Five-Star Books We Cannot Put Down

Your bookshelf is basically a personality test, so we decided to put ours on trial. We each bring five favourite books to the mic and defend them properly, including the ones that shaped our taste, kicked off reading streaks, or simply refuse to leave our brains alone.

We start with how we actually read: Kindle versus physical books, why e-readers are a game-changer for accessibility, and how we juggle multiple reads at once. From there we dive into our picks, from Sarah J Maas fandom (with Queen of Shadows as a standout in the Throne of Glass series) to Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea and The Night Circus for anyone who loves layered fantasy, secret doors, and stories inside stories.

Then we take a sharp turn into darker classics and cultural touchstones. We unpack George Orwell’s 1984 and why Big Brother still feels uncomfortably current, shout out Patrick Süskind’s Perfume for writing that makes scent feel real, and talk about A Clockwork Orange and the unsettling question of free will versus forced morality. We also touch The Odyssey as the original survival journey, Dracula as the vampire blueprint that shaped modern horror, The Reason as a warm, funny look at grief and rebuilding a life, and American Psycho as a brutal satire of empty identity in corporate culture.

If you want book recommendations across fantasy, dystopian fiction, classics, horror, and feel-good contemporary novels, press play, make your own list, and tell us what we missed. Subscribe, share with a fellow reader, and leave a review with your favourite book of all time.

Transcript

Welcome And The Book Challenge

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to Bonus Dad.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Bonus Daughter, a special father-daughter podcast with me, Hannah.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

And me, Davy, where we discuss our differences, similarities. Share a few laughs and stories. Within our ever-changing and complex world.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Each week we will discuss a topic from our own point of view. And influences throughout the decades.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Or you could choose one by contacting us.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Via email, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Links in bio. Hello and welcome to a very special podcast episode by Bonus Dad, Bonus Daughter. We are I can't put this down. I completely missed. There's like a ledge beside me to put this on, and I just went, ugh. Anyway. We're going to talk about books today, one of my favourite subjects.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Well, yes, I've got a I have written an episode on books, like the history of books and all of that, but I thought you you don't like it when I do the history of books.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

It's not that I don't like it, I just don't think it's as engaging as our other content.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

No, no. So I've so I was kind of ditched that idea, and I thought, well, still what to do an episode on books, but what could we do that's slightly different? So I said to Hannah, choose five of your favourite books.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

And we've got five each.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

We do. I didn't realise the term was favourite.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Or five books. Five first five books that pop into your head.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah. Sorry, I'm just getting my Kimberstreak up.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

And you said to me, actually, you you did message me and you went, Oh god, I can't choose just five because I read so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yeah. And I read a lot of stuff that I wouldn't want you to know that I've read. Uh so like what? Nothing in particular. Um, so we'll move on. Do you read any of Vicky's books? I do not. I have not, but I want to.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Apparently your mum reads them, and they're very good. So we have a friend. Um we have an author for we we have a family friend with both Simon and Vicky, um, friends with both of them. Uh bizarrely enough, I also work with Simon as well. And I also work with Vicky. But the but your mum, though, knew them before I did. But then yeah, but Vicki Small World. Yeah, Vicky Walklate, and she is as an author, she does publish under her own name, doesn't she? Yeah, she does. She does Euro again. So I'm giving her a little bit of a shout-out. Yeah, no, no, yeah, absolutely. But she should. She writes, shall we say, monster romance novels.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Romanticy is what Davy means.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Is that what it's called? Is that the genre? So yeah, and but Simon calls it pure filth.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I will read hers, yeah. It is up my street. Not not so much the monster stuff. Um, I want to read her, she's got like a vampire type series. Uh I want to read that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah. But she's very she's very good and she's very she's very published. So I've heard.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

I haven't I haven't read anything yet, but I will. Um it's it's next on the list. I've just through a massive series at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

I um I wrote a short story and I sent it to Vicky and I went, Vicki, could you edit this for me, please? And she did, bless her. She edited this for me. So yeah. But no, she uh she she's very good. Yeah. But you but but what what other sort of stuff do you read then, Hannah?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I I read all sorts of shit, and uh less said about that the better. I have gone with very clean uh books. Okay, yeah. Well, one of them so much, but yeah. You like the famous five Enid Blighton, roll gall. Fantastic Mr. Fox. I do have one young adult series on here because I couldn't not put it on there. Yeah, um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Oh, I think I might know which adult series that is.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

I think you do, young adult series, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, yeah, so I think I know one. So quick question though, before you we before we do dive fully into the five books each.

Kindle Versus Paper And Reading Habits

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Kindle or book?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Kindle.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Kindle?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

The reason I am a Kindle user, and I do get what people say, yes, the book is lovely to turn the page, yes, it smells great. I get all of those things, but you do not know how useful a Kindle is when you are frickin' blind as a bat. You can enlarge the print, it's backlit, you can choose your font, you can choose whatever you want to do with it, you can choose how you want it laid out, portrait, landscape. You can't do that with a book.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

So Kindle. I will always be a Kindle user, and I'm fully Kindle. I'm not Kindle on my phone unless I'm really in a in a bind. Um but yeah, Kindle.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I'm gonna do something really controversial.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

I'm gonna change one of my books on the hop.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

On the hop?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

On the hop, yeah, because I put I put I got four and I was like, oh, the fifth one, the first pop first book popped into my head on for the fifth one. I was, oh yeah, I'll put that one in. But because I've just said Kindle or Book, I just thought, actually, I've just realized there is another book that I really enjoy reading. The reason why that reminded me is because I was gonna take that that particular book away on holiday with me, and that was the first book I ever took as a Kindle.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Ah, nice.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, so I I get the I get the allure of a Kindle.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I think with a Kindle as well, I I'm one of these people, and a lot of people hate this about me, which is absolutely fine. I have a couple of books on the go at the same time. So I normally have a fiction, a non-fiction, and then an autobiography on the go. Yeah. Although I haven't got an autobiography on the go currently as it stands, but I do have a non-fiction one, um, which is normally some sort of psychology text of some sort.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Um at the moment, I So you're talking like a not not a story-led book, but more of a informative book.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Or life, like what what's the type of book like a self-help book, I guess. It's not a self-help book, but it's it's more to do with it's really hard to re I don't really want to reveal what it is. No, no, no. It's hard to say what it is. Is it psychology or philosophy? Psychology.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Psychology.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Psychology based. But it's not uh it's not a self-help book. It's it's just related to a particular um section of psychology that I just really enjoy. Oh, okay. So I guess it's more it's more of a fact.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Factual book. Factual work. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, do you want to do your one first or do you want me to do that?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

I can do mine first.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Go on then, go

Sarah J Maas And Queen Of Shadows

SPEAKER_00 5:36

for it.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

So um it would be weird for me not to talk about books and not mention Sarah J. Mass. So I thought I'd just get her out of the way first. Sarah J. Mass is a really famous author at the moment. She is hot tot at the moment. She's what? Hot tot. I don't know. Hot toddy. Yeah, she's hot on the blocks, man. I don't know. She's she's she's hot at the moment. See, hot hot tot to me.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I thought you'd say hot toddy, which is whiskey and hot water.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, no, no, she's she's just hot on the press at the moment. She's actually um the same publisher as JK Rowling, which is Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury, yeah. Um, so yeah. Um, and kind of my passion for reading most recently has come from her books. Um, so she has a really famous series called A Court of a Thorn and Roses.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Akatar. Um, then she has another series called Throne of Glass, and she has another series called Crescent City. Um, and I um I have read all of Akata as up to date as we are, what is it, May the 17th today? Yeah. Yeah. As of today, I am up to date on Akatar and uh Throne of Glass is finished, so we know that, but there's new Avatar books coming out. And then I'm halfway through the second book of Crescent City as it stands today. But the book I decided to choose amongst that universe and in that world was Queen of Shadows. Okay. It's the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series. Um I'm one of these weird people, and I think I'm in the minority here that I prefer Throne of Glass to Akatar. I think it's just the storyline is just so cool and something I haven't it's very it's not something that I I definitely have read something like it, and I almost picked that book as well, but I decided to pick this one instead. Um was the Nevernight series by Jay Christoph. Um and I didn't I didn't put that in here and it's just very similar. But basically, it follows a lady and she is she was kind of raised to be an assassin. Okay, but without giving anything away, she kind of returns to a kingdom ruled by kind of fear and corruption, and then she's sort of balances revenge, loyalty, and the weight of her destiny in all of that world. I'm trying not to give anything away. No, no, no, no. Um, and then she must decide kind of what sort of person she wants to be and and how she will rule. And as I said, this is the fourth book in the series of I think there's eight in total, and I just absolutely loved this book. Queen of Shadows is just by far the best one out of the whole block of eight, apart from maybe the last book because it brings everything all together. But that fourth book for me, I was just like, oh yes. It was just where the story just like really kicked off, and you were like, Oh my gosh, you know a lot about the world, and oh, it's just so good. Um, it was a very, very close pick between Queen of Shadows and then the second Avatar book as well, um, which I absolutely adored too. Um both of them have five stars on my Goodreads.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Oh, excellent, excellent.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, I don't give out many five stars, but all of these, all of these books that I chose are all five stars, four four or five stars. Um because uh Well where you where you've rated them on Goodreads.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

I've rated them on Goodreads, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, yeah. I love Goodreads. Goodreads is a good place to log all your books that you've read so you can not only can you look back on it, but also you can uh you can get like suggested books. If you like this, you might like this, or other readers that liked this like this. So yeah, um I've currently got a really good reading streak at the moment. May Oh gosh, really good reading streak at the moment. Uh 142 days of reading in a row. 23 of 23 weeks. But yeah, I think I don't know if I know how many books I've read this year.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Um, just as just as an aside at this moment, I'm just gonna mention on the podcast that both me and Hannah are available to read audiobooks.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, I I guess we are, amongst all of my other things that I'm doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

We we both have accounts with ACR, is it?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

We do. I've not done anything with that.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

So we we we are both on there, so if uh if anyone does have any books they want to be turned into audiobooks, both me and Hannah do have experience.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah. Oh do you know the only thing I want wouldn't want to do is so I have said on there, because you can choose which genres that you that you would like to to do. Yeah. And I did put erotica on there because I thought, fair enough. But if they cast us both, I'm never doing one with you.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

That would be weird.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Absolutely, absolutely not, no way.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

That would just be the weird, weirdest thing. I was like, I don't really mind reading erotica, but I was a bit like, uh There was a part of me that was like, do I click it? Don't I click it? And I thought, oh, I might get more auditions if I click it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I just clicked all of them.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

I didn't click all of them actually. I was a bit selective with what I chose. I thought, oh, I might get more auditions this way.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

I'll I'll read anything.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

It's hot off the press at the moment. I'll read it. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I chose Queen of Shadows, um, uh one of the Throne of Glass books because I just thought it was amazing. I I enjoyed the entire series actually of it, and it literally had me in a chokehold for months, the whole series, and now I'm on her last series. Yeah, come to an end soon.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

And I'll have to cry.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Yeah. Well, my first book is is a book that I read at school.

1984 And The Cost Of Control

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

And Skellig. Yeah, yeah. It's one of the it's one of those books where you they they make you read it as part of your curriculum, and I don't think I really fully, fully appreciated it at the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Can I guess what it is? Go on. Can I have three guesses? Go on. Lord of the Flies.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

No. To Kill a Mockingbird. Nope. What'd you think? Oh they were like my f uh Ah, but I went remember this type of school that I went to.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Oh yeah, you went to a posh posh boy school.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

What did you read? Well, there are quite a few people. The tombs of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

No, no. Oh god, no. Yeah, we we did. You did. I know you did. Yeah. Um 1984.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Oh, George Orwell.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

George Orwell. So I read it. I read it when I was quite young. And I mean actually, I think that is on most most people would have read that at school. Um I didn't. You didn't? You didn't read it. But I read it at school and I didn't really fully appreciate it until I read it again after I left school. And for those of you who don't know, as Hannah said it's it's a book written by George Orwell, and it's probably the most defining dystopian novel.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

I was gonna say it's dystopian, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:48

It's very dystopian of the handmaid's tale situation. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah, you got like you you can throw 1984 in with a Hadmain's Tale, quite simple in this absolutely in the same genre. So what it's about, it's without giving too much away, is about a guy called Winston. Name's Winston Smith, and he is a he's a very kind of low-ranking worker in a place called Oceania. So the world is split up into three places Eurasia, East Asia, Oceania. And throughout the throughout the book and and the film, you can watch the film, the film is amazing with John Hurt in it as well, playing Winston, and uh Richard Burton is in it. Okay, and it it's very much about how government controls people, is is is what the book's about. Uh this it's a the society is ruled by the party and its symbolic leader, Big Brother. Yes, and that's where Big Brother comes from. Big Brother is always watching you through CCTV, Big Brother's always watching, and also where the television programme Big Brother came from. It's all well it's all um derived from 1984.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

So what he does had a massive cultural influence then. Yeah, even today.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

100% it had. Yeah. Now everybody, I mean, even in the morning in the book, everybody gets up and they has to do um exercises in front of this telly, and on this telly, people are watching you as much as you're watching the telly, and you've got this big image of big brother on the thing. It's it's it's a real story about paranoia. Um, yeah, it's what Winston does.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

I mean, it's very similar to his other writings. Like, I've read Animal Farm fairly recently. Yeah, like it's it's he's he's got a different kind of mind for that sort of thing, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

His world building is insane.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

It is absolutely insane. And when you look at the major themes that are running through the book, because I won't say anything too more about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

It's about greed and power, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Well, it's about the you've got surveillance and privacy as fundamental uh manipulation of the truth and how history is constantly being rebuilt.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Exactly what Animal Farm was about. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

I mean, even like in the war, it's like Oceania says East Asia is our enemy, Eurasia was always our friend, and then that later on in the book it's like Eurasia is always our friend, and East Asia it switches round and it says, but they were always our friend, and it's constantly changing the truth you don't know where you are, which is look at the bloody world we live in now. Yeah, um language language is a control, this thing called new speak. So they they stopped the language and made people speak a certain way, yeah. Um, and of course, fear as a political tool, but they're also things like Big Brother into in today's society, the words double think, thought police, and even room 101 comes from 1984. So it's it's really, really good. It's I mean, the whole thing, I mean it is very bleak, it's claustrophobic and intense, and it's very psychology driven. Yeah, so it's not a book to read for happiness.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

But if you want to Animal Farm was not a happy read either. Although I enjoyed the audiobook because the person that was doing the audiobook um made all the animals speak in different voices, and it was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, yeah. What was it? Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. Yeah. It's from Animal Farm. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, Orwell was I mean, I I laughingly said, you know, when Orwell wrote 1984, he wrote it as a warning, not as an instruction manual.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah.

unknown 15:05

You know.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

You know, but yeah. But yeah, 1984 was my first one.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Your second one?

The Starless Sea And Story Labyrinths

SPEAKER_01 15:11

My second one is a book called The Starless Sea. It's by uh a lady called Erin Morganst Morgenstern. She also wrote um another book called The Night Circus, which is, by the way, equally as good. The only reason I chose Starless Sea was because uh I just really resonated with the story a little better. So basically it takes it takes kind of place. This guy finds a a book about his own childhood in a random, like place. Yeah. He kind of like pulls it from like this underground labyrinth place. Okay. Yeah, and it and it kind of you just basically kind of learn about his life throughout, and there's like lots of stories and secrets and special keys, and it's all fantasy-based, and it's kind of like it was like you think the book is really normal, and then suddenly it kind of just like spins its on its on its head a little bit. It's like it's like finding out a book about your life, and then finding out kind of the end of that book before the end of your life has been taken place. It's a very, very cool book. I'm trying not to give anything away.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

No, no, it's very difficult, it's like with 1984. Don't want to give too much away.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

It it's it's such a lovely layered book, and special, special um mention to her other book, The Night Circus as well, which is um very similar. It's about a circus that has basically two performers who kind of are battling it out with each other a little bit in terms of Oh, a little bit like Swan um Black Swan. No, nothing like Black Swan. Um they they kind of like there's there's they're kind of battling out, but they're also kind of don't want to be in this competition. They like that it's very much like they don't really want to be a part of it, but they're unfortunately been made part of it in their childhood, and that's a really good book as well. Like Erin Erin Morgenstein, apparently it takes her quite a few years to write one book, and when you read it, you're like, I can understand why. This is full of twists and turns and how life thing throws at you. It's all fantasy. Yeah, essentially, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's um it's it's a really good book, and and even though on the face of what I'm saying sounds really complicated, she makes it very easy to follow through. Like it none, there was not a part of me that ever gone, well, I don't know what's going on here. It's just there's just a lot of lots of little things that crop up every now and then. It's written kind of almost in letter format as well, Starless C. There's all in these letters, whereas the night circus is written, some of it is written from your perspective going into the circus, which is so cool. It's like, oh, with your scarf wrapped around your neck and you can smell this the sweet popcorn in the air and things like that. So it kind of takes you through the circus, but then you also get the two people's stories throughout as well. And yeah, it's really, really I've never seen anything quite written that way before. Both uh what's it called when you're writing letters?

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Um correspondence.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah, okay, yeah. It's not that, but yeah. Um we'll call it that, yeah. It like, yeah, you see correspondence, but you also see that someone else's story kind of taking place as well. It's really cool. It's really cool. Ah, so one of my books that I've it's a bit like um a bit like uh Dracula was all letters, Frankenstein's all letters. Right, that's one you've chosen then. Um you can do that one next. Frankenstein was letters as well. Frankenstein was that I can't remember what it's called when something's written in letters. There's a special name for it.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

I know, I I don't know what it is, but it's very clever.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

You can go to your next one if you wish.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

So it's on a similar thing like that. George R. R. Martin does in the Song of Ice and Fire, because each chapter is done from the perspective of someone different.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Ooh. A bit like that film where they all run and go.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah.

unknown 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah. I mean, the Song of Ice and Fire is difficult to read. I mean, I've obviously watched Game of Thrones, and but I was I started reading the first book, I gave up after a little while. I was like, it's too big.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

It's called an epistolary novel. And I did know that. I nearly said episode uh episodically is what I almost said. Epistolary.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah. So my next book is Dracula. No, it's not no, I'll it's on there, but we'll come to that in

Perfume And The Horror Of Scent

SPEAKER_00 19:17

a little while. But I chose a book where I was just at work, and it was it was must have been about God, must have been about 15 years ago. Okay, long time ago. And we used to have a Water Stones, it's gone now, but we used to have a Waterstones, and I walked in there to have a little look to see a book to read, or to buy to buy another book. This was like before Kindles, this is how long ago this was. And I was like, this book says the book of the week, and it was just on there, and I thought, oh, I'll give it a go. Never heard of it before. Uh it's a book called Perfume. Right, and so I read it, and from the very first paragraph, I'm like, this is good, and it's brilliant. So, what perfume is about, it's it's written by a guy called Patrick Suskind, and it's uh very strange, it's very unsettling, and it blends horror, philosophy, and sensory storytelling. So, what it's about, if you haven't, it's about a call guy called Jean-Baptiste, and he's born in uh 18th century Paris, and everything stinks, obviously, Paris is but he's almost got like a supernatural sense of smell. Oh, right. Interesting. And he can identify thousands of scents in every single so he just needs to walk in a room, smell, and you you you wouldn't be able to smell anything, but he would be able to smell the wood and know what was in that wood, even the varnish and that so it's like he can literally smell to everything that is intricate now, but what he ends up becoming is a perfumer. Oh, yeah, makes sense, and he makes perfumes.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

But what he ends up doing, he basically he becomes obsessed with capturing the essence of beauty through smell.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

And and that obsession evolves into something very dark. Oh it is very, very good basically situation.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, what he wants well, he wants to Is it a romance or dark romance? No.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Oh no, he wants to create the ultimate fragrance. Right. Um but I'm not gonna say what that ultimate fragrance will do.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

And but but the the themes within it, it's it's about obsession and genius, identity and humanity, the power of sensory experience, isolation as well, mixed with alienation. But what is really good about that book, or I say from the very first paragraph, the entire first page is him walking down a street, smelling one thing and explaining what he can smell.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Oh damn.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So the imagery within that was the way he. Describes the smells and the fragrances. It was like, wow, this is really good. Yeah. Really, really good. And yeah, as I said, why why it's famous is the book is known for making smell feel vivid through language, which is extremely difficult in literature.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

It really that's why perfume advocacy is so weird. Yeah. Because you can't sell a smell.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah. And it says here, it says, um, readers often remember the atmosphere more than the plot itself. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I bet they do. I bet they do.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

It's it's very good. It's it's very poetic, grotesque, and very unsettling.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

It's very good. Yes. It's just called. Well, this won't this might give it away a little bit because in the title, but it says Perfume. That's the number of the book. Perfume, the story of a murderer.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Ah, I see.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

That's the name of the book. And it is brilliant. I've read it, I've read it a couple of times, but but it's right, purely just for the language and the way it's written.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah. Very, very good.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Damn. Ready for my next one?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, yeah, go for it. Go for it.

Maximum Ride And Young Adult Escape

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Super. So this one is probably the one you have guessed. This is the young adult series by James Patterson.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

It's a fast-paced sci-fi adventure called Maximum Ride.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Maximum Ride.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

It's basically about these genetically engineered children that can fly. And essentially, it's their coming of age, I guess, and them kind of uh trying to survive being genetically modified.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Basically, what heroes should have been.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah, yeah, kinda, yeah, yeah, yeah. It it was a massive this this series was definitely ignited my love for reading as a child. I don't think I was really that much into reading until I started reading Maximum Ride.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

You used to love them because your mum when your mum used to read James Patterson books on new fan days.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Cover to cover. Like I've read I've read this series probably four or five times in entirety. And I just find it so there's a badass female character which you just didn't get at that time. Like, even I know the world is changing now, but back when I was reading the series, you didn't get many like female badass characters. Not really in in in media as much. So it was nice to read about her.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Her name was Max, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Her name was Max, yeah. Um Max Murried. And then she had Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Angel, Nudge. Nudge was my favourite character. Oh, remember Nudge Nudge was Nudge was so sassy. I loved her. She was my favourite character ever. Fang was kind of the love interest, and then there was Ari, which was like, uh no, that ruins the plot. Um then there's there's a guy called Ari as well, who's kind of uh a werewolf type situation, I guess. He's yeah, there's like some scientist man that they were like, oh, father, and then he kind of wasn't father.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Stranger things, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:43

He is a little stranger things, yeah. It's a little stranger things, but yeah, it's an awesome series. Uh great for your young, young adult.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Um it's good for the young.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

It is good for the young. It's it was a really good book, especially fem like young girls. I was gonna say that it's a really good book for young girls. But if you don't have young girls and you have young boys, he also has another series called Daniel X, which was also awesome, which the lead character was a male.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Haven't they turned that into a series on Amazon?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Have they? I feel like I need to see it if that's true.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Um Daniel X. No, no, it's Alex something I'm thinking about. Oh, yeah, um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

I know exactly who you mean. Alex Ryder?

SPEAKER_00 25:19

That's it. Yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

No, Daniel X. Did James Patterson write that? No.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Didn't he?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

No, different, different author. Okay. But yeah, this is this is ignited my it ignited my passion for reading and ignited my passion for writing as well. Like I really, it I just wanted to be in this world, and I remember writing little subplot stories for this when I was little, like writing kind of like uh if it like the what if, if that didn't happen, then my story was like canon, if you know what I mean. Like, you know, what were kind of fanfiction, essentially fanfiction, that's exactly what it was. I mean, it started in originally with Harry Potter, I say probably the the writing side of fanfiction, but Maxim Wright was one of the first books. I was like, you can have a female-led character and she can be badass? What? Um, so yeah, just an amazing character, uh, amazing series. Uh, most of it, I think towards the end, was ghost written, though. Um, you can kind of tell, but um the um the first uh original trilogy of that is uh amazing. The first book's called The Angel Experiment, then it schools out, um, and then it's Saving World and other extreme sports. And then Final Warning, which was the fourth book, was just some random like climate change book. And then they get better again. There's one called Max, one called Fang, one called Angel. Um, yeah, it's just uh just an incredible series.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

I remember you reading them.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

I remember asking for the books for for like Christmas and birthdays, like if when it would come out again. Or uh I remember having most of the paperbacks, and then unfortunately I had two hardbacks. I was so annoyed because none of them all fit together. I know that's a really silly thing, petty thing to get annoyed about, but yeah. Um I was I wanted to read them so quickly that the paperbacks weren't available yet. It was just the hardbacks. Yeah, incredible series that I absolutely love. Ignited a passion in me that's never really left. So thanks, James Patterson. Uh appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Appreciate you. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Appreciate you.

A Clockwork Orange And Forced Morality

SPEAKER_00 27:09

My next book, again, uh I've got I've just realised my books are all quite dark.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

They are quite dark.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

This one is probably Mine are like empowering female leg. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

We've got we've got an episode. I'm gonna I'm gonna cut this one down um quite considerably because the next episode that we're gonna record is on banned things. Okay. Oh well, it might have actually come out before this one. I don't know which one. No, no, no, we'll do we'll do banned things afterwards because otherwise it will be banned things.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Do you mean as in like things that have been banned before?

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Things that have been banned and why they've been banned.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I thought you meant banned things like musical banned things.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

No, no, no, why things have been banned. And this particular book was banned, and it was on the other list.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Clockwork Orange?

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

You're so predictable, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, I know, but it's such a good book.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

I've never read it.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

It's such a good book. I mean, it's about a guy called Alex who leads a group called the Drugs. Drogs. The Drugs, and they go off and do ultraviolence. And they I'll I'll say why it was banned in the other podcast episode. But basically, he gets arrested after quite a brutal scene. I mean, this scene is I'm not even gonna say what the scene is, it's brutal in both the book and also in the film. And he gets arrested, and then they do these experiments on him. The government does. And it's yeah, I'm not gonna say too much about it, but what I like about it, what I like about the book, it does raise questions about free will versus forced morality and violence and youth culture, government overreach. It asks that question as well. The relationship between art and morality, but just human nature in general, and what makes people human. But the the the best thing, the thing that I really love about the book, it's written in a weird language, it's written in a mixture of almost like Russian and English. Okay, and when you start reading it, you're like Rushlish. Well, they call it NadSA. They call it NadSA in the book. Now you start reading it and you're like four pages in, and you probably have to read the first four pages again, but then suddenly it clicks. And then you're like, I know what it's saying.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

It's such a clever book. It's like he's created his own language, it's written in the language, but he doesn't tell you how to read it.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

But you work it out for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Oh damn.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

And then when you suddenly start reading it, you're just reading it like you're just reading full-on English.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

It is so clever, but it does create this weird effect in that it distances you from the violence.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

So you are looking at it through like a lens. Through like a lens, yeah. Yeah, it's it's weird. But it also, the other thing it does, it pulls you into their mindset. Damn. And how they think. It is quite funny. Um in in in in places. It's got humorous spots. It's got, yeah, I mean, when like when he's like it's little things like he calls eggs eggy weggies. And I is yeah, is that and it's so it's like these little comic bits in there. But the way that the eggy weggies is written helps you decipher how another word is written.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

So that's how it's how it's really, really clever. It is, it's very philosoph philosophical as well. Right. It is very philosophical. But yeah, I naturally Clockwork Orange. Brilliant book. Guy called Anthony Burgess wrote it.

unknown 30:24

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Next, there you are.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Your next one.

The Odyssey And Relentless Survival

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Uh, my fourth one, um, would be no surprise to anyone that knows me. Um, I chose The Odyssey by Homer. Really? I went for a classic, yep. Nice. So one of the most influential epics ever written. That's that's an undisputable fact. Yeah. The Odyssey follows the long and perilous journey of Decius. This man is just trying to get back home from war. I know. And he just he's he's Fred. Every bad thing just keeps happening to him. And um, I was thinking the other day we should play Fred on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Oh, 100% we should play Fred. Yeah, we haven't done that in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Um, but anyway, um, yeah, so uh basically the the way we we get the term an odyssey. So if we were if if we were saying, oh god, I've got a long journey head, oh it's like an odyssey, this is where that that phrase comes from. Yeah, along the way he faces. Can you just pass my phone?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

I just want to it's in the lounge. It's in the oh okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

It's it's got monsters and gods and temptation, and it's got a bit of sex in it, and it's got a bit of this, and it's got a bit of that, it's got like everything in it. It's just an epic novel. Like there is there is nothing, there is nothing that's not in it, I feel. It's just got a little bit of everything, twists and turns. It is it is a journey. It's it the whole book is from start to finish a journey of him just trying to get home to his wife, essentially. Um, and uh, if you're really into Greek mythology, it's well up there. Um, you get to read about the Cyclopses and Circe and all of those amazing characters that a lot of this Game of Thrones stuff is is based off of, loads of other things, and um, yeah, the only thing is the film is not that great. That is one thing I will say about about The Odyssey is that they they paint Hermes in a really camp.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Which version though? Which version are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

So they've just they've just now making the a new film called The Odyssey. They're just and it's got Matt Damon in it.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Oh, has it?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Yeah, so but it's done by I think it's done by Christopher Nolan, so it should be quite good. But the reason why I asked for my phone is because um, and I couldn't remember the name of the film. There is a film, and I've just googled it and just found out what it was. There's a film with George Clooney in called Oh Brother Wear Out Though.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

And it's set in the deep south of America about three men who escape from it got you know stripey train gang prison.

unknown 32:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

And basically, it's George Clooney is that part. And it's all based on the Odyssey, and all the things that happen in the Odyssey happen in that about the banshee and all of that. But it's done in like an America, so the characters aren't. It's called Oh Brother, where art though? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

You probably like that then.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

It's it's really funny, it's really good, and it is based on the Odyssey.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah, I mean, yeah, this guy is literally just trying to get back from war and and just it just meets just just along this journey. There isn't any part that you think this guy is might die. Yeah. Every single chapter, this he's gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

No, he's still carrying on. Like it's just he's he's he's resilient and he's I think it's a good like ode to life, isn't it? Like we get thrown a lot of shit our way in our lives, and you still survive it. I think this is what this is all about.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

In O Brother World Art though, there's a there's a line that George Clooney says pretty much nearly every time he's one of those situations, because we're in a tight spot.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Yeah, it's brilliant. That's how I feel reading the reading the Odyssey. I was like, oh, how are they gonna get out of this one? Yeah, it's it's a great book. If you're if you're struggling on a journey yourself, it's a good book to read about struggles. And I think I mean it brings in a lot of Greek mythology, but a lot of Greek mythology is based on psychology of the brain and how that works. So it's it all all of all of the Greek gods are a part of part of the psyche, a part of the brain. You've got love, you've got war, you've got um, can't think of any others right now.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Love and war, yin and yang.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Um, yeah, you've got the god of the earth, and you've got the god of fertility and recreation and forging and creating, and uh yeah, it's yeah, it's it's it's a very good book. And uh it's it's it's it's a tough read, I would say. I wouldn't bother with the Iliad. The Iliad just feels like to me like a list of boats. That's all I read that and I'm just like, this is a list of boats. I just don't, I just I just don't know how to read the Iliad, but but the Odyssey is really good. It is though, right? I'm not like I'm not trying to be a uh I mean the Odyssey, when was that even written? Do we even know?

SPEAKER_00 34:52

While you're doing that, I'll go on to my next book while you're googling that.

Dracula And The Vampire Rulebook

SPEAKER_00 34:55

But my name I'll I will go Dracula. So Dracula was written by Dram uh Dram was written by Bram Stoker. Go on.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Eighth century BC. Eighth century BC. It's old as fk.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

That's another pound in the swear jar.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

But yes, Dracula, written by Bramstoker. It's it sorry it is arguably the most influent influential vampire Narvel ever written. It is uh it's back guy called Jonathan Harker. He goes to Transylvania to help some guy called Count Dracula purchase some property in England. Oh in Whitby. And he just wants to own some property. He slowly realizes that Dracula is not human. And then a group led by Professor Van Helsing.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Exactly. And there's with Mina Harker, Lucy Westerner, and all of those. I love Van Helsing. But it's such a really good book because of what you said earlier. It's written through diary entries and letters.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Do you remember what the word was?

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Uh endoscopy.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Definitely not. No, what was it?

SPEAKER_00 36:08

There you go. See, I knew it was close. But it's it's got, you know, it's got themes of sexual repression and temptation, religion versus evil, science versus superstition, immortality, corruption. Um, and it shaped the modern vampire myth of what we think of vampires with the capes, the fangs, the castles, hypnotism, fear of sunlight, garlic, crucifixes going across the threshold. Basically, nearly every single vampire story owes a debt to Dracula in some way. It's yeah, it's just very, very good. And have you seen, but what the thing that gets me is when they do when you think of Dracula, you think this blood-sucking vampire medallion cape, all of that. But when you actually read the book, it's quite a tragic tale of uh why Count Dracula is like he is. And there is a new film, a new Dracula film that's just come out, which is very good.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Very good, and it's got Christoph Waltz playing Van Helsing. Oh, and yeah, it's it's it's out. I think it's called Dracula, a love story. I think something like that. But it's it's really good.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I remember it being a love story.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Really, really good. Yeah. Because he basically he sees I'm I'm not gonna say. I'm not gonna say.

unknown 37:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

My last book?

SPEAKER_00 37:23

Your last book. Go with your last book.

The Reason And Finding Joy After Loss

SPEAKER_01 37:26

I I owe my book club for this book. Okay. It's not a book that I would read, as you've probably told I've been or uh as you've probably gathered from my four other selections. I'm a I'm a fantasy reader, I love fantasy and romanticity, but um this one was um more of a modern tale uh about a lady who essentially her husband died, and it's basically her getting over her grief of that. Um so her husband died like two years prior to when the book is set, and it's about her like bringing joy into her life and her daughter's life again after his death.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

It was called The Reason, it's by uh Catherine Bonetto.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

And just one Bernetto.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Uh yeah, it's it's one of those books that I read, and I was like, oh, what a lovely book. It was just a feel-good book, it made me cry, it made me laugh out loud. There is this particular scene where they have to get this pet bird from a from a pet store. It's so, so funny. And as I said, it made me cry. And the kind of the choices that she makes to make her daughter happy, given that she like her daughter's being bullied as well, and she kind of lost her dad two years ago. Like, her daughter's not having a very good time at school. She's kind of got this best friend that she's being sort of pulled apart from because of of this school that she's going to, and and her the grandparents play a massive role in the in the whole story as well, and their support. They live on a farm and they've got all these bloody animals, and and they keep bringing these animals in, and it's just it's just really it just feels like I'm reading a family's life, like someone's chaotic family's life.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

And it was just so heartwarming, and and it just made me feel everything like this. It just felt like I was reading life. So very similar to the Odyssey, I guess, but just not in a fantasy setting, in a real life world setting. Um, it was a great book, really lovely well written. It didn't take me very long to get through. Um, the book club said that they preferred the audiobook. I personally preferred um reading it, but I had a really good time reading that book, and I'm um it was Vic's suggestion as well of the book club. So um, so yeah, uh shout out to Vic. She's had a lot of shout-outs on this podcast. But um, yeah, so it's The Reason by Catherine Benetto, and it was uh yeah, it was great. I've really enjoyed it. I've really, really enjoyed it. Just such a lovely, feel-good book that I'll probably pick up and read again. Yeah, that's that's my last book.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

That's the last book. Excellent.

American Psycho And Empty Identity

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Well, I was gonna choose The Hobbit as my last book.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Ugh, predictable.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

I know, but I thought, but as while I was in here and talked about the Kinla, I'm not gonna go The Hobbit, and I'm gonna do this one off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

American Psycho.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Oh Brett Ellis Eston. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

What a book.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

What a film.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

What a film. And you yes, you've now seen the film, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 40:12

I have indeed, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah. You've I mean, I I was then gonna ask you what you think about the ending, as in what do you think was going on?

SPEAKER_01 40:22

I haven't got the flying foggiest to what the heck's going on. I don't know if that happened or didn't happen. That's it. And and it and it or didn't it? And it pisses me off that I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Was it all in his head?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah, I have no idea. I hope so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

I hope so. But the whole idea that when you look at the the the point of that book is that there's no identity.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

No.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

The he was, you know, was he a psycho running around New York killing people? And, you know, when people when the people went missing who were in the same but they didn't know who was who. No. Because they're all the same, they're just carbon copies. Carbon copies, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

It's like the corporate world in a book.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Oh, it really slags off the corporate world.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

It really does. And it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

I mean, when they're all arguing, there's that section where they're arguing about their business cards.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

You know, and the fact that one's the colour bone white and you know, because the sign is slightly raised and the type of paper that they use, because it's one-upmanship.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

I mean, it's it's for those of you who don't know, it's it's um it's about the world of say yuppies.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Yeah, yeah, it's about the Wharf of Wall Street.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

Yeah, that and how they kind of scum of the yeah, scum of the corporate world, I would say, if I can say that. And how they kind of all interact with each other and how they try and get one up on each other, but no one actually knows what they really do for a job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just like playing the stock market and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

It's so vague that you're like, they need to understand what they do for a job. No, because that's the point. Yeah, yeah, it's just vague nonsense.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

And it's such a good book, but that is, I mean, that's a bit of a spoiler, but at the end of the book, and even at the end of the film, you're like, was it in his head? Did he really kill those people? Was he insane?

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Or a desk full of paper that means nothing at all. That's like, that's exactly what that film is.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah. It's mad. It is. The book is I mean, I haven't read the book, I'm only going by the film, but yeah, I I read the book and then I read it again.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

Because I wanted to see if I'd missed something in the book.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Did he do it?

SPEAKER_00 42:20

To see if there was some indication in there to see whether or not he actually did it or not.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

It's when I think in the film for me, it's when they go back in the apartment and then it's like fine. Like there's no one in the cupboard or anything. Like, there's oh I'm giving away spoilers, aren't they?

SPEAKER_00 42:33

But like there's like Yeah, but remember, he wears the raincoat and he does the puts the plastic down.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Yeah. But then there's no but they but he hit her in the cupboard at the end. Yeah. And then when she opened the cupboard, it was like bare, and it was like, oh.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

Yeah, because even he looked confused. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Weird, man. Yeah, it's such a good It's either that or it's fantasy. Like he that's his fantasy, that's what he wants to do, but doesn't act upon it.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

That was my guess.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

Yeah, because they were all looking for Jared Leto's character in the film.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

I can't remember his name, but because he goes missing. But then he but then his name isn't his name because it turns up as someone else. Yeah, exactly. Because again, he's a carbon copy of so-and-so.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, that's what I mean. I it's it's it's it's almost like we saw what he wanted to do. Like that was his fantasy of what he thought his life could be.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

I know we're mixing between the film and the book now. Yeah, sorry, yeah, yeah. Uh, but um Christian Bale played that part so.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Oh, yeah, yeah, it was so good. So well. If you don't want to read the book, I highly recommend the film. It was genuinely very, very good.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Yeah, because I took because you I think you messaged me, didn't you? You said I finally watched America's life.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Yeah, I finally got round to it. Um yeah, it was mad. Yeah, it was mad.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

But yeah, that was the first book I ever read on a Kindle.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Oh, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

I can't remember where we went. Me and your mum went on holiday somewhere together, and that was the first time I took a New Jersey? No, it wasn't New Jersey, it was somewhere warm.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Well, New Jersey's warm, but where's the place where you went to the volcano?

SPEAKER_00 43:55

Tenerife.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Tenerife.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Tenerife. It wasn't there. Oh before then. Could have been Greece, actually, could have been when we went. To crease. Really? Yeah, or Crete. Could have been great.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

When I was 13.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Damn. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Could have been could have been crate. But there you go.

Final Thoughts And Where To Listen

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Okay. Well, we hope you enjoyed this episode of us gushing about our favourite books. Um, if you'd like to watch any of our other previous podcast episodes, you can. We're on YouTube, we're on Spotify.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

Shall we just create an outro, Hannah?

SPEAKER_01 44:20

We do have an outro.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

I know, but like an outro before the outro.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

I think people like it. They like to see me fumble.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Do you know what I don't like?

SPEAKER_01 44:29

What's that?

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Um, so if you've um liked listening to our um podcast, because I have to cut it all out.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Cue the outro. Thanks for joining us on bonus dad, bonus daughter. Don't forget to follow us on all our socials and share the podcast with someone who'd love it. We are available on all streaming platforms. See you next time. Bye-bye.