A Good Read

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 Novem...

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...

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 Oc...

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 Classic...

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...

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...

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 preg...

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. Conversat...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - actors, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Steve Oram - discuss favourite books by Annie Proulx, John Steinbeck and Martin Amis. Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories by Annie Proulx Publisher: Harper Perennials Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Publisher: Penguin Experience by Martin Amis Publisher: Vintage First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian Al Murray, aka The Pub Landlord, and Egyptian political economist, Tarek Osman - discuss their favourite books by Naguib Mahfouz, Philip Roth and Joseph Heller. Children of The Alley by Naguib Mahfouz Publisher: Doubleday US Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Publisher: Vintage Everyman by Philip Roth Publisher: Vintage First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guest - former MP, Edwina Currie and actor, Nicholas Le Provost - discuss their favourite books by Beryl Bainbridge, Dorothy Whipple and Azar Nafisi. 'An Awfully Big Adventure’ by Beryl Bainbridge. Publisher: Abacus ‘The Priory’ by Dorothy Whipple. Publisher: Persephone Books ‘Lolita in Tehran’ by Azar Nafisi. Publisher: Harper Perennial First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in J...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist and author India Knight and financial adviser Alvin Hall - discuss favourite books by Barbara Pym, Rebecca Skloot and Boris Akunin. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym Publisher: Virago The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Publisher: Pan Macmillan The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin Publisher: Orion First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 201...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - author, Fay Weldon and Serpentine Galleries curator, Hans Ulrich Obrist - discuss favourite books by Etel Adnan, Gabriel Gbadamosi, RL Stevenson. Sitt Marie Rose by Etel Adnan Publisher: Post Apollo Press Vauxhall by Gabriel Gbadamosi Publisher: Telegram Books Treasure Island by RL Stevenson Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - Notting Hill film director, Roger Michell and writer, Aminatta Forna - discuss favourite books by Laura Alcoba, Mark Twain and Robert Graves. The Rabbit House by Laura Alcoba Publisher: Portobello Books The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Publisher: Collins Classics Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - broadcaster, Aasmah Mir and beer writer, Pete Brown - discuss great food books by Mohsin Hamid, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and John Lanchester. Recorded with an audience at the Bristol Food Connections Festival. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid Publisher: Penguin The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Publisher: Everyman The Debt to Pleasure by John...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - DJ Annie Mac and author Kathy Lette - discuss their favourite books by John Green, WM Thackeray and Penelope Fitzgerald. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Publisher: Penguin Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald Publisher: Fourth Estate First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - writer, Julie Burchill and broadcaster, Fred MacAulay - discuss their favourite books by Harriet Lane, JD Salinger and Elmore Leonard. Alys, Always by Harriet Lane Publisher: Phoenix Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger Publisher: Penguin Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard Publisher: Phoenix First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - TV presenter, Lorraine Kelly and writer, Romesh Gunesekera - discuss their favourite books by Jack Kerouac, George Mackay Brown and Molly Keane. On the Road by Jack Kerouac Publisher: Penguin Greenvoe by George Mackay Brown Publisher: Polygon Good Behaviour by Molly Keane Publisher: Virago First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - novelist, Dame Penelope Lively and comedy writer, Will Smith - discuss their favourite books by John Kennedy Toole, Barry Lopez and Kingsley Amis. ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy Toole Publisher: Penguin ‘Arctic Dreams’ by Barry Lopez Publisher: Penguin ‘Lucky Jim’ by Kingsley Amis Publisher: Harvill First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - Irish stand-up comedian, Andrew Maxwell and Pakistani writer, Kamila Shamsie - discuss their favourite books by Doris Lessing, Anita Desai and John Steinbeck. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai Publisher: Vintage Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck Publisher: Penguin In Pursuit of the English by Doris Lessing Publisher: Fourth Estate First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in F...

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - comedian Richard Herring and actor Tracy-Ann Oberman - discuss their favourite books by Jack Womack, Rupert Everett and Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Publisher: Vintage Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack Publisher: Gollancz Vanished Years by Rupert Everett Publisher: Abacus First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - journalist, Daniel Finkelstein, Baron Finkelstein of Pinner, and writer, Jill Paton Walsh - discuss their favourite books by Robert Cialdini, Michael J Sandel and Roddy Doyle. Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B Cialdini Publisher: Collins Business What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J Sandel Publisher: Penguin The Van by R...