WEBVTT - The best books of 2024

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<v Speaker 1>From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones and this is seven

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<v Speaker 1>AM's summer series. All this week we're bringing you conversations

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<v Speaker 1>with our favorite critics telling us about their favorite arts

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<v Speaker 1>and culture from twenty twenty four. Today, it's all about books,

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<v Speaker 1>and no one knows books like Michael Williams does. The

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<v Speaker 1>editor of the monthly has read hundreds of novels this

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<v Speaker 1>year and interviewed dozens of incredible writers for his podcast

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<v Speaker 1>Read This, and for him, the best books of the

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<v Speaker 1>year are those that have bent genres, brought a sense

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<v Speaker 1>of play to old tropes, and reminded him of the

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<v Speaker 1>ultimate unpredictability of life in a good way. So today

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<v Speaker 1>Michael Williams from the books that surprised and delighted him

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty twenty four. It's Monday, December twenty three. Michael,

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<v Speaker 1>Hello friend, how are you?

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<v Speaker 2>Ruby Jones? I am very well, still conscious.

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<v Speaker 1>Congratulations on a huge twenty twenty four. We're almost at

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<v Speaker 1>the end.

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<v Speaker 2>You say that, but honestly, it's the last few pages

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<v Speaker 2>that you need to That's when a book proves itself,

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<v Speaker 2>and that is when a year proves itself. I'm not

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<v Speaker 2>counting it out until we're through.

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<v Speaker 1>How many books do you think you read this year?

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<v Speaker 2>I'd look at like friends and other people on social

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<v Speaker 2>media who do their book counts each year, and I

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<v Speaker 2>envied it seems very ordered and very methodical.

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<v Speaker 1>Got on your stories? Did you even read them?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't need to read performatively. Definitely I do lose count,

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<v Speaker 2>but it would be an embarrassing Oh yeah, yeah, comfortably

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<v Speaker 2>triple figures.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, well, let's try and narrow that feel down to

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<v Speaker 1>a top four. I thought we could start with one

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<v Speaker 1>of the books that I know is one of your

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<v Speaker 1>favorites for the year, Helen Garner's new book This Season.

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<v Speaker 1>I think that you and I had sort of similar

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<v Speaker 1>thoughts going into this book, which was I love Helen Ghanner,

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<v Speaker 1>but am I going to love a book that is

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<v Speaker 1>about her grandson's amateur footy league. So tell me what

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<v Speaker 1>your expectations were and how the book delivered.

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<v Speaker 2>We are at a really funny point in time with

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<v Speaker 2>Helen Ghana, where for years there were so many expectations

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<v Speaker 2>around her and people had a kind of weird relationship

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<v Speaker 2>with her books that one way or the other they

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<v Speaker 2>decided she was for them or she Wasn't you know

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<v Speaker 2>that they knew her, and yet now she's in her

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<v Speaker 2>eighties and she suddenly hit this point where collectively, culturally,

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<v Speaker 2>the name Helen Garanner is a name to conjure with,

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<v Speaker 2>and the new Helen Garner book is an occasion. We've

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<v Speaker 2>just had a decade of the only new Helen Garner

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<v Speaker 2>books being the re release of her diaries or the

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<v Speaker 2>release to the public for the first time. And those

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<v Speaker 2>diaries show things that we always suspected about Helen, but

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<v Speaker 2>now we know unequivocally she's one of this country's foremost observers,

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<v Speaker 2>that she's incredibly funny, that she has an eye for

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<v Speaker 2>detail and human forces, that she is unforgiving in the

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<v Speaker 2>way that she writes about others, and even more brutally

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<v Speaker 2>unforgiving when she writes about herself, all of which adds

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<v Speaker 2>up to say that even a footy book is worth

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<v Speaker 2>reading from Helen Ghana. And I am someone who by

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<v Speaker 2>and large is like, you're going to be turned off

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<v Speaker 2>by the idea that it's a book about football, But

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<v Speaker 2>it's Helen Ghana, So it's not about football. It's about

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<v Speaker 2>her relationship with her grandson, It's about what it is

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<v Speaker 2>to be getting older, it's about different types of masculinity,

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<v Speaker 2>it's about all these things at once, and it's beautiful.

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<v Speaker 1>And she is known, as you say, for this kind

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<v Speaker 1>of unflinching attitude that she has towards her subjects, including herself,

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<v Speaker 1>and I found that particularly confronting in this novel, because

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<v Speaker 1>she's talking about how she's aging, and she's talking really

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<v Speaker 1>specifically about how her body and her mind are changing,

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<v Speaker 1>and it does at times feel like, well, she thinks

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<v Speaker 1>she's getting towards the end of her life and that

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<v Speaker 1>this might be her last work.

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<v Speaker 2>I couldn't agree more Ruby. It broke me all times

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<v Speaker 2>in this book. It's this kind of note of melancholy

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<v Speaker 2>that runs like a vein through proceedings. Here again and

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<v Speaker 2>again she says she wants to get to know her

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<v Speaker 2>grandson Ambrose Amby before it's too late, before he becomes

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<v Speaker 2>a man, and before she is dead, and this is

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<v Speaker 2>a refrain. Again and again Helen has no illusions her

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<v Speaker 2>hearing's going, it's a little bit harder to get up

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<v Speaker 2>and out of bed in the morning and in winter.

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<v Speaker 2>All of this stuff is kind of conspiring to suggest

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<v Speaker 2>that it's not just an evening in Melbourne. While the

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<v Speaker 2>footy training is going on in the dead of winter,

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<v Speaker 2>but it's that in life as well, and you do

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<v Speaker 2>get a sense that you're watching someone kind of reckon

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<v Speaker 2>with their own mortality.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's not. I mean, it is sad in parts,

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<v Speaker 1>but I don't think the overall tone of this novel

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<v Speaker 1>is melancholic.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you No, No, I think you're absolutely right. Or

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<v Speaker 2>even if the tone is, it's offset by a phenomenal

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<v Speaker 2>sense of joy. I think when people think about Helen,

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<v Speaker 2>they often talk about or remember the spikiness or the

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<v Speaker 2>moments of conflict or confrontation out I think if you

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<v Speaker 2>read her work, actually what comes through is this kind

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<v Speaker 2>of boundless capacity for joy and wonder and love. That's

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<v Speaker 2>an incredibly generous book. I was lucky enough to interview

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<v Speaker 2>her for the first ever episode of Read This. We

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<v Speaker 2>went to her house and she was in the process

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<v Speaker 2>of writing the book that would eventually become the season,

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<v Speaker 2>and in that interview she talked about the fact that

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<v Speaker 2>off the back of doing the diaries, she was pretty depressed.

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<v Speaker 2>She thought she might not write anymore. She wasn't sure

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<v Speaker 2>where that energy was going to come from, and she

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<v Speaker 2>just found the spark taking her grandson to his under

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<v Speaker 2>sixteens football training once a week, and that suddenly, sitting

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<v Speaker 2>there on the boundary line watching that being part of

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<v Speaker 2>that ritual, she found herself come to life again. And

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<v Speaker 2>she found a through line from that activity to the

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<v Speaker 2>classics that she loved to read, to the kind of literature,

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<v Speaker 2>to the various men that shed grappled with throughout her

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<v Speaker 2>career in thinking about the nature of power, thinking about

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<v Speaker 2>the nature of the way people relate to one another,

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<v Speaker 2>and the nature of community, and all of that converged

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<v Speaker 2>on this big, joyous, beautiful She calls it a hymn

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<v Speaker 2>at one point, and it feels like that it's a

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<v Speaker 2>little song of love to her grandson, and we're very

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<v Speaker 2>lucky to have it.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's move on to your second pick for the year,

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle Ducretz's novel, Theory in Practice. Before we talk about

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<v Speaker 1>the book itself, could we talk about Dacretsa a little.

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<v Speaker 1>I know that she's previously won the Miles Franklin been

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<v Speaker 1>shortlisted for the Stella. Can you tell me a bit

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<v Speaker 1>about her, her life, her writing.

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<v Speaker 2>She's an amazing and beautiful novelist and she's kind of

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<v Speaker 2>much lauded on the awards circuit, and she's always been

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<v Speaker 2>a kind of deeply playful writer. She's very interested in

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<v Speaker 2>the novel and it's formal, both constraints and the things

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<v Speaker 2>that it makes possible, the ways in which has an

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<v Speaker 2>art form. It has a kind of elasticity, if you like,

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<v Speaker 2>and it means that you can approach big subject matter

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<v Speaker 2>in different ways. She writes sometimes in a kind of

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<v Speaker 2>realist mode, but then with these extraordinary capacity for formal

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<v Speaker 2>experimentation and play. Michelle D. Kretza is not a writer

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<v Speaker 2>who takes the job of writing a novel lightly. She

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<v Speaker 2>takes it very seriously and yet produces this beautiful prose

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<v Speaker 2>and this character stuff that Yeah, she's one of our best.

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<v Speaker 1>Absolutely. I'm currently about halfway through Theory and Practice, and

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<v Speaker 1>what I think I'm really enjoying about it is that

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<v Speaker 1>there's this contrast between this very personal, almost kind of

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<v Speaker 1>gossipy tone at times where she speaks about being a

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<v Speaker 1>young woman, but that's mixed with this incredibly smart literary

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<v Speaker 1>criticism and engagement with these very complicated ideas, and she

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<v Speaker 1>sort of moves between these two modes quite seamlessly.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no, no, I think that's a beautiful description I

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<v Speaker 2>mean she in theory and practice, her narrator is a

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<v Speaker 2>writer and is grappling with the business of being a

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<v Speaker 2>writer and at the same time grappling with memory, and

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<v Speaker 2>as a consequence, the lines between what is essayistic and

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<v Speaker 2>what is fictional, the lines between what might even be

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<v Speaker 2>memoir from the cretsa or what is purely a work

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<v Speaker 2>of imagination, those lines are incredibly blurred, and deliberately so.

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<v Speaker 2>Her narrator is a huge fan of the work of

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<v Speaker 2>Virginia wolf and the book in some ways mirrors one

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<v Speaker 2>of Wolfe's very late books, called The Years, which was

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<v Speaker 2>originally designed to be a combination of novel and essays,

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<v Speaker 2>and then Wolf kind of blended the two into one,

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<v Speaker 2>and so there are kind of big literary things, but

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<v Speaker 2>as you say, the enjoyment of the book doesn't rely

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<v Speaker 2>on that at all. Here you have a young woman

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<v Speaker 2>who is grappling with, to put, in very base crest terms,

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<v Speaker 2>a love triangle and sexual jealousy and a sense of

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<v Speaker 2>what her identity is at UNI in Melbourne in the eighties,

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<v Speaker 2>and she's kind of recounting that in ways that I

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<v Speaker 2>think will be immediately recognizable to readers in whatever stage

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<v Speaker 2>of their life.

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<v Speaker 1>Through After the Break, the book that lit up a

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<v Speaker 1>million group chats. So, Michael, let's talk about your third

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<v Speaker 1>pick for the year. James by Persval Everett. So this

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<v Speaker 1>is the retelling of Mark Twain's classic book from eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty four, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But it's written

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<v Speaker 1>from the point of view of Jim, who is the

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<v Speaker 1>slave who run away and joined Huck on his journey

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<v Speaker 1>done the Mississippi River. So my first question about this

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<v Speaker 1>is how well acquainted do you need to be with

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<v Speaker 1>Huckleberry Finn the novel to appreciate this book?

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<v Speaker 2>Not at all would be my first and most straightforward answer.

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<v Speaker 2>This book reads like a kind of wonderful, lively, page turning,

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<v Speaker 2>funny historical novel, and you could have no acquaintance at

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<v Speaker 2>all with Huck Finn except for a vague, lingering sens

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<v Speaker 2>as you read it that you were missing out on

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<v Speaker 2>jokes that you didn't get, or there were resonances that

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<v Speaker 2>didn't mean anything to you. Everett described in the process

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<v Speaker 2>of writing James, he reread The Adventures of huckle where

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<v Speaker 2>if in something like thirteen times back to back, he

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<v Speaker 2>would get to the end and then flip straight back

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<v Speaker 2>to the start and read it again, to the point

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<v Speaker 2>where it just kind of embedded in his brain in

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<v Speaker 2>a way like a song or a refrain, that he'd

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<v Speaker 2>read it so many times in rapid succession that it

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<v Speaker 2>almost transcended meaning. And then he put the original book

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<v Speaker 2>aside and he wrote, James James was a story that

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<v Speaker 2>he wanted to tell, that he felt the need to tell.

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<v Speaker 2>He wanted to do justice to the earlier book. But

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<v Speaker 2>it's not a retread. It's not a retelling, it's not

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<v Speaker 2>a sequel, it's not a reclamation. It's a kind of

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<v Speaker 2>companion piece. And so it stands very nicely on its own.

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<v Speaker 1>And so it just won the National Book Award and

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<v Speaker 1>it was shortlisted for the Booker. So the buzz around James,

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<v Speaker 1>I think, has been pretty phenomenal. I know that you're

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<v Speaker 1>a fan of Percival's writing. So how does this novel

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<v Speaker 1>stack up against his other works.

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<v Speaker 2>It's interesting in some ways, it's one of his straightest,

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<v Speaker 2>most conventional books. Yet he is I mean talking about

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<v Speaker 2>Michelle Decretsa being a writer who likes playing with form.

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<v Speaker 2>That's also true a personal eva. Some of his books

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<v Speaker 2>are utterly batchet not to put too fine a point

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<v Speaker 2>on it, Like he comes up with an idea and

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<v Speaker 2>then he kind of teases it out in as many

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<v Speaker 2>different ways as he can. He wrote a book called

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<v Speaker 2>The Trees, for example, that functions almost like it's beats

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<v Speaker 2>as similar to a crime novel, its resonances are like

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<v Speaker 2>a zombie novel, and ultimately it's about slavery and the

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<v Speaker 2>legacy of Emmett till Now, if those four elements don't

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<v Speaker 2>make sense to you in a single work of literature,

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<v Speaker 2>add the fact that it's at times screamingly funny, and

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<v Speaker 2>you get a bit of a sense of what personval

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<v Speaker 2>ever it's like. So his books are endlessly experimental and

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<v Speaker 2>endlessly playful in a way that means that a book

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<v Speaker 2>like James can feel very straight. But I think that

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<v Speaker 2>would be a misread. Part of what's so great about

0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.200
<v Speaker 2>James by telling the story from the perspective of a

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<v Speaker 2>character who's a little bit kind of culturally and historically problematic.

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<v Speaker 2>To revisit the Mark Twain book now and read the

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<v Speaker 2>voice of an enslaved man who in many ways reads

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<v Speaker 2>like a zeotype of the time. Part of whatever it's

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<v Speaker 2>saying in James is code switching is a crucial part

0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:10.000
<v Speaker 2>of understanding their historical record. That the way in which

0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.920
<v Speaker 2>James may have spoken around Huker, around the white characters,

0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.960
<v Speaker 2>or indeed around it write like Mark Twain wasn't a

0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.600
<v Speaker 2>true representation of who he was, in his family, in

0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.200
<v Speaker 2>his community, how he really spoke. And to make text

0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.559
<v Speaker 2>rather than subtext that play around identity, around your safety,

0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.840
<v Speaker 2>being about how you presented and who you were in

0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.559
<v Speaker 2>the world. That seems to me to be rich and

0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.000
<v Speaker 2>funny and weird and very very personal. Ever it it's

0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:36.520
<v Speaker 2>lots of fun, all right.

0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.640
<v Speaker 1>Well. That brings us to the final book of the year,

0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.679
<v Speaker 1>which was also one of my favorites, the book that

0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.720
<v Speaker 1>lit up a million group chats, the first great Perry

0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.120
<v Speaker 1>menopause novel, All fours. Miranda July, tell me what you

0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:51.720
<v Speaker 1>loved about it.

0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.680
<v Speaker 2>You say that I'm not convinced after reading this book

0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.520
<v Speaker 2>and talking to Miranda July on an episode of Read This,

0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.760
<v Speaker 2>that there haven't been other peri menopause novels before now

0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.760
<v Speaker 2>that just haven't been diagnosed as such. I believe, and

0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.319
<v Speaker 2>this is my big theory. My big theory is that

0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.960
<v Speaker 2>Anna Karenina is the first great Perimenopause novel, and we

0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.920
<v Speaker 2>understand her and Vronsky and everything that goes on in

0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.280
<v Speaker 2>that book much better if we understand it to be

0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.840
<v Speaker 2>Leo Tolstoy's portrayal of what perimenopause was like for Russian

0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:20.680
<v Speaker 2>women of its time. That's my theory.

0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.200
<v Speaker 1>Okay. Well, even being in conversation with that novel would

0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.959
<v Speaker 1>be a great way to have your your book framed.

0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.280
<v Speaker 1>So tell tell me what you liked about all fours.

0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.640
<v Speaker 2>Look, I think it's a wonderful novel, and I think

0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.719
<v Speaker 2>you're right. It has set the book groups of the

0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.280
<v Speaker 2>English language speaking world a light over the past six

0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.240
<v Speaker 2>months since it came out. I'll wager that more than

0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 2>a few kind of marriages in inner city Australia are

0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.760
<v Speaker 2>in peril off the back of people reading this book,

0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:52.000
<v Speaker 2>because it is a book about the kind of ways

0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.600
<v Speaker 2>in which the approved social structures that we all live

0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.360
<v Speaker 2>under might constrain us, but might limit us, might make

0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.760
<v Speaker 2>us feel like we haven't fulfilled our best version of ourselves.

0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.319
<v Speaker 2>And July rites really beautifully about a woman, an artist

0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.240
<v Speaker 2>of a particular age, who suddenly feels suffocated by those

0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.360
<v Speaker 2>constraints and can't take them anymore and tries actively to

0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.440
<v Speaker 2>make some changes. But this is a book that is

0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.960
<v Speaker 2>incredibly playful with ideas of sexuality, of identity, of the

0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.160
<v Speaker 2>ways in which we move in the world, and particularly

0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.560
<v Speaker 2>the ways in which women of a certain age are

0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.920
<v Speaker 2>expected by our society to conduct themselves, and what might

0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:31.800
<v Speaker 2>happen if they don't.

0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:33.840
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. One thing I loved about all four is was

0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.080
<v Speaker 1>that every time I thought I knew where it was going,

0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.880
<v Speaker 1>it completely upended my expectations. I mean, I don't think

0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:42.520
<v Speaker 1>it's much of a spoiler to say that there is

0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.560
<v Speaker 1>an affair of sorts contained within it, And I think

0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.760
<v Speaker 1>I thought I knew where the story of an affair goes.

0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:50.760
<v Speaker 1>We all know what happens with an affair, But it

0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:55.720
<v Speaker 1>turns out I had absolutely no idea where that was going,

0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.680
<v Speaker 1>and that sense of surprise was so delicious.

0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it looks It's a bit of a common thread

0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.480
<v Speaker 2>of all four of these books that I have so

0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.320
<v Speaker 2>loved and relished reading this year, which is that they

0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:12.520
<v Speaker 2>are books by writers, by artists who understand the conventions

0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.520
<v Speaker 2>and the traditions into which they're working and then want

0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.000
<v Speaker 2>to say, well, then what happens if I don't follow

0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.280
<v Speaker 2>those If I'm surprised as a writer, what does that

0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.160
<v Speaker 2>mean for my readers? And what does that give them?

0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.880
<v Speaker 2>And Miranda July, you know, her artistic practice extends beyond

0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.640
<v Speaker 2>the written form. This is only her second novel, but

0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.840
<v Speaker 2>she takes a form that can be very conventional, can

0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.680
<v Speaker 2>have the kind of familiarity of beats, as you say,

0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.720
<v Speaker 2>and July is not satisfied with just following that path.

0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.480
<v Speaker 2>Like her protagonist, she is determined to say, but what

0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.600
<v Speaker 2>if we didn't? What if we asked a question instead

0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:49.560
<v Speaker 2>of made a declarative statement. What if we explored possibility?

0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.600
<v Speaker 2>And for me as a reader, reading something that truly

0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.880
<v Speaker 2>surprises me still is one of those kind of greatest

0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:57.960
<v Speaker 2>joys of reading and the thing that you look at

0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.840
<v Speaker 2>for every time you pick up a new book.

0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:17.040
<v Speaker 1>We'll be back with some honorable mentions after this, So, Michael,

0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.280
<v Speaker 1>do you have any other recommendations, any other books that

0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.840
<v Speaker 1>you secretly can't wait to spend an afternoon with at

0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:23.240
<v Speaker 1>the beach.

0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.720
<v Speaker 2>One book that I am looking forward to reading over

0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.280
<v Speaker 2>the summer is the new Hruki Murakami. It's called The

0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.480
<v Speaker 2>City and it's uncertain walls, and like Murakami, is now

0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.920
<v Speaker 2>enough of a kind of hipster phenomenon that he's much parodied.

0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:38.400
<v Speaker 2>People are like, oh, yeah, it's going to have a

0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.720
<v Speaker 2>jazz bar and a magical cat and a man who's

0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.480
<v Speaker 2>very bad at talking about his emotions. And I'm sure

0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.760
<v Speaker 2>all those things are true, but there is something about

0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:50.360
<v Speaker 2>the way Murakami writes. There's something about the translations from

0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.200
<v Speaker 2>his longtime translator Philip Gabriel, where just the use of language,

0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.600
<v Speaker 2>the relationship between the kind of mundane every day and

0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.880
<v Speaker 2>the kind of magical weirdness of a Morikami book is

0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:03.800
<v Speaker 2>a good time. So I am definitely going to give

0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.960
<v Speaker 2>that a go over the summer. Also, they're massive bricks,

0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.360
<v Speaker 2>so I don't have to run back and forth from

0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.480
<v Speaker 2>the banana lounge to the bookshelf to get other books.

0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:13.359
<v Speaker 2>I can just sit and wallow in that one for

0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:13.960
<v Speaker 2>a little while.

0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.000
<v Speaker 1>Sink yourself in, always with a big toll drink.

0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.800
<v Speaker 2>Yes you know something medicinal.

0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.040
<v Speaker 1>Obviously, Michael, thank you so much for your time.

0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:25.159
<v Speaker 2>Today, Absolute pleasure.

0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:26.840
<v Speaker 1>Ruby have a great summer you too.