A Good Read

By BBC Radio 4Arts Books

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A Good Read episodes

May 17, 2015 Open Book: Julian Barnes on Keeping An Eye Open
Man Booker prize winner Julian Barnes discusses his new book, Keeping An Eye Open: Essays on Art, Attica Locke on an inspirational book and a tour of Improbable Libraries.
28 min
May 10, 2015 Open Book: Anne Enright on The Green Road
Anne Enright talks about her novel The Green Road, her new role as the Irish fiction laureate, and the latest exciting generation of Irish writers including Sara Baume.
28 min
April 26, 2015 Open Book: Caryl Phillips on The Lost Child
Mariella Frostrup talks to award winning novelist Caryl Phillips whose new novel recalls Wuthering Heights and Mark Ravenhill and Richard T Kelly on a Reader's Guide to Kafka.
28 min
April 19, 2015 Open Book: Mexican Literature
Mexican writers Valeria Luiselli and Jorge Volpi talk about their country's literary heritage and how new voices are re-inventing magical realism.
28 min
April 12, 2015 Open Book: Christopher Bollen on Orient
American novelist Christopher Bollen talks about his novel Orient, a literary murder mystery set in a remote town on the very tip of Long Island.
28 min
March 31, 2015 Ian Rankin and Joe Boyd
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - crime writer, Ian Rankin and record producer, Joe Boyd - discuss their favourite books by Lesley Branch, Mohsin Hamid and Pascal Garnier.
The Wilder Shores of Love by Lesley Blanch
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
Publisher: Penguin
The Islanders by Pascal Garnier
Publisher: Gallic Books
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
29 min
March 29, 2015 Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Mariella is joined by author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, who discusses her acclaimed debut novel Dust, about a splintered family in her native Kenya.
Richard Beard, whose new book Acts of the Assassins, combines the story of the Crucifixion with a modern day detective novel, and Naomi Alderman, author of The Liars' Gospel, discuss the ways they, and others, have re-imagined Bible stories in their fiction.
And Dr Sarah Dillon continues her series of Close Readings by examining a short extract from Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party.
28 min
March 24, 2015 Christopher Frayling and Abi Morgan
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - award-winning screenwriter, Abi Morgan and cultural historian, Christopher Frayling - discuss favourite books by Dave Eggers, Angela Carter and Kyril Bonfiglioli.
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Publisher: Vintage
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Publisher: Picador
Don't Point that Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli
Publisher: Penguin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
28 min
March 22, 2015 Chigozie Obioma
The young Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma talks about his debut novel The Fishermen. Set in a small town in western Nigeria, it combines the traditions of African storytelling with a contemporary narrative of family, politics and history.
Alice Munro and Lydia Davis are two formidable masters of the short story, but this month sees the re-issue of their only novels, Lives of Girls and Women and The End of the Story. Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of East Anglia joins Mariella to discuss the merits of their longer form fiction.
We visit Paris in the springtime with a literary postcard from the writer and publisher Paul Fournel.
Open Book asked astronomer turned writer Pippa Goldschmidt to gather together the writers who have found inspiration in the extraordinary celestial event of the solar eclipse.
28 min
March 17, 2015 Claire Skinner and Louise Welsh
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress, Claire Skinner and author, Louise Welsh - discuss their favourite books by Karl Ove Knausgaard, RL Stevenson and Dorothy L Sayers.
A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Publisher: Vintage
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers
Publisher: Hodder
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
29 min