Bedside Reading

Send us Fan Mail I'm really, really delighted today to be talking to Selina Flinders about an absolutely wonderful book, These Heavy Black Bones, by Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell. This is a memoir written someone that some of you may have come across as a very high-level swimmer who swam originally for Kenya and then started to swim for Great Britain and crashed out of professional swimming just before the London 2012 Olympics. This is a memoir. It has themes of growing up, of being different. There's racism. There are adverse childhood experiences. There is boarding school syndrome. There is safeguarding. There is "safeguarding in affluence". There is abuse masquerading in plain sight as concern and sports coaching. Oh my goodness, there was so much to talk about and I have absolutely loved talking to Selina today about it.

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to season 12 of the podcast!!! What a season I've got lined up for you this time round. We are starting today with an astonishing book written by an astonishing woman and it is such a treat today to be talking to Maria Milland. Danish obstetrician gynaecologist who has been deployed many times on humanitarian missions in the world. Her book Born at the Gates of Hell is a meoir of her experiences in the Al-Hol camp in Syria. This is a truly, truly unputdownable memoir. I have gained so much from having read it and it has been a astonishing privilege to meet the incredible human that is Maria.

Send us Fan Mail I'm taking a little break from recording podcasts over Easter, and I'm really excited that I'm actually going away for a few days. I've got a lot on my to-read pile, which I'm going to be taking with me. Some electronically to avoid filling up my suitcase too full, and some fabulous hard copies of some novels that I am absolutely desperate to read. So what's coming up in season 12? There's an eclectic selection so far. I've had some amazing emails from publishers and agents about books which are coming out over the next few months. And I am looking forward to reading a book called Six and a Half Days in the City by Isaac Grijalva. This looks to be a really exciting novel written by somebody who is a paramedic in the the USA based in the world of emergency care and I really love the idea and of thinking about a bisexual burnt out EMT called Cameron preparing for a much needed New York City trip, staying with his two best friends whilst exploring the city. His vacation is shadowed by unresolved trauma... N I was also approached by a fabulous publicist and who often puts me in touch with some really, really cool authors. A big thank you to Ana for recommending to me a novel which comes out in May, which is called Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler. This is 1980s historical fiction looking at the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York and particularly thinking about the role that lesbians played in the crisis and that sort of unsung role of friends and carers. The final new book and author that I'm really, really excited about and is a work of nonfiction, which is called Born at the Gates of Hell by obstetrician Maria Milland, who spent nine months working in the Al-Hol refugee camp in Syria. Born at the Gates of Hell, is her book detailing that experience. It's just been published. and And I am really, really looking forward to reading it and talking to Maria. Of course, I've got lots of non-author guests coming on. I'm really delighted to be welcoming back some old friends and as well as some new people. So I really love Malcolm Gladwell and I was really excited when Sarah Marwick got in touch and asked me if I'd like to talk about The Revenge of the Tipping Point. So that's definitely coming up. There are a couple of fabulous novels that people want to talk about. Most particularly, I'm really looking forward to talking to Alice Deasy about Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergese which I think must be one of the novels that's really stayed with me and one of the ones that I just assumed when I started the podcast that someone would want to come on and talk about. . I know i have talked about his amazing second novel, Covenant of Water, but it's really exciting to be able to be talking about Cutting for Stone with Alice. We've got some nonfiction and the really fascinating book Sociopath by Patrick Gagne, which I very much enjoyed reading. And I'm really excited and to have psychiatrist Claudia Camden-Smith coming on to talk about that. I'm also welcoming a couple of people who I feel that know through some online education work, much less through podcasting, and who are going to come on and talk about some books which I think sound fabulous. So I'm really looking forward to talking to Lee David about a book called Defy, which I think is really going to be something that is going to have a lot of themes in it and that are really going to work for us. And Lee has got her own podcast, which is called The Choice Space, which I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring. And so I'm really excited to get her to guest with me. I'm also really looking forward to talking to Michael Killshaw about Radical Candor. I know that Kim Scott'd book has really changed a lot of people's lives, par

Send us Fan Mail A warm welcome today to Ellen Basuk and Daniel Schoonover, the authors of Between Two Worlds, a wonderful mother-son memoir of Daniel's mental health difficulties and diagnosis at the age of 19, schizophrenia, and his mum, Ellen, a psychiatrist's approach to enabling Daniel to live a good life and get the support that he needed. It's a book which really made me think a lot about recovery-oriented care, about children who are seen to be different. about the confines of the school system and recognising that Ellen, a psychiatrist, fought and battled and did things her own way and eventually got elements of care that were going to work for her son. It really made me think about all of the other children growing up with challenges who are not well served by the terribly underfunded and rigid systems that we are currently expecting of people.

Send a text I'm delighted to welcome Shannon Ivey to Bedside Reading today. We are talking about her wonderful memoir, Welcome to the Shit Show, her story of being diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer 10 years ago at the age of 42. It is brilliant to know that Shannon is still with us, still making people laugh, still full of energy and vitality. I absolutely loved her book. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me think. I think most important is Shannon's message that rates of bowel cancer in young and middle-aged women are rising really, really fast. The demographic that we expect to have bowel cancer is not the demographic that does have bowel cancer. Sadly, in the States, far too many women are dying from bowel cancer and are presenting very, very late. It's been a real pleasure to meet Shannon and talk to her about her book and about some of the work that she is doing to try and change those statistics.

Send a text Sunday 8th of March was International Women's Day and so today, Tuesday 10th is our special International Women's Day themed episode where I am talking to Charley Baker about the horrifying, eye-opening and thought-provoking book that is The New Age of Sexism by Laura Bates. This is a book which has really changed me. It has opened my eyes to so many aspects of technology which worry me. It has made me think about systemic inequality and gender inequity, society, the world of AI and technology in a way that I had never really considered before. It is an absolutely superb read and I have so enjoyed talking to Charley about it and unpicking some of my feelings about the topic. Find Charley on X: https://x.com/CharleyBaker1 and on instagram https://www.instagram.com/charleybakerthebookpusher/

Send a text I think that there is sometimes a bit of snobbery around genres of books. The self-help market is huge. It's there for a reason but I think sometimes those of us who really enjoy self-help feel that perhaps we should be going to some kind of self-help books anonymous club where we can talk about our love of the genre unimpeded by the judgment of others! Last year, Anna Baverstock reminded me that actually self-help books are "leadership and development" books, and that helped me to see them in a different light and be slightly less embarrassed about how much I enjoy them. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins is, I think, one of the best self-help or leadership and development books that I have ever read. I can really, truly put my hand on my heart and say that it has changed me and very definitely for the better. So it's been a real joy to discover that my guest today, Emma Cunliffe, feels similarly changed by Mel.

Send a text I'm not entirely sure whether Anita and I have really even scratched the surface of a discussion about Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. We've both acknowledged that Chimamanda is one of our absolutely favourite novelists and her new novel, Dream Count, does not disappoint on any front. There are themes galore in this book. There are stories of four rather different women whose lives coincide. There are lots of reflections on very common, almost mundane life and health themed issues like constipation and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. We have elements around class and status. We have lots of thoughts around culture clash. Fundamentally, this is a novel about friendship and about how the world changed during the pandemic. Did we become closer because of video calls, or are we more distanced because of them? It is such a wonderful novel. i have utterly loved talking to Anita today, and I really think if you haven't read this already, it should be on your to-be-read pile.

Send a text Poor by Katrina O'Sullivan is a book which has really, really stayed with me. I listened to it as an audiobook and I could not stop listening. I think it helps that Katrina has a fabulous voice, but actually the voice, both physically and in what she is talking about, is so powerful and so compelling. It was a real joy to talk to Lydia Fairhurst about this brilliant book, which I think has taught me much more about child safeguarding than any safeguarding training I've ever been on. It's taught me much more about trauma-informed care than any course I've ever been on. And most importantly, it has really made me think about the voices of people who we often choose not to listen to, because every voice matters. Every child's voice matters. Every adult's voice matters. Sometimes people will say things which we disagree with. I feel strongly that is the point at which we have to challenge ourselves to think about why we are disagreeing with them whether our thoughts are based in prejudice and in privilege and I am forever grateful for having discovered Katrina O'Sullivan via her book and more recently from following her on Instagram because almost weekly she challenges my thinking and I hope is making me a much better doctor.

Send a text I love it when a guest approaches me and says, "please, can I talk about this book?" especially when it's a book that I've never, ever come across before. And today is one of those days. We are talking about The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas, which is an absolutely beautiful, very short Norwegian novel published in the 1950s, which I had never come across before. My life is so much better for having come across it. And I think my care of patients and families has been dramatically improved by having read it. So a huge thank you to Ruth Maxey for both suggesting the novel and joining me today to talk about it.

Send us a text I'm really pleased today to welcome Dr Richard Duggins to Bedside Reading to talk about his book, Burnout Free Working. We know that burnout is incredibly common in all professionals, particularly in health professionals. We also know that it is not always something we are talking enough about. Frustratingly, it is both preventable and incredibly, incredibly treatable. If only we know what's happening, if only we talk about it more, and if only we are supported to work in a healthier and better way. I have really enjoyed reading this incredibly accessible book and I've absolutely loved talking to Richard today about some of the themes in it and I hope you will enjoy the conversation and if you haven't already discovered the book, we'll go out and get yourself a copy.

Send us a text I always enjoy talking to my guests about books. Sometimes I don't enjoy the book they've chosen. Often I am surprised by how much I have enjoyed something that I wasn't expecting to enjoy. Today, though, is different to all of that. It's a real joy to welcome Ripon Ahmed back to the podcast to talk about what must be one of my all-time favourite novels featuring a doctor: The Citadel by A.J. Cronin. It is undoubtedly the book that made me know that I needed to be a GP. And I will be forever grateful for having discovered it when I was a final year medical student. I've read it several times over the years and so much of it has stayed with me. So much of it seems really topical. And it has been such a pleasure to talk about it today with Ripon and explore the themes in the book, the storyline and how much of it is so very, very relevant to all of us working in health today.

Send us a text i've had the best fun setting up and recording today's podcast with Caryn Price and Georgina Benger. We are talking about a book that they have written together called Olive's Day. We also mentioned Willow's Day, which is the second in a series which we hope will be going to be. quite a big series of fabulous books written ostensibly for children but from which grown-ups can learn an awful lot. Today's episode is all about adjustments, reasonable adjustments, pathological demand avoidance (or persistent drive for autonomy )and how we can support children and young people who have this neurotype in our encounters with them in healthcare care and beyond.

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Send us a text I'm delighted to welcome Hannah Loret to Bedside Reading today to talk about Overspill by Charlotte Paradise. This is a really gripping, absolutely brilliant novel. The blurb: Sara is 25. She's never used a tampon without having a panic attack. She starts dating Miles. Three months, they don't touch. Miles respects her boundaries, though he longs for them to melt away. Sara desires Miles, but she knows her body, or rather she knows it is an unknowable thing. Sara wants to be in love, to find a person who allows her to be herself, someone who's happy with everything she is and everything she isn't. Miles hopes he won't hurt her. But how do you navigate a relationship for which there is need? How do you love someone when your body is not your own, and how do you reclaim it? This is an absolutely brilliant novel. It has got a narrative around vaginismus and sexual pain, vaginal pain at its heart but there's a lot more to it than that. And there are some fantastic characters, some really interesting evolutions of relationships. I couldn't put it down and I think it's a book that I'm going to think about for a really long time.

Send us a text It's that strange time of year that we sometimes refer to as Twixtmas again. I hope people have received lots of fantastic new books to start reading, have eaten a bit too much, drunk a bit too much and are starting to think about plans for 2026. I've gathered together some friends of the podcast to have a think back over their year of reading in 2025 and to come up with a favourite book from 2025, as well as something that they are really looking forward to reading in 2026.

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Send us a text The Names by Florence Knapp is undoubtedly one of my top fiction reads of 2025, if not my absolute top read of 2025. It is an astonishing first novel, which follows three different storylines, all based on what Cora names her baby boy. Will she call him Gordon? (the name chosen by her husband, also Gordon.) Will she call him Julian? Or will she call him Bear, the name suggested by his sister? This is an absolutely amazing sliding doors type of a novel with some extremely dark themes running through around domestic abuse. It felt only appropriate to be thinking about the Doctors Association UK and Medical Women's Foundation campaign about domestic abuse in healthcare care workers, how prevalent this is. And how much of a problem it can be. So slight trigger warning, we are going to be talking today about abuse, about domestic abuse, and about the effect on women and on families, as well as the huge difficulties that may arise when a perpetrator is in a position of power and privilege. https://dauk.org/wave-of-activity-to-launch-nhs-domestic-abuse-awareness-day/

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Send us a text How Christmasy are you feeling? It's December now and I know for some people this is a really exciting time of year. Today's podcast has been the best fun to record and is about a book which I absolutely adored. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about today's book is the fact that I didn't read it for the first time in December because it is a proper warm hug of a cheesy Christmas romantic comedy. That's not to say that it is without depth, but it really is just about the most perfect book to snuggle up in front of the fire with a hot chocolate and escape into and it was a huge treat to get to talk to Hayley Dunlop, the author, about it today.