French provocateur Michel Houellebecq + Olga Tokarczuk's health resort horror

Novels from France, Poland and India – with politics, sanatoriums, automata and horror in the mix too. Kate and Cassie read French writer (and provocateur) Michel Houellebecq’s Annihilation (but can they get to the end of the book? There’s the question); while Polish reader and publicist Anna O’Grady joins them to discuss Nobel Prize winning writer Olga Tokarczuk’s The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story; and academic, novelist and memoirist Kári Gislason joins them to review Tania James’ Loot. BOOKS Michel Houellebecq, Annihilation, Picador Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, Text Tania James, Loot, Harvill Secker GUESTS Anna O’Grady, Publicity Director, Simon & Schuster. Born in Poland, both her parents and grandparents were connected with the Polish publishing industry Kári Gislason, Professor in Creative Writing & Literary Studies, Queensland University of Technology. His books include The Promise of Iceland, the novel The Sorrow Stone and Saga Land (co-authored with Richard Fidler). His latest is the memoir Running with Pirates OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Samantha Harvey, Orbital Carys Davis, Clear Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Rey Debra Dank, We Come With This Place Tegan Bennett Daylight, The Details Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals Karl Over Knausgaard, My Struggle series Anna Jacobson, How to Knit a Human CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Harvey O'Sullivan + Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf · Australian Broadcasting Corporation