A Good Read

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - astronomer and Sky at Night presenter, Chris Lintott and Chief Music Critic for The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick - discuss favourite books by Anne Tyler, Olaf Stapledon and Marie Darrieussecq.

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler

White by Marie Darrieussecq

First Men by Olaf Stapledon

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2012.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Marina Lewycka about her latest book, Various Pets Alive and Dead. We'll be discussing why the publishing industry has become so enamoured by the next big author and what is happening to the more established, but not so prominent career novelists with

Harriett Gilbert invites Deborah Meaden from Dragons' Den, and folk-singer and songwriter Eliza Carthy to pick their favourite books.

Eliza chooses Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - a story of a young man who goes to the Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his Grandfather from the Nazis, aided by a blind old man, a randy dog and a very, very bad translator.

Deborah's choice is the historical detective story The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears, the tale of a young woman, Sarah Blundy, accused of murder set against the backdrop of religious, political and intellectual ferment that surrounded England in the 1600s.

Harriett's choice is the idiosyncratic The Emperor's Babe by Bernardine Evaristo. It's a book written entirely in verse and set in Roman Britain, which tells the story of Zuleika, the feisty and precocious daughter of Sudanese immigrants whose head is turned by the arriving Emperor, Septimus Severus.

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Harriett Gilbert's guests this week are the art critic Brian Sewell and the poet Wendy Cope.

Books chosen:

"From the City, From the Plough," by Alexander Baron

"The Moving Toyshop," by Edmund Crispin

"Evening in the Palace of Reason," by James Gaines

Producer Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Mariella Frostrup presents news and features from the world of books. John Lanchester discusses his latest book Capital.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests, historian, Gus Casely-Hayford and educationalist Martin Stephen discuss books by Aminatta Forna, Dan Vyleta and Thomas Hardy.

Gus chooses a fictional account of the fall-out from the conflict in Sierra Leone, Aminatta Forna's "The Memory of Love", which has a natural resonance with Harriett's own choice, "Pavel and I". This is a first novel from Dan Vyleta, set in post-war Berlin.

Martin Stephen brings with him “Poems of Thomas Hardy” selected by Claire Tomalin.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.

Aminatta Forna explores the delights and challenges of the short story. Author and creative writing Tessa Hadley discusses the history and development of the short story, from Edgar Allan Poe, through Chekhov, Mansfield and Monroe, and short story writers Helen Simpson and Jon McGregor, along with Dept. Editor of Granta Magazine Ellah Allfrey discuss what makes a great short story.

Harriett Gilbert talks to children's writer Eleanor Updale and TV and radio presenter Andrea Oliver about favourite books by William Trevor, Mohsin Hamid and Laura Esquivel.

'Love and Summer' by William Trevor

'Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquivel

'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.

William Boyd discusses his latest novel Waiting for Sunrise. With World War One looming, it embraces a sphere of sex, psychoanalysis, scandal and spies.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - writer, Bonnie Greer and scriptwriter, Simon Brett - discuss their favourite books by Alberto Méndez, Michael Green and Annie Proulx.

'Blind Sunflowers' by Alberto Mendez

''The Art of Coarse Acting' by Michael Green

'The Shipping News' by Annie Proulx

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.