A Good Read

Journalist, Rachel Johnson, and journalist/broadcaster Martin Kelner join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Beth Gutcheon, Norman Collins and Beryl Bainbridge.

Rachel's choice is about every parent's worst nightmare - the disappearance of a child: Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon.

Martin opts for a weighty story of the capital city and its characters during the Second World War: London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins.

Harriett's choice is the witty and poignant tale of two women, desperately seeking love, lust and wine: The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge.

First broadcast on Radio 4 in November 2011.

Mariella Frostrup continues her celebration of funny books and funny writers with award winning writer A L Kennedy selecting Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One as her favourite funny book. The second installment of Open Book's mini-history of comic writing invites actress Fiona Shaw to join our resident expert John Mullan, Professor of Literature at UCL to explore the impact of Shakespearean and Restoration comedy on the development of the comic novel. And Sarah Hall, award winning writer of four novels, talks about her first collection of short stories The Beautiful Indifference.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by award-winning singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot and computer games industry pioneer Peter Molyneux to discuss their favourite books.

Nerina's choice is an elegiac story of loss and life - The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford.

Peter has picked the gripping and intimate father-son story - The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Harriett's book is an intriguing and occasionally torrid collection of short stories - The Ballad of the Sad Café, by Carson McCullers.

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Penelope Lively about her new novel How it All Began. Ex-Python and Chaucer-enthusiast Terry Jones is joined by Professor John Mullan to discuss medieval bawdy humour. And kicking off the series, John Sessions defends his pick for Open Book's Funniest Book.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by actor David Morrissey and Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips to discuss some of their favourite books.

David Morrissey's choice is the 1934 crime classic 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' by James M Cain.

Trevor Phillips chooses 'The War of the End of the World' by Peruvian Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.

Harriett's choice this week is 'A Handful of Dust' by Evelyn Waugh.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by the BBC's Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders and novelist and journalist Roisin McAuley to discuss favourite books.

Stephanie Flanders' choice is 'The Great Crash 1929', a classic account of financial disaster by one of the twentieth century's most influential economists, John Kenneth Galbraith. A witty and elegant analysis which is compelling even to those who can't tell their leverage from their margins.

Roisin McAuley chooses a novel by the award-winning Patricia Ferguson, 'Peripheral Vision'. The quality of her writing and the intelligence of her psychological insights into her characters has drawn comparisons to Muriel Spark.

Harriett's choice this week is a classic fifties detective story from Dame Ngaio Marsh: 'Singing in the Shrouds', her twelfth novel to feature the detective hero, Roderick Alleyn.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Victoria Hislop about her latest novel, The Thread, a romantic saga set against the backdrop of turbulent Greek history. Kavita Bhanot and Pakistani novelist H.M Naqvi discuss issues currently surrounding young Asian writers. And Swedish crime-writing duo Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom talk about how they tackle contemporary issues… but not how they work together.

Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus at the Royal College of Art, and broadcaster Nikki Bedi talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books they love.

Christopher's recommendation is a passionate political polemic: Ill Fares The Land: A Treatise On Our Present Discontents, by Tony Judt.

Nikki picks The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the story of a boy growing up in an Indian family in America.

Harriett's choice is the first in the celebrated Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin.

Producer: Beth O'Dea

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Mariella Frostrup talks to the Canadian Booker prize winning author Margaret Atwood about her latest book "In Other Worlds. Award winning short story writer Helen Simpson joins Margaret Atwood to discuss the challenge of making issue based fiction readable.And as Haruki Murakami's epic trilogy 1Q84 is published in English simultaneously in America and the UK, writer Hari Kunzru considers whether it lives up to the hype.

Chef Rick Stein and Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, recommend favourite books to presenter Harriett Gilbert.

Lord Dobbs' choice is Train to Trieste by Domnica Radulescu, a powerful love story set in Ceausescu's Romania.

Then Harriett Gilbert brings something completely different to the table: Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.

Producer: Beth O'Dea

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.