Books and Authors

Nihal has chosen Amma, the debut novel by Sri Lankan writer Saraid de Silva, which he compares to meeting someone on a train and having a long, intense conversation. Elif Shafak's choice, however, You're Embarrassing Yourself by Desiree Akhavan, he describes as more like a hilarious night in a pub. Harriett has gone for The Second Murderer by Denise Mina, a Philip Marlowe novel. But is there a need to add to Raymond Chandler's canon?

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven Join the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc

THE COUNTRY OF OTHERS by Leïla Slimani, chosen by Tatty Macleod THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING by Jeffrey Steingarten, chosen by Tim Spector ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Comedian Tatty Macleod chooses a novel by French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, the first volume of a new trilogy telling the saga of a French-Moroccan family between 1946 and 2016.

Scientist and food writer Professor Tim Spector chooses an award-winning collection of essays by food writer and critic Jeffrey Steingarten. His impassioned, funny, and mouth-watering anecdotes are all bound by a gluttonous curiosity that too often tips into obsession.

And Harriett Gilbert chooses a novella by Samantha Harvey called Orbital. Set on the International Space Station, it follows six astronauts as they reflect on life back down on Earth, in all its fury and glory.

Producer: Becky Ripley

In this final edition of Open Book, Johny Pitts and Chris Power celebrate some of the outstanding novels from the last twenty six years.

They are joined by Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018 for her novel Home Fire. Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, and one of this year's Booker Prize judges. Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, and previous chair of the International Booker.

Kamila, Sara and Ted pick out some of the books, including Wolf Hall, Lincoln in the Bardo and On Beauty, which have stood out for them: books they'd recommend to others, and re-read again and again.

Producer: Kirsten Locke

Books List:

Best of Friends – Kamila Shamsie Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins In the City by the Sea – Kamila Shamsie Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro Seasonal Quartet – Ali Smith The Bee Sting – Paul Murray Maps for Lost Lovers – Nadeem Aslam In Memoriam – Alice Winn On Beauty – Zadie Smith

REASONS TO STAY ALIVE by Matt Haig, chosen by Ali Woods ELENA KNOWS by Claudia Piñeiro, chosen by Fee Mak THE DETAILS by Ia Genberg, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Comedian Ali Woods chooses a memoir by Matt Haig based on his experiences of living with depression and anxiety disorder. Moving, funny and incredibly honest, Reasons to Stay Alive is a book which blasts open the way in which we talk about depression.

Presenter and DJ Fee Mak chooses a novel by Claudia Piñeiro called Elena Knows, following a day in the life of Elena, a 63-year-old woman struggling to come to terms with both her own illness and the death of her daughter.

And Harriett Gilbert chooses a short Swedish novel by Ia Genberg called The Details, exploring the relationships that define us, and the small but profound details that stay with us.

Producer: Becky Ripley

Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts discuss AI and the novel.

The two writers choose favourite books. Recorded at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Chris Power explores the writing of Katherine Mansfield on the centenary of her death.

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival the two authors discuss favourite books

Alan Hollinghurst speaks to Chris Power about his new novel, Our Evenings.

Rachel Kushner on her Booker Prize shortlisted novel, Creation Lake and Sarah Moss.

Matt Haig discusses his new novel, The Life Impossible and Lord of the Flies at 70.

Graham Norton speaks to Johny Pitts about his new novel, Frankie.

Elif Shafak discusses her new novel. Hanna Pylväinen on writing about the Arctic Circle.

Evie Wyld, Jessie Cave and Camille Bordas

Lauren Elkin, Michèle Roberts and Maria Balshaw

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, chosen by Rachel Parris DID YE HEAR MAMMY DIED? by Séamas O'Reilly, chosen by Harriett Gilbert BOTH NOT HALF by Jassa Ahluwalia, chosen by Sonali Shah

Comedian and musician Rachel Parris and broadcaster and presenter Sonali Shah join Harriett Gilbert to read each other's favourite books.

Rachel Parris (Late Night Mash, Austentatious) chooses Barbara Kingsolver's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Demon Copperhead, which is based on David Copperfield and boldly takes on America's opioid crisis.

Sonali Shah (Escape to the Country, Pilgrimage, Magic FM) picks Both Not Half: A Radical New Approach to Mixed Heritage Identity by the actor Jassa Ahluwalia, who had always described himself as 'half Indian, half English'. So he decided to come up with a new way of thinking about all kinds of individuality.

Harriett brings a wonderfully funny and loving memoir by the Irish writer Séamas O'Reilly: Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?

Producer: Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol Join the conversation @agoodreadbbc Instagram

Benjamin Myers, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Claire Kohda

RADIO ROMANCE by Garrison Keillor, chosen by Sarah Phelps PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi, chosen by Irenosen Okojie ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER by Rose Tremain, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Two authors pick books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Screenwriter, playwright and television producer Sarah Phelps (The Sixth Commandment, A Very British Scandal, EastEnders) brings us the trials and tribulations of a small-town radio station in the Midwest. Told with humour and irony, but also packs a punch.

Novelist and short story writer Irenosen Okojie (Hag, Butterfly Fish, Speak Gigantular) chooses Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, an autobiographical graphic novel charting the writer's childhood in Iran, set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution, before her move to Austria.

Harriett Gilbert brings Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain, a story about the all-consuming power of first love, set 1960s London.

Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio Bristol Join the conversation on Instagram @bbcagoodread

Irenosen Okojie talks to Johny Pitts about her new book, Curandera.

BOOKS:

WISHFUL DRINKING by CARRIE FISHER FORBIDDEN NOTEBOOK by ALBA DE CESPEDES YELLOWFACE by REBECCA F KUANG

Harriett's guests today are comedian and writer Helen Lederer known for so many roles including as Catrionia in Absolutely Fabulous. Recently she has published her memoir Not That I'm Bitter and set up the Comedy Writing In Print Prize. She has opted for the hugely witty and knowing memoir Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher detailing her tumultuous life as the child of two Hollywood stars who often couldn't separate fantasy from reality. Ilaria Bernardini is an Italian novelist and screenwriter. She is currently working on Bernardo Bertolucci’s final script which Ilaria co-wrote with hi -The Echo Chamber. Her choice is the seminal feminist Italian novel Forbidden Notebook by the Italian-Cuban writer Alba de Cespedes about the inner life of an Italian housewife and Mama of the family. Harriett's choice is Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang - a cautionary tale for our times of plagiarism, cultural appropriation, social media storms and more.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Johny Pitts speaks to Garth Risk Hallberg about his new novel, The Second Coming.

Writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has chosen EF Benson's entertaining tale of competitive snobbery in the 1920s, Mapp and Lucia. In a contrasting choice, neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow advocates for Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, a story of a Ghanaian family transplanted to Alabama which takes in neuroscience and opiate addiction. Harriett has gone for a real crowd-pleaser in E. Nesbit's The Railway Children and all three enjoy a bit of nostalgia for the times when children could run free having adventures around the railway. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven.

VOICES IN THE EVENING by Natalia Ginzburg (trans. DM Low), chosen by Tessa Hadley THE ZONE OF INTEREST by Martin Amis (trans. Jessica Moore), chosen by Sebastian Faulks EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Two authors pick books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Tessa Hadley (Late In The Day, Free Love, After The Funeral) takes us to post-war Italy with Voices In The Evening by Natalia Ginzburg. The drama, suffering and fascism are in the past, but traumas surface in the day-to-day, with first loves and lost chances.

Sebastian Faulks (Birdsong, Human Traces, The Seventh Son) chooses The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis, after watching the hit film by Jonathan Glazer and wanting to read the book it was inspired by. The haunting novel follows a Nazi officer who has become enamoured with the Auschwitz camp commandant's wife, and goes inside the minds of the commandant, who lives with his family right next to the concentration camp.

Harriett Gilbert brings Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, a gripping novella set on the Trans-Siberian Railway, with a chance encounter between a desperate Russian conscript and a French woman.

Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol Join the conversation on Instagram @bbcagoodread

Rita Bullwinkel, Mohsin Hamid and Téa Obreht

Recorded at the Hay Festival

SHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stewart ON THE BLACK HILL by Bruce Chatwin AGAINST NATURE by Joris-Karl Huysmans

Harriett Gilbert takes to the stage in the BBC Marquee at the Hay Festival for a special edition of the programme recorded in front of an audience. Actor and writer Doon Mackichan known for her outrageous character Cathy in the sitcom Two Doors Down chooses Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart as her good read. It's a touching but heartbreaking tale of a young Glaswegian boy's desperate efforts to save his mother Agnes from the alcoholism that ruins and degrades her. It won the Booker Prize in 2020. As we're in Wales Harriett's fitting choice is Bruce Chatwin's On The Black Hill an account of rural Welsh life in the mid 20th century. It's the story of two brothers' lives over 80 years and their connection to land and community. Bruce Robinson actor, director and writer of the hit film Withnail and I which has been adapted for stage chooses a book that features in the final scene of the film. The I character places two books in a suitcase at the end of the film, one of which is A Rebours - Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Bruce confesses that he's not the book's biggest fan but the ensuing discussion provides an entertaining insight into books we might read when we're younger and how differently we feel about them in later life. It's the story of an eccentric recluse Jean des Esseintes in 19th century France who loathes people and creates a fantasy world for himself but ultimately suffers from his self-inflicted pretentious ennui. "I wish I hadn't chosen this book" proclaims Bruce Robinson as he introduces it. "I wish you hadn't chosen it" agrees Doon Mackichan. They then elicit a lot of audience laughter from their deconstruction of this seminal French novel that all three find pretentious.

This is a longer version of the broadcast programme.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Shahidha Bari discusses EM Forster's A Passage to India with Neel Mukherjee, Elizabeth Lowry and Dr Chris Mourant.

ABSENT IN THE SPRING by Agatha Christie (writing as Mary Westmacott) (HarperCollins), chosen by Simon Brett IN THE GARDEN OF THE FUGITIVES by Ceridwen Dovey (Penguin), chosen by Denise Mina HIDE MY EYES by Margery Allingham (Penguin), chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Crime writers Denise Mina and Simon Brett join Harriett Gilbert to read each other's favourite books.

Simon chooses Agatha Christie under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, with Absent In The Spring. It’s a story without any detective and one that, perhaps, reveals a more personal side to Christie's writing.

Denise picks the novel In the Garden of the Fugitives by South African-Australian author Ceridwen Dovey, an epistolary novel which begins with a letter that breaks seventeen years of silence between a rich, elderly man with a broken heart and his former protegee, a young South African filmmaker.

And for the occasion of having two crime authors, Harriett Gilbert picks a golden age crime book, Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham, where private detective Albert Campion finds himself hunting down a serial killer.

Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol Join the conversation @agoodreadbbc Instagram

Johny Pitts talks to Kevin Barry about his new novel, The Heart in Winter

Claire Messud, Kafka and Jiaming Tang

QUARTET IN AUTUMN by Barbara Pym, chosen by Samantha Harvey MRS CALIBAN by Rachel Ingalls, chosen by Harriett Gilbert PHARMACOPOEIA: A DUNGENESS NOTEBOOK by Derek Jarman, chosen by Darran Anderson

Two award-winning writers share books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

Historian and author Kathryn Hughes and No Such Thing As a Fish presenter Dan Schreiber recommend favourite books to Harriett Gilbert. Kathryn chooses Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes, an exploration of the French writer's life in the form of a novel. Dan's choice is very different - John Higgs taking on the conceptual artists and chart toppers The KLF. Harriett has gone for Michael Ondaatje's novel Warlight, set in a murky and mysterious post-war London.

Presenter: Harriett Gilbert

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Sally Heaven

Octavia Bright talks to Maggie Nelson about Like Love, an anthology of essays which explore art and friendship and criticism. And a new prize for climate fiction.

Presenter: Octavia Bright Producer: Nicola Holloway

Sarah Perry talks to Shahidha Bari about her new novel, Enlightenment

Hari Kunzru talks to Shahidha Bari about his new novel, Blue Ruin

Sunjeev Sahota talks to Alex Clark about his new novel, The Spoiled Heart

Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, broadcaster and editor of three anthologies of Irish writing. Her collection of essays, Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards, and now publishes her debut novel, Hagstone.

Hagstone is set on a remote island of the coast of Ireland, it tells the story of Nell an artist whose work takes inspiration from the landscape and folklore. When she receives an invitation to create a piece of art from the Inions, a reclusive commune of women living sustainably on the island, things begin to unravel. Sinead discusses the precarity of living as an artist, the folklore which infuses Hagstone and dedicating the book to the late activist and artist Sinead O' Connor.

The Book Makers by Adam Smyth is a celebration of five hundred and fifty years of the printed book, told through the lives of eighteen extraordinary people. The printers and binders, publishers and artists, paper-makers and library founders - who took the book in radical new directions. We hear about the binder who created Shakespeare's First Folio, a 16th century Dutch printer who created bestsellers on Fleet Street and the Cut and Paste Bible sisters who made art from the gospels.

And Kick the Latch author Kathryn Scanlan discusses her love of Moyra Davey’s Long Life: Cool White, Photographs and Essays.

Book List – Sunday 21 March

Hagstone by Sinéad Gleeson The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers by Sinéad Gleeson The Glass Shore edited by Sinéad Gleeson Constellations: Reflections from Life by Sinéad Gleeson Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey The Book Makers by Adam Smyth

US author Percival Everett talks about his new novel, James - a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, told from the point of view of runaway slave, Jim.

Plus, writing openly about the challenges of motherhood, and doing so with humour. Shahidha talks to two authors who have done just that, in the short story form: Naomi Wood, winner of the BBC Short Story Award, and author of a new collection, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and to Helen Simpson who has written stories about motherhood in books such as Motherhood, and Hey Yeah Right Get A Life over 20 years previously.

Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Emma Wallace

The University of East Anglia's Creative Writing MA turns 50.

Poorna Bell and Tony Law join Harriett Gilbert to talk about their favourite books.

Emma Donoghue discusses her new novel Akin, plus a discussion of the best fiction spies.

Edith Bowman and Harry Baker discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.

Radiohead's bassist Colin Greenwood and comedian Joanne McNally recommend great books.

Dana Czapnik discusses her debut The Falconer and two writers talk about the Black Death.

Ann Patchett, Jia Tolentino and USA book picks with Jonathan Lee and Zack Graham.

Robert Harris discusses his new novel and reflects on 30 years of writing fiction.

Deborah Levy on her bestselling new novel, The Man Who Saw Everything.

A special edition of Open Book from the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Benjamin Myers on his latest The Offing, and Proust's In Search of Lost Time discussed.

Colm Tóibín reflects on the fathers of Irish greats and US bestseller Mary Beth Keane

David Nicholls on his new novel Sweet Sorrow and a reader's guide to Elizabeth Hardwick

Pam Hogg and Mark Billingham choose their books worth reading.

Award-winning poet Ocean Vuong discusses his debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Dolly Alderton and Clare Mackintosh talk about books they love to Harriett Gilbert.

On the centenary of her birth Open Book celebrates the novels of Iris Murdoch

Harriett Gilbert talks to Dom Joly and Kate Hamer about their favourite books.

Mathew Baynton and Aasmah Mir choose favourite books to recommend to Harriett Gilbert.

Will Eaves discusses Murmur, his award-winning novel about Alan Turing

Nicci Gerrard and Gary Younge join Harriett Gilbert to talk about their favourite books.

Irish author Kevin Barry, winner of the Impac Award and the Goldsmiths Prize, discusses his new novel Night Boat to Tangier, a dark comedy billed as Waiting For Godot meets In Bruges.

Novelist and journalist Molly Flatt, who writes about culture and technology for the Bookseller, discusses a growing trend for book versions of successful podcasts.

25 years since the death of Derek Jarman, Mariella is joined by writers Philip Hoare and Mike Parker to explore queer nature writing, a genre concerned with the push and pull of the natural world, from a queer perspective.

Cathy Newman and Jeffery Deaver discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.

Carolina Setterwall and the pleasures of re-reading. With Mariella Frostrup.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Hannah Peel share the books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Pajtim Statovci on his novel Crossing and we explore the work of Gerald Murnane

Stephen Morris and Pippa Evans tell presenter Harriett Gilbert about books they love.

Mia Couto and Wayétu Moore discuss two new African novels exploring colonialism and myth

Ben Smith and Julia Blackburn on Doggerland; Ghana's literary scene; Rosie Price

Bernardine Evaristo discusses her polyphonic new novel Girl, Woman, Other.

An exploration of the rich heritage and bright future of working class writing.

Ali Smith on her new novel, Spring, Easter Eggs in fiction and books to live by

Damian Barr, Candice Carty Williams, Beckett's novels and Julián Fuks literary postcard.

Taylor Jenkins Reid talks about her novel Daisy Jones & The Six. Also we discuss the best older characters in fiction and Reading Clinic suggests books for someone on death row.

Nicola Walker and Sarah Ann Kennedy discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.

Siri Hustvedt discusses her new novel Memories of the Future.

Harriett Gilbert talks favourite books with the comedian and broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika and the cartoonist-author Martin Rowson. Ayesha chooses a novel from Italy: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Martin picks Let's Kill Uncle by Rohan O'Grady, and Harriett's choice is In The Skin of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

Max Porter discusses his new novel Lanny.

The actors Sarah Hadland (Miranda, That Mitchell and Webb Look) and Russell Tovey (Being Human, The History Boys) recommend favourite books to presenter Harriett Gilbert. Sarah's choice is French hit The Elegance of The Hedgehog. Russell's is Close Range: Brokeback Mountain, made into a film with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and Harriett's is The Naked Civil Servant.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

What Makes a Jewish Book; Colm Tóibín on Natalia Ginzburg; Censorship in Kuwait

Harriett Gilbert talks about books with poet Lemn Sissay and novelist Mick Herron.

Rev. Kate Bottley and Ken Cheng talk about the books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Whitney Scharer discusses her novel about the love affair between Lee Miller and Man Ray.

Harriet Gilbert invites singer Tracy Thorne and writer Maggie O'Farrell to choose a book.

Barristers turned crime writers, Mohammed Hanif on Catch 22, Emma Darwin

Comedian Lucy Porter and writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books.

Lucy Porter's voice will be well-known to Radio 4 listeners as a regular on the News Quiz, the Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth. On TV she has appeared on Live at the Apollo, QI, Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. She is also a successful comedy writer. Frank Cottrell-Boyce's credits as screenwriter include Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie and 24 Hour Party People. He is also an award-winning author of novels for children, including Millions, Framed and Cosmic.

Their good reads are Letters from a Lost Uncle by Mervyn Peake, Truckers by Terry Pratchett and Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett.

Producer: Mair Bosworth.

Kristen Roupenian on her new short story collection

Naturalist Brett Westwood and author Kamal Ahmed talk books with Harriett Gilbert.

Writer Scarlett Curtis and comedian Catherine Bohart talk books with Harriett Gilbert.

Chloe Aridjis, Adam Foulds and Leo Benedictus, Gay's the Word Bookshop at 40

A special programme celebrating the breadth and power of writing from the Caribbean

Oyinkan Braithwaite, Books as clutter, Kafka's legacy, True crime in fiction

Open Book explores the legacy of the American writer John Steinbeck

Festive short stories, Hangovers in fiction, Christmas novels, Book choices for 2019

Joyce Carol Oates, Wind in the Willows, October Books and orphans in literature

Donald S Murray, Lyrics and poetry, publishing in Iceland and Greenland

Comedian Gráinne Maguire and alternative history author John Higgs talk to presenter Harriett Gilbert about books they really love. Gráinne chooses Elaine Dundy’s first novel The Dud Avocado, the delightfully funny adventures of a young woman in 1950s Paris. John picks The Patterning Instinct by Jeremy Lent, a history of the world in cultural ideas which offers a brand new way of understanding civilisation and the future. Harriett’s choice is dark wartime novel The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge.

Producer: Beth O'Dea

Lee Child, Southall-set thrillers, crime picks for teenagers

SAS thriller writer Andy McNab and spoken word artist George the Poet choose a good read

Barbara Kingsolver, Northern Irish writing, India’s gay fiction

Barbara Kingsolver discusses her new novel Unsheltered with Mariella Frostrup.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by authors Kamila Shamsie and Jeffrey Archer