Booktails Podcast

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

International Women’s Day 3: Rachel’s Recommendation
Imagine you’ve been raised imprisoned in an underground bunker for as long as you can remember with 39 older women who aren’t allowed to touch you. Imagine you’ve been given the bare minimum and never told where you are or why. Now imagine you suddenly have the chance to escape- to discover the outside world for the very first time. Things are bound to get better right? RIGHT?!
Join Serena and Rachel to sip another bright blue cocktail and dive into Jacqueline Harpman’s seminal masterpiece. We will discuss the relevance of the characters’ femininity, our theories on the world and events of the book and whether it’s the most depressing read of all time… it’ll be fun we swear! 

The Power by Naomi Alderman

International Women’s Day 2: Serena’s Recommendation
The day of the girls is here… ⚡️If you’ve ever wished you had Palpatine level zapping powers to use on men who told you you’d be prettier if you smiled, then this one is for you. And with this power comes the strangely intoxicating smell of bitter oranges and in this case, the Mother Eve cocktail! 🍊
Join us to get tipsy and discuss electric eel abilities, gendered etymology and the sadly continuing oppression of woman in much of the world today. ⚧️ It’s a big one! 
“We’re only pretending everything is normal because we don’t know what else to do.” 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

International Women’s Day 1
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book podcast in possession of an International Women’s Day theme must be in want of Pride and Prejudice.
It is the classic romance, classic strong female heroine, the classic novel in every sense! Whether you’ve read it twenty times or you thought about watching the Keira Knightley adaptation once, this is for you.
Join Serena and Rachel as they delve into what makes this book timeless, sexy sexy names, why everyone thinks Mr Collins is a sleazy old man and how to embrace being an old spinster at 27 (take note Charlotte Lucas!) So don’t test our poor nerves, just make yourself a Pemberley Pimm’s and join us on the dance floor! 

Squeak by Vera Valentine

Interspecies Valentines 4.
It’s time to get squeaky… but not squeaky clean. Squeaky dirrrrrtyyyyy! 🎈
Join an aspiring artist who meets a balloon seller and his boyfriend and ends up falling for them both. Just one catch- they are secretly balloon animals under a spell. And the sorceress who cast it wants them back… ✨
We are channelling all the fun of the fair with our nostalgic sweetie cocktail this week 🍬so grab a strong one and discuss trauma bonding, balloon appendage and THAT ending with Serena and Rachel. Once you pop you can’t stop… 🎈

Triceratops and Bottoms by Lola Faust

Interspecies Valentines 3.
Rawr. 🦖If your innocent dinosaur-obsessed inner child is ready to be traumatised, read on. Ready? Okay. It’s Dino Smut. And yes, some would say it’s deeply disturbing. But some people are into it (apparently!). And one thing is for sure, it’s a silly, tongue-in-cheek romp through prehistory so let’s just have a laugh about it, right? Riiiiight?! 
Grab yourself a Palomasaurus (see what we did there?) and join Rachel and Serena to discuss the science of time travel and whether or not the author is really a palaeontologist as she claims. Wild! Come along and enjoy the riiiide! 🦕

Ensnared by Tiffany Roberts

Interspecies Valentines 2
Okay readers, let’s get weird 🕷️😈🔥
If you thought Ice Planet Barbarians was too strange you won’t believe what we’re talking about for our second book in our interspecies valentines series!Yup, it’s a spider romance. Kind of. We still don’t fully understand it.
Ketahn is a vrix, an alien with armoured skin, mandibles and many legs. The queen of his community has been chasing him for some time when he stumbles across Ivy asleep in a crashed spaceship and decided to take her as a pet, but- well, you know where this is going….
So if spiders are your secret kink or you just fancy a laugh, join Rachel and Serena to discuss the ethics of getting freaky with a non-human and how, whatever form they take, apparently men will always be men. *eye roll* 

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

Interspecies Valentines 1
TW: This series features non human romance and questionable consent.
Strap on your space belts because this is going to be a wild ride! Take a journey with Serena and Rachel to an icy far off planet full of VERY friendly locals! Grab a Big, Blue and Horny frozen cocktail and let’s get into it!
For the first book of our alternative interspecies romance this Valentine’s month we will be discussing the representation and treatment of women and the surprisingly complex science of the characters staying alive on an inhospitable planet. But mostly discussing alien c**ks. Because wow is there a lot to discuss. Trust us you don’t want to miss this one!

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Greek Retellings 3
This book was new to both of us and we may have made a mistake calling it a Greek retelling but we certainly didn’t make a mistake including it in the podcast!
Join Serena and Rachel as they sip our Albatross cocktail, discuss the book’s relation to the Covid 19 epidemic, the power of positive thinking, joys of isolation and try to work out what is actually going on with that ending! We will also draw our own labyrinth based on the house and try our best to find the way out (tune in to find out if we’re still lost to this day) or if we even want to be found! 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Greek Retellings 2: Serena's Recommendation 
You know the story of Achilles right? A beautiful and strong demigod, destined to be the greatest and fastest warrior anyone has ever seen, never mind that pesky ankle of his! Well, get ready to see him in a new light, and to hear his tragic love story play out before you with nothing you can do to stop it, as much as you might wish you could!
Join Serena and Rachel to explore love, loss and war, ancient LGBT histories, the confusing levels of godhood and epic centaur wingman skills. Make yourself an Ambrosia cocktail and float away to Mount Olympus with us before a classic game of 'guess whether the quote is by ancient Greek poet Sappho or Taylor Swift'. And tell us once and for all, is it Odysseus' world and we're all just living in it?

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Greek Retellings 1: Rachel's Recommendation
It's time for a new year and a whole new Booktails theme! We are starting off strong with Greek myth retellings!
First up is 'A Thousand Ships' by Natalie Haynes: a retelling of the Trojan war from the stories of the women who were front and centre! From slaves to queen's to goddesses, Haynes gives voice to them all and Serena and Rachel weigh in on why we are so obsessed with the Trojan war and play a classic game of Siblings or Lovers: Greek Gods Edition!
Speaking of goddesses, this week's cocktail  Hera's Kiss just might be one of our favourites ever! Beautiful and delicious, it is also spicy and unexpected and packs one hell of a punch!