A Good Read

By BBC Radio 4Arts Books

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Typical duration
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per episode

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A Good Read episodes

October 19 Raymond Antrobus and Guy Gunaratne
Lively conversation around three book choices. Presenter Harriett Gilbert talks to two guests about books they love.
Raymond Antrobus chooses Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Guy Gunaratne chooses The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie
Harriett Gilbert chooses The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Raymond Antrobus is a poet whose memoir The Quiet Ear, which investigates the intersection of race and deafness, was published in 2025. His choice for the programme, Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, is the startling story of a severely disabled woman who blogs pornography from her care home.
Guy Gunaratne is a prizewinning novelist who has chosen Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie's work which explores sex, ill health and photography over the course of their relationship.
Harriett nominates The Mars Room, a novel which looks at the lives, experiences and motivations of the inmates of an American women's prison.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Marco Giugliarelli
28 min
October 12 Andrea Wulf and Selina Brown
Lively conversation around three book choices. Presenter Harriett Gilbert talks to two guests about books they love
EUPHORIA by Lily King
HUNGER PAINS by Derek Owusu
LOVED AND MISSED by Susie Boyt
Selina Brown has written three children's picture books. She is the founder and CEO of the Black British Book Festival. Her book recommendation is Hunger Pains by Derek Owusu - a novel that puts the growing trend of male obsession with appearance and fitness under the spotlight.
Fellow guest Andrea Wulf is author of eight books, including the Founding Gardeners and The Invention of Nature. Her latest, The Traveller, is about the life of ethnographer George Forster, She chooses the novel chooses Euphoria by Lily King. It's based on the life of the life of the American explorer and anthropologist Margaret Mead.
Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt is Harriett's choice - a poignant story about the fierce love of a grandmother who brings up her troubled daughter's child.
Producer: Maggie Ayre, BBC Audio Bristol
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Antonina Gern
28 min
August 03 Dr Vee Kativhu and Susie Riddell
Guests discuss books they love. This time:
Loving and Giving by Molly Keane, chosen by podcaster and Archers actor Susie Riddell
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, chosen by education activist Dr Vee Kativhu
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sarah Goodman
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
28 min
July 27 Lauren Child and David McAlmont
A sharing of book recommendations and lively discussion. Harriett Gilbert is joined by children's author Lauren Child and musician David McAlmont to talk about books they love by George Orwell, Elizabeth Strout and Alan Bennett.
The books are:
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, chosen by Lauren Child
Burmese Days by George Orwell, chosen by David McAlmont
Killing Time by Alan Bennett, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Sally Heaven
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
28 min
July 20 Cariad Lloyd and Geoff Dyer
Writer, actor and comedian Cariad Lloyd and writer Geoff Dyer join Harriett Gilbert for an enthusiastic and robust discussion about favourite books.
The books are:
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard, chosen by Geoff Dyer
Question 7 by Richard Flanagan, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
The Others by Sheena Kalayil, chosen by Cariad Lloyd
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Eliza Lomas
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
28 min
July 13 Joanne Harris and Islam Issa
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, chosen by Joanne Harris
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth by Naguib Mahfouz, chosen by Islam Issa
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
28 min
July 06 Daisy Dunn and Andrew Hunter Murray
The classicist and the author talk about books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. One of the books is eerily prescient about the state of the world today.
The books are:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, chosen by classicist Daisy Dunn
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, chosen by podcaster and author Andrew Hunter Murray
A Life's Music by Andreï Makine, translated by Geoffrey Strachan, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Beth O'Dea
Join us over on instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Timothy Foster
28 min
June 29 Philippa Perry and Stuart Maconie
A special episode of A Good Read, recorded live at the Hay Festival. The books are:
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, chosen by psychotherapist and artist Philippa Perry
All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills, chosen by presenter and writer Stuart Maconie
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Pal Hansen
28 min
June 22 Louise Welsh and Chris Brookmyre
Two Scottish crime writers choose books by:
Iain Banks (Espedair Street)
Muriel Spark (Memento Mori)
And Harriett's choice is Summer by Edith Wharton
Producer: Maggie Ayre BBC Audio Bristol
Photo credit: Julie Broadfoot
28 min
June 15 Harriet Tyce and Matt Edmondson
The books are:
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, chosen by Harriet Tyce
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre, chosen by Matt Edmondson
Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Photo credit: Suki Dhanda
28 min