Art historian Kate Bryan and comedian Mark Steel talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books. Kate loves Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing, an inspiring collection of essays which make a case for why art matters. Mark is a big fan of Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle, a comedic memoir about growing up in a Jewish atheist communist family in Liverpool. And Harriett puts forward Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, in which a present-day story converges with ancient rituals to provoke a discussion about how far we have come from the “primitive minds” of our ancestors.

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This week broadcaster and writer Adrian Chiles and musician and sound artist Marty Ware join Harriett Gilbert with their reading suggestions. Martyn nominates A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess which he says has influenced his career as a musician. He even named his band Heaven 17 from a reference in the book. If you can get past the brutality and violence it's a novel that throws up many moral questions about the nature of good and evil. Both he and Adrian Chiles are fascinated by the use of Russian language throughout the book.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Maggie Ayre

Agnes Poirier the French writer and broadcaster and British-Nigerian novelist Nikki May introduce us to their favourite books. Nikki chooses a haunting novel about life after the breakdown of society following a flu pandemic. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel was written well before Covid and was published in 2014. Although it depicts the collapse of civilisation it is not a grimly depressing post apocalyptic read. Centred around a group of travelling actors and musicians the story flips back and forth to their lives before and after the virus making each character much rounder than had they merely been shown as a straggling bunch fighting off feral gangs and surviving against the odds. As a result the book is not only a thrilling adventure it's also moving and ultimately optimistic about the survival of beauty and the human spirit.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Co-host of the 'Scummy Mummies' podcast Ellie Gibson and musician Frank Turner pick their favourite books to discuss with Harriett Gilbert. Ellie's choice is a manifesto about the benefits of order, 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' by Marie Kondo. Frank's choice looks at mental health and addiction in the music industry, 'Bodies: Life and Death in Music' by Ian Winwood. Harriett chooses 'Indelicacy' by Amina Cain, a story about a woman searching for her place in the world which has been described by some as a "ghost story without a ghost".

Produced by Toby Field for BBC Audio, Bristol

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Comedian and author Shaparak Khorsandi and Anne Hegerty AKA "The Governess" on the ITV quiz show 'The Chase' discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Shaparak's choice is about a university lecturer in South Africa who leaves his job after an affair with a student, 'Disgrace' by J.M. Coetzee. Anne selects a story about a musical, bohemian family that in part reminds her of her own family, 'The Fountain Overflows' by Rebecca West. Harriett picks 'Dear Reader' by Cathy Rentzenbrink, a memoir which serves as a love letter to literature.

Produced by Toby field for BBC Audio, Bristol

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Presenter Philppa Forrester and explorer Dwayne Fields discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Philippa's pick is a fun memoir about Nina Stibbe's experiences working as a Nanny in London, 'Love, Nina'. Dwayne chooses a novel about two ill-matched ladies on an adventure in the South Pacific, 'Miss Benson’s Beetle' by Rachel Joyce, and Harriett selects the late Jenny Diski's memoir 'In Gratitude' which was written whilst she received treatment for inoperable cancer.

Produced by Toby field for BBC Audio, Bristol

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Comedians Heidi Regan and Neil Delamere discuss their favourite all-time books with Harriett Gilbert. Heidi chooses a non-fiction book on the cult of positive thinking by the late Barbara Ehrenreich, called Smile or Die. Neil suggests a novel by Ronan Hession about two unambitious friends in their thirties; Leonard and Hungry Paul, and Harriett picks the novella Foster by Irish writer Claire Keegan, who has recently been nominated for the 2022 Booker Prize.

The comedian Ria Lina - who's appeared on the BBC’s Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week - joins Otegha Uwagba - author of Little Black Book, Whites and We Need to Talk About Money - to talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books they love.

Ria chooses Moll Flanders, the 18th-century classic by Daniel Defoe. Otegha picks the popular romance story Like Water for Chocolate by Mexican author Laura Esquivel and Harriett Gilbert brings a book about motherhood; Making Babies by Anne Enright.

Produced by Eliza Lomas

Poet Patience Agbabi and the writer and podcaster Andy Miller advocate for their favourite books. Andy wrote a memoir about reading fifty great books, so it can't have been an easy choice. He plumps for My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley. Patience loves The Animals in that Country, Laura Jean Mackay's novel which starts with a pandemic but soon moves in to less familiar territory. Harriett talks about A Month in Siena, Hisham Matar's memoir of art, architecture and life.

Producer Sally Heaven

Writers Damian Barr and Ben Fergusson recommend books to Harriett Gilbert. Damian chooses the second volume of Janice Galloway's memoir, All Made Up. Ben talks about The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen, and Harriett has gone for Hilary Spurling's biography of Sonia Orwell, The Girl from the Fiction Department.

Producer Sally Heaven