A novel about compassion set against the backdrop of the Aberfan disaster is comedian and actor Omid Djalili's choice of a good read. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe is a novel about a young man who becomes an embalmer and who goes straight from his graduation ceremony to help at the site of the tragedy in Aberfan to take care of the deceased's bodies. That experience is to shape the rest of his life and his relationships with his mother and wife as well as an early schoolfriend are all affected.

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol

Julie Hesmondhalgh is a well known face on television and stage. Recently she has been in The Pact on BBC1 and played Hayley in Coronation Street. Her choice of book is Notes To Self by Emilie Pine - a raw and powerful memoir of life for a young Irish woman. It's not a 'mis-mem' or misery memoir as Julie is keen to point out, rather a life affirming and honest account of womanhood, a book she has given copies of to many women friends.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

BAFTA winning actor Joanna Scanlan champions The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe's tale of Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and US counter culture. Writer Sabine Durrant's favourite is Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, a simple but powerful story of a man's moral predicament in a small Irish community. Harriett enjoys Georgette Heyer's romance set in 1816, The Grand Sophy.

Comedian Jessica chooses The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, by Will Storr, provoking a discussion about whether you can empathise with someone, no matter what they believe. Harriett loves The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell, leading to speculation about which of them would be sent to an asylum had feminism not moved things on somewhat. Writer Molly's choice of You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy causes everyone to listen attentively to what the others are saying.

Actor Alistair Petrie, from TV series Sex Education, found Joan Didion's meditation on grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, unexpectedly uplifting. Writer Alex Wheatle, subject of one of Steve McQueen's Small Axe films, found Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island a means of escape from the horrors of his childhood, and presenter Harriett Gilbert enjoyed Men Don't Cry, by Faiza Guene.

Radio 1 and CBBC presenter Katie Thistleton and historian and author Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books. Suzannah's choice is Nicci Gerrard's 'What Dementia Teaches Us about Love". Harriett opts for 'The Good Doctor' by Damon Galgut, and Katie's pick is 'And Now for the Good News' by Ruby Wax.

Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Toby Field

CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry and comedian and writer Rob Deering are Harriett Gilbert's guests this week. Rob picks a staple of the literary canon, 'Mansfield Park' by Jane Austen, a frothier read than perhaps anyone remembers featuring the "Indiana Jones of 19th century social graces”. Lauren chooses the Japanese dystopian novel 'The Memory Police' by Yōko Ogawa, which she says draws parallels with the political realities of today. 'Kiss Myself Goodbye' by Ferdinand Mount is Harriett's choice in which Mount searches for the truth behind his mysterious Aunt Munca, uncovering a history of deceptions, false identities and abandonment.

Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Toby Field

Gillian Burke and Dee Caffari discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Gillian picks 'Braiding Sweetgrass' by Robin Wall Kimmerer which explores the author's relationship with the natural world. Dee's choice is 'Turn the Ship Around' by L. David Marquet, which is a submarine Captain's account of how he changed the leadership style aboard the USS Santa Fe. Harriett's pick is 'O Caledonia' by Elspeth Barker, a darkly comic story of a perpetually misunderstood sixteen year old in Scotland.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field

Katherine Rundell and Nathan Filer bring their favourite reads to Harriett Gilbert. Katherine has chosen the poetry of John Donne, Nathan loves The Shapeless Unease by Samantha Harvey, and Harriett is keen to hear everyone's views on Sylvia Plath's only novel, the Bell Jar.

'How can you feel fed up?' when you read PG Wodehouse is Alan Titchmarsh's answer when asked why he chose Summer Lightning. Harriett remarks that Wodehouse has been chosen on the programme twice in the last year and wonders if many of us are seeking the simplicity of Wodehouse's writing about the pre-internet days of rural Shropshire as 'comfort reading' during worrying times.

Producer: Maggie Ayre