A Good Read

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 t...

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 En...

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 s...

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: a...

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 'marmi...

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 fo...

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 throug...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

BBC News presenter Jane Hill and writer Derek Owusu join Harriett to discuss books by Kate Summerscale, Mark Olden and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale Publisher: Bloomsbury Murder in Notting Hill by Mark Olden Publisher: Zero Books Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2021.

Comedian Twayna Mayne and books blogger Simon Savidge join Harriett to discuss their favourite books by Claudia Rankine, Tayari Jones and Anne Enright. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine Publisher: Penguin An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Publisher: One World Actress by Anne Enright Publisher: Jonathan Cape First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2021.

Writer and drag performer Amrou Al-Kadhi and TV executive Peter Bazalgette join Harriett to dsicuss favourite books by Laura Cumming, Leila Slimani and Katherine Heiny. On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming Publisher: Vintage Lullaby by Leila Slimani Publisher: Faber Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny Publisher: 4th Estate First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2021.

Actor Tobias Menzies and crime writer Gytha Lodge join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Rachel Cusk, Judith Kerr, and Helen Garner. Transit by Rachel Cusk Publisher: Jonathan Cape ( Faber) The Spare Room by Helen Garner Publisher: Canongate Canons The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2021.

Actress Tuppence Middleton and environmentalist Matthew Shribman join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by Thomas Bernhard, Italo Calvino, Deborah Levy. The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino Publisher: Vintage [Translator: Ann Goldstein] The Loser by Thomas Bernhard Publisher: Faber [Translator: Jack Dawson] Hot Milk by Deborah Levy Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio...

Poet Helen Mort and comedian Mo Omar join Harriett Gilbert to discuss their favourite books by M. John Harrison, Nnedi Okorafor and Nicole Krauss. Climbers by M. John Harrison Publisher: Gollancz Binti by Nnedi Okorafor Publisher: Tor.com A History of Love by Nicole Krauss Publisher: Penguin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2021.

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 Prod...

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 broadc...

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.

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.

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.

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 Octob...

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.