Bex and Bob Talk About Books... And Biscuits

In this episode, Bex and Bob delve into the 80-year legacy of Thomas the Tank Engine, noting how the series has evolved from traumatic plotlines like Henry being bricked in a tunnel to modern updates involving global characters and the name change of the Fat Controller to Sir Topham Hatt. The conversation explores how children's literature handles societal shifts and technology, comparing the "historical" feel of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five with the modern, authentic voices in works by Malorie Blackman and Angie Thomas. The episode concludes with a creative reimagining of the Island of Sodor as gritty adult fiction, brainstorming Kafkaesque and capitalist critiques where the goal of being a "really useful engine" serves as a dark metaphor for societal exhaustion.

Books Mentioned:

The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti (tr. Simon Carnell and Erica Segre)
The Railway Series (Thomas the Tank Engine) by Reverend W. Awdry
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Author referenced via series title)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Bex and Bob reunite to share their “crumbs of joy” and relive their first-ever trip to the Hay Festival, from rainy Brecon Beacons drives and chance sightings of authors to the cozy charm of a town full of bookshops. They chat about the intimate magic of meeting writers like Elif Shafak and Anton Hur, the politics and power of language, and a Black Mirror–style AI voice experience that turns their own recordings into unsettling fake adverts – with plenty of serious biscuit talk along the way.

Books Mentioned:
Everyday Sexism – Laura Bates
Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society’s Legacy of Gay Shame – Matthew Todd
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World – Elif Shafak
The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
Toward Eternity – Anton Hur
Ulysses – James Joyce

Bex and Bob share their “crumbs of joy,” from a first trip to Hay-on-Wye and fangirling over Elif Shafak to why book prizes like the International Booker can make readers feel seen. They chat about comforting reads like The Midnight Library and Penelope Fitzgerald, Enid Blyton-fuelled childhood independence, and Bob’s Shelf Discovery pick Supporting Act on care work and the mental load. Plus: who they’d recruit from book world for a zombie apocalypse, and a ruthless “Dunk or Ditch” on Garibaldis, Milkman, Nice biscuits, and rich tea.

Books Mentioned:
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World – Elif Shafak
The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
Heart Lamp – Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Vashti)
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig
Works – Penelope Fitzgerald
Works – Enid Blyton
Supporting Act – Agnes Lidbeck (translated by Nicholas Manley)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
The Secret Life of an MP – Jess Phillips
Milkman – Anna Burns
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

In the very first episode of Bex and Bob Talk About Books… And Biscuits, Bex and Bob finally resurrect a podcast they first tried to launch back in May 2020. They kick off with their Biscuit of the Week, the Jammy Dodger, and pair its deceptively simple sweetness with the layered darkness of Ian McEwan novels.
They share their weekly crumbs of joy—from surviving jury duty with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to devouring the unsettling, cannibalism‑tinged The Lamb in one sitting—and talk about the power of formative, nostalgic reads, including Joseph Torchia’s queer coming‑of‑age novel The Kryptonite Kid.
Bex also champions a criminally underrated millennial memoir, Is This OK? by Harriet Gibsone, exploring growing up alongside the internet, from early Facebook stalking to 2am mum‑forum doomscrolling. The episode ends with a chaotic thought experiment: the ultimate fictional‑character picnic, featuring Dorian Gray, a Swedish elderly murderess, and Ma from Tomb of Sand—with serious questions about everyone’s survival.

Books Mentioned:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
The Lamb – Lucy Rose
The Kryptonite Kid – Joseph Torchia
Is This OK? One Woman’s Search for Connection Online – Harriet Gibsone
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good – Helene Tursten (translated by Marlaine Delargy)
Tomb of Sand – Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy Rockwell)
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde