A Good Read

Writer and broadcaster Aminatta Forna is in the presenter's chair this week talking to Pat Barker about Toby's Room, her latest novel set around the First World War. And authors DJ Taylor and Linda Grant discuss the topic: questions never to ask an author.

Comedian and author Russell Kane is in the presenter's chair this week talking to Enid Shomer about her novel which fictionalises a meeting between Gustave Flaubert and Florence Nightingale. Russell also discusses Ian Fleming's James Bond novels with writer Tom Rob Smith and asks: is reading a book better than listening to it being read to you?

Christopher Buckley discusses his latest novel "They Eat Puppies, Don't They?" and Ann Cleeves and Zoe Ferraris discuss setting their crime novels in unusual places and Anthony Cheetham's latest publishing start-up, Head of Zeus

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist, Kevin Maguire and columnist, Lucy Mangan - discuss their favourite books by Florence King, Peter Ackroyd and Simon Gray..

Lucy Mangan's choice:

'Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady' by Florence King

Kevin Maguire's choice:

'The Clerkenwell Tales' by Peter Ackroyd

Harriett Gilbert's choice:

'The Smoking Diaries' by Simon Gray

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in July 2012.

The American travel writer and author Paul Theroux discusses his latest novel The Lower River - how a man's longed for return to Malawi doesn't live up to his happy memories. Theroux also shares his controversial views on aid to Africa as Mariella discusses with him the continent that inspired his writing career and after a very public spat, his renewed relationship with the writer V.S. Naipaul.

Harriet Gilbert and her guests - comedy producer, Jon Plowman and publisher, Tim Coates - discuss favourite books by James Christie, Tobias Wolff and Patrick deWitt.

Tim Coates' choice: 'Dear Miss Landau' by James Christie

Jon Plowman's choice: 'Old School' by Tobias Wolff

Harriett Gilbert's choice: 'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick deWitt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2012.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Ben Fountain about his satirical Iraq War novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Siri Hustvedt discusses her latest book, a collection of essays about her own life: Living, Thinking, Looking. Tom Tivnan, Features and Supplements Editor for The Bookseller, explains the world of internet book sales. And in conjunction with the British Library's Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands exhibition, we continue our series exploring how writers have been inspired by the landscape.

Fairtrade entrepreneur Sophi Tranchell, Radio Times television critic Alison Graham, and presenter Harriett Gilbert discuss their favourite reads.

BOOKS FEATURED IN THE PROGRAMME

Alison Graham's choice: 'The Rain Before it Falls' by Jonathan Coe

Harriett Gilbert's choice: 'Our Man in Havana' by Graham Greene

Producer: John Byrne

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Michael Palin talks about his second novel in seventeen years, called The Truth. Novelist Kitty Aldridge and Professor John Mullan discuss the wit and pathos in the depiction of funerals in literature. And as fans gather in Oxford to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alice Day, we assess the enduring appeal of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the on-going debates surrounding Lewis Carroll's relationship with the young girl.

Harriet Gilbert and her guests - historian, Helen Castor and sustainability activist, Rob Hopkins, - discuss their favourite books by John Stewart Collis, William Golding and Marcelo Figeras.

Rob Hopkins' choice: 'The Worm Forgives the Plough' by John Stewart Collis

Helen Castor's choice: 'The Spire' by William Golding

Harriett Gilbert's choice: Kamchatka by Marcelo Figeras

Producer Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2012.