A Good Read

By BBC Radio 4Arts Books

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Typical duration
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A Good Read episodes

March 15, 2015 Children's Literature
Daniel Hahn talks about updating The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, while two children of novelists - Renny Taylor and Deborah Moggach - celebrate the reissue of their parents' children's books and share memories of growing up with a writer.
28 min
March 10, 2015 Rebecca Front and Laura Dockrill
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress, Rebecca Front and poet and writer, Laura Dockrill - discuss their favourite books by Maria Semple, Jan Struther and Alice Munro.
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
Publisher: Virago
Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple
Publisher: Phoenix
Runaway by Alice Munro
Publisher: Vintage
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
29 min
March 08, 2015 Robert Macfarlane
In Landmarks travel writer Robert Macfarlane celebrates the language of our landscape.
28 min
March 03, 2015 Anita Rani and Katharine Whitehorn
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - presenter, Anita Rani and journalist, Katharine Whitehorn - discuss their favourite books by F Scott Fitzgerald, Terry Pratchett and Yiyun Li.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Wordsworth Classics
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Random House
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
Publisher: 4th Estate
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
29 min
February 24, 2015 Josie Long and Romesh Ranganathan
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedians, Josie Long and Romesh Ranganathan - discuss favourite books by Yann Martel, Clive James and Dan Hancox.
The Village Against the World by Dan Hancox
Publisher: Verso
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Publisher: Cannongate
Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James
Publisher: Picador
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
28 min
February 22, 2015 Open Book: Rabih Alameddine on An Unnecessary Woman
Rabih Alameddine on his new novel An Unnecessary Woman which was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.
28 min
February 17, 2015 John Sergeant and Helen Lewis
The journalists John Sergeant and Helen Lewis, join Harriett Gilbert to discuss three favourite books.
Jeeves and The Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks
Publisher Arrow Books
The Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Publisher Virago
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Publisher Vintage
Producer Beth O'Dea
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
29 min
February 15, 2015 Anne Tyler on her new novel A Spool of Blue Thread
Anne Tyler's writing career spans fifty years and twenty novels, including Breathing Lessons, The Accidental Tourist and A Patchwork Planet. She's a bestselling author who has won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critic Circle Award. In a rare interview she talks to Mariella Frostrup about her new novel, her twentieth, A Spool of Blue Thread.
The Australian novelist Elizabeth Harrower reveals why she gave up a passionate relationship with her writing, while literary admirer Eimear McBride describes why she finds Harrowers' novels an acutely observed portrait of our most intimate relationships.
And Dr Sarah Dillon is back with another undercover investigation into the workings of our classic prose, this time with Dame Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
28 min
February 10, 2015 Susie Dent and Janice Langley
Countdown dictionary buff Susie Dent and WI Chair Janice Langley share some good reads with Harriett Gilbert.
Red Love - The Story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo, translated by Shaun Whiteside
Publisher Pushkin Press
A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison
Publisher Quercus
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P D James
Publisher Faber
Producer Sally Heaven
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
28 min
February 08, 2015 Open Book: SJ Watson, Elif Shafak, and literary love
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.
28 min