You're Booked

This week we're delighted to delve into the reading habits of a genuine living legend: Irvine Welsh! Irvine is an acclaimed and frequently controversial novelist, playwright, director screenwriter and short story writer. His first novel was the massively popular Trainspotting (turned into an equally popular film) and he has produced 10 more novels with the latest being The Seal Club, a collaboration with Alan Warner and John King. We talked to him about rereading, music books, the joys of a chunky read, the importance of Evelyn Waugh and how he may have inadvertently killed Waugh's son, Auberon. To learn more or donate to the charity FareShare visit FareShare.org.uk

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting

Irvine Welsh - Seal Club

Elizabeth Jane Howard - Cazalet Chronicles

Alan Warner - Kitchenly 434

Michel Faber - Crimson Petal and the White

Don DeLillo - Underworld

James Joyce - Ulysses

Alasdair Gray - Lanark

William Burroughs - Naked Lunch

Raven Leilani - Luster

Jenni Fagan - Luckenbooth

Evelyn Waugh - Decline and Fall

Evelyn Waugh - Men at Arms

Penelope Lively - Perfect Happiness

JT Leroy - Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

James Frey - A Million Little Pieces

James Frey - Bright Shiny Morning

F Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night

Jenni Fagan - Sunlight Pilgrims

Mark Lanegan - Sing Backwards and Weep

Cat Marnell - How To Murder Your Life

Irvine Welsh - Glue

Irvine Welsh - Marabou Stork Nightmares

Irvine Welsh - Skag Boys

Ned Beauman - Boxer Beetle

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This week we are honoured to be talking to the astounding author Nikita Lalwani! Nikita's first book, Gifted, was long-listed for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Desmond Elliott Prize. Her next novel The Village won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered award. Her latest novel is the breathtaking, You People, which has been widely critically acclaimed. We talked to her about fictional secrets, the power of the single line, literary families and pretending to be Stig of the Dump.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Nikita Lalwani - Gifted

Nikita Lalwani - You People

Mary Norton - Borrowers

Clive King - Stig of the Dump

Salman Rushdie - Midnight’s Children

Bharati Mukherjee - Wife

James Salter - Light Years

James Salter - Sport and a Pasttime

James Salter - Life is Meals

James Salter - Hunters

James Salter - Last Night

Doris Lessing - Stories

Maeve Brennan - Rose Garden

Mavis Gallant - Stories

Grace Paley - Stories

Doris Lessing - Winter in July

Doris Lessing - Martha Quest

Tessa Hadley - Bad Dreams

Tessa Hadley - Late in the Day

Sue Miller - Monogamy

Carol Shields - Larry’s Party

Sonia Faleiro - Good Girls

Janet Malcolm - Journalist & the Murderer

Toni Cade Bambara - Gorilla My Love

Zadie Smith - Intimations

Sinead Gleeson - Constellations

Patrick Freyne - Ok Let’s Do Your Stupid Idea

John Irving - World According To Garp

Don DeLillo - White Noise

Tillie Olsen - Tell Me a Riddle

Darcy O’Brien - A Way of Life Like Any Other

CS Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia

Arthur Ransome - Swallows & Amazons

Enid Blyton - Malory Towers

Enid Blyton - Enchanted Wood

Vivek Shanbhag - Ghachar Ghochar

Zaina Arafat - You Exist Too Much

Muriel Spark - Far Cry From Kensington

Mary Wesley - Imaginative Experience

Pamela Frankau - Wreath For the Enemy

F Scott Fitzgerald - Great Gatsby

Zadie Smith - NW

Anita Brookner - Look At Me

Anita Brookner - Friend From England

Andrew O’Hagan - Mayflies

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This week we are snuffling around the bookshelves of comedian and author Mark Watson! Mark is a well-known face on British TV, appearing on show such as QI and Taskmaster and he's renowned as an award-winning stand-up. He's also the author of nine books including the graphic novel Dan and Sam, the non-fiction work Crap at the Environment and novels including Eleven, Hotel Alpha and his latest Contacts (which deals with issues surrounding suicide and mental health - if you're affected by this then the Samaritans are always there). We talked to him about loving Agatha Christie, bookshop positioning, reading on planes and why you should never trust a book that features a map. For details on how you can bid to be a guest on You're Booked (and win lots of lovely books) head to Books To Nourish.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Mark Watson - Contacts

Derren Brown - Happy

Derren Brown - A Little Happier

James Smythe - I Still Dream

Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones and the Six

Sarah Waters - Little Stranger

Sarah Waters - Fingersmith

Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie - A Murder is Announced

Richard Powers - The Overstory

Lucy Ellmann - Ducks, Newburyport

Ros Barber - Marlowe Papers

Ann Patchett - State of Wonder

Ann Patchett - Dutch House

Jilly Cooper - Between the Covers

EL Doctorow - Ragtime

Mohsin Hamid - How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

Mohsin Hamid - Exit West

Mohsin Hamid - Reluctant Fundamentalist

George Orwell - 1984

Extinction Rebellion - This is Not a Drill

Jonathan Safran Foer - We Are The Weather

Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated

Daphne Du Maurier - Rule Britannia

David Nicholls - One Day

Flann O’Brien - Third Policeman

John Fowles - Magus

Flann O’Brien - At Swim Two Birds

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This week we are in the fine company of writer, performer and former doctor Adam Kay! Adam's first book This is Going To Hurt spent over a year at number one in the bestseller list. It became the bestselling non-fiction title of the decade, the bestselling non-fiction e-book of all time and the winner of four National Book Awards. His next three titles, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, Dear NHS and his new book for children Kay's Anatomy have become instant bestsellers. We talked to Adam about the therapy of reading and writing, bizarre bodily functions, funny books and why you should never read on the toilet.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - How To Be a Grown Up

Daisy Buchanan - The Sisterhood

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Adam Kay - This is Going To Hurt

Adam Kay - Kay’s Anatomy

Adam Kay (Editor) - Dear NHS

Mark Watson - Contacts

F Scott Fitzgerald - Great Gatsby

Alan Bennett - Lady in the Van

Graham Greene - Brighton Rock

Victoria Wood - Plays

Jasper Rees - Victoria Wood: Let's Do It

Alan Partridge - I, Partridge

Alan Partridge - Nomad

Richmal Crompton - Just William

PG Wodehouse - Jeeves and Wooster

Elinor Lipman - On Turpentine Lane

Eric Carle - Very Hungry Caterpillar

Jonathan Coe - What a Carve Up

Jonathan Coe - Middle England

Jonathan Coe - House of Sleep

Jonathan Coe - Rotter’s Club

Matthew Walker - Why We Sleep

Nina Stibbe - Love Nina

Sue Townsend. - Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

Norton Juster - Phantom Tollbooth

Lucy Mangan - Bookworm

Cathy Rentzenbrink - Dear Reader

Cathy Rentzenbrink- Last Act of Love

Cathy Rentzenbrink - Manual for Heartache

Nick Hornby - How To Be Good

Zadie Smith - Intimations

Zadie Smith - White Teeth

JRR Tolkien - Lord of the Rings

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones’s Diary

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With around 300 million books sold in 97 countries and translated into 33 languages, who wouldn't want to know about the reading habits and writing tips of Jeffrey Archer? Since writing his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in 1974, Jeffrey has written nearly 50 titles, the latest being Hidden in Plain Sight, and is the only author to have been number 1 in fiction, non-fiction and short stories. We talked to him about his favourite author, being huge in India, being disappointed by book sales and prison reading.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Jeffrey Archer - Hidden in Plain Sight

Ian Fleming - Casino Royale

Amor Towles - Gentleman in Moscow

Heather Morris - Tattooist of Auschwitz

Dickens - Tale of Two Cities

Dickens - Christmas Carol

Dumas - Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas - Three Musketeers

Noel Streatfeild - Ballet Shoes

Jeffrey Archer - Kane and Abel

Patrick Freyne - Ok Let's Do Your Stupid Idea

Jeffrey Archer - Prison Diaries

James Joyce - Finnegans Wake

Lampedusa - Leopard

Jane Austen - Emma

Agatha Christie - Poirot

Jeffrey Archer - Clifton Chronicles

PG Wodehouse - Jeeves

Alberto Moravia - Woman of Rome

Siri Hustvedt - What I Loved

Lissa Evans - V for Victory

Bill Bryson - The Body

Stefan Zweig - Beware of Pity

Jeffrey Archer - Paths of Glory

Elif Shafak - Three Daughters of Eve 

Stefan Sweig - Farewell to Europe

Abi Dare - Girl With the Louding Voice

Jung Chang - Wild Swans

Richard Adams - Watership Down

CS Lewis - Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Roald Dahl - BFG

Jeffrey Archer - Not a Penny More

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This week we are delighted to spend some time with the author, playwright, screenwriter, performer and all-around inspiration Alex Wheatle MBE! Alex's first book was 1995's award-winning Brixton Rock and he has followed that with numerous critically acclaimed works for adults, young adults and children with the latest being Cane Warriors. We talked to Alex about the importance of music in his work, being inspired by the Beano, learning to love reading while in prison and the experience of having your life story turned into a film by the Oscar-winning Steve McQueen. You can find the Dialogue Books Black History Month reading list HERE.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Alex Wheatle - Cane Warriors

CLR James - Black Jacobins

Malcolm X - Autobiography

Alex Haley - Roots

Langston Hughes - Collected Poems

Chester Himes - Rage in Harlem

James Baldwin - Fire Next Time

Mark Twain - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Selected Poems

Marcia Williams - Baby Mother

Naomi King - OPP

Karline Smith - Moss Side Massive

Courttia Newland - The Scholar

Stephen Thompson - Toy Soldiers

Peter Kalu - Lick Shot

Alex Wheatle - Brixton Rock

Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe

EA Ritter - Shaka Zulu

Alex Wheatle - Liccle Bit 

Alex Wheatle - Crongton Knights

Danielle Jawando - And The Stars Were Burning Brightly

Raymond Chandler - Big Sleep

Colleen McCullough - Thorn Birds

Vivien M Goldman - Book of Exodus

Marlon James - Brief History of 7 Killings

Timothy White - Catch a Fire

Steve McQueen - Small Axe

Patrice Lawrence - Eight Pieces of Silva

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This week we are delighted to be joined by the internationally bestselling and multi award winning Louise O'Neill! Louise's novel Asking for It won Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and Only Ever Yours won Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and the Bookseller YA Prize. Her latest is the already acclaimed thriller After the Silence. We talked to her about diversifying your reading, being an obsessive child reader, living in New York and how ideas can be magical.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - How To Be a Grown Up

Daisy Buchanan - Sisterhood

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Dale Shaw - Painfully British Haikus

Louise O’Neill - After the Silence

Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Francine Pascal - Sweet Valley High

Enid Blyton - St Clare's

Enid Blyton - Secret Seven

Enid Blyton - Magic Faraway Tree

Joyce Lankester Brisley - Marigold in Godmother's House

Rhonda Byrne - Secret

Mildred D. Taylor - Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah

Kiley Reid - Such a Fun Age

William Boyd - Any Human Heart

Louise O’Neill - Almost Love

Belinda McKeon - Tender

Belinda McKeon - Solace

Eva Ibbotson - Secret Countess

Lauren Weisberger - Devil Wears Prada

Muriel Spark - Girls of Slender Means

Ann Patchett - Dutch House

Ann Patchett - Bel Canto

Ann Patchett - Commonwealth

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic

Ann Patchett - State of Wonder

Dolly Alderton - Ghosts

Lucy Foley - Guest List

Stephen King - Carrie

Curtis Sittenfeld - Eligible

Louise O’Neill - Surface Breaks

Jane Austen - Emma

Louise O’Neill - Only Ever Yours

Erin Kelly - We Know You Know

Tana French - Searcher

Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies

Caroline Corcoran - Baby Group

Caroline Corcoran - Through the Wall

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This week we are in the hilarious, wise and fascinating hands of author, publisher, teacher and essayist Emily Gould! Emily is the author of And The Heart Says Whatever, Friendship, and Perfect Tunes, as well as contributing to Bookforum, The New Yorker, Elle, The Cut and many others. She also runs Emily Books, which sells and publishes books by women. We discussed great books about music, the darkness of kid's books, the joys and pain of being a publisher and separating art from the artist.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - How To Be a Grown Up

Daisy Buchanan - Sisterhood

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Emily Gould - Perfect Tunes

Madeline Miller - Circe

Demi Moore - Inside Out

Lauren Oyler - Fake Accounts

Eileen Myles - Inferno

Patti Smith - Just Kids

Anna Wiener - Uncanny Valley

Emily Gould - Replaying My Shame

EB White - Charlotte’s Web

EB White - Letters

Madeleine L'Engle - Wrinkle in Time

Caroline Corcoran - Baby Group

Caroline Corcoran - Through The Wall

Chad Harbach - Art of Fielding

Susan Choi - Trust Exercise

Susan Choi - My Education

Susan Choi - American Woman

Walter Scott - Wendy Master of Art

Lizzy Goodman - Meet Me in the Bathroom

Sheila Weller - Girls Like Us

Cherie Curry - Neon Angel

Kim Gordon - Girl in a Band

Debbie Harry - Face It

Meghan Daum - Problem With Everything

Allison Pearson - I Don’t Know How She Does It

Allison Pearson - How Hard Can It Be

Sigrid Nunez - The Friend

Sigrid Nunez - What Are You Going Through

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Both of Brit Bennett's sensational bestselling novels, The Mothers and The Vanishing Half, have been on heavy rotation at YB towers for months, so we are delighted to bring you this fascinating conversation with her, covering adapting books for the screen, how writing changes the way you read, the dark world of celebrity tell-alls and the dangers of novel recommendation.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - How To Be a Grown Up

Daisy Buchanan - Sisterhood

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Brit Bennett - Vanishing Half

Brit Bennett - The Mothers

Myla Goldberg - Feast Your Eyes

Bernadine Evaristo - Girl Woman Other

Anne Enright - Actress

Toni Morrison - Song of Solomon

SE Hinton - The Outsiders

Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye

Richard Wright - Native Son

Tayari Jones - Silver Sparrow

Ann Patchett - Bel Canto

Ann Patchett - Dutch House

Ann Patchett - Commonwealth

Raven Leilani - Luster

Tayari Jones - American Marriage

Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Sue Miller - Monogamy

Darcy Eveleigh - Unseen: Unpublished Black History

Nicholas Smith - Kicks: Great American Story of Sneakers

Nichelle Gainer - Vintage Black Glamour

Yaa Gyasi - Transcendent Kingdom

Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing

Penny Valentine - Dancing with Demons: Dusty Springfield

Busy Phillips - This Will Only Hurt a Little

Mariah Carey - Meaning Of

Zadie Smith - Swing Time

Margo Jefferson - On Michael Jackson

Craig Marks - I Want My MTV

Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones & the Six

Joyce Carol Oates - Blonde

Curtis Sittenfeld - Rodham

Rebecca Makkai - Great Believers

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Get ready for a fun, thorough and frequently mirth-filled conversation with the internationally bestselling author Jessie Burton! Jessie's first book was the monster hit The Miniaturist, followed up by the exceptional The Muse and her latest, the chart-topping The Confession. We talked to Jessie about the joys of living with a bookseller, the particular pain associated with rereading, her favourite funny books and the all-around inspiration that is Princess Margaret.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - How To Be a Grown Up

Daisy Buchanan - Sisterhood

Daisy Buchanan - Insatiable

Jessie Burton - Miniaturist

Jessie Burton - Confession

Baroness Glenconner - Lady in Waiting

Craig Brown - Maam Darling

Octavia Butler - Kindred

Marlon James - Book of Night Women

Andrea Levy - Long Song

Gayl Jones - Corregidora

Sheila Heti - Motherhood

Lauren Groff - Fates & Furies

Tracy Chevalier - Girl With a Pearl Earring

Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca

Roald Dahl - Matilda

LP Hartley - Go Between

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice

Margaret Atwood - Cats Eye

Thom Gunn - Selected Poems

Noel Streatfeild - Ballet Shoes

Jessie Burton - Restless Girls

Ann Patchett - Dutch House

Lissa Evans - V For Victory

Eva Ibbotson - Secret Countess

Elizabeth Jane Howard - Cazelet Chronicles

Penelope Mortimer - Saturday Lunch with the Brownings

Jessie Burton - Muse

Edward St Aubyn - Patrick Melrose

Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim

Patricia Lockwood - Priestdaddy

EB White - Letters

Sarah Moss - Summerwater

Elizabeth Strout - Oliver Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout - Olive Again

Anna Hope - Expectation

Siri Hustvedt - What I Loved

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