Bookclub

James Naughtie is joined by author Matthew Kneale, whose book English Passengers won Whitbread Book of the Year in 2000. They discuss this rampant and ambitious piece of writing that deals with big ideas like radical theory, genocide and Darwinism, yet is hilarious too.

In the 100th edition of Bookclub, James Naughtie is joined by American crime writer Elmore Leonard to discuss his book Rum Punch. The novel is set in Florida and features the character Jackie Burke, who became Jackie Brown in the film of the same name by Quentin Tarantino.

James Naughtie is joined by John Berendt to talk about his book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The story tells of what John Berendt experienced in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1990s when the town was turned upside-down by a strange murder.

James Naughtie is joined by Lindsey Davis to discuss her thriller Time to Depart, about investigator Marcus Didius Falco, a kind of 1950s gumshoe detective, operating in the teeming bustle of Rome.

James Naughtie is joined in Brighton by novelist Ali Smith to talk about her book Hotel World.

Malorie Blackman joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss Noughts and Crosses, her novel set in an alternative reality in which people are either a Cross, with money, prospects and position, or a Nought, with very little.

Lionel Shriver joins James Naughtie and a studio audience to discuss her book We Need to Talk About Kevin, a novel about an unloved son who grows up to commit a horrifying crime.

James Naughtie is joined by American satirist P J O'Rourke to discuss Holidays in Hell, his account of his experiences as foreign correspondent for Rolling Stone Magazine in the late 1980s.

James Naughtie is joined by George Macdonald Fraser to talk about his Flashman books which use Thomas Hughes' bully character from Tom Brown's Schooldays.

American writer Joyce Carol Oates joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss We Were the Mulvaneys, the story of the break-up of a family after the random disaster of a rape.

James Naughtie is joined by historian Antonia Fraser to discuss her book The Gunpowder Plot.

Playwright, screenwriter, novelist and film-maker Hanif Kureishi discusses his semi-autobiographical book The Buddha of Suburbia with James Naughtie and readers.

Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier was Radio 4's Classic Serial in August. The novel cast a spell over a whole generation of French readers in the twentieth century, with its romanticism, its portrayal of adolescent friendship and its evocation of pastoral France. But does it still speak to readers today? Novelist and poet Michele Roberts is our Bookclub guide to the novel with readers in Paris i...

James Naughtie talks to crime writer Michael Dibdin in front of a group of readers, about his novel Blood Rain, the ninth in his Aurelio Zen series.

James Naughtie talks to Dr Oliver Sacks about The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, a collection of case studies into neurological disorders, all written from the point of view of the Dr.

James Naughtie is joined by Sue Townsend to discuss the life of her best loved comic creation Adrian Mole.

Andrea Levy, who won last year's Orange Prize and Whitbread Prize for her novel Small Island joins readers to discuss the book.

James Naughtie is joined by American writer Richard Ford to discuss his novel, Independence Day.

The multi-talented Stephen Fry discusses and reads from his acclaimed novel The Hippopotamus, about a failed poet turned whiskey-sodden critic.

James Naughtie talks to author Bill Bryson about his book A Short History of Nearly Everything.

James Naughtie talks to Zadie Smith about the impact of her debut novel White Teeth.

James Naughtie's guest is Carol Ann Duffy, one of the most widely read British poets, talking about her inventive and funny collection, The World's Wife.

Booker prize winner Pat Barker joins James Naughtie to discuss Regeneration, her novel about the impact of the First World War on a variety of characters including poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Will Self talks to James Naughtie and readers about his novel How The Dead Live.

James Naughtie speaks to author Paul Auster about the novellas in his New York Trilogy and their themes of identity, mystery and ambiguity.