Some of you may know that for a short period of time I hosted a podcast with the novelist Bobby Palmer, called Book Chat. The rule was that we could only talk about books that were more than 2 years old, which led to a lot of re-reading (Wuthering Heights, All That Man Is, Bridget Jones) and tackling of titans we’d never quite got round to (Jennifer Egan, Armistead Maupin, Annie Proulx, etc.) To break from the cycle of what was new and hyped felt so good. It’s like my reading brain got a refresh.
As our newborns grew older, Bobby and I found we could no longer dedicate ourselves to reading and dissecting 2 specific books a month in our spare time and so we’ve migrated the convo to Books+Bits in ad hoc form - we’re aiming for a chat every couple of months, about one book. This is the first time I’ve ever recorded without a producer and it took me 2 years - yes 2 hours - to figure out how to cut one single bit of the WAV file out. Quite proud of myself for finally getting there.
Today’s episode is on one of my all-time faves - the definitive rom-com - One Day. With the new Netflix series out and a ton of people discovering this contemporary classic for the very first time, we thought now was a good time to re-read (4th time for me, I think) and read (Bobby’s first.) We discuss the book, the reception, the series and - controversy klaxon - THE MOVIE.
The first episode in our new home is free, partly so you can have a taster/ mainly because I can’t work out how to paywall it yet. I hope you enjoy! And it… works.
Book Chat with Bobby: One Day by David Nicholls