A Good Read

Paralympian Ade Adepitan and comedian Dominic Holland talk books with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are: Sue Townsend's delicious tale of teenage angst, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote's 'non-fiction novel' about the murders of four family members in a Kansas farmhouse in 1959 and Roddy Doyle's The Snapper, a comic portrayal of an unplanned pregnancy. Harriett and her two guests talk about the both the comedy and the poignancy to be found in novels about a working class Dublin family and a pompous teenager in 1980s Ashby de-la-Zouch. They debate the mind and motives of a psychopath and Truman Capote's views on the death penalty.

Jessie Burton takes Mariella Frostrup back to Golden Age Amsterdam with her acclaimed debut, The Miniaturist, plus Viv Groskop and Matt Haig on this summer's best beach reads.

Tom Campbell and Nikesh Shukla on writing about this generation's alienated young men.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, and Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane, talk about their favourite reads with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are Evelyn Waugh's satire on the Anglo-American relationship staged in and around an LA funeral business, The Loved One, Rachel Holmes' biography of Eleanor Marx, and the children's classic, Charlotte's Web. Conversation ranges from our attitudes to death, to strong women who make bad relationship choices, to what makes great children's literature.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actors, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Steve Oram - discuss favourite books by Annie Proulx, John Steinbeck and Martin Amis.

Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories by Annie Proulx

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Experience by Martin Amis

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.

Richard Flanagan on why he had to write about the Thai-Burmese Death Railway. A celebration of the cult author Robert Aickman, a tip from Peter Straus and all about Self-Help.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian Al Murray, aka The Pub Landlord, and Egyptian political economist, Tarek Osman - discuss their favourite books by Naguib Mahfouz, Philip Roth and Joseph Heller.

Children of The Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Everyman by Philip Roth

A special edition from Oxford, explores why the city is often called the home of children's literature, with Philip Pullman, Katherine Rundell and publisher David Fickling.

Harriett Gilbert and her guest - former MP, Edwina Currie and actor, Nicholas Le Provost - discuss their favourite books by Beryl Bainbridge, Dorothy Whipple and Azar Nafisi.

'An Awfully Big Adventure’ by Beryl Bainbridge.

‘The Priory’ by Dorothy Whipple.

‘Lolita in Tehran’ by Azar Nafisi.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist and author India Knight and financial adviser Alvin Hall - discuss favourite books by Barbara Pym, Rebecca Skloot and Boris Akunin.

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.