Books and Authors

S J Watson, author of Before I Go To Sleep which was adapted into a Hollywood movie, talks to Mariella about his new thriller Second Life. Ann Morgan discusses her quest to read a book from every country in the world in one year. Turkish novelist Elif Shafak reveals the book she'd never lend. And with Valentine's Day approaching writer Rebecca Stott considers some literary declarations of love - from women.

Maureen Lipman and Frankie Boyle talk about their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Under discussion: Michael Blakemore's recollections of testing times under Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre in Stage Blood, Barbara Trapido's first novel, Brother of the More Famous Jack, and Something Happened, Joseph Heller's follow up to Catch 22.

David Lodge is a novelist, critic and academic and now he's written a memoir. He talks to Mariella Frostrup about a lifetime in literature.

Canadian writer Emma Hooper on her first book, Etta and Otto and Russell and James - which created a publishers' bidding war last year. And the mystery surrounding Elena Ferrante.

Acclaimed American novelist Ben Lerner on his playful second novel 10:04 which tackles questions of time, identity and story writing.

Sir Richard Eyre's distinguished career as a director encompasses both theatre and film. He ran the National Theatre in London for ten years and also created acclaimed productions of Guys and Dolls and Mary Poppins. For the big screen he's directed Notes on a Scandal and Iris. He talks to Mariella Frostrup about his five favourite books, and how they shaped his life.

Christmas, with all its tradition and rituals and emotion, has always provided a rich source of material for writers. In this programme Mariella Frostrup and her guests John Mullan and Jessie Burton explore what it offers twentieth century novelists; from James Joyce and his argumentative Christmas lunch in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man via Patrick Hamilton's bleak 1940's boarding house Christmas Eve in The Slaves of Solitude, to Bridget Jones, in the 1990s, having to return home to her family yet again - still single. And Jonathan Franzen discusses his prize winning book The Corrections which is all about a mother, Enid Lambert, trying to persuade her grown up children to come home for one last Christmas.

The actor and comedian BJ Novak has written his first children's book. The Book With No Pictures is, as its title suggests, text-only. Despite this it must be doing something right because it's topped the New York Times bestseller list. BJ Novak talks to Mariella about why he chose to omit the illustrations - even on the cover. Peter Walker from New Zealand and Australian writer Evie Wyld have each written about the legacy of the Vietnam war in their fiction. They talk to Mariella about the impact of that war on Antipodean fiction, a war some feel has been partly written out of their countries' history. Ben Elton, novelist, stand-up, writer of musicals, co-creator of Blackadder, shares the Book He'd Never Lend, a comic masterpiece which he loves for its refreshing lack of cynicism.

Comedians Sean Lock and Roisin Conaty discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. One of the novels on the agenda is Margaret Atwood's dystopian classic The Handmaid's Tale, which changed a young Roisin's whole world view. Sean's choice is the Getaway by Jim Thompson with its weird ending, and Harriett chooses Beryl Bainbridge's novel set on the Titanic, Every Man for Himself.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Mal Peet about his latest book The Murdstone Trilogy, his first novel for adults. Beta Life is an experiment which sets out to discover what happens when you mix writers and scientists in a creative laboratory, the result is a diverse collection of short story stories all set in 2070. And novelist Tomas Gonzalas, author of In The Beginning Was The Sea, delivers his literary postcard from the foothills of Colombia.

Dawn O'Porter and Graham Fellows, AKA John Shuttleworth, talk with Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books, including two tales of alienation, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse and Green Girl by Kate Zambreno, and Nancy Mitford's gossipy tale of adultery and a scheming child in post war France and England.

Mirza Waheed is a Kashmiri novelist whose new book, The Book of Gold Leaves, is a Romeo and Juliet style love story set in wartorn 1990s Srinagar. He talks to Mariella about whether he feels a responsibility to write about his home country and the conflict there. Also on the programme, vampire chronicler Anne Rice reveals the book she'd never lend and a new series: Close Readings - examining how great writing works.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by food blogger Jack Monroe and comic actor Doon MacKichan to talk about the books they love, including Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay and The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Producer Beth O'Dea

Pulitzer prize winning author Marilynne Robinson on her new book Lila, the third novel from her bestselling series set in the fictional town of Gilead. Novelist Tim Parks discusses how, and why, we read. And we visit a haven for lovers of literature in Liverpool to hear about about the joys of shared reading.

Janet Street Porter and crime writer Martina Cole discuss their good reads with Harriett Gilbert. The guests talk - and vociferously disagree - over American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld's fictionalised biography of Laura Bush, The Iron King, the first novel of Maurice Druon's 1950s series which has been hailed as 'the original Game of Thrones', and Muriel Spark's classic novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye