Books and Authors
Summary: This podcast features Open Book and A Good Read. In Open Book, Mariella Frostrup talks to leading authors about their work. A Good Read features Harriett Gilbert discussing a range of favourite titles with guests.
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- Artist: BBC Radio 4
- Copyright: (C) BBC 2015
Podcasts:
Film critic Antonia Quirke and actor Kerry Shale talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books. Kerry Shale talks about Blankets, a graphic novel by Craig Thompson. Antonia's choice is A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq by Gavin Maxwell. Harriett Gilbert's recommendation is Short and Sweet: 101 Very Short Poems, edited by Simon Armitage. Produced by Beth O'Dea
Louise Doughty talks to Mariella Frostrup about her thriller Apple Tree Yard, we explore the world of Balkan literature and the first Pan-African prize for debut novelists.
Presenter Vanessa Feltz and performance poet Elvis McGonagall argue passionately with presenter Harriett Gilbert about the much-loved books they've all brought along to recommend as Good Reads. Vanessa's choice is Two People by AA Milne. Elvis McGonagall recommends the Whitbread Prize winning Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington. Presenter Harriett Gilbert brings along a Spanish novel, A Heart So White by Javier Marias, translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Producer Beth O'Dea
Mark Billingham talks to Mariella Frostrup about his latest book The Dying Hours; we discuss reportage in book form; and Thomas Keneally on the book he would never lend.
Terry Deary, author of Horrible Histories, and Iranian-born British comedian Shappi Khorsandi talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books. Terry chooses a novel by G.K. Chesterton: The Napoleon of Notting Hill. Shappi's favourite is Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, by Sue Townsend. And presenter Harriett Gilbert talks about John McGahern's masterpiece, Amongst Women. Produced by Beth O'Dea.
Column McCann on his novel TransAtlantic, which explores the relationship between Ireland and the USA, mental health and fiction, and more weird things people say in bookshops
Mariella Frostrup talk to Native American writer Louise Erdrich about her National Book Award winning book The Round House and looks at the work -and life - of F Scott Fitzgerald.
Mariella Frostrup talks to Tessa Hadley about her latest novel Clever Girl, Cory Doctorow discusses literature and future technology and Ian Rankin on the book he will never lend. .
Mariella Frostrup presents a special programme from The Royal Opera House on the prolific and influential Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott, in the company of biographer Stuart Kelly, authors Denise Mina and Allan Massie and actor Emun Elliott.
Harlan Coben talks to Mariella Frostup about his new thriller novel Six Years. We report from the London Book Fair which this year has given prominence to Turkish publishing. And author Rodge Glass takes a wry literary look at the impact of cheap flights.
Mariella Frostrup talks to Taiye Selasi about her debut novel Ghana Must Go with. Gillian Cross discusses her new book After Tomorrow and dystopian futures for children. And Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - writer and music broadcaster Stephen Johnson on the novel behind the famous opera.
Patrick Ness talks to Mariella Frostrup about his novel The Crane Wife. We look at the way in which the start of Spring inspires novelists with Horatio Clare and John Sutherland. And in the first in our series on precious books, novelist and critic Amanda Craig comes clean about the novel that won't be prised off her book-shelf for love nor money.
Writers Gervase Phinn and Moni Mohsin talk to Harriett Gilbert about books they love. Gervase Phinn chooses A Ragged Schooling by Robert Roberts. Moni Mohsin picks Kim by Rudyard Kipling. And Harriett Gilbert champions Wise Children by Angela Carter. The producer is Beth O'Dea.
Aminatta Forna discusses her latest novel The Hired Man. Mariella delves into the state of the Russian literary scene with Russian Booker winning author Mikhail Shishkin and publisher and editor Natasha Perova. And in the year of the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Water-Babies, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst describes the eccentric life of its author and why he feels it still remains a fantastic story for children.
TV presenter, Konnie Huq's choice is Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton, a dark novel of seedy low-life set in 1930's Earls Court. Hue & Cry pop singer Pat Kane's is a treatise on work and the joy of simply making something, The Craftsman by Richard Sennett. Presenter Harriett Gilbert chooses a disturbing but compelling satire on how far modern parents will go to protect their children, even after they have committed a terrible crime - The Dinner by Herman Koch.
