The Bookshelf Live - Live Show Guest Revealed!
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What are the highlights from the Bookshelf Live show?
We're in the door one minute, we're already laughing like fools. Well, come on, welcome all. Has anyone mentioned the weather today? That's the end of that conversation. All right, we're here till, I'm not sure when, till stupid o'clock. But either way, we're here for a little while to talk to you about whatever. Well, I put up a little thing on Instagram earlier on saying we're going to talk about the following things. Can't really remember what it was, but suffice to say, we are happy to be here. Are we not, lads? Today, I'm going to talk about a few different things, including three books that have kind of unreliable childlike narrators. I just love these books. I'll tell you about that in a second.
The RT Guide. Well, no. Also, the Assembly TV show, which will be on on Monday, which I will be a guest on, which I'll tell you about. Getting the ferry to and from Holyhead with a five-hour drive on either side. Good luck with that. Yeah, worst point of Guinness I've ever seen. Thank you, Oxford. You're grand for the spires, brutal for the Guinness. The Bookshelf Live, sold out within an hour in the Pavilion Theatre in Dublin. Well done. Thanks, everybody. Should we take it on the road? That's the next question. Tom's saying, please don't. We're saying we're... Don't leave the studio. This thing can travel. It may mean pints, though, as well, Tom. So, yeah, are we in?
Which books are recommended in this episode?
We'll get you out some cowpaw and you'll be in bed by 10. Okay. We'll talk about the book, The Correspondent. That became quite controversial during the week after I said that it failed my bookshop test, which I read two paragraphs and said, I'm gone. A lot of people said, thank God you told everyone the obvious. And a lot of people said, you're wrong. We'll come to that. I want to talk to you about a thing called Shanakija. Have you heard of Shanakija? Oh, it's brilliant. Okay, that's another conversation. So that is good. Hello from Hamburg. Well, indeed, hello from Hamburg. How nice to have you here. Welcome in. Because, actually, let's start with Hamburg. I just finished this book called Berlin Shuffle. I know it's not Hamburg, but this is a fascinating little book based in Weimar, Germany.
My youngest daughter was talking to me about Weimar, Germany, so I was reading up on it. And this book was written by a guy... who was born in 1915 and died in 1943. A fascinating story. Left Germany for Oslo, studied in Paris, ended up during the war, he was settled in England, he was interned, and then was shipped to Australia, and decided I'd come back to England, got on a boat in 1943, torpedoed by a German submarine, died. 27 years old. He wrote two books. Here's one of them, Berlin Shuffle. It's all about men, mostly, and women, down on their luck, as so many were in Berlin during the war, between the wars. What I found so interesting, apart from the fact it's kind of like Beckett-y, sort of, without being too heavy going, it was, you got a sense of why Germany got so angry.
Why did they get so angry and fall maybe under the spell of one of the worst creatures to ever inhabit the earth?
What is the significance of the book 'Berlin Shuffle'?
And the poverty and the cruelty of the time, it really feeds into that. There's a film called The White Ribbon. I don't know if you've ever seen that. It's black and white. It's a new film. Well, 20 years old, but it's black and white. And that also explains why the descent into madness. Anyway, Berlin Shuffle is my recommendation of the week. It's published by Pushkin, which is a pretty niche publishing company, but they publish good stuff. Hello from Switzerland. They're here. They're from Switzerland. The chocolate. I was in Switzerland a few times and I loved it. Who else is saying? Vic is saying, take the show on the road. Where do you want us to come? Do you want us to take the show? Will you come and join us?
Just to say to you that what the show is going to look like is we're going to take questions from the floor for our guests. Will I tell them who our guest is? I'll do it in a few minutes.
Oh, you're awful.
We'll do it in a second. He's brilliant.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the highlights from the Bookshelf Live show?
0:03–1:22
2
Which books are recommended in this episode?
1:22–3:00
3
What is the significance of the book 'Berlin Shuffle'?
3:00–4:01
4
How does the author describe the impact of poverty in 'Berlin Shuffle'?
4:01–5:54
5
What linguistic pet peeves does the host discuss?
5:54–8:04
6
Who will be the special guest at the upcoming live show?
8:04–9:04
7
What is the concept behind Shanakija storytelling nights?
9:04–10:25
8
What are the audience's reactions to the discussed books?
10:25–37:55