Sentimental Garbage

In this very special episode, comedian Alexandra Haddow joins us ahead of the live tour to talk about what she wants to dig out of the Sentimental Garbage can. Catch us on tour together with https://www.fane.co.uk/sentimental-garbage

LIVE TOUR DATES:

LONDON: 02 JUN 2024 - HACKNEY EMPIRE

BRIGHTON: 07 JUN 2024 - BRIGHTON DOME CORN EXCHANGE

SALFORD: 15 JUN 2024 - THE LOWRY, SALFORD QUAYS

GLASGOW: 16 JUN 2024 - THE OLD FRUITMARKET, GLASGOW

BRISTOL: 20 JUN 2024 - ST GEORGE'S BRISTOL

TICKETS HERE: https://www.fane.co.uk/sentimental-garbage

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Hello! This podcast was recorded courtesy of FANE in January 2024 with Dolly Alderton at the Bloomsbury Theatre. Want to come on tour with us? We're playing:

LONDON: 02 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - HACKNEY EMPIRE

BRIGHTON: 07 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - BRIGHTON DOME

SALFORD: 15 Jun 2024 - 20:00 - THE LOWRY, SALFORD QUAYS

GLASGOW: 16 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - OLD FRUITMARKET, GLASGOW

BRISTOL: 20 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - ST. GEORGE'S BRISTOL

TICKETS HERE: https://fane.co.uk/sentimental-garbage

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Bring the Kleenex lads, this is an emotional one.

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Blackhead squeezing, earwax removing, blood, guts, fluids. We're talking about how an exponentially growing beauty industry has also created a Yucky industry, where we watch Dr Pimple Popper before bed and Naked Attraction before we go to sleep in hotel rooms. Nicola Dinan joins us to talk about "yuckycore" and where it came from.

TW: everything gross

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Yes, we all watched the documentary, but WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? Caroline and Dolly take a deep dive into the rich, thick, expensive fabric that is Robbie Williams' pop career. And yes, we do talk about Swing When You're Winning.

Playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gx0XURxXE8RtEJXlVPdId?si=1e54995d032d4526

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It's been the Roman Empire for all tween girls for over 100 years, so for this year we investigate: what is it about the Anastasia myth that we just can't let go of? Caroline and Ella attempt to examine the real story versus the many false ones that grew around it, touching on Anna Anderson, the Romanovs, the emergence of new media in 1918 vs now, the 1956 movie starring Ingrid Bergman and the 1997 Don Bluth cartoon.

This is not a history podcast and we don't use a script so please bear in mind that we play fast and loose with dates and places. If you want a more thorough and historically accurate enquiry into this story, we recommend:

The C Word on Anna Anderson https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anna-anderson-aka-anastasia-romanov/id1567724444?i=1000580210342

You're Wrong About on Anastasia https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/anastasia/id1380008439?i=1000476500473

...or if you just want a detailed love-in about the cartoon, Caroline has done one on the Juvenalia podcast! https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/104-anastasia-with-caroline-odonoghue/id1096401730?i=1000483680225

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Everyone's favourite public transport-cum-coma romance that is, somehow, also a Christmas movie. Sam Sedgman joins us to talk about his enduring love of both Sandra Bullock and trains in general.

Sam Sedgman is a children's author whose next book The Clockwork Conspiracy is out Feb 2024.

Join the Sentimental Garbage mailing list for priority ticket access here: https://sentimentalgarbage.substack.com/

https://www.fane.co.uk/sentimental-garbage

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Our Sweet Valley sweetie Jess Pan returns with the rom-com that changed the definition of what a rom-com could be. My Best Friend's Wedding gave us an anti-hero worth rooting for, a 'Gay Best Friend' that goes above and beyond the usual clichés, and an early Paul Giamatti role that makes you sit up and say "Is that Paul Giamatti?"

Jess Pan is the author of I'm Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come and also the substack It'll Be Fun, They Said https://jesspan.substack.com/

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You paid a whole dollar for that? Richard Makin joins us to talk about the queer touchstone and eternal sleepover movie Romy & Michele's High School Reunion. In his words "this movie is to me what Pretty Woman is to them". We discuss high school, bullies, our inner Heather Moonys, the Simpsons DNA that runs through this movie and how Lisa Kudrow will inherit the earth.

Richard Makin is a cook and the author of Anything You Can Cook I Can Cook Vegan

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You either know everything about Caroline Calloway, or nothing at all. This episode is for everyone in the first category. Author Diana Reid comes into the studio to get balls deep in mid 2010s influencer culture, the politics of young friendship, digital media trends of yesteryear and the first person essay economy that reigned over our lives for so long. We try to use the Caroline Calloway/Natalie Beech story as a Rosetta Stone for our own lives, and the result is a pretty fabulous conversation

Diana Reid is the author of Love & Virtue as well as Seeing Other People

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We're coming back off break to offer our opinions on the most formative Sentimental Garbage there is, Barbie. Caroline and Jen talk about their early memories of Barb, Greta Gerwig's new movie, the hunk-to-hero trajectory and the ascendancy of Ryan Silly Gooseling.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is available everywhere now. Jen Cownie's Wild Card: Let The Tarot Tell Your Story is everywhere too.

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Hey everyone! Caroline's been on tour with The Rachel Incident so the Straight Up girls have kindly agreed to allow their podcast to feature on the Sentimental Garbage feed. It's a really fun episode where we talk about all kinds of pop culture, including Sex and the City, Fleishman is in Trouble, Brooke Shields, and much more. This is the final episode of Sentimental Garbage for this season, please enjoy the break and your summer!

Straight Up is the weekly podcast hosted by journalists Kathleen and Ellie that debriefs on all the juiciest happenings in celebrity and pop culture. They have guests on twice a month, which other than me have included Sean Paul, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Akon, Pandora Sykes, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Aitch… and they always record over cocktails! Their episode this week is all about Barbie’s insane marketing plan, chaotic celebrity divorces, Idris Elba's new thriller series and The Idol finale.

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An ancient, deathless vampire attempts to woo a young woman. And also, we talk about about Twilight.

Maisie Peters album, The Good Witch, is out now! Caroline O'Donoghue's book The Rachel Incident is out now also

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*SPOILERS FROM 48 MINS ONWARDS*

Friend of the pod Dolly Alderton returns to interview me about The Rachel Incident, the latest novel from Caroline O'Donoghue (me)

Order The Rachel Incident:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clare-Caroline-ODonoghue/dp/0349013551/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LAN076BK3XQ&keywords=the+rachel+incident+caroline+o%27donoghue&qid=1687367028&sprefix=the+rache%2Caps%2C477&sr=8-1

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-rachel-incident/caroline-odonoghue/9780349013558

https://store.virago.co.uk/products/the-rachel-incident

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It's been a big week to be a Taylor Swift fan, so we're back for a second go of Midnights with Jen Cownie. We talk the bonus extras, the great ironies of “The Great War”, the Blake Lively fan fiction on “Bigger than the Whole Sky”, real Paris vs American Paris, and much much more. Also: what exactly DID happen to Caroline's Instagram? Apologies about the sound quality, the ever evolving narrative around Taylor meant we had to record this episode in a tin box.

SENTIMENTAL GARBAGE LIVE(London) with Dolly Alderton: waterstones.com/events/sentimental-garbage-with-dolly-alderton-and-caroline-odonoghue-at-waterstones-piccadilly/london-piccadilly

SENTIMENTAL GARBAGE LIVE (Dublin) with Sophie White: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/caroline-odonoghues-sentimental-garbage-podcast-live-dublin-event-tickets-646891288257?aff=ebdssbcategorybrowse

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Filmmaker and author Emma Forrest on her lifelong relationship with Cher. We talk noses, outsiders, plastic surgery, Mermaids, Moonstruck, I Got You Babe, the Sonny years and much much more. This is a really good one.

Emma Forrest's new book, Busy Being Free, is available everywhere now.

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Gaming used to be for everybody, like Lego. But somewhere around the early noughties gaming became extremely gendered, with first person war shooters dominating mainstream gaming and “girl” games arrived. We talk The Sims, Harvest Moon, Pokemon, Stardew Valley, tv and movie franchise games, horse riding games, a little bit of Zelda, and a little bit of Skyrim. We also discuss Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and finish with recommendations for new gamers. Recs include:

Wandersong

Chicory

A Short Hike

Cult of the Lamb

Boyfriend Dungeon

Going Under 

Wychwood

What Remains of Edith Finch

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Otegha Uwagba is finally on the podcast and we're having a far-reaching and slightly rogue conversation about girlboss feminism, being a bad bitch, the aftermath of MeToo and how we complain. We also cover Elizabeth Holmes, Nicki Minaj and the girlboss bitches of pop culture. Baroness Von Schrader: we salute you.

Otegha Uwagba is the author of several books, including We Need To Talk About Money, Whites and Little Black Book.

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of many novels, including the forthcoming The Rachel Incident

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Food writer Laura Goodman joins us this week to talk about the modern phenomenon of snacking and the breakdown of the three-meal day. This is sentimental garbage's first foray into food culture so we end up covering a lot: from rental snacks, to pantry shops to the modern phenomenon of small plates. We also cover cookies and the general consensus that restaurants are worse than they've ever been.

Laura Goodman is the author of Carbs and The Joy of Snacks

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We're carrying on from last week's deep dive into the Gilmore Girls with chats about Jess, Luke, Max Medina and our mystery number one slot. We also discuss Melissa McCarthy's charming but strangely uncompelling storylines, the quiet tragedy of Lane Kim and whether one or both Gilmore Girls suffer from IBS.

Thanks for joining us for this super fun series! Find Jof Owen at Legends of Country and The Boy Least Likely To. Caroline O'Donoghue is a novelist whose next adult novel, The Rachel Incident, is available for pre-order everywhere.

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It's the first of our two-part special on Gilmore Girls! Today we discuss: did Dean storm the capital? Is Christopher a serial people pleaser? Could we correctly term Richard and Emily as 'very a play'? Also class transition, where exactly in WeTransfer that Rory works, and what kind of podcast guest Lorelai Gilmore might be.

Jof Owen is a musician who produces music under The Boy Least Likely To and Legends of Country.

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Get ready for an incredibly fun and slightly fork-obsessed discussion about Chicago and the process of writing musicals in general. We talk about room songs, corridor songs, The Little Mermaid, and the perfection that is every single shot of this incredible movie. Are you a Cell Block Tango girl or a They Both Reached For the Gun kinda girl? Natasha Hodgson is one of the writer/performers behind Operation Mincemeat, which is on the West End from March 29th. She is also the creator of the BBC comedy podcast The Sink and a writer for TV shows like The Amazing World of Gumball and Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.

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Monica Heisey was an unusually young divorcée and a writer of unusually famous sitcoms when she began writing her iconic break-up novel Really Good, Actually, and we're here to talk about both. Why will Jennifer Aniston always be the heartbreak queen, despite Adele and Taylor Swift vying for the title? Do friend break-ups hurt worst of all? And did Caroline learn all her emotional cues from Frasier?

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From earliest childhood, girls are taught to obsess over weddings as the one thing in common we'll ever have with a Disney princess. We talk about women and weddings, the cult of the Chill Bride, and whether wedding cynicism has gone too far. It's a real mish-mash today: we talk Friends, Abigail Again, Emma Bunton, Father of the Bride, Maid Marian, Richard Curtis and much more.

Lauren Bravo is the author of How To Break Up with Fast Fashion and the forthcoming novel Pre-Loved.

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Whether you're a die-hard Jo fan or an Amy apologist, there's no way to be a woman alive in the 21st century without having an opinion on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. We get into it, discussing all three major film adaptations, plus the now canon March Sisters at Christmas. We also discuss the female expectation of auto fiction, the limits of writing around a dead loved one, and the Cool Girl-ification of Jo March.

Works cited:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/08/29/the-real-tragedy-of-beth-march/

https://twitter.com/peytonology/status/1516802190849060865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1516802190849060865%7Ctwgr%5Ec5f4ce8c8c9ef490cce2f3571045f3adfc33c674%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intomore.com%2Fa-queer-love-letter%2Flouisa-may-alcott-trans%2F

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Jen Cownie returns for a tarot-infused culture ramble where we cover tiny dogs, long nails and blue jeans. Also Joe Alwyn and Margaret Atwood get a shout out. If you're hitting Cheltenham Literature Festival this weekend, come find us!

Caroline's dates:

8 October: Live Sentimental Garbage with Alexandra Haddow at the Daffodil Restaurant (9.30)

8 October: Live Wild Garbage with Jen Cownie at Boston Tea Party (18.30)

9 October: The Sunday Papers with Marcus Brigstocke (12.15)

9 October: Literature's Worst Agony Aunt (16:30)

Jen's dates:

8 October: tarot talk at Waterstones (17:00)

8 October: Live Wild Garbage with Jen Cownie at Boston Tea Party (18.30)

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Author and essayist Sloane Crosley shares her pre-teen love of Enya in the final episode of the season! We talk about music, conflicting nationalities, Zadie Smith's phone, and secret places. Sloane is the author of several books including her latest novel, Cult Classic.

This is the final episode for a few months, so in the meantime, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep an eye out for my books. For adults, Promising Young Women and Scenes of a Graphic Nature. For younger readers: All Our Hidden Gifts, The Gifts that Bind Us, and the forthcoming Every Gift A Curse

Bye for now!

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Is Kate Moss the fit version of Forrest Gump? We track the career of Kate in a handful of photos, picked by lifelong fan and comedian Alex Haddow. We discuss the fall of the 80s supermodel, the famous shoot for The Face, her era-defining romance with Pete Doherty, her friendship with basically everyone famous ever, and a brief emotional moment about the royal wedding.

Catch Alexandra Haddow at Edinburgh this year with her show Woman in Progress at the Southsider theatre https://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/2022/alexandra-haddow/

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It's time to go back to an era where you hung around a shopping centre all day with no money for no reason! We talk about Avril Lavigne's impact on millennial women, the allure of being "one of the boys", the Girlfriend era, the question of authenticity and Avril's eventual life with the Backstreet Boys.

Annie Lord's first book, Notes on Heartbreak, is out now.

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This week we attempt to cover the entire career of Anne Rice and quickly realise that it's impossible, so this conversation takes some of the most enjoyable twist and turns of the season. Caroline and Siobhán discuss vampires, witches, magic in Ireland, trans rights, women who take up TOO much space, Paul McCartney for some reason, sleeping beauty, and much much more.

Siobhán McSweeney is the star of Derry Girls, Holding and the is the host of the Great Pottery Throw Down. She is more famous than Fiona Shaw

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The bad boy of BBC iPlayer Connor Finch comes on to talk about one of his foremost musical heroes, Lily Allen. We talk about Lily's place in pop culture, her treatment by the British press, what a "London" sound is, the nepotism problem in the arts, and much much more. We don't talk about every single song on Connor's list in detail but the full list is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2IKpqKPTNJCXFrv0bbClCF?si=ec606c16a49f4286

Connor Finch plays "Street" in Everything I Know About Love, which was created by some chick we've never heard of. Catch every episode on BBC iPlayer now

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The host of Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV joins us to talk about this quintessentially 21st century art form. Can we talk about reality TV as a monolith? What's worth keeping, and what's worth throwing away? And was I the only person to watch Celebrity SAS?

Pandora Sykes is the host of Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV, as well as Pieces of Britney and The Missing.

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Costume dramas are the most dominant way that ordinary people engage with history, so why are we so frequently snobby about them? Dr Emma Southon gives a historian's perspective about the usefulness of costume drama, as well as the pure pleasure of just looking at nice fabrics. We talk Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, The Lion in Winter, I Claudius, Vanity Fair and even make a pretty good case for A Knight's Tale over Gladiator.

Dr Emma Southon is the co-host of History is Sexy and the author of A Fatal Thing Happened on The Way to the Forum, and Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore.

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Jen Cownie is back on to celebrate our 100th episode with a boozy tarot round up of all the things that need Sentimental Garbage tarot readings: when will men embrace pyjamas? Why does it feel so good to cry in public? And when will prosecco liberate herself from its Basic Bitch prison?

Jen Cownie is the co-author of Wild Card: Let The Tarot Tell Your Story, and it's available from all good book shops.

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Punk rock prom queens assemble, today we're talking about the criminally over-looked and under-loved Josie & The Pussycats. Why was this movies so misunderstood, and why do so many critics refuse to believe that women can do sarcasm? We talk about the amazing soundtrack (RIP Adam Schlesinger), the even more amazing fashion (RIP transfer tattoos) and Alan Cumming (RIP my boner)

Andrea Cleary is a music journalist and the host of the My Favourite Album podcast.

Our Josie & The Pussycats guitar pop playlist can be found here! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1oRXAgaLAtSASt8UpzS3Q2?si=37491a0b065044df

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Do influencers make fame feel less special? Influencers distort our ideas of where wealth and fame should come from, and often provoke our hate-follows in the process. We discuss the power of influence and its humble beginnings in the blogging world, the metamorphosis into big business and a curated lifestyle, the exhaustion of the influencer life, and why influencers are so often destroyed by the followers who created them. What happens to them when their influence dies down? Is it better to bow out early, or hang on until the bitter end? And most confusingly of all: are we influencers?

Louise O'Neill is the best-selling author of Idol, Asking for It and After the Silence.

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Journalist Grace Medford joins us to talk about the endlessly entertaining dress-up box that was the noughties Charlie's Angels reboot. We discuss the giddy fun of this movie, the power of the Diaz/Barrymore/Liu trio, why a "woke" version was never required and a surprise TED talk on the Pussycat Dolls.

Grace Medford is a journalist and the author of the substack oneofthosefaces.substack.com.

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Before Self Esteem was selling out venues as a solo artist, she was Rebecca Taylor of Slow Club, a band who helped bring British twee to its apex in the 2010s. We talk about glockenspiels made out of Shloer, making cakes for the audience, the backlash against twee, the obsession with babytalk and the way bad men could use tweeness to hide in plain sight.

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Usually on the podcast I speak to people about the culture they love that has been unfairly dismissed, but I’m also interested in talking to the artists who created that work. This week we're starting an "indie twee" investigation. This is the movement that brought us tote bags, and ukuleles, and arguably, adult colouring books; it brought us the Juno soundtrack, and Zooey Deschanel, and dressing like a 1950s secretary, but despite how massive indie twee was, there’s actually not that much about it from the people who were actually there.  

So for the next two episodes I’m going to be investigating tweeness in all its forms, talking to two creators: the first is Jof Owen, from The Boy Least Likely To, and the second is Rebecca Taylor aka Self Esteem. This episode with Jof is just as lovely as his three-legged Sindy horse

Playlist for this week's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IyixEh4KNRZgMm2ylfmWy?si=98553ba847b949b0

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We're joined by journalist and long-time Swiftie Marisa Bate to talk about why the most decorated artist of her generation is also one of the most polarising. We cover All Too Well, the Squad era, Taylor's obscene productivity, her endless fascination with love and her talent for imagery and storytelling that continue to captivate us.

Marisa's list of Taylor songs here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2gzz992oNTEMFxichq4Ktb?si=7a7c3bca60d14082

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Guardian host and producer Leah Green is in the garbage vault this week with 2000's dance classic Save the Last Dance, a movie that has since become famous for having... sort of shitty dances? We talk about music video culture, Step Up, and the ensemble cast of Save the Last Dance that made it a covertly revolutionary movie. We also discuss whether "problematic" discourse has finally run its course, Kerry Washington's magnetic performance and whether we actually want Twitter movies.

Leah Green produces and presents podcasts and videos for the Guardian. You can find her @leahsg88’

Caroline O'Donoghue is an author of several books, including Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature and All Our Hidden Gifts. Find her @czaronline

This podcast was produced and edited by Caroline O'Donoghue, with music and mix by Harry Harris

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We're limping towards the finish line of an uneven first season, talking about what we would have done differently, whether Carrie can even be called the main character of this show anymore, and pitch our new TV show, Steve & The City.

The three AJLT eps will be spread across April, and then the normal Sentimental Garbage season will resume in May. Like you, we’ve been so distressed and heartbroken to see what has been happening in Ukraine, and so we’ve have both decided to donate all the proceeds from April to British Ukrainian aid. If you would like to donate yourself, the link is: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ukraine-aid-help-now

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It's part two of our And Just Like That recap, and we're talking about Charlotte's horrible dinner party, the terrible music choices, our blind adoration of Seema, That Jackie and the emotional burden of the mealy mouthed teacher.

The three AJLT eps will be spread across April, and then the normal Sentimental Garbage season will resume in May. Like you, we’ve been so distressed and heartbroken to see what has been happening in Ukraine, and so we’ve have both decided to donate all the proceeds from April to British Ukrainian aid. If you would like to donate yourself, the link is: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ukraine-aid-help-now

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Dolly Alderton is back, and we're finally getting balls deep into And Just Like That. This is the first of THREE Sentimental in the City episodes covering the reboot, and while the show was famously uneven and a bit cringe in places, we still had a great time. In this episode we cover the first three episodes, discussing Big's death, Susan Sharon and Carrie's feud, the wasted potential of Gloria and Charlotte's inexplicable robot voice.

The three AJLT eps will be spread across April, and then the normal Sentimental Garbage season will resume in May. Like you, we’ve been so distressed and heartbroken to see what has been happening in Ukraine, and so we’ve have both decided to donate all the proceeds from April to British Ukrainian aid. If you would like to donate yourself, the link is: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ukraine-aid-help-now

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Nora Ephron is a writer and filmmaker whose fame was huge in her lifetime and has only snow-balled since her death in 2012. Now that her name is on t-shirts, her novel is an established classic, and she's even the subject of fictional renderings ('sup, Good Girls Revolt), is there more to the Ephron legacy than meets the eye? Caroline and Ella pick through her personal life, victories, failings, and many many famous friendships to get to the bottom of the following question: we LOVE Nora Ephron, but do we like her?

Works referenced

Heartburn - Nora Ephron

Sister Mother Husband Dog etc - Delia Ephron

Adventures in the Screen Trade - William Goldman

I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron

On the Celibate Love Affair of Nora Ephron and Mike Nichols - Richard Cohen

Hanging Up - Delia Ephron

I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron

Ella Risbridger is the author of Midnight Chicken, Set Me On Fire and The Secret Detectives

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, and All Our Hidden Gifts

This is the last episode of the season! Merry Christmas everyone!

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Whether it's a baked potato in a M&S cafe, a Jane Norman shopping bag, or a limited-range of celebrity dresses at Topshop, there's nothing that gets our hearts racing or our wallets twitching like the high street. Fashion writer Lauren Bravo joins Caroline to talk about the nostalgia of the high street, the evolution of Christmas gift giving, the unique personalities of each shop (Warehouse is for cool girls who have long weekends in Berlin, end of) and the ever-changing world of retail.

Lauren Bravo is the author of How To Break Up With Fast Fashion, What Would The Spice Girls Do? and has a novel coming in 2023.

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When Titanic first came out, it made history for the epic scale of James Cameron's filmmaking. But like the ship itself, its reputation started to capsize. The more the movie was embraced by young women and girls, the more it was ridiculed as garbage. Caroline and author Janina Matthewson discuss the legacy of the movie, Rose as a protagonist, the camp factor of Billy Zane, what Christopher Nolan is missing by being terrified of giving his scripts a 'camp pass', why Jack needs to die, and why there will be NO DOOR CHAT on this podcast.

Janina Matthewson is the author of You Feel It Just Below The Ribs and the creator of Within the Wires. She is also the co-host of History is Sexy.

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According to best-selling author Séamas O'Reilly's family, this is not just the superior Grease film, but a classic movie on a par with Jaws and Scarface. We discuss Michelle Pfeiffer's breathtaking star turn as Stephanie Zinone, the idea of Grease as a genre of film, our hatred of squares, and a lot else.

Séamas O'Reilly is the author of Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? and the features editor of The Fence.

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"I AM big... it's the pictures that got small." Drag Race UK star Joe Black joins us to talk about the camp Billy Wilder classic that took the best of gothic literature and the best of old Hollywood to make one of the best movies of all time. We talk about the blurred lines between fact and fiction, the craziness of the monkey funeral, the fear of age within the entertainment system, the unique fascination of silent cinema, and much more.

Joe Black is a drag queen and cabaret artist based in Brighton. Check out their website for tour dates: https://www.misterjoeblack.com/

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Coin Operated Boy Tom McInnes is back and we're here to cry about Amanda Palmer.

Amanda Palmer is a singer, songwriter and performance artist who first rose to fame in the early 2000s with her band, The Dresden Dolls. After singles like Coin Operated Boy and Girl Anachronism, The Dresden Dolls became a staple of indie music and were known for their cabaret-inspired aesthetic and wild live shows. Amanda has since become a solo artist, releasing several albums under her own name and becoming one of the first major artists to use a crowd-funding model to fund her work. She has attracted many critiques over the years: both for the lyrical content of her music as well as her behaviour on social media. She is currently married to the author Neil Gaiman.

PLAYLIST OF THE SONGS WE TALK ABOUT HERE: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SgYWvoAKB8srS7sNWOCRM?si=1cbc904906774151

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If I should stay, I would only get in your way. Caroline and Irenosen Okojie get extremely giddy about The Bodyguard, arguably the best date movie of all time. We talk about the tragic history of Whitney, the power of sister relationships in art, and the psychological weight of assassinations within contemporary culture.

Irenosen is the author of several books, including the most recent Nudibranch. She is the winner of the Betty Trask award, the Caine Prize for African Writing, and was recently awarded an MBE for her services to literature.

Caroline is an author and eats trash for dinner

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It's 1997 and Bridget Jones is navigating New Labour, the sudden death of Princess Diana, and her on-again off-again relationship with the elusive Mark Darcy. Caroline and novelist Ayisha Malik discuss why Helen Fielding remains one of the greatest comic novelists of the 20th century (and yours, Mrs Townsend, are quite good too),as well as the everlasting and occasionally frustrating thick behaviour of our best mate Bridget.

Ayisha Malik is the author of several books, most recently This Green and Pleasant Land. Her next novel, The Movement, is out in 2022.

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Super Trouper Zoe Terakes has brought Mamma Mia to the garbage dump and is ready to celebrate it for the mad camp wonderland it truly is. We talk about how Mamma Mia rejects patriarchal frameworks, whether or not Sophie is in the middle of twelve steps, our love of Pierce Brosnan, and the high lesbian energy coming off Does Your Mother Know. This episode is sponsored by Nine Perfect Strangers, available on Amazon Prime Video now.

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Rebecca Taylor of Self Esteem (formerly Slow Club) talks about how Drag Race literally dragged her out of a dark post-break up depression and helped redefine her musical persona. We gush unabashedly about how this show changed our lives, admit to reading the Reddit and confess to drag queen sex dreams. There's also a preview of her new single, HOW CAN I HELP YOU, at the very end, so stay tuned!

Rebecca is @selfesteemselfesteem on everything and her new album, Prioritise Pleasure, is coming October 2021.

Caroline is @czaronline on Instagram and her books are on sale where you get books

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This is the FIRST class sleeper? Put on your visor and trapeze dress, it's time for the big bag of fun that is season five. We talk about Atlantic City, big wing woman energy, how everyone must open for a dog eventually, the continued comedic genius of Chris Noth, the FINAL act of the MacDougalls Are Coming For Supper, the dangers of falling for Jack Berger and the inspiring self-love of Harry Goldenblatt. Carrie clangs out while 'dating the city' and the fashion is disappointing but not without its charms.

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature and the forthcoming All Our Hidden Gifts

Dolly Alderton is the author of Everything I Know About Love and Ghosts

This podcast was produced by Caroline O'Donoghue, mixed by Hannah Varral, with music by Harry Harris and art by Gavin Day

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Don't you bring that cardboard baby in here! This week we're coming into Season 4 with tears, and the firm knowledge that CABS ARE BULLLSSSSH*T. We discuss the comic chops of Chris Noth, the confusing friendship of Aidan and Steve, the great When Harry Met Sally drama that never was, and we go very deep on the financial awkwardness of friendship. We praise the hugely under-sung Walker Lewis and wonder what the hell is going with Richard Wright (creature of the night)

Dolly Alderton is the author of Everything I Know About Love and Ghosts

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature and All Our Hidden Gifts

This episode was produced by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varral. Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day

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Take your seats, turn off your phones, it's time to settle in for the National Theatre's presentation of THE MCDOUGALLS ARE COMING FOR SUPPER and there will be no intermission. This week we discuss everyone's favourite members of the Scottish-American aristocracy, Aidan and the affair, and the general neglect of dogs in this season. We also discuss how and why this is Sex and the City's most problematic season – did the writers take their own status as being the Big Sex Show for granted? We rhapsodise about Bill Kelly the piss politician and the great Power Lad divide between Caroline and Dolly.

Dolly Alderton is the author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature and the forthcoming All Our Hidden Gifts

This podcast was edited by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varrall. Artwork by Gavin Day and music by Harry Harris

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It's season two and the hair is great, the clothes are even better, and Mr Big is fundamentally depressing. We argue that season two of Sex and the City is Miranda's Season as twenty episodes of sexual humiliation threatens to break her, until she's given the greatest meet-cute in the show's history. We profess our love for Steve Brady, investigate class in Britain as well as in the show, and dissect the meaning of the gold corduroy suit. We discuss why, exactly, the girls are still single and discuss the vagaries of Charlotte York's personality. Also, don't invite someone to your house unless you have food in it.

Dolly Alderton is the author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, and the forthcoming All Our Hidden Gifts

Harry Harris did the music and Gavin Day (Steve Brady) did the artwork. This podcast was produced and edited by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varral

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This week, we're kicking off our Sex and the City mini-series with our discussion of the character arcs and themes (take a drink) of season one. After a round dismissal of the pilot episode (abso-f*cking-who-cares?) we get right into the meat of The Valley of 20-Something Guys, where we re-enact the infamous taxi scene that landed the tone of the whole series, dissect the cultural practice of Carrie-bashing, and generally watch as a previously sane New York party girl loses her goddamn mind for the most boring man in the tri-state area. We round off the chat with Man of the Season (he misses the touch of a woman), Outfit of the Season (or lack thereof) and the Carrie Clanger of the Season (the prayer book drop heard around the world).

Dolly Alderton is the author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, and the forthcoming All Our Hidden Gifts

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It's the first ever Sentimental Garbage mini-series: a big basket of episodes about Sex and the City! In this mini-series, author Dolly Alderton joins me as we spend each episode discussing every season of the TV show Sex and the City for the great American novel it truly is. This is not an episode by episode analysis but a look at each season as an individual piece of work, where we discuss the themes, character journeys and lasting messages of it. We examine the big thesis topics such as: The Corsage and Saddlebag Tragedy of Series Three, The Absence of Strap-ons in Sex and The City, and Big’s Weekend Shirts: Wide-fitting sleeves to house an absent soul. Crucially: we don't know the most about Sex and the City, we just feel the most about Sex and the City.

Pour yourself a cocktail and ask yourself some huge questions about the McDougall family trust, and we’ll see you every Thursday for the next six weeks! (Plus maybe again for the movies, who knows)

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Sophfronia Scott re-imagination of Dangerous Liaisons set in the Harlem Renaissance is sexy, surprising and so entertaining that we're willing to forgive the baseball references. Author of IF I DON'T HAVE YOU Sareeta Domingo talks us through her love for a book that, despite only coming out in 2017, has already earned a cult classic status. Be prepared for moustache-twirling, hand-rubbing, god-fearing, and hot hot jazz.

Unforgivable Love is a retelling of Dangerous Liaisons set in post-war Harlem among an elite set of the wealthy African American upper classes. Among them we have Mae Marveaux, a beautiful conniving young widow whose desperate need to be loved is offset by her need to destroy other people’s lives. She is obsessed with her similarly conniving friend, Val Jackson, and the two of them decide to prey on Elizabeth Townsend, a devout married Christian, and Cecily, an innocent young virgin who has been brought from North Carolina for an arranged marriage to one of Mae’s former lovers. Over a single summer, Cecily is deflowered, Elizabeth falls for Val, and almost everyone is either pregnant or dead.

Find Sareeta Domingo here: https://twitter.com/SareetaDomingo and anywhere you buy books!

Find Caroline O'Donoghue here: https://twitter.com/Czaroline and in those same places that you buy books!

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Ciao bella! It's our second Maeve Binchy-cast of the season, with returning guest Sarah Maria Griffin. It’s the dawn of the Celtic Tiger in early nineties Ireland, and Nora O’Donoghue, or Signora, is returning home after over 20 years away. Having spent her youth in Sicily, in love with a married man, she has returned with no money, no friends and no prospects. She begins teaching italian at Mountainview school, where the beleaguered Aidan Dunne has just been passed over for the job of principal in favour of the womanising Tony O’Brien. Tony, meanwhile, is in love with Aidan’s adult daughter. The book follows every student in the evening class, subtly changing each of their destinies, and culminating with a trip to Italy at the end of the book. 

Sarah Maria Griffin is an award winning novelist and zine maker, follower her at @griffski

Caroline O'Donoghue is a novelist, her latest novel, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, is out now. All Our Hidden Gifts is available for pre-order

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Get your Kelly bag and your load-bearing beams ready, this week we're talking about Diane Johnson's Le Divorce with real-life American Girl in Paris, Fiona Zublin! Isabel Walker is a young, bored film school graduate who has decamped to Paris to help her older sister Roxy, with her second pregnancy. Upon her arrival she discovers that Roxy has just been left by her French husband, Charles-Henri for another woman. As Roxy tries to negotiate French divorce courts and her estranged husbands family, Isabel slowly ingratiates herself into Paris life, becoming the mistress to Isabel’s 70 year old uncle-in-law, Edgar. When a valuable painting belonging to the Walker family gets implicated in the divorce, both families are forced to come together to find a way out. 

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Merry Christmas everyone! Usually this time of year, you’d be in your childhood bedroom, re-reading the books that got you through primary school. This year, a lot of us can’t go home this Christmas, but there’s still every reason to revisit the books that made life better when you were nine. It might even make life better now? Caroline and occasional co-host Ella Risbridger talk about childhood reading habits, magazines, tough but beautiful Christmases, and why the Secret Garden is the greatest love triangle of all time.

We mention:

Tom's Midnight Garden

Charmed Life

Miss Happiness & Miss Flower

The Secret Garden

Back Home

the "My Story" books

The Illustrated Mum

The Suitcase Kid

The Lottie Project

Going Solo

Danny The Champion of The World

& more!

Caroline and Ella both have books for younger people coming out next year! Pick up The Secret Detectives by Ella Risbridger and All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue. See you in 2021!

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Scenes of a Graphic Nature has been out for over a month, so Caroline and Ella are talking about it! We say this is an 'all spoiler' edition, but in practice there are actually very few spoilers and a lot of discussion of grief, working together, how it feels when a book comes out, how perceptions of Ireland have changed in less than a decade, the use of music in the novel, friendship and porn. Buy the book!

https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780349009940

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WN4QNYN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

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This week we're talking about food, friendship and the cult favourite of Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. Brian Eno once said that everyone who bought The Velvet Underground's first record went on to form a band, and the same can be said of Home Cooking and people who went on to write cookbooks. We talk about recipe writing, the godlike power of food writers, our dowdy twenties, tiny flats, and the uselessness of describing someone as "the new Nora Ephron".

Caroline O'Donoghue has two books out, the most recent of which is Scenes of a Graphic Nature and is available in all book shops. Ella Risbridger is the author of Midnight Chicken and Set Me On Fire, as well as a forthcoming children's fiction series The Secret Detectives.

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CONTENT WARNING: frequent, graphic mentions of suicide

We're back after a short break with more Covid-appropriate reading material, and what's more pandemic-y than The Virgin Suicides, a book where everyone dies and no one leaves their house. We talk about bad faith readings, Lolita, Sylvia Plath, the 'we' voice, suburbia, and Jeffrey's talent for smells.

Caroline O'Donoghue has two books out, the most recent of which is Scenes of a Graphic Nature and is available in all book shops from August 6th

Ella Risbridger is the author of Midnight Chicken and Set Me On Fire, as well as a forthcoming children's fiction series The Secret Detectives

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My second book is out on audio and ebook today, here's me talking about it and doing a reading!

Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O'Donoghue https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WN4QNYN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Audio narration by Esther O'Moore Donohoe

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Scenes-of-a-Graphic-Nature-Audiobook/1004001509?qid=1592504228&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=2B3Z57HX8WY3E9XPZPXW

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No new episode this week, but here are some fiction recommendations that you might be interested in given the current political climate:

Heads Of The Coloured People - Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Kindred - Octavia E Butler

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

Nudibranch - Irenosen Okojie

Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid

Property - Valerie Martin

The Wedding Date - Jasmine Guillory

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo

Donate to UK Black Lives Matter: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund

Exist Loudly Fund to Support Queer Black YP: https://www.gofundme.com/f/exist-loudly-fund-to-support-queer-black-yp

SARI Stand Against Racism and Inequality https://www.sariweb.org.uk/who-we-are/donate/

Girl Guiding: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/

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This week we're talking about 1989's smash-hit debut The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. We talk debut novels, immigration literature, why so many women find Amy Tan in their teens, mothers and their daughters, food and how it travels, and why we're still obsessed with Waverly Jong.

Lillian Li's "The Love Hate Joy Luck Club” - https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2015/05/the-love-hate-joy-luck-club/

Sentimental Garbage is produced and edited by Caroline O'Donoghue, mixed by Hannah Varrall and hosted by Acast.

You can find Caroline's books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caroline-ODonoghue/e/B07CR7SFJM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1588717449&sr=1-1

You can find Ella Risbridger's books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ella-Risbridger/e/B07KR8NDY8?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1588717479&sr=1-1

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This week on the Corona Cast, Caroline and Ella discuss the ultimate smart lady holiday book (she's going to Split) American Wife! American Wife is a 2009 novel inspired by the life of Laura Bush, former First Lady and wife of George Bush junior. Here, we know her as Alice Blackwell. Beginning in the mid-west in the 1950s, we follow Alice from her quiet childhood to the car accident in her teens that killed her first crush and changed her life forever. After becoming a school librarian, she meets Charlie Blackwell at the barbecue of some mutual friends and begins a whirlwind romance that leads to a long marriage, and eventually, the White House. 

Sentimental Garbage is produced and edited by Caroline O'Donoghue, mixed by Hannah Varrall and hosted by Acast.

You can find Caroline's books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caroline-ODonoghue/e/B07CR7SFJM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1588717449&sr=1-1

You can find Ella Risbridger's books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ella-Risbridger/e/B07KR8NDY8?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1588717479&sr=1-1

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CONTENT WARNING: rape, fat shaming, homophobia, literally all possible triggers a person could have.

This week it's another special edition of Sentimental Garbage, where we talk about the novels that are getting us through the corona virus! Today we’re talking about VALLEY OF THE DOLLS by Jacqueline Susann

When twenty year-old Anne Welles moves from New England to New York in the summer of 1945, she’s pretty enough to be a model but settles for being a secretary at a theatrical agency. Here she meets a host of showbiz characters, including Neely, a vaudevillian teenager; Jennifer North, a starlet fresh from a marriage to an Italian prince; Helen Lawson, an ageing broadway star and Lyon Burke, a wannabe writer who she falls in love with. Over twenty years, the novel covers their rise and fall through show business, as each woman battles with age, men, and their mutual pill addictions. 

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It's week two of the Corona Cast, and we're still stuck in our bedrooms. What better time to get into supernatural YA classic, Margaret Mahy's The Changeover? Ella and Caroline talk about going back to adolescence, magical admin, morally ambiguous witches, suburban New Zealand, forgiveness, the extremely good film adaptation, and "changing over" from girl to woman.

Caroline O'Donoghue is an author and would like you to pre-order her new book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780349009940

Ella Risbridger is a cookbook writer and children's author, and would also like if you bought her books: https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/ella+risbridger

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Welcome to our Corona Cast, a series where I invite my favourite people (mostly Ella) to record remotely on their favourite books, regardless of genre, sentimentality, or garbage-y content. Today, we're doing Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. Katherine is an eighteen year old first year university student who, after meeting the flamboyant and much older John Millet at a book shop, is asked to join him for a weekend in the country to visit some old friends. When she gets there, she realises that it’s the home of her University professor, Jacob Goldman. What follows is a love story spanning two decades as Katherine attaches herself to various members of the Goldman family, including Jacob’s two sons Roger and Jonathan, as well as his wife, Jane. 

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Hold steady everyone, there’s a WAR ON! Joining Caroline O'Donoghue is author, cook and currently in love with a set of twins, KATE YOUNG and today we’re talking about The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley published in 1984. 

Every summer, a group of young cousins – Oliver, Walter, Calypso, Polly and the much younger Sophy – gather at their Aunt Helena and Uncle Richard’s house in Cornwall for an idyllic beachside holiday. We meet them in August of 1939, where people are still saying that the Nazis are splendid and the war will never happen. That night after their inaugral dinner party, it does. What follows is the explosion of their teenage innocence, and we watch them grow up through the war and find the Blitz isn’t actually all that bad, when you get used to it.

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Nothing says Christmas like freezing to death in your country estate while your sisters commit themselves to fascism and/or Marxist theory! Caroline O'Donoghue and returning guest Ella Risbridger discuss the Mitford sisters, the political climate (yikes) and why we will never stop loving Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo.

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford

Hons & Rebels - Jessica Mitford

Wait for Me - Deborah Devonshire

The Mitfords: Letters from Six Sisters

The Mitford Girls - Mary S Lovell

Caroline fan-casting the Mitford movie: http://www.workinprowess.com/2015/02/09/dream-casting-the-mitford-sisters-film/?LMCL=uu47bB

Ella's selection of lines from Wait For Me: https://the-toast.net/2014/10/03/best-sentences-debo-mitfords-wait/

This is the last episode of season four, see you in 2020 for more sentimentality and more garbage!

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Hold onto the precious jewel trapped in your dachshund's stomach and get ready for a whirlwind post-war fairytale that will make you hum the entire Anastasia soundtrack. We talk to YA and children's author Laura Wood about A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS, a novel so profoundly magical that we both start crying by the end. After the Russian revolution, Countess Anna Grazinsky flees to England with her governess in an attempt to make a new life for herself and her family. She winds up working as a maid for the Westerholme family, a once great english country household that has been decimated by the First World War. We talk love stories, why eugenics has always been for losers, and Laura's forthcoming biography on the adored Ibbotson.

Artwork by Gavin Day, music by Harry Harris, produced by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varrall. Recorded at ACAST studios in London

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If you want to read about the Tudors, you want to read about the SEXY Tudors, and The Other Boleyn Girl is the sexiest of all. Returning guest and author of Midnight Chicken Ella Risbridger comes by to talk about masque balls, women in history, sexual awakenings, sisters and why historical fiction is so much better when the details of that history are left niiiiiiice and loose. Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast studios, produced by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varrall

Order Midnight Chicken here: https://amzn.to/2XmvYNj

Pre-order Ella's poetry anthology here: https://amzn.to/305ZW5a

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You know Candice Bergen, even if you don't think you do: you've seen her reject Carrie Bradshaw as Enid, the editor of Vogue, and you've seen her try to blow up a Miss America pageant in Miss Congeniality. But there's more to this actor than you might think: she was born into Hollywood royalty, as the daughter of famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, became the "sliding doors" Sharon Tate during the summer of the Manson murders, and was the first woman to ever host SNL. In her memoir Knock Wood, she describes with wry humour her Hollywood childhood and what it's like to grow up as a sex symbol in the 1970s. We talk about the hypocrisy of the hippie movement, the weirdness of ventriloquism, the death of vaudeville, the perils of growing up Californian, and why if you can't date your father you might as well get a horse. Music by Harry Harris, artwork Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast studios, produced by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varrall.

You can buy Karen's book WHY KAREN CARPENTER MATTERS here: https://amzn.to/2IO3ljq

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Today we're talking to Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, a book that stands out on Sentimental Garbage for neither being sentimental nor garbage. In fact, it was very well reviewed from the moment it came out. However, this book has more in common with chick lit than you might expect. We talk about when sweeping romance meets cultural understanding, what it's like to write from a place of specificity, the second generation immigration experience, code-switching, masculinity in strong female houses, and why Alexa is a racist. 

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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We’re going back to school this week with YA author Holly Bourne for our first ever live show at London Book Fair. We’re talking about Louise Rennison’s teen classic Angus Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging. We chat about preteen desires, trying to trap boys, the private lives of girls, writing for a young audience and the lasting legacy of Rennison’s work.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at the London Book Fair 2019 and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Today we’re talking to YA hero and sex writing genius Sarra Manning about her 2009 adult debut Unsticky. We talk about everything from life in the magazine world, to orgasms, to the importance of happy endings in chick-lit novels. Don’t forget to listen to our main episode about the book with Jeanne Sutton

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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This week it's indecent proposals, being broke in media, and having grandly un-feminist wanks to deeply inappropriate men with Sarra Manning's Unsticky. Ex-magazine journalist and romance novel aficionado Jeanne Sutton talks us through this deeply underrated 2009 book that was also Manning's debut as an adult novelist. We talk a lot about how the media is a cesspit of corruption. It's a great one. Enjoy!

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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This week we’re talking to the author of the newly-minted The Sisterhood, Daisy Buchanan, about Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess! Workaholic Samantha Sweeting is a brilliant contract lawyer working for the highly pressurised firm Carter Spink. When she accidentally loses millions of pounds in a stupid admin error, she escapes by boarding a train from London and arriving at a house in the Cotswolds, and is mistaken for the new housekeeper by the super bougie and nouveau riche Trish Geiger and her husband. She decides to lay low and take the job, despite the fact that she doesn’t even know how to work a washing machine. This hilariously relevant book examines work addiction, competitive work atmospheres, being bullied by your boss, and being in the eye of a storm of a public scandal.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Joanne Harris has been talking about Chocolat for literally 20 years, which is why we're so flattered she came and talked to us even MORE about it. We talk about motherhood, magic, giving advice to writers, how to use research in your writing and the experience of being an "overnight success".

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Pancake Tuesday has just gone and we’re kicking it off with the most Lent-en book in all of chicklit: Joanne Harris’s megahit Chocolat! Food writer and novelist Amy Jones joins us to talk about the first book that helped her resolve her relationship with God, and we discuss food, sex, magic, womanhood, having a mother and the ever lengthening shadow of the patriarchy! 

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Warning: fans of Frances Mayes' 1996 travel memoir Under The Tuscan Sun won't find a lot of meaningful discussion of the book here, because neither Caroline nor our guest Rose McGowan liked it very much. Instead, we talk about Italy, Rose's childhood in a religious cult, her experience writing her book BRAVE, the relationship between women and gay men, her experiences speaking out against sexual abuse in Hollywood and being raised to think of herself without gender. We also do some fairly unkind impressions of Frances Mayes, so please don't send this podcast to Frances Mayes.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

Rose McGowan's book BRAVE is published in paperback on the 5th of March.

Harvey Weinstein currently denies all allegations made against him.

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*CONTENT WARNING*: FIRST UP, there's discussions of rape and child abuse throughout that some people might find off-putting. SECOND: this is a book where half the enjoyment comes from the many nutty twists and turns, so definitely read it before listening if you can. *END OF CONTENT WARNING* This week we're talking to author of Louis and Louise Julie Cohen about the 1979 gothic classic Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews. The book was seminal to both Julie and Caroline, and tells the story of the Dollanganger children, Cathy, Chris, Cory and Carrie, and the three years they spend locked in the attic of Foxworth Hall. We talk attics, literary influence, evil women, and why so many teenage girls found so much to fantasise about a book about incest. 

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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To launch season 2, we embark on an ambitious journey to work out just what makes Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir so brilliantly enthralling. We discuss what she learns about soul mates, how religion is snuck into the memoir and why women seek success early in life.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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This episode of Sentimental Garbage is pretty blue so maybe don’t listen with kids in the car. This week we’re talking sex, lies, class and Oxford University with Louise Mensch’s 1995 debut Career Girls. Film critic and Oxford graduate Helen O’Hara defends this x-rated read about the all-powerful Rowena Gordon and Topaz Rossi who engage in a lifelong rivalry across the entire media industry. Erections are bursting against jeans, curves are being poured into tiny dresses, and good God is it compelling.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Caroline chats to Jill Mansell, author of Millie’s Fling, about snacks, how it feels when people are “ashamed” to read your books in public, and her past as a clinical neuro-physiology technician.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Ready for chick-lit Middlemarch? Today we dive into Jill Mansell’s Millie’s Fling with author of the forthcoming Midnight Chicken & Other Recipes Worth Living For, Ella Risbridger. When 25 year old Millie witnesses the famous romance novelist Orla Hart about to throw herself off a cliff, she strikes up a friendship with Orla that changes her life. Orla has decided that she wants to write a realistic literary romance novel about “real people” and pays Millie to be her real-life subject. We talk grief, wine, shopping lists and snobbery, plus we have a sneak preview of our chat with the author ahead of the upcoming bonus episode.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Bridget Jones drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and dresses like her mother - and somehow became a global multi-million dollar franchise in the process. This week, we talk to Bridget super-fan and writer of the Sofia Khan series Ayisha Malik. As well as discussing Bridget's indomitable spirit and how the character became feminist Marmite, we chat about how to write satire in a world that wants to paint women as flawless, what people expect when a Muslim woman writes a romcom and why characters who smoke are the most fun to write.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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After talking all things Watermelon with Lucy Vine, we grabbed Marian Keyes on Skype to tell us more about her debut novel. We discuss feminism in the 1990s, growing up in a big family, and how she became the indisputable queen of chick-lit.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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This week is full of firsts: we're discussing Marian Keyes' first book, Watermelon, which also happens to be the first chick-lit that our guest Lucy Vine ever read. We get into the Walsh sisters, emotional abuse and why all debut novels are exactly two months long. We also grab Marian herself on the phone to talk about her memories of writing the book and the benefits of not having a clue what you're doing.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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After speaking to Lauren Bravo about The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, we tracked down the author of the book, Eva Rice, to talk Take That, Julian the Loaf and why the 1950s are such an intriguing time period to set a novel in.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Writer and author of "What Would the Spice Girls Do?" Lauren Bravo talks about Eva Rice's 2008 smash-hit The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, a book that's part Nancy Mitford, part Dodie Smith, and entirely delightful. The book is set in 1950s London, and follows Penelope, a shy 18 year old girl and heir to the crumbling mansion Milton Magna, as she befriends Charlotte and her cousin Harry. Harry is a magician and in love with an American IT girl called Marina. He bribes Penelope to be his girlfriend to make Marina jealous, and the two end up falling for each other. Lauren and Caroline discuss the era, the call of America, the power of music and mutual adoration of a pop culture icon, and how exactly the parakeets ended up in London.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

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Welcome to Sentimental Garbage, a podcast celebrating chick-lit and the so-called guilty pleasures you’re done feeling guilty about.

In series 1, author and journalist Caroline O'Donoghue talks to writers Lauren Bravo, Lucy Vine, Ayisha Malik, Ella Risbridger and Helen O'Hara about some of their favourite chick-lit novels, and gets a chance to ask authors Marian Keyes, Eva Rice and Jill Mansell all about their work.

Click subscribe now to be the first to hear series 1, launching December 6th 2018.

Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.