As part of Radio 4's Day of the Scientist Harriett Gilbert asks two scientists and broadcasters to choose a book on a science theme. Adam Rutherford chooses Kazuo Ishiguro's dystopian love story Never Let Me Go. Dr Farrah Jarral says when she first read the novella she has chosen - Octavia Butler's Bloodchild - it blew her mind dealing as it does with interspecies procreation and with underlying themes of control and power imbalance. Harriett Gilbert's choice is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke in whi...
Oct 12, 2021•29 min
Neil Brand the silent film accompanist and presenter of BBC4's Sound of Cinema chooses a book he loved as a teenager: England Their England by A.G. Macdonell. He calls it 'social history by the backdoor'. Published in 1933 its fictional Scots character Donald Cameron is commissioned by a Welsh publisher to write a book about the English from a foreigner's viewpoint. It is a satirical take on an England of the past but still throws up ideas of national identity that are relevant today. Tiff Steve...
Oct 05, 2021•28 min
The host of the Brown Girls Do It Too podcast Poppy Jay and the writer of Mamma Mia Catherine Johnson join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books. They talk about moggies, a wrestling princess and grief... Catherine chooses George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo, Harriett goes for Doris Lessing's On Cats and Poppy tells us why Judy Corbalis' children's book The Wrestling Princess still stands as her favourite of all time. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs Join our Instag...
Aug 03, 2021•28 min
Vanessa Redgrave is 'in love with' Rachel Holmes' biography of Sylvia Pankhurst, Eileen Atkins has chosen a very different biography, Oliver Soden's imagining of the life of Jeoffrey, the cat who lived with the poet Christopher Smart 250 years ago. Harriett goes even further back in time with her selection, The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín. Tell us what you think of these books on Instagram: agoodreadbbc Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio in Bristol
Jul 20, 2021•28 min
Lloyd Cole is a singer/songwriter whose hits with his band The Commotions include Perfect Skin. His choice of A Good Read is The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. For him it's all about the smart dialogue and lavish use of similes. Francis Macdonald's pick is the autobiography of the Scottish comedian Limmy: Surprisingly Down to Earth and Very Funny. While he admits Limmy's work and persona is 'marmite' to people - they either love him or hate him - he says the book covers a lot of important topics...
Jul 07, 2021•29 min
The Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis chooses Margaret Atwood's treatise on debt - Payback: Debt & The Shadow Side of Wealth as his go to book for students of economics. It examines money lending throughout the ages and how it has been portrayed in classic literature. Patrick McGrath's choice is a novel by Nigel Balchin set during the London Blitz: Darkness Falls From The Air which he loves for its humour and for its stoic main character Bill Sarratt, a civil servant whose attempts to get an...
Jun 29, 2021•28 min
Janey Godley's choice is a thriller Remember Me This Way by Sabine Durrant. It's a page turner with a neat twist and tackles coercive behaviour in an interesting way. And it features a dog called Howard. Janey says it has made her think differently about her own mother's relationship with a controlling man. Mayflies by Andrew O Hagan is Harriett's choice. It's an 80s tale of male friendship through music set in Ayrshire and Manchester and following two of the young men into adulthood. Mel Hudson...
Jun 24, 2021•29 min
Jason Watkins chooses Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark as his good read, and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown champions a book with some similar themes, The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Harriett's selection is The People on Privilege Hill, Jane Gardam's book of short stories. Join in the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc Producer Sally Heaven
Jun 15, 2021•28 min
Comedian and writer Isy Suttie and the Radio 1 presenter and author Vick Hope are A Good Read's guests. Vick loves Zadie Smith's Swing Time, Isy chooses Patrick Suskind's The Pigeon and we hear why Harriett's choice of the Young Adult book A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness has her guests in tears. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs Join our Instagram book club: @agoodreadbbc
Jun 08, 2021•28 min
Telegraph writer and podcaster Bryony Gordon is with poet and author Hollie McNish on this week's A Good Read. Bryony loves Rachel’s Holiday by her writing hero Marian Keyes; Hollie hoped the The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis would improve her chess; and Harriett Gilbert finds both absurdity and pain in Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe. Producer: Sarah Goodman This is the last in our current series of A Good Read, but you can keep in touch with us and find many more book ideas on Instagram...
Mar 30, 2021•28 min
Actor Adjoa Andoh, Bridgerton's Lady Danbury, and the CBeebies presenter Andy Day share the books that inspire them. Adjoa is full of admiration for the remarkable women in Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna and Andy is fascinated by the transformation that occurs in Dibs in Search of Self: Personality Development in Play Therapy by Virginia M. Axline. Meanwhile, presenter Harriett Gilbert heartily recommends Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by poet Kate Clanchy. Producer: Sarah Goodman...
Mar 23, 2021•28 min
Harriett is joined by a husband-and-wife team: Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show and Radio 4's Rewinder, and Bella Mackie, author and Vogue columnist. Bella loves Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Harriett chooses The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré and Greg picks Right Ho, Jeeves! He says it’s the funniest PG Wodehouse novel. But why did it make Bella think he was the right man for her? Producer: Sarah Goodman Join our Instagram book club: @agoodreadbbc...
Mar 17, 2021•28 min
Jane Hill chooses The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale, and Harriett's choice, Murder in Notting Hill by Mark Olden, takes place a hundred years later, in a very different part of British society. Derek Owusu isn't sure whether Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzerald really is a good read after all. Producer Sally Heaven Get involved on Instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Mar 09, 2021•28 min
Comedian Twayna Mayne proposes Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric. Books blogger Simon Savidge (and his mum) both love An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and Harriett choose Actress by Anne Enright. Producer Sally Heaven Join the conversation on Instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Mar 02, 2021•28 min
Peter Bazalgette's choice is On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming and Harriett goes for Lullaby by Leila Slimani. Amrou Al-Kadhi chooses Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny, and a central character divides opinion. Is she intensely irritating or a gay icon to be celebrated? Producer Sally Heaven Join our Instagram book club: @agoodreadbbc
Feb 23, 2021•28 min
Actor Tobias Menzies and crime writer Gytha Lodge talk about the books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. Tobias chooses Transit by Rachel Cusk, Harriett picks The Spare Room by Helen Garner and Gytha goes for the highly acclaimed children's book The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Becky Ripley Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Feb 16, 2021•28 min
Actress Tuppence Middleton and environmentalist Matthew Shribman talk about the books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. Matthew chooses The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, Tuppence picks The Loser by Thomas Bernhard and Harriett goes for Hot Milk by Deborah Levy. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Becky Ripley Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Feb 09, 2021•28 min
Poet Helen Mort and comedian Mo Omar talk about the books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. Helen chooses Climbers by M. John Harrison, the acclaimed book about rock-climbing, Mo picks the science fiction novel Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and Harriett goes for A History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Becky Ripley Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Feb 02, 2021•28 min
Journalist Clive Myrie and critic Boyd Tonkin nominate favourite books. Clive, fresh from covering the US election, has chosen Steinbeck's tale of the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath. Boyd recommends Hadji Murat, the last work of Leo Tolstoy, and Harriett goes for the political thriller Red April by Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo. Join the conversation on Instagram at agoodreadbbc Producer Sally Heaven
Dec 01, 2020•28 min
Writer Alexander McCall Smith and UCL's Department of Space & Climate Physics, Professor Lucie Green, join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Somerset Maugham, John Higgs and Lewis Carroll. The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham Publisher: Heinemann Watling Street by John Higgs Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Publisher: Macmillan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2020.
Nov 24, 2020•28 min
Poet Vanessa Kisuule and environmental writer Jonathon Porritt join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by John Hersey, Nick Drnaso and Helen Dunmore. Hiroshima by John Hersey Publisher: Penguin Sabrina by Nick Drnaso Publisher: Granta Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore Publisher: Bloodaxe First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2020.
Nov 16, 2020•28 min
Travel and food writer Yasmin Khan and novelist David Mitchell join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Anne Tyler, Madeline Miller and Ryszard Kapuściński. Circe by Madeline Miller Publisher: Bloomsbury Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński Publisher: Penguin Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2020.
Nov 10, 2020•28 min
Comedian Arabella Weir and novelist Deborah Levy join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Paul Beatty, Marguerite Duras and Evan S Connell. The Sellout by Paul Beatty Publisher: One World The Lover by Marguerite Duras Publisher: Everyman's Library (translator: Barbara Bray) Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2020.
Nov 03, 2020•28 min
Writer Jonathan Safran Foer and comedian Daliso Chaponda join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Natalia Ginzburg, Richard Brautigan, Orson Scott Card. The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg Translator: Dick Davis Publisher: Daunt Books Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan Publisher: Canongate Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card Publisher: Tor Books First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020.
Oct 27, 2020•28 min
Broadcaster Mark Radcliffe and playwright Patricia Cumper join Harriett Gilbert to nominate their favourite book by Toni Morrison, Elizabeth Strout and Helene Hanff. From 2020. Beloved by Toni Morrison Publisher: Vintage Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout Publisher: Viking 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff Publisher: Virago First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020.
Oct 20, 2020•28 min
Writer Johny Pitts and barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman join Harriett to discuss their favourite books by Claude McKay, CA MacKinnon and Mary Gaitskill Romance in Marseilles by Claude McKay Pub: Penguin Butterfly Politics by Catharine A MacKinnon Pub: Belknap Press This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill Pub: Serpents Tail First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2020.
Oct 13, 2020•28 min
Writer, actor and Gavin and Stacey creator Ruth Jones and theatre and film director Dominic Cooke join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Kate Atkinson, Siri Hustvedt and John Lah Ruth and Dominic are old friends, but did they enjoy one another's books? And what happened to Ruth's pottery robot in her third set art class? Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson Publisher: Black Swan What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt Publisher: Sceptre Prick Up Your Ears, John Lahr's biogra...
Oct 06, 2020•28 min
Journalist and author Nicholas Lezard and former BBC Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Samuel Beckett, Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa and Sigrid Nunez. Nicholas chooses Watt by Samuel Beckett Publisher: Faber Gwyneth chooses: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa Publisher: Vintage Harriett champions The Friend by Sigrid Nunez Publisher: Virago First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2020.
Jul 28, 2020•28 min
Author Lissa Evans and comedian Sarah Keyworth join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Oliver Sacks, Cheryl Strayed and David Garnett. Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks Publisher: Picador Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed Publisher: Atlantic Books Lady into Fox by David Garnett Publisher: Dover Publications First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2020.
Jul 21, 2020•27 min
Irish actors Fiona Shaw and Nicola Coughlan join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Jon Ronson, Joan Didion and Dorothy M Hughes. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson Publisher: Picador In a Lonely Place by Dorothy M Hughes Publisher: Penguin Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion Publisher: Fourth Estate First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2020.
Jul 14, 2020•28 min
