books whe...
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Tea or Books? #58: Book Groups (yes or no), and The Fountain Overflows vs Invitation to the Waltz from 2018-05-29T21:51:25
Rebecca West, Rosamond Lehmann, and book groups – welcome to episode 58! I can hardly believe that we’ve not done an episode on book groups before – but here we are! In the...
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Tea or Books? #57: save vs binge, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd vs The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle from 2018-05-14T06:17:18
Murder mysteries and binge-reading – enjoy episode 57! In this episode, we compare an uncharacteristically modern novel – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, ...
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Tea or Books? #56: Review vs Recommendation and The Lark vs High Wages from 2018-04-23T20:29:21
We’ve finally done the reviewers vs recommendations episode! Also: E Nesbit and Dorothy Whipple. Every now and then, the critics vs bloggers debate rears its head. In the first half of...
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Tea or Books? #55: Versatility vs Dependability and House-Bound by Winifred Peck vs The Priory by Dorothy Whipple from 2018-04-09T05:46:10
Dorothy Whipple, Winifred Peck, and authors who hop genres – welcome to episode 55! In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss a topic suggested by my friend Paul (thanks ...
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Tea or Books? #54: Reading Children’s Books as Children vs Adults, and Tom’s Midnight Garden vs The Secret Garden from 2018-03-19T05:40:36
A children’s books special today, featuring Frances Hodgson Burnett and Philippa Pearce. Not in person, you understand. In the first half of the episode, we discuss whether it’s ...
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Tea or Books? #53: Top of TBR vs Bottom of TBR, and The Bookshop vs According to Mark from 2018-03-05T06:07:05
It’s the battle of the Penelopes – and which books we’re most likely to read first (top or bottom of the pile?) Rachel is back (hurray!) – many thanks to Karen for ta...
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Tea or Books? #52: Detective Fiction vs Crime Fiction and Merry Hall vs The Sweet and Twenties from 2018-02-18T18:00:46
Detective fiction, crime fiction, and Beverley Nichols – what fun! Rachel has had to take a quick break from the podcast, but I was delighted to have a special guest in the form of Kar...
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Tea or Books? #51: Author Parents vs Author Children, and The Boat by L.P. Hartley vs Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner from 2018-01-23T05:22:19
Literary families, and the reveal on our recommendations for each other – we’re back after a seasonal break. We’ve missed you! In the first half of our 51st episode, we loo...
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Tea or Books? #50: Question&Answer from 2017-12-26T10:25:59
To celebrate episode 50, we are doing a question and answer episode! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas – I’m editing this a few days before Christmas, but I’...
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Tea or Books? #49: Death of the Author?, and The Woman in White vs Possession from 2017-12-11T21:51:21
Wilkie Collins, A.S. Byatt, and the death of the author (sort of) – episode 49 is quite the mixed bag. nbsp; I found it quite hard to describe the first half of this episode – though ho...
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Tea or Books? #48: Sad Beginnings vs Happy Beginnings and The Semi-Attached Couple vs The Semi-Detached House from 2017-11-22T21:02:37
Emily Eden and the openings of books – we muddle our way through episode 48! First – do send any questions you have for episode 50 to simonthomasoxford[at]gmail.com. We’re ...
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Tea or Books? #47: sequels vs new-author sequels, and A Compass Error vs Pleasures and Landscapes from 2017-11-02T05:49:53
Sybille Bedford and sequels by the original author vs sequels by a different author… we need to come up with snappier titles for these things. In episode 47, we start with a topic sugg...
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Tea or Books? #46: Canadian vs Irish Literature, and My Name Is Lucy Barton vs Anything Is Possible from 2017-10-19T18:11:49
Elizabeth Strout is our author this episode – and we also dip a toe in the worlds of Canadian and Irish literature. Spoilers: we know a lot less than we should. Suggestions welcomed, please! ...
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Tea or Books? #45: Do Literary Prizes Affect Our Reading and The Heir vs All Passion Spent from 2017-10-03T05:51:12
A heated conversation about literary prizes AND Vita Sackville-West. Roll up, roll up for episode 45! In the first half of this fortnight’s episode, we try to determine whether or not ...
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Tea or Books? #44: Monogamous vs Polygamous, and The Village vs To Bed With Grand Music from 2017-09-17T14:34:33
After a bit of a hiatus, we’re back with an episode about Marghanita Laski and whether we read one book at a time or many books at once. And because that’s a bit of a mouthful, I’...
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Tea or Books? #43: scientists vs clergymen, and As It Was vs Fair Stood the Wind for France from 2017-07-24T06:53:51
Scientists! Vicars! H.E. Bates! Helen Thomas! We’re popping in between holidays to record an episode about clergymen and scientists in novels – doubtless missing plenty of them, ...
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Tea or Books? #42: trains vs boats, and Illyrian Spring vs Hotel du Lac from 2017-07-12T05:24:31
Trains! Boats! Anita Brookner! Ann Bridge! This episode has it all. Books set on trains vs books set on boats – Rachel didn’t want us to do it but it happened. And… it was a roari...
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Tea or Books? #41: novels set in one day vs many years, and The Forsyte Saga vs The Cazalet Chronicles from 2017-06-22T20:18:06
John Galsworthy! Elizabeth Jane Howard! Circadian novels! Find out what that means, and much more, in episode 41. Guys, it was SUPER hot when we were recording this podcast. It’s rathe...
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Tea or Books? #40: how do we arrange our bookshelves, and two E.H. Young novels from 2017-06-05T06:29:26
Alphabetical or thematic shelving? Miss Mole vs Chatterton Square? Episode 40 of ‘Tea or Books?’ continues answering the important questions that others don’t dare to. In t...
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Tea or Books? #39: spoilers or no spoilers, and Anne of Green Gables vs Daddy Long-Legs from 2017-05-20T20:39:13
Special guest Jenny joins us for episode 39 – discussing children’s classics and spoilers! I was SO excited that Jenny agreed to join me and Rachel on ‘Tea or Books?’...
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Tea or Books? #38: male characters by women vs female characters by men, and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont vs At The Jerusalem from 2017-05-01T14:38:37
Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Bailey, and a bit of a debate about male and female characters. Here’s episode 38 – which is unusually short, but hopefully fun nonetheless. I’ve left in an...
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Tea or Books? #37: does studying books ruin them? and A View From the Bridge vs Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? from 2017-04-19T21:51:32
Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and schooldays – we’ve got it all in episode 37 (depending on your definition of ‘all’). In the first half of this episode, we meander ar...
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Tea or Books? #36: audiobooks (yes or no?) and two Furrowed Middlebrow novels from 2017-04-03T05:43:05
Ursula Orange, Elizabeth Fair, and audiobooks – it’s fair to say that people probably won’t know that much about the authors today, but they are both among the Furrowed Middlebrow...
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Tea or Books? #35: do we want to meet our favourite authors, and The Magnificent Spinster vs The Rector’s Daughter from 2017-03-14T00:06:43
May Sarton and F.M. Mayor go up against each other, and we chat about whether or not we want to meet our favourite authors (living or dead!) Our episodes are getting a little more sporadic a...
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Tea or Books? #34: novels based on real life: yes or no?, and A Pin To See The Peepshow vs Messalina of the Suburbs from 2017-02-19T22:20:02
E M Delafield, F Tennyson Jesse, and novels about real people – that’s what’s on the menu for episode 34. It’s very nice to have Rachel back (hi Rachel!) and we’...
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Tea or Books? #33: a Thomas twins crossover special! from 2017-01-30T05:53:41
C.S. Lewis, Meryl Streep, and Alfred Hitchcock! What do they have in common? They all appear in this special crossover episode – where Tea or Books? meets my brother’s podcast The C of ...
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Tea or Books? #32: jobs in books, and Atonement vs On Chesil Beach from 2017-01-17T19:45:28
Ian McEwan helps us get dangerously modern in our latest ‘Tea or Books?’ episode, as we chat about Atonement and On Chesil Beach (along with a whole bunch of his other books) – wh...
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Tea or Books? #31: lists, yes or no? and The Fortnight in September vs Greengates from 2017-01-02T21:54:57
Happy new year! Rachel and I are back from a bit of a podcast break, and raring to go for the New Year. In this episode, we look at two novels by R.C. Sherriff, both published by Persephone,...
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Tea or Books? #30: artists vs musicians, and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie vs A Far Cry From Kensington from 2016-12-12T06:17:23
Muriel Spark, artists, and musicians in our final episode of 2016 – it was a fun one to record. We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, and fingers crossed for a w...
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Tea or Books? #29: short stories (yes or no?) and Bricks and Mortar vs Princes in the Land from 2016-11-28T22:28:16
Two more Persephones in this episode – Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton and Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan – along with a discussion of short stories: which writers we like and d...
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Tea or Books? #28: scary vs not scary, and The Home-Maker vs The Victorian Chaise-Longue from 2016-11-10T22:42:29
Two Persephone titles will help solace us in these bizarre post-election days. We’ve been away for a while because I lost my voice – sorry! – but Rachel (Book Snob) and I a...
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Tea or Books? #27: cats vs dogs in literature, and Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward vs The Dover Road by A.A. Milne from 2016-10-18T13:53:57
Cats! Dogs! Noel Coward! A.A. Milne! I always start off these descriptions with exclamation marks, but seldom has it been more justified… In this episode, we pit literary cats against ...
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Tea or Books? #26: give up vs soldier on, and Matilda by Roald Dahl vs Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian from 2016-09-27T21:41:34
Roald Dahl, Michelle Magorian, and whether or not to give up on books – I’m back from holiday, and Rachel and I have a lovely new (…long) episode of Tea or Books? In our fi...
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Tea or Books? #25: to adapt or not to adapt, and To The North vs The House in Paris from 2016-09-12T21:16:15
Elizabeth Bowen and novels adapted into films – though not in conjunction… In the first half of this podcast, we discuss novels adapted into films – and whether or not we w...
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Tea or Books? #24: careful or manhandle, and The Love-Child vs Lolly Willowes from 2016-08-25T21:17:55
I have forced two topics on Rachel – firstly, are you careful with books, or do you manhandle them? (It will all make sense in context.) And then two books that were lynch pins of my d...
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Tea or Books? #23: keep or cull, and They Came Like Swallows vs Time Will Darken It from 2016-08-03T19:57:28
Two William Maxwell novels go up against each other in this episode – but not before we’ve got to the heart of the emotional issue of whether to keep books or cull books. (Obviou...
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Tea or Books? #22: set in the time vs written in the time, and 84, Charing Cross Road vs Howards End is on the Landing from 2016-07-18T20:54:36
Historical fiction and books-about-books are the themes for episode 22 of Tea or Books? – and we have a LOT to say on these topics. And we hope you do too! Let us know your thoughts fo...
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Tea or Books? #21: children narrators vs adult narrators, and Shakespeare comedies vs tragedies from 2016-07-06T06:19:33
Shakespeare! That’s right, we’re getting very classy and/or GCSE English in our discussion of his comedies and tragedies – following a fairly haphazard chat about child nar...
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Tea or Books? #20: first vs third person and Cider With Rosie vs My Family and Other Animals from 2016-06-21T20:12:35
Happy birthday us! We actually passed our birthday by a couple of weeks, but this is the first podcast after the big day. Can you believe it’s been a whole year? And it might be our lo...
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Tea or Books? #19: summer vs winter and The Night Watch vs The Little Stranger from 2016-06-06T05:34:40
Sarah Waters and the seasons – how better to celebrate the sunny weather we’ve been having recently? In episode 19 we look at summer and winter in books (and get tangled in what ...
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Tea or Books? #18: titles: fancy or simple? and Hercule Poirot vs Miss Marple from 2016-05-23T06:10:15
Agatha Christie and curious titles come together in perhaps my favourite episode of the podcast yet. And also the first one where we’re both in our 30s, guys. And also one of our most ...
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Tea or Books? #17: diaries vs letters and The Importance of Being Earnest vs The Picture of Dorian Gray from 2016-05-12T05:49:16
Letters! Diaries! Oscar Wilde! We’ve got it all – well, those three things – in episode 17 of Tea or Books?, which has taken a bit of time to arrive, for which I apologise....
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Tea or Books? #16: series vs standalones and Winnie the Pooh vs The Wind in the Willows from 2016-04-19T06:32:53
Winnie-the-Pooh vs Wind in the Willows is perhaps the most animal-strewn debate we’ve had so far, as well as being more or less inevitable that we’d get to this one eventually &#...
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Tea or Books? #15: plays vs poetry, and Rebecca vs My Cousin Rachel from 2016-04-05T22:00:17
Plays or poetry? We go broad with the first half of our 15th episode, and (inevitably) barely scratch the surface. You wouldn’t have it any other way, right? In the second half, we pit...
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Tea or Books? #14: reprints vs original editions, and The Time Traveller’s Wife vs Her Fearful Symmetry from 2016-03-21T05:20:33
Reprints or original editions? That’s the first question we ask ourselves, courtesy of Michelle of Book Musings, and have a lot of fun discussing it. In the second half of the episode ...
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Tea or Books? #13: villainous vs virtuous, and One Fine Day vs London War Notes from 2016-03-08T22:27:08
Villains or virtuous folk? No, not describing your hosts Rachel (Book Snob) and me, but enquiring into our favourite types of characters. In the second half, we look at two books by Mollie P...
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Tea or Books? #12: happy vs sad endings, and Elizabeth and Her German Garden vs The Enchanted April from 2016-02-15T06:31:53
Happy endings? Sad endings? And a couple of Elizabeth von Arnim novels – we have a fun, albeit somewhat sickly episode. It makes me think of my favourite, my-missed sitcom Happy Ending...
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Tea or Books? #11: ebooks vs books and Nancy Mitford vs Evelyn Waugh from 2016-02-03T22:54:25
Ebooks! Books! Nancy Mitford! Evelyn Waugh! We’ve got it all for you in episode 11, as we turn our attention to the well-worn path of ebooks vs paper books/tree books/real books (whate...
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Tea or Books? #10: Reading Resolutions, yes or no? and Barbara Pym vs Elizabeth Taylor from 2016-01-18T22:58:16
‘Tea or Books?’ is back for the new year – and it starts pretty shambolically, as we can’t remember the episode number. Once that is sorted out, we discuss whe...
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Tea or Books? #9: buy or borrow and Christmas books: yes or no? from 2015-12-19T17:32:35
Welcome to a festive edition of ‘Tea or Books?’ (and another one where I forgot to close my bedroom window when recording) – Rachel (Book Snob) and I discuss buying vs borr...
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Tea or Books? #8: biography vs autobiography and I Capture the Castle vs Guard Your Daughters from 2015-12-02T20:53:17
In this episode Dodie Smith’s much-loved I Capture the Castle goes up against Diana Tutton’s lesser-known Guard Your Daughters, and we debate the merits of biographies and autobi...
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Tea or Books? #7: Persephone vs. Virago&To The Lighthouse vs. A Room of One’s Own from 2015-11-16T23:11
Rachel and I are pitting our favourite publishers against each other in this (belated!) episode – Persephone vs Virago Modern Classics. We definitely want to keep both of them, of cour...
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Tea or Books? #6: mothers vs fathers in fiction and Dickens on page vs screen from 2015-10-13T05:45:32
Fictional mothers vs fictional fathers and Dickens on the page vs Dickens on screen in this episode of Tea or Books? – and I think Rachel and I are at our most rambling. What can I say...
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Tea or Books? #5: rural vs urban settings and Pride&Prejudice vs Sense&Sensibility from 2015-09-29T05:23:39
It’s been an enormous delay, because of internet issues, but – we’re back! In this episode, Rachel (Book Snob) and I debate rural vs urban settings in novels, then have a J...
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Tea or Books? #4: American classics vs. British classics and Enid Blyton vs. E. Nesbit from 2015-07-28T22:29:06
In this week’s episode, Rachel (Book Snob) and I get waaay out of our depth talking about American classics and British classics, then back onto more secure ground in debating Enid Bly...
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Tea or Books? #3: re-reading vs. new books, and D.E. Stevenson vs. Dorothy Whipple from 2015-07-12T21:46:16
A little later than we planned (which is probably a good indication of how unreliable we’re going to be… but I hope not!) here is episode 3 of Tea or Books? with lovely Rachel of...
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Tea or Books? #2: long vs. short books, and The Catcher in the Rye vs. The Go-Between from 2015-06-23T16:49:05
Welcome to the second episode of our podcast! In this episode, Rachel and I are discussing long books vs. short books and The Catcher in the Rye vs. The Go-Between. Buckle up; it’s a long epi...
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Tea or Books? #1: books in translation vs. books set in other countries, and Emily vs. Charlotte Brontë from 2015-06-08T18:32:19
The first episode of Tea or Books? looks at books in translation vs. books set in other countries, and Emily vs. Charlotte Brontë
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