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:

1. The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti (tr. Simon Carnell and Erica Segre)
2. The Railway Series (Thomas the Tank Engine) by Reverend W. Awdry
3. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
4. Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Author referenced via series title)
7. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
8. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
9. The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
10. 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:

1. Everyday Sexism – Laura Bates
2. Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society’s Legacy of Gay Shame – Matthew Todd
3. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World – Elif Shafak
4. The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
5. Toward Eternity – Anton Hur
6. 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:

1. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World – Elif Shafak
2. The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
3. Heart Lamp – Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Vashti)
4. The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
5. Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig
6. Works – Penelope Fitzgerald
7. Works – Enid Blyton
8. Supporting Act – Agnes Lidbeck (translated by Nicholas Manley)
9. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
10. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
11. The Secret Life of an MP – Jess Phillips
12. Milkman – Anna Burns
13. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde