Robert Forster & Geordie Williamson review: Elizabeth Strout/Daniel Kehlmann/Portia Elan

This week’s Bookshelf features the latest from Elizabeth Strout, creator of Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, returning with a stand‑alone novel called The Things We Never Say. We’re also reading an ambitious, genre‑bending novel that moves from 1980s gaming culture to far‑future space travel, and Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, a German novel in translation that explores film, power and propaganda. Joining us to review are Geordie Williamson - critic, publisher and writer; and Robert Forster - singer‑songwriter, founding member of The Go‑Betweens, memoirist and brand new novelist with Songwriters on the Run.~ REVIEWERSRobert Forster and Geordie Williamson~ BOOKSDaniel Kehlmann, The Director (translated from the German by Ross Benjamin), RiverrunElizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say, Viking Penguin  Portia Elan, Homebound, Chatto & WindusCaro Claire Burke, Yesteryear, Fourth Estate ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDDaniel Kehlmann, worksElizabeth Strout, My Name is Lucy BartonThe Boundless Deep, Richard HolmesJohnno, David MaloufKeeley Jobe, The EndlingAna Paula Maia, On Earth as It Is Beneath~ CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound, Craig Tilmouth and Roi HubermanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown