The Booker Prize Podcast

December Book of the Month: Any Human Heart by William Boyd

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Sara Cox, host of BBC Two's TV book club, Between the Covers, joins Jo and James to discuss our December Book of the Month: Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Told through the journals of Logan Mountstuart, it's an engrossing – and often funny – novel that takes in many of the defining events of the 20th century and the people who shaped them. The Booker Prize 2002-longlisted book was recently discussed on Between the Covers, so tune in to our podcast as Sara, James and Jo talk about William Boyd's beloved novel, as well as Sara's own reading habits and inspirations.


In this episode Jo, James and Sara talk about:

  • The idea behind television book club Between the Covers
  • The variety of books guests have been bringing to this series of Between the Covers
  • The novels that got Sara into reading at a young age
  • Sara's favourite Booker Prize books
  • How Sara balances reading and her own writing – and whether what she's reading influences her work
  • What the book clubbers on Between the Covers thought of Any Human Heart
  • A brief summary of Any Human Heart and a discussion about its plot
  • Who they'd recommend the book to


    • Reading List:

    • Any Human Heart by William Boyd: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/any-human-heart
    • Life of Pi by Yann Martel: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/life-of-pi
    • The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
    • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
    • Pessimism is for Lightweights by Salena Godden
    • Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
    • Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
    • Catherine Cookson novels
    • Jilly Cooper novels
    • Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/paddy-clarke-ha-ha-ha
    • John Boyne novels
    • Margaret O'Farrell novels
    • Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road
    • A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/a-spool-of-blue-thread


      • A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.


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