Chiltern Voice Book Club

Antonia discusses perfect books for Christmas giving with prolific reader and book blogger Clare Reynolds (@yearsofreading).

Clare’s song choices were
Step into Christmas - Elton John
Mary’s Boy Child - Boney M
O Holy Night - *NSYNC
I ‘ll be home for Christmas - Doris Day
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
The Power of Love - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Mrs Santa Claus - Nat King Cole
2000 Miles - The Pretenders
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas - Michael Bublé
Christmas Saves the Year - 21 Pilots
When a child is born - Johnny Mathis
It’s the most wonderful time of the year - Andy Williams

Sophia Bennett talks perseverance, reinvention and the rewards of self-compassion as we untie the wonder of The Windsor Knot, in which Queen Elizabeth II turns Golden Age detective.



Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
Kylie - Santa Baby
Ian Dury - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Madeleine Peyroux - Dance Me To The End of Love
Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls
David Bowie - Fashion
Siouxie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence
The Beatles, In My Life
Maria Muldaur - Midnight at the Oasis
Pearl Jam - Alive
Postmodern Jukebox - Creep
Lovely Day, Bill Withers

Sam Mills talks about her beautiful and tender memoir, The Fragments of My Father; about love, loss and Leonard Woolf; about the power and cost of caring; about writing, Will Self and setting up an independent press. We get a bit cross. We laugh. We hope you’ll join us.

Life on Mars - David Bowie
Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
Must be Dreaming - Frou Frou
Angeles - Enya
Cold War - Dwa Serduska, Joanna Kulig
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Vesuvius - Sufjan Stevens
Runaway - The National
Angel - Sally Herbert
Blue Jeans - Lana del Rey
Dreamer - Livin’ Joy
Bad Girl - Madonna

Journalist, film-maker and sorta-biographer Darren Richman joins Book Club to talk comedy, writing partnerships and Pat Sharp, and we meander (at least partly drawn by Leonard Cohen and Jarvis Cocker) into a strangely life-affirming place where comedy and tragedy meet, as Darren describes his next writing project. (DISCLAIMER: My love for Pat Sharp in his Capital Radio years was sincere and completely non-ironic and Darren copes with it brilliantly.)

Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks
Bad Cover Version by Pulp
Young at Heart by Frank Sinatra
Yesterday by The Beatles
Superstition by Stevie Wonder
Keep Me in Your Heart by Warren Zevon
Hard to Explain by The Strokes
Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen
Wildflowers by Tom Petty
Being Boring by Pet Shop Boys
Sound and Vision by David Bowie
Hung Up by Madonna

Writer and musician James Cook discusses his tender and moving memoir about connecting with his autistic daughter through music, including his own experiences with 90s band Flamingoes.

Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Life’s What You Make It - Talk Talk
Love is Like an Itching in my Heart - The Supremes
Common People - Pulp
Running Away - Flamingoes
Here Comes the Sun - Nina Simone
Going Down to Liverpool - The Bangles
You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry
Pearly Dewdrops Drops - The Cocteau Twins
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves

Naturalist, television producer and prolific writer Stephen Moss joins me to talk about birds - all kinds of birds, but particularly the swallow, which is the subject of his latest book. We discuss lockdown, writing and the healing power of nature, with a healthy dose of Bill Oddie. Stephen also shares the moving story of meeting his father in his forties and speaks powerfully of the strength and support of family.

Stephen's songs were :
She Loves you -The Beatles
Rocket Man - Elton John
All the young Dudes - Mott the hoople
Cum on Feel the Noize - Slade
Sylvia - Focus
Make me Smile - Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
Star Man - David Bowie
Penny Lane - The Beatles
I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Tracks of my Tears - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Angels - Robbie Williams

Bestselling author Una McCormack and I boldly go where no edition of Book Club has gone before as we talk Blake`s Seven, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek and the power of space opera to change the world.

Una`s songs were:
Come All Ye Rolling Minstrels - Fairport Convention
Driving Sideways - Aimee Mann
Space Girl - The Imagined Village
Marlene on the Wall - Suzanne Vega
Wall of Death - Richard and Linda Thompson
Rubberband Girl - Kate Bush
Galileo - Indigo Girls
Peace Train - 10,000 Maniacs
The Name of the Game - ABBA
Us Amazonians - Kirsty MacColl
Nightswimming - REM
Thank You for Hearing Me - Sinead O`Connor

Amanda Jennings discusses her long and often challenging journey to her current status as the Queen of Cornish Noir with honesty warmth and generosity. We talk perseverance, family, the brilliance of teenagers and the importance of friends as well as her tense and unsettling novels, from Sworn Secret to The Storm.

Her songs were :
Love Cats - The Cure
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Creep - Radiohead
Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
Zombie - The Cranberries
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
Rebel Yell - Billy Idol
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Changes - David Bowie
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Bury It - The Chvrches

Miranda Dickinson is made of glitter and starlight, two qualities which she sprinkles liberally into her bestselling stories of love and romance. Her publication story is a source of encouragement to all aspiring writers as, with her steely work ethic and belief in joy, is Miranda herself. With bonus bearded Whovians..

Her songs were :
I Don't Want to Know - Sigrid
Just You and I - Tom Walker
Photograph - Ed Sheeran
The Call and the Answer - Kris Drever
Real Love - Tom Odell
Skyworld - Two Steps from Hell
In Her Eyes - Josh Groban
Flowers in the Window - Travis
Cup of Tea - Kacey Musgraves
The World Spins Madly On - The Weepies
The Star That Guides You Home - Emma Stevens
The Right Track - Mary Bragg

Bestselling historian Anne Sebba enthralls with her stories of Elizabeth Taylor and Madonna, the unknown letters of Ernest and Wallis Simpson, being Reuters` first female journalist, love, loss - and writing. Anne`s songs were:
The Beatles - Yesterday
Ella Fitzgerald - The Man I Love
Leonard Cohen - So Long, Marianne
Peter Sarstedt - Where do you go to, my lovely
Roberta Flack - Killing me softly
Edith Piaf - La Vie en Rose
Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
Don Maclean - American Pie
Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke - Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
Elton John - Can you feel the love tonight