Tsundoku

Tsundoku

Welcome to Tsundoku – the podcast for addicted readers. Tsundoku is the Japanese word for that pile of books by your bed – the ones you fully intend to read – sometime! If you can’t resist a good story, are endlessly curious about new books and love nothing better than discussing an old favourite – this is the podcast for you. In Tsundoku we’ll talk to the authors of the moment, we’ll pull out the ‘hits and memories’ from years past and chat them back into life, and we’ll talk to readers from all walks of life about how they acquired their reading passion, their all time favourites … and what books they have waiting in their Tsundoku.

Episodes

March 27, 2025 44 mins

Sarah is joined by Candice Fox who reflects how her “scrappy” upbringing in Bankstown and her Dad’s work in the local prison informed her crime writing. It still makes her a magnet for people willing to share their dark and strange story ideas.
+
Annie takes you to the launch of “Splinter”, a new literary journal, to meet its editor, Farrin Foster. In the tradition of such journals Splinter will ...

Mark as Played

Cath and Sarah delight in sharing what they loved about Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey’s short novel, “Orbital”

+

Cath then settles into a cosy chat to author Melanie Cheng. She’s created a delicate and wise novella in which a family’s grief is articulated and haltingly addressed with the adoption of a pet rabbit.

+

Michaela enjoys revisiting Margaret Atwood’s enigmatic classic “Alias ...

Mark as Played

Catherine McKinnon’s tense but tender tale, “To Sing of War”, immerses the reader in the lives of three characters strung across the globe during the dying days of World War II …as the days tick towards the detonation of the first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima.

+

Poet Ken Bolton makes a good case for why British writer Beryl Bainbridge should not be forgotten.

+

ABC Broadcaster and poet Mike Ladd shares what&...

Mark as Played

Michaela talks to one of her favourite writers, Robbie Arnott, about “Dusk”; a beautiful and beguiling tale of siblings, so down on their luck they embark on an impossible quest to slay a puma in the Tasmanian highlands and claim a life-changing bounty.

Sarah chats to stand-out millennial Hannah Ferguson about her second book, “Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships”

...

Mark as Played

Markus Zusak uses words like “challenging” and “ complex” to describe his three dogs, Reuben, Archie and Frosty. In this interview Zusak recounts the joy of remembering his hounds in all their unvarnished glory for this, his first memoir. Also, the challenge of recording his own audio books, the old favourites he likes to read and re-read “forensically”, and which of his favourite books piqued Archie’s literary tastebuds!

+

Our bel...

Mark as Played

Sean Williams, author of 5 million words, is famous for his hugely successful forays into the worlds of Star Wars, Dr Who, the Marvel Universe, but did you know he also writes ghost stories for young readers? ”Honour Among Ghosts” and “Her Perilous Mansion” are exciting, mysterious, witty and clever reads, officially for 8-12 year olds, but really for anyone who enjoys a rollicking adventure.

+

Read more

Mark as Played
October 1, 2024 40 mins

As Mills and Boon Australia celebrates 50 years of taking readers on journeys of love and lust, Annie speaks with Barbara Hannay about her latest novel, "The Wife's Secret", and Michaela discusses medical romance with Amy Andrews, author of "The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride". 

 

Guests :

Barbara Hannay, author of "The Wife’s Secret"

Amy Andrews, author of "The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride" and co-founder of the "How to Write ...

Mark as Played

 Amy Stewart paints a powerful portrait of the human passion for plants in “The Tree Collectors” with fifty different tales of people who, for one fascinating reason or another, devote their life to trees. The book is illustrated with Amy’s vibrant watercolours of the trees and their idiosyncratic owners.

Compared in his heyday to Brett Whitely, painter, printmaker, teacher, writer and ornithologist Don Binney (1940–2012) was an ar...

Mark as Played

A story that is difficult to pin down to a narrative, playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer’s debut novel explores arrivals and departures, time and space, through the experiences of a curious cast of characters. 

+

Annie Warburton explores why we read the works of old writers, dissecting the work of Nancy Mitford in the context of her era and the happenings in the world around her. 

 

G...

Mark as Played

Cath carries this episode with two great chats; the first with author Sophie Cunningham and the other with self-professed “book snob”, Ron Hoenig.

=

Ostensibly a novel about Alice, a woman who’s spent the last 20 years writing the biography of Virginia Woolf’s husband, Leonard, “This Devastating Fever” is an insightful, moving and witty tale of what it’s like to live through a time that feels like the end of days, and how we can fi...

Mark as Played

Peeling back the veneer of the New York art scene, Bri Lee takes readers into the background world that fuels the industry. ‘The Work’ follows the lives of two protagonists from vastly different backgrounds: gallery owner, Lally, and antiquities dealer, Patrick, as they each follow a path to success, but at what cost? 

+

Victoria Purman takes readers back to the golden years of radio broadcast...

Mark as Played

When a car veers off the road with devastating consequences, the small wheatbelt town of Garringarup is left reeling, but no one's worlds are more shattered than those of Hannah and Freya, the partners of the passengers. On a day when wedding bells should have been ringing, their lives are torn apart by the web of lies the accident has exposed.

Think Jodi Picoult meets Liane Moriarty and you have an idea of the fast-paced, page tur...

Mark as Played

The outwardly comfortable life of mother and wife, Winona Dalloway, has dark currents running beneath. "Thunderhead" is her interior monologue as she navigates the everyday acts of collecting the children from school, shopping and preparing for a dinner party when in fact she is a woman in peril. A homage to Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs Dalloway", "Thunderhead" is a reminder of the terror that can lurk unseen in the lives of others.

+

Bet...

Mark as Played

In a move away from investigative journalism and her previous deep diving non-fiction
titles, Louise Milligan delves into crime fiction with debut novel, Pheasants Nest.
It tells the story of Kate Delaney, a journalist who finds herself bound and gagged and
being driven somewhere by a strange man. As someone haunted by the crimes she has
had to report on, Kate knows her chances of survival are slight.

Guest:
Louise M...

Mark as Played

Miles Franklin Award winner, Shankari Chandran takes Cath to Cinnamon Gardens, an aged care home established by Tamil refugees and now run by their daughter. It’s run with love and dignity and has become an oasis for its culturally diverse residents…but the tensions of past wars and the prejudices of present day Australia which have long remained at a simmer ultimately boil over.

+

Associate Professor Lisa Bennett shares her passio...

Mark as Played

Poetry seems a solitary pursuit but not for well known Australian poets Peter Bakowski and Ken Bolton - they recently released two new collections ‘On Luck Street’ and ‘Waldo’s Game’ in which they have collaborated from afar, co-telling stories using a ’call and respond’ writing technique.

And former ABC Radio National broadcaster Mike Ladd has made a career as a poet and also helped put poetry on the map with the long running radi...

Mark as Played

Molly Schmidt’s "Salt River Road" is a searing account of grief and redemption set in the big sky/small town landscape of south-west WA.

Racism, poverty and politics are part of life in country Western Australia in the 1970’s. Yet, for the Tetley family all that matters is they have lost their beloved mother Elena. They're falling apart and are in danger of losing the farm that is their livelihood.

Through the eyes of teenag...

Mark as Played

Celia appears to have it all and her life is running like clockwork - and so it should because she has it planned down to the very last minute - but then along comes a challenge that could be her undoing! Celia is thrust into a process equal parts amusing and heartbreaking as she shakily charts a new path.

+

From falling for the boy next door to romancing a minotaur - occupational therapist turned  successful romance novelist Davin...

Mark as Played

Cath has admired the work of Paddy O’Reilly for some time but with her shortlisting for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, “Other Houses” looks sure to win O’Reilly many new admirers. It’s a tale of class, aspiration and the boundaries we will cross for love.

+

Michaela has an Anne of Green Gables doll that her mother bought on a pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island in the ‘80s. She asks Associate Professors Lisa Bennett and Kylie ...

Mark as Played

Sarah Smith has been successfully writing for popular TV shows such as “McLeod’s Daughters”, “All Saints” and “Love Child” for years. Now, she’s turned her hand to fiction creating a clever and quirky murder mystery set in the Los Angeles fast lane and narrated by a young, vibrant (albeit dead) woman, hellbent on finding her killer.

+

Mireille Vignol is a renowned literary translator who has taken the work of Australian greats such...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

    Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

    The Bobby Bones Show

    Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.