Paralympian Ade Adepitan and comedian Dominic Holland talk books with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are: Sue Townsend's delicious tale of teenage angst, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote's 'non-fiction novel' about the murders of four family members in a Kansas farmhouse in 1959 and Roddy Doyle's The Snapper, a comic portrayal of an unplanned pregnancy. Harriett and her two guests talk about the both the comedy and the poignancy to be found in novels about a working class Dublin family and a pompous teenager in 1980s Ashby de-la-Zouch. They debate the mind and motives of a psychopath and Truman Capote's views on the death penalty.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, and Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane, talk about their favourite reads with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are Evelyn Waugh's satire on the Anglo-American relationship staged in and around an LA funeral business, The Loved One, Rachel Holmes' biography of Eleanor Marx, and the children's classic, Charlotte's Web. Conversation ranges from our attitudes to death, to strong women who make bad relationship choices, to what makes great children's literature.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actors, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Steve Oram - discuss favourite books by Annie Proulx, John Steinbeck and Martin Amis.

Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories by Annie Proulx

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Experience by Martin Amis

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian Al Murray, aka The Pub Landlord, and Egyptian political economist, Tarek Osman - discuss their favourite books by Naguib Mahfouz, Philip Roth and Joseph Heller.

Children of The Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Everyman by Philip Roth

Harriett Gilbert and her guest - former MP, Edwina Currie and actor, Nicholas Le Provost - discuss their favourite books by Beryl Bainbridge, Dorothy Whipple and Azar Nafisi.

'An Awfully Big Adventure’ by Beryl Bainbridge.

‘The Priory’ by Dorothy Whipple.

‘Lolita in Tehran’ by Azar Nafisi.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist and author India Knight and financial adviser Alvin Hall - discuss favourite books by Barbara Pym, Rebecca Skloot and Boris Akunin.

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - author, Fay Weldon and Serpentine Galleries curator, Hans Ulrich Obrist - discuss favourite books by Etel Adnan, Gabriel Gbadamosi, RL Stevenson.

Sitt Marie Rose by Etel Adnan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - Notting Hill film director, Roger Michell and writer, Aminatta Forna - discuss favourite books by Laura Alcoba, Mark Twain and Robert Graves.

The Rabbit House by Laura Alcoba

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - broadcaster, Aasmah Mir and beer writer, Pete Brown - discuss great food books by Mohsin Hamid, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and John Lanchester.

Recorded with an audience at the Bristol Food Connections Festival.

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - DJ Annie Mac and author Kathy Lette - discuss their favourite books by John Green, WM Thackeray and Penelope Fitzgerald.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.