A Good Read

Margaret Drabble on her novel The Pure Gold Baby; Sebastian Faulks and Helen Dunmore on WWI novels; and Dedicated to..the wonderful things people write in books to their loved one.

**** Jan Morris joins 4 Extra’s 100 Club: Born 2nd October 1926, she died in 2020 aged 94.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - broadcaster, John Inverdale and journalist, Rachel Cooke - discuss favourite books by Jan Morris, George Orwell and Meg Wolitzer.

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer

Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalists Eve Pollard and Julie Bindel - talk about their favourite books by Richard Ford, Chinua Achebe and David Sedaris.

Canada by Richard Ford

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.

Justin Cartwright on his novel Lion Heart; Joe Sacco on his graphic novel of The Great War

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - former editor of Spiked, Brendan O'Neill, and writer Gabriel Gbadamosi - discuss their favourite books by Graham Greene, Tarjei Vesaas and Michael Dibdin.

Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.

Conn Iggulden on Stormbird, the first in his new series set during the Wars of the Roses; Horatio Clare and Susie Boyt discuss Autumn in literature; and the best of non-fiction.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - choreographer, Arlene Phillips and comedian and actress, Jocelyn Jee Esien - discuss their favourite books by Deborah Moggach, Robyn Travis and William Maxwell.

Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach

Prisoner to the Streets by Robyn Travis

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.

Philip Pullman discusses the great Soviet children's classics of the 1920s and 30s, Jung Chang on Empress Dowager Cixi and Alexander McCall Smith on the book he'd never lend.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - TV's Hotel Inspector, Alex Polizzi, and DCI Banks crime novels author, Peter Robinson - discuss their favourite books by Jonathan Lethem, JL Carr and Dodie Smith.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

A Month in The Country by JL Carr

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.

Sathnam Sanghera on his novel Marriage Material and not just the land of football, Open Book explores Brazil's vast literary scene and the inaugural Harrogate History Festival.