A Good Read

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - Irish stand-up comedian, Andrew Maxwell and Pakistani writer, Kamila Shamsie - discuss their favourite books by Doris Lessing, Anita Desai and John Steinbeck.

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

In Pursuit of the English by Doris Lessing

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.

Ellah Allfrey talks to Sally Beauman about her latest novel The Visitors and Darragh McKeon and Hamid Ismailov discuss the environmental legacy of the Cold War on their novels.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian Richard Herring and actor Tracy-Ann Oberman - discuss their favourite books by Jack Womack, Rupert Everett and Kurt Vonnegut.

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack

Vanished Years by Rupert Everett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.

Literary reviews - do women get a fair deal? Musician Ben Watt on his memoir about his parents and South African Crime Writer Mike Nicol on his latest book 'Of Cops and Robbers'.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist, Daniel Finkelstein, Baron Finkelstein of Pinner, and writer, Jill Paton Walsh - discuss their favourite books by Robert Cialdini, Michael J Sandel and Roddy Doyle.

Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B Cialdini

What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J Sandel

The Van by Roddy Doyle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.

Adam Foulds on his latest novel In the Wolf's Mouth; David Park and Naomi Wood discuss the experiences of the wives of great writers; and Lindsey Davis on Quick Reads.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - former Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King and comic actor and writer, Arabella Weir - discuss their favourite books by Machiavelli, Jon Canter and Eric Newby.

The Prince by Machiavelli

A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter

Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.

Deborah Levy revisits her early work; Kapka Kassabova and Miroslav Penkov discuss Bulgarian literature; and the literary pick of publisher Jamie Byng.

Novelists Horatio Clare and Christopher Nicholson discuss the influence of the season of winter in literature.

Carlos Acosta shares his Five of the Best Books and Victoria Hislop on where she writes.