Books On The Go

Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, including Flashlight, The Correspondent and Audition.  Some of the other long-listed books feature writers as characters, which gets us talking about turn-offs in novels.
 
Our book of the week is DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes. This is the final book by the Booker Prize-winning author. It is a novel about a couple who reunite later in life, with authobiographical elements from Barnes' own life, or it could be a memoir containing a short story.  There is also Proust, philosophy and some observations on memory. Described as 'elegant' (The Times) and 'unmistakably Barnes' (Observer), it got us thinking:
 
Where is the line between memoir and novel?
Is DEPARTURE(S) a love story?
Are the memory bits too Oliver Sacksy?
 
Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood.
 
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Substack: Books On The Go
 
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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week 2026 amid the controversy after the Adelaide Festival Board disinvited Palestinian-Australian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fatteh.  Among the authors who withdrew from Writers' Week was Richard Flanagan, who wrote this article (sorry for the paywall).  Director Louise Adler resigned with this letter to the Guardian. Since we recorded this episode, the new Board has retracted the decision and apologised to Dr Abdel-Fatteh.
 
In other book news, Random House has dropped David Walliams, as discussed on this episode of The Rest is Entertainment podcast.
 
Our book of the week is THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden, a debut novel set in 1960s Netherlands which was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the 2025 Women's Prize.
 
Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood.
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Substack: Books On The Go
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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

It's our best books of the year episode!
 
Anna, Amanda and Annie reveal our favourite reads of 2025:
 
Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
The Time of the Child by Niall Williams
The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink translated by Charlotte Collins
A Guardian and a Thief by Megan Majhumdar
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie (and audio book)
Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor (and substack Sweater Weather)
Heart the Lover by Lily King
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Substack: Books On The Go
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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss their reaction to the 2025 Booker Prize winner, FLESH by David Szalay, and the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, Australian author Helen Garner for her collection of diaries HOW TO END A STORY.
 
Our book of the week is CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Her follow-up novel after the Booker-shortlisted Mars Room, this centres on Sadie Smith, an undercover agent who infiltrates a commune in rural France. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. 
 
This raised questions we weren't expecting from a literary novel, such as:
Is it a spy thriller?
Is Sadie enough of a slob to be compared with Jackson Lamb?
Which Sesame Street character does Bruno remind us of?
 
Coming up:
NESTING by Roisin O'Donnell
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Substack: Books On The Go
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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss their Booker Prize winner predictions. We haven't read enough of the shortlist to know who will win, but Geoff is tipping THE LAND IN WINTER (a DNF for Anna).
 
Our book of the week is FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi. This is Choi's follow-up novel after winning the National Book Award for TRUST EXERCISE. It is a sweeping family saga set in America, Japan and Korea.  Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, we could not say we loved this one but it got us talking.
 
How much cat litter detail is too much?  Would Tobias really have gone to Japan or would he be trekking around Nepal? Could we read a whole novel of Serk? How many unlikeable characters in a novel is too many?  And we revisit 'that year' when Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo won jointly.
 
Coming up: CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner.
 
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Instagram: @abailliekaras
Email: [email protected]
Substack: Books On The Go
 
Credits
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz