Read This – Details, episodes & analysis

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Read This

Schwartz Media

Arts

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/8d. Total Eps: 98

Read This is a show about the books we love and the stories behind them, hosted by Michael Williams. Every Thursday, you’ll hear insightful conversations with the smartest, funniest readers and writers we know and in-depth interviews with the best Australian and international authors talking about their lives and their work. You’ll never be left wondering what to read next.

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Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
25/07/2025
#58
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
24/07/2025
#64
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
02/07/2025
#90
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
01/07/2025
#57
🇨🇦 Canada - books
01/06/2025
#54
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
31/05/2025
#87
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
25/05/2025
#79
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
24/05/2025
#97
🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
22/05/2025
#73
🇨🇦 Canada - books
20/05/2025
#92

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Score global : 53%

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Rumaan Alam on Class, Desire, and Dread

Wednesday, September 25, 2024 • Duration 32:37

Rumaan Alam is the author of four novels. He broke out in 2020 with his New York Times best-selling novel Leave the World Behind. This week Michael sits down with Rumaan for a conversation about his latest novel, Entitlement, and they discuss class, desire, and the influence of Sylvia Plath. Reading list: Rich and Pretty, Rumaan Alam, 2016 That Kind of Mother, Rumaan Alam, 2018 Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam, 2020 Entitlement, Rumaan Alam, 2024 Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Rumaan Alam

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Richard Osman Investigates

Wednesday, September 18, 2024 • Duration 33:05

Richard Osman wears many hats, from television producer to comedian to podcaster. Now, however, he’s best known as a bestselling author for his series The Thursday Murder Club. Richard’s new series is called We Solve Murders and this week, he sits down with Michael to discuss it and he reveals the piece of advice he gave to Pierce Brosnan. Reading list: The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, 2020 The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman, 2021 The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman, 2022 The Last Devil To Die, Richard Osman, 2023 We Solve Murders, Richard Osman, 2024 Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, Berg, A. Scott,1978 Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood, 2023 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Richard Osman

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Michael Robotham and His Cabana of Cruelty

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 • Duration 28:24

Michael Robotham began his career as a ghost writer, working on more than a dozen bestselling books for people like Tony Bullimore and Geri Halliwell, before he published a novel under his own name. Twenty years later, he has just released his 18th book, a new crime novel titled Storm Child. This week, the two Michaels sit down together for a conversation about crime writing, truth wizards and what’s next. Reading list: The Suspect, Michael Robotham, 2004 Life or Death, Michael Robotham, 2014 Good Girl, Bad Girl, Michael Robotham, 2019 When She Was Good, Michael Robotham, 2020 Storm Child, Michael Robotham, 2024 Stalking the Feature Story, William Ruehlmann, 1977 For Life, Ailsa Piper, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Michael Robotham

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Dylin Hardcastle Has Found Their Own Voice

Wednesday, July 17, 2024 • Duration 31:07

Dylin Hardcastle has been publishing their writing since they were 21, having now completed a memoir, a book of YA fiction and two novels. In their latest work, Dylin takes the reader back to 1972, and across three decades, explores the parallel lives of two women, shaped by their contrasting experiences of desire. This week, Michael sits down with Dylin Hardcastle for a wide-ranging conversation about this new novel, A Language of Limbs. Reading list: A Language of Limbs, Dylin Hardcastle, 2024 Below Deck, Sophie Hardcastle, 2020 Breathing Underwater, Sophie Hardcastle, 2016 Running Like China, Sophie Hardcastle, 2015 In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado, 2019 Voice of the Fish: A Lyric Essay, Lars Horn, 2022 The List, Yomi Adegoke, 2023 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Dylin Hardcastle

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We Visited Gerald Murnane at the Goroke Golf Course

Wednesday, July 10, 2024 • Duration 38:00

Gerald Murnane doesn’t have readers, he has acolytes. The New Yorker described him as “the reclusive giant of Australian letters”. He’s written 10 novels, several collections of short stories and essays, and a memoir about horse racing. Together these books represent one of the most formidable and singular bodies of work in literature. This week, Michael drives out to the Goroke golf course to chat with Gerald on his home turf. Reading list: Tamarisk Row, Gerald Murnane, 1974 A Lifetime on Clouds, Gerald Murnane, 1976 The Plains, Gerald Murnane, 1982 Inland, Gerald Murnane, 1988 Emerald Blue, Gerald Murnane, 1995 Barley Patch, Gerald Murnane, 2009 A History of Books, Gerald Murnane, 2012 A Million Windows, Gerald Murnane, 2014 Something for the Pain: A Memoir of the Turf, Gerald Murnane, 2015 Border Districts, Gerald Murnane, 2017 A Season on Earth, Gerald Murnane, 2019 Last Letter to a Reader, Gerald Murnane, 2021 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Articles on Gerald Murnane Is the Next Nobel Laureate in Literature Tending Bar in a Dusty Australian Town? An Idiot in the Greek Sense The Reclusive Giant of Australian Letters Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Gerald Murnane

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Michael Ondaatje Is Learning Everything Again

Wednesday, July 3, 2024 • Duration 30:54

Sri Lankan-born Canadian essayist, poet, and Booker Prize-winning novelist Michael Ondaatje has just released a stunning collection of poems. Ondaatje is now 80 years old and it’s almost half a century since he published his first novel; even longer since he first published poetry. This week, Michael joins Read This for a conversation about A Year of Last Things and why writing remains such a joyful act of discovery. Reading list: Coming Through Slaughter, Michael Ondaatje, 1976 In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje, 1986 The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems, Michael Ondaatje, 1989 The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje, 1992 Handwriting, Michael Ondaatje, 1998 Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje, 2000 Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje, 2007 The Cat's Table, Michael Ondaatje, 2011 Warlight, Michael Ondaatje, 2018 A Year of Last Things, Michael Ondaatje, 2024 The Collected Poems of W. S. Merwin, 2013 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Michael Ondaatje

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Paul Murray and the Beautiful Opera of Life

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 • Duration 33:28

Paul Murray’s last two novels, Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void, were both modern masterpieces of institutional failure. In his 2023 Booker Prize shortlisted novel, The Bee Sting, the failing institution Paul turns his comedic eye to is the family. This week, Michael and Paul sit down for a discussion about fraudulence, empathy, and the beautiful opera of life. Reading list: An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Paul Murray, 2003 Skippy Dies, Paul Murray, 2010 The Mark and the Void, Paul Murray, 2015 The Bee Sting, Paul Murray, 2023 Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein, 2023 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Paul Murray

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Don’t Call Paul Lynch’s Book a Political Novel

Wednesday, June 19, 2024 • Duration 37:18

For many years, Irish writer Paul Lynch was a household name…in France. And while his work was popular in translation, and received numerous French literary awards, it was still considered niche. This all changed in 2023, following the release of Prophet Song, which was critically lauded and eventually won the holy grail of English language literary awards: the Booker Prize. This week we return to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival to hear a conversation between Michael and Paul about how Paul became a writer, and why he doesn’t think Prophet Song is a political novel. Reading list: Red Sky in Morning, Paul Lynch, 2013 The Black Snow, Paul Lynch, 2014 Grace, Paul Lynch, 2017 Beyond the Sea, Paul Lynch, 2020 Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, 2023 The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope, 1894 King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard, 1885 The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy, 1886 The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Paul Lynch.

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Leslie Jamison’s Search History

Wednesday, June 12, 2024 • Duration 32:23

Leslie Jamison is celebrated for her ability to link the personal to the cultural to the critical in ways that resonate and move and connect with readers. She first did it with The Empathy Exams – an essay, then a best-selling, award-winning collection. Now she is back with a new book, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage. This week, Michael sits down with Leslie to discuss this latest work and what it means to be many things – a teacher, an artist, a lover and a mother. Reading list: The Gin Closet, Leslie Jamison, 2010 The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison, 2014 The Recovering, Leslie Jamison, 2018 Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, Leslie Jamison, 2024 Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick, 1979 Fragile Creatures, Khin Myint, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Leslie Jamison

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What Is Wrong with Viet Thanh Nguyen?

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 • Duration 31:41

In 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Now, nearly a decade later, the book has been adapted into an HBO miniseries of the same name. This week, Michael sits down with Viet for a conversation about his latest book, A Man with Two Faces, which expands beyond the familiar beats of memoir, and features the author’s trademark interest in the broader political and colonial implications of the personal. Reading list: The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2014 The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021 A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2023 Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965 Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth,1968 Quarterly Essay: Highway to Hell, Joëlle Gergis, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen

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Read This – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Read This – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify