Confessions of a Book Hoarder

Episode 8: Motherhood, Myth, and Mayhem: Unpacking The Lamb

This episode dives into The Lamb, a quiet but unsettling novel that blends grief, folklore, and the uncanny. I explore how its sparse prose builds tension, what it’s really saying about motherhood and isolation, and why its final chapters stay lodged in the mind long after you close the book.

Episode 7: Spellbound - A Hex with Teeth

In Episode 7, Denise delves into Spellbound’s bold reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, a chapter where the familiar fairy tale fractures into something far darker and more intimate. As the curse at the centre of the story intensifies, she traces how the novel transforms the classic “sleep” into a living force not a passive enchantment, but a predatory magic that chooses its moment and its victim with unsettling precision. Denise examines the way Spellbound strips the tale of its romantic gloss, revealing the violence and agency buried beneath the original myth. She explores how the heroine’s fate is no longer sealed by a spindle’s prick but by a curse that understands her fears, her desires, and the legacy she never asked to inherit. This episode captures Denise following the thread between folklore and modern storytelling, showing how Spellbound turns Sleeping Beauty into a story of awakening rather than rescue a reckoning with the past, the curse, and the power that comes from refusing to stay asleep.

Episode 6: Butter, Murder, and the Seduction of Stew

In this episode of Confessions of a Book Hoarder, Denise dives into the rich symbolism of food in literature and its feminist dimensions. Talking about Asako Yuzuki’s Butter she explores how appetite, cooking, and meals become metaphors for women’s agency, rebellion, and identity. Listeners will discover how food in novels is never just about sustenance — it’s about power, memory, and desire. Denise reflects on Rika Machida’s journey in Butter, contrasts it with Manako Kajii’s unapologetic indulgence, and situates both within a wider feminist tradition that includes Like Water for Chocolate, The Joy Luck Club and more This episode is a warm, witty, and thought-provoking exploration of how literature uses food to challenge gender norms and celebrate women’s voices.

Episode 5 - A Haunting in Geneva: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

This Halloween, we open the creaking cover of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—a novel born from grief, lightning, and genius. In this episode of Confessions of a Book Hoarder, I delve into the life of the teenage author who changed literary history, the haunting themes of abandonment and ambition, and the misunderstood creature who longs not for vengeance, but for love. We’ll trace the legacy of monsters in literature, from myth to modern tragedy, and reflect on what Frankenstein reveals about the human condition. Is the monster truly the one with stitched skin… or the one who turns away? Join me by candlelight as we confess, reflect, and resurrect the story that still echoes through the dark.

Episode 4: Rewitched and Rewilded

In this cosy and chaotic episode, Denise dives into Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood—a spellbinding debut about burnout, late blooming, and the quiet magic of reclaiming your power. Join her as she unpacks Belle Blackthorn’s trials, Rune’s brooding charm, and the everyday enchantments that feel tailor-made for 90s fans of witch fiction. Expect literary confessions, witchy wisdom, and a gentle reminder: your magic is never too late.