Art historian Kate Bryan and comedian Mark Steel talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books. Kate loves Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing, an inspiring collection of essays which make a case for why art matters. Mark is a big fan of Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle, a comedic memoir about growing up in a Jewish atheist communist family in Liverpool. And Harriett puts forward Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, in which a present-day story converges with ancient rituals to provoke a discussion about how far we have come from the “primitive minds” of our ancestors.

Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc

Bret Easton Ellis

This week broadcaster and writer Adrian Chiles and musician and sound artist Marty Ware join Harriett Gilbert with their reading suggestions. Martyn nominates A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess which he says has influenced his career as a musician. He even named his band Heaven 17 from a reference in the book. If you can get past the brutality and violence it's a novel that throws up many moral questions about the nature of good and evil. Both he and Adrian Chiles are fascinated by the use of Russian language throughout the book.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Maggie Ayre

Agnès Poirier, the French writer and broadcaster, and British-Nigerian novelist Nikki May introduce us to their favourite books. Nikki chooses a haunting novel about life after the breakdown of society following a flu pandemic. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel was written well before Covid and was published in 2014. Although it depicts the collapse of civilisation it is not a grimly depressing post apocalyptic read. Centred on a group of travelling actors and musicians, the story flips back and forth to their lives before and after the virus making each character much rounder than had they merely been shown as a straggling bunch fighting off feral gangs and surviving against the odds. As a result the book is not only a thrilling adventure it's also moving and ultimately optimistic about the survival of beauty and the human spirit.

Agnès Poirier's choice is a collection of short stories by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. Agnès wants to make the case for the unsung heroes of the literary world - translators. She has loved Zweig's work since she was a teenager and was surprised to find he was little known in the UK, but quickly discovered that the limited translations of his work were old fashioned and not very good. But thanks to more recent English translations she is happy to see him being more widely recognised in the Anglophone world. Letter From An Unknown Woman is the title story and its account of a lifelong one-sided love affair sees the unknown woman devote her life to a handsome and rather caddish writer who barely notices her. For Agnès it's a universal story of unfulfilled longing that many young girls experience.

The Trees is Harriett's choice of a a good read and it's a novel that hits right between the eyes. Percival Everett sets it in Money Mississippi the town infamous for the brutal torture and murder of the young African American Emmett Till in 1955. The story revolves around the modern day lynching and murder of some of the white KKK descendants of Emmett Till's killers. Enter two African American detectives sent to Money to investigate the spate of ghastly killings. What is so unexpected about The Trees is the laugh out loud humour that cuts through despite its horrific subject matter. Ed and Jim, the two cops, are hilariously funny as is Everett's depiction of Southern redneck small town life.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Chris Power discusses one of the most talked about trends in publishing

Monica Heisey talks to Johny Pitts about her debut novel about divorce in your twenties

Jane Smiley, and writing gay lives from the past with Tom Crewe and Nell Stevens

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

Johny Pitts explores the Queen of Crime's connection to the festive season

Chris Power talks to the author of The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasures.