Find reading inspiration with favourite books chosen by our guests.
Writer Tracy Chevalier, historian Niall Ferguson and Harriet Gilbert discuss favourite novels by Murial Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson and Irène Némirovsky. Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark Publisher: Penguin South Sea Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson Publisher: Oxford University Press Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky Publisher: Vintage Producer: Sally Heaven First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
Harriett Gilbert is joined by comic novelist Jonathan Coe and Radio 1 DJ Gemma Cairney to recommend favourite books. Jonathan's choice is the first part in a tragi-comic epic, 'The Complete Pratt',a semi-autobiographical novel by the late David Nobbs, creator of 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'. It's called 'Second From Last in the Sack Race'. Gemma chooses a novel by Laura Dockrill, a vividly imagined story of mermaids and pirates, 'Lorali'. Harriett dusts off a novel from the 1940s by Ne...
News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, crime writer Ann Cleeves and Harriet Gilbert discuss their favourite books by Alain-Fournier, George Orwell and Joanna Rakoff. The Lost Estate (Le Grande Meaulnes) by Alain-Fournier Publisher: Penguin The Road To Wigan Pier by George Orwell Publisher: Penguin My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff Publisher: Bloomsbury Producer: Sally Heaven First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
Editor of The Spectator Fraser Nelson, Adam Mars-Jones and Harriett Gilbert discuss their favourite books by Vilhelm Moberg, Hugo Williams and Elmore Leonard. I Knew The Bride by Hugo Williams Publisher: Faber The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg Publisher: Borealis Books Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard Publisher: Phoenix Producer: Beth O'Dea First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.
Author Philip Pullman, journalist Caroline Criado-Perez and Harriett Gilbert discuss their favourite books by Graham Greene, Tove Jansson and Alice Munro. Sculptor's Daughter: A Childhood Memoir by Tove Jansson Publisher: Sort of Books The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro Publisher: Vintage The Quiet American by Graham Greene. Publisher: Vintage First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
Actor David Morrissey and writer Julia Blackburn join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by John O'Hara, JD Salinger and Alexandra Fuller. Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, Publisher: Vintage For Esme with Love and Squalor by JD Salinger Publisher: Penguin Don't Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller Publisher: Picador Producer Mary Ward-Lowery. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
Green MP Caroline Lucas and columnist Rod Liddle join Harriett Gilbert to discuss favourite books by Barbara Kingsolver, David Peace and Alison Bechdel. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver Publisher: Faber Red or Dead by David Peace Publisher: Faber Fun Home by Alison Bechdel Publisher: Jonathan Cape First broadcast in October 2015.
Actress Miriam Margolyes, writer Mark Haddon and Harriett Gilbert discuss their favourite books by Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf and Truman Capote. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Publisher: Penguin To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Publisher: Penguin Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist, Miranda Sawyer and singer, Tom Robinson - discuss their favourite books by Joan Didion, Alan Hollinghurst and Ben Aaronovitch. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Publisher: Fourth Estate Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch Publisher: Gallants The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst Publisher: Vintage First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress Helen Baxendale and writer Helen Cros - discuss favourite books by George Monbiot, Kirsten Thorup and Julia Blackburn. From 2015. The God of Chance by Kirsten Thorup Pub: Norvick Press The Three of Us by Julia Blackburn Pub: Vintage Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life by George Monbiot Pub: Penguin Producer Mary Ward-Lowery First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - crime writer, Ian Rankin and record producer, Joe Boyd - discuss their favourite books by Lesley Branch, Mohsin Hamid and Pascal Garnier. The Wilder Shores of Love by Lesley Blanch Publisher: Simon & Schuster How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid Publisher: Penguin The Islanders by Pascal Garnier Publisher: Gallic Books First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - award-winning screenwriter, Abi Morgan and cultural historian, Christopher Frayling - discuss favourite books by Dave Eggers, Angela Carter and Kyril Bonfiglioli. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter Publisher: Vintage A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers Publisher: Picador Don't Point that Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress, Claire Skinner and author, Louise Welsh - discuss their favourite books by Karl Ove Knausgaard, RL Stevenson and Dorothy L Sayers. A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard Publisher: Vintage Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Publisher: Penguin Classics Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers Publisher: Hodder First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress, Rebecca Front and poet and writer, Laura Dockrill - discuss their favourite books by Maria Semple, Jan Struther and Alice Munro. Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther Publisher: Virago Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple Publisher: Phoenix Runaway by Alice Munro Publisher: Vintage First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - presenter, Anita Rani and journalist, Katharine Whitehorn - discuss their favourite books by F Scott Fitzgerald, Terry Pratchett and Yiyun Li. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald Publisher: Wordsworth Classics The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett Publisher: Random House The Vagrants by Yiyun Li Publisher: 4th Estate First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedians, Josie Long and Romesh Ranganathan - discuss favourite books by Yann Martel, Clive James and Dan Hancox. The Village Against the World by Dan Hancox Publisher: Verso Life of Pi by Yann Martel Publisher: Cannongate Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James Publisher: Picador First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
The journalists John Sergeant and Helen Lewis, join Harriett Gilbert to discuss three favourite books. Jeeves and The Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks Publisher Arrow Books The Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Publisher Virago The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford Publisher Vintage Producer Beth O'Dea First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
Countdown dictionary buff Susie Dent and WI Chair Janice Langley share some good reads with Harriett Gilbert. Red Love - The Story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo, translated by Shaun Whiteside Publisher Pushkin Press A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison Publisher Quercus An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P D James Publisher Faber Producer Sally Heaven First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian, Frankie Boyle and actress, Maureen Lipman - discuss their favourite books by Michael Blakemore, Barbara Trapido and Joseph Heller. Stage Blood by Michael Blakemore Publisher: Faber Something Happened by Joseph Heller Publisher: Vintage Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido Publisher: Bloomsbury First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
Harriet Gilbert and her guests - comedians, Sean Lock and Roisin Conaty - discuss their favourite books by Margaret Atwood, Jim Thompson and Beryl Bainbridge. The Getaway by Jim Thompson The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.
Dawn O'Porter and Graham Fellows, AKA John Shuttleworth, talk with Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books. Green Girl by Kate Zambreno Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse The Blessing by Nancy Mitford First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - food blogger, Jack Monroe and comic actor, Doon MacKichan - discuss favourite books by Bryce Courtenay, Jenny Offill and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay Publisher: Penguin Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill Publisher. Granta The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez Publisher: Bloomsbury First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - historians Roy Foster and Andrew Roberts - discuss favourite books by John Harris, Hanif Kureishi and William Maxwell. Covenant with Death by John Harris Publisher: Sphere The Chateau by William Maxwell Publisher: Vintage The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi Publisher: Faber First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller and Turkish author Elif Shafak - discuss their books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alison Lurie and Michael Chabon. ‘Americanah’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Publisher: Fourth Estate ‘The War Between the Tates’ by Alison Lurie Publisher: Vintage ‘Gentlemen of the Road’ by Michael Chabon Publisher: Sceptre First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist, Janet Street Porter, and crime writer, Martina Cole - discuss their favourite books by Curtis Sittenfeld, Maurice Druon and Muriel Spark. 'American Wife' by Curtis Sittenfeld Publisher: Penguin 'The Iron King' by Maurice Druon Publisher: Doubleday 'The Ballad of Peckham Rye' by Muriel Spark Publisher: Harper Collins First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian, Adam Hills and psychologist, Steven Pinker - discuss their favourite books by Albert Camus, Richard Bach and Jonathan Livingston. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach Publisher: Harper Collins (Harper NonFiction) The Elements of Style by Strunk and White Publisher: Longman now Pearson The Outsider by Albert Camus Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actress and author, Dame Sheila Hancock and journalist, Cosmo Landesman - discuss their favourite books by Toby Young, John Williams and Sylvia Townsend Warner. Stoner by John Williams Publisher: Vintage How To Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young Publisher: Abacus Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner Publisher: Virago First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
Harriett Gilbert and her guests - broadcaster, Jeremy Paxman and classicist, Dame Mary Beard - discuss their favourite books by Natalie Zemon Davis, Ben Fountain and Graham Greene. Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain Publisher: Canongate Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene Publisher: Vintage The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis Publisher: Harvard University Press First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
Paralympian Ade Adepitan and comedian Dominic Holland talk books with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are: Sue Townsend's delicious tale of teenage angst, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote's 'non-fiction novel' about the murders of four family members in a Kansas farmhouse in 1959 and Roddy Doyle's The Snapper, a comic portrayal of an unplanned pregnancy. Harriett and her two guests talk about the both the comedy and the poignancy to be found in n...
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, and Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane, talk about their favourite reads with Harriett Gilbert. Books under discussion are Evelyn Waugh's satire on the Anglo-American relationship staged in and around an LA funeral business, The Loved One, Rachel Holmes' biography of Eleanor Marx, and the children's classic, Charlotte's Web. Conversation ranges from our attitudes to death, to strong women who make bad relationship choices, to what m...
