The crew discuss the Scottish Island queer fiction novel which is one of the most popular books of the year, John of John by Douglas Stuart, published by Picador.

Some listeners from the bookclub share their thoughts on the book too, everyone seems to love it!

Were expectations too high for this book?

We're reading the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist ahead of the winner announcement.

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

⁠Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub⁠

⁠Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub⁠

⁠Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com⁠

⁠Aaron @AaronRiceMedia⁠

⁠Lucy @bookz2026⁠

⁠Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah⁠

⁠Colin @c_f_writes⁠

Lucy, Colin & Aaron discuss otherworldly sci-fi novel The End of Everything by M. John Harrison, published by Serpent's Tail..

And we hear the thoughts of some members of the bookclub.

The crew is pretty divided over this one, what did you think of the book?

We’re reading the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist ahead of the winner announcement.

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

⁠Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub⁠

⁠Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub⁠

⁠Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com⁠

⁠Aaron @AaronRiceMedia⁠

⁠Lucy @bookz2026⁠

⁠Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah⁠

⁠Colin @c_f_writes⁠

The Booker prize 2026 Shortlist has been announced!

Aaron, Lucy & Colin share their reactions to the books & decide on a reading schedule.

The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

John of John by Douglas Stuart

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Black Bag by Luke Kennard

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

The Disapperers by Marlon James

We aim to upload a new episode every Friday, or so, until the winner is announced Monday,November 9th.

Read along and share your thoughts on each book!

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

⁠Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub⁠

⁠Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub⁠

⁠Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com⁠

⁠Aaron @AaronRiceMedia⁠

⁠Lucy @bookz2026⁠

⁠Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah⁠

⁠Colin @c_f_writes⁠

Bookies' Favourite are co-judging the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2027, alongside writers Saraid de Silva & Ben Pester.

Acting as one judge on the literary prize's panel of three judges we'll work together to longlist, shortlist and find a winner from all nominated books from small presses across the UK &Ireland.

We previously covered some of the books selected for the 2026 prize, including the joint winners; Ghost Driver by Nell Osborne and Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden.

In this episode we hear some of this years' winners, writer Nell Osborne and Hugh Nicholson from Moist Books behind Ghost Driver, as well as Michael Curran from Tangerine Press which brought you Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group.

Follow along with us on our journey as an official literary prize judge.

We'll next be covering the Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist.

Follow our guests & the Prize

@republicofconsciousness
@nellosborne

@coolmoistbooks

@tangerine_press

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub

Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub

Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Aaron @AaronRiceMedia

Lucy @bookz2026

Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah

Colin @c_f_writes

We've share our thoughts on this year's long listed books.

Aaron keeps his streaky having predicted a book which made it onto the list - everyone else has failed yet again to live up to his standard, but the group choice of John of John did make it onto the list.

The bookies describe each of the novels to each other and end with a Covergirl segment in which they judge the book covers.

We'll be covering the shortlist of 6 books, but we have

some surprise special episodes on the way beforehand.

Share your thoughts on the long list!

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub

Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub

Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Aaron @AaronRiceMedia

Lucy @bookz2026

Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah

Colin @c_f_writes

Welcome back to our 5th series, we're jumping into the Booker Prize 2026. In this episode we predict the Bookers dozen ahead of the announcement.

Aaron, Hannah, Lucy & Colin pick 3 books eligible for the award, and combine them with the most popular choice, John of John by Douglas Stewart. They also share what other eligible books they've read.

The bookies catch up with each other following the International Booker Prize 2026 winner announcement & talk about what they've been reading & listening to since.

Stay tuned this week for our reaction to the longlist when it's announced. We'll be diving into the entire shortlist on the podcast in a few weeks.

Also, the podcast has an exciting announcement episode coming soon with some big news... what could it be?

Which books do you hope make it to the long list?

Will Aaron keep up his prediction streak?

Which books have you read from the bookies' predictions?

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub

Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub

Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Aaron @AaronRiceMedia

Lucy @bookz2026

Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah

Colin @c_f_writes

The book club looks back on all 6 books from the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist, share their rankings, predict a winner & discuss the bookies' odds.

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub

Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub

Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Aaron @AaronRiceMedia

Lucy @bookz2026

Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah

Colin @c_f_writes

The book club dives into their final read from the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist.

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from the German by Ross Benjamin and published by Riverrun.

💬 Share your thoughts with the book club

Instagram @bookiesfavouritebookclub

Goodreads @The Bookies' Favourite Bookclub

Email bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Aaron @AaronRiceMedia

Lucy @bookz2026

Hannah @certifiedbookyapperhannah

Colin @c_f_writes