Mamamia Book Club

Book Club is back! Each month our new host, Mamamia writer Billi FitzSimons, will be joined by two Mamamia writers to discuss the books you can’t put down right now.

Dropping into your feed in 2021 with a bonus ep from Mamamia Out Loud.

After a year many of us struggled to find the energy and attention span for a lot of reading, Holly, Jessie and Mia are here with the page-turners you won't be able to put down in 2021...

From big hits to an old classic, and even one from our very own, here is your definitive list of book recommendations to read this summer, into the rest of 2021 and beyond.

THE END BITS
Books mentioned:

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld 

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

I Give My Marriage a Year by Holly Wainwright 

Below Deck by Sophie Hardcastle 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell 

Phosphorescence by Julia Baird

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Hey! We're just popping into your feed to share an awesome episode of Lady Startup Stories with you - the podcast where Mia Freedman interviews female founders about the highs and lows of running their own business.

This episode features Sally Hepworth. Sally is an author, a mother, a wife, and the primary breadwinner for her family.

From the outside, Sally’s business is successful. Amy Poehler has even optioned the rights to turn one of her books into a TV show. 

But last year, Sally was told that the book she was writing wasn’t good enough, which meant she had no income for a year. 

So she had to adapt and this is how she did it. 

It was Gloria Steinem who said, “The truth will set you free… but first it will piss you off.”

Now, 62 years since she wrote her first book, ‘The Thousand Indias’, Steinem has published a book of her most iconic quotes.

“Without leaps of imagination” she once wrote, “or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”

And then there was, “Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.”

Now 85, Steinem is the author of eight books, and best known as one of the most effective and admired spokespeople of the American feminist movement. 

So, what is she currently pissed off about? And has the world actually changed that much since feminism challenged everything?

Remember, this is a Book Club, so we're assuming if you're listening you've read the book.  That means there will be spoilers, so if you haven't read it, grab a copy, get reading and join us after you've turned the last page.  We'll be right here waiting for you!

Ask a woman to name her favourite book of all time, and many, without skipping a beat, will tell you it’s The Bronze Horseman. 

Often referred to as one of the greatest love stories of all time, The Bronze Horseman is set in Leningrad, upon the backdrop of World War II. As Hitler’s armies encroach on the Russian city, Tatiana, nearly 17, meets, Alexander, and their relationship begins to develop. 

When Paullina Simons was writing the novel, she prayed that someone else would feel just half of what she felt while writing it. No doubt, they did.

Selling more than 400,000 copies in Australia alone, Simons’ book, and the subsequent series, have become a cult classic. 

So where did the idea for The Bronze Horseman come from? And is Tatiana based on anyone specifically? And, as corny as it sounds, how do you write a book that finds its way into the hearts of people all over the world? 

Remember, this is a Book Club, so we're assuming if you're listening you've read the book.  That means there will be spoilers, so if you haven't read it, grab a copy, get reading and join us after you've turned the last page.  We'll be right here waiting for you!