Books and Authors

Former Eastenders and present-day Archers actor Lucy Speed, and comedian Sarah Mills talk about books set in wartime London, a 1990s underground train, and Graham Greene's MI6. Lucy's choice is Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, Which tells the tale of Mary, a woman who becomes a teacher at the beginning of the war, only for her life to take some unexpected turns during the Blitz. Sarah has selected 253 by Geoff Ryman, the...

Actor Nina Sosanya and prize winning poet and writer Joelle Taylor talk favourite books with Harriett.

Nina chooses Sally Jones and the False Rose by Jakob Wegelius, a children's novel with a mute gorilla engineer as its protagonist. The book appeals to Nina's love of engineering, and the city of Glasgow!

Joelle nominates Booker Prize winning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, about a man kille...

WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD by Benjamin Labatut (translated by Adrian Nathan West), chosen by Ted Hodgkinson ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad, chosen by Inua Ellams GHOSTING: A DOUBLE LIFE by Jennie Erdal, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

As Head of Literature and Spoken Word-programming at the Southbank Centre in London, writers and writing are at the heart of Ted Hodgkinson's work. In 2020 he chaired the judging panel of the Int...

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, chosen by Julia Bradbury A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, chosen by Ramita Navai An Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert

TV presenter, author and walking enthusiast Julia Bradbury recommends a fiction book by Matt Haig, How to Stop Time, which brings to life the idea of living forever.

Award-winning British-Iranian investigative journalist, documentary maker and...

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, translated by John E. Woods, chosen by Iszi Lawrence Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles, chosen by Joe Dunthorne Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert

Historical fiction author and broadcaster Iszi Lawrence adores the sensational novel Perfume, and has done since she was a teenager. For her, it immerses her in another world and is wonderfully cynical...

A PRIMATE'S MEMOIR (Love, Death and Baboons) by Robert Sapolsky, chosen by Professor Ben Garrod SOLDIER SAILOR by Claire Kilroy, chosen by Harriett Gilbert THE ABUNDANCE by Annie Dillard, chosen by Lucy Jones

Evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod (Professor at the University of East Anglia) chooses a book which he's read and gifted countless times, a book which inspired him to go out in the field and study chimpanzees himself: A Primate...

TOKYO EXPRESS by Seichō Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood, chosen by Sir Ian Blatchford THE LETTERS OF ABELARD AND HELOISE, translated by Betty Radice, chosen by Charles Fernyhough SOLDIERS OF SALAMIS by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Director of the Science Museum group and president of the Royal Literary Fund, Sir Ian Blatchford, chooses a cult classic from 1958 for his good read. A doub...

The Power author Naomi Alderman, and Nigerian writer Abi Dare discuss favourite books. Naomi chooses Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, a series of hilarious letters written by a beleaguered academic. Abi champions A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini's tale of two women in Taliban governed Afghanistan and Harriett recommends James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, two immensely powerful essays.

Produced for BBC Audio Bris...

EDUCATED by Tara Westover, chosen by Jenny Kleeman THE WREN, THE WREN by Anne Enright, chosen by Harriett Gilbert GIVING UP THE GHOST by Hilary Mantel, chosen by Sam Knight

Journalist and broadcaster Jenny Kleeman (of Radio 4's The Gift and author of The Price of Life) chooses Tara Westover's memoir Educated, which caused a sensation when it was first published. It's about her childhood growing up in an isolated Mormon family in rur...

Nihal has chosen Amma, the debut novel by Sri Lankan writer Saraid de Silva, which he compares to meeting someone on a train and having a long, intense conversation. Elif Shafak's choice, however, You're Embarrassing Yourself by Desiree Akhavan, he describes as more like a hilarious night in a pub. Harriett has gone for The Second Murderer by Denise Mina, a Philip Marlowe novel. But is there a need to add to Raymond Chandler's cano...

THE COUNTRY OF OTHERS by Leïla Slimani, chosen by Tatty Macleod THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING by Jeffrey Steingarten, chosen by Tim Spector ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Comedian Tatty Macleod chooses a novel by French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, the first volume of a new trilogy telling the saga of a French-Moroccan family between 1946 and 2016.

Scientist and food writer Professor Tim Spector chooses an awar...

In this final edition of Open Book, Johny Pitts and Chris Power celebrate some of the outstanding novels from the last twenty six years.

They are joined by Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018 for her novel Home Fire. Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, and one of this year's Booker Prize judges. Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, and previou...

REASONS TO STAY ALIVE by Matt Haig, chosen by Ali Woods ELENA KNOWS by Claudia Piñeiro, chosen by Fee Mak THE DETAILS by Ia Genberg, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Comedian Ali Woods chooses a memoir by Matt Haig based on his experiences of living with depression and anxiety disorder. Moving, funny and incredibly honest, Reasons to Stay Alive is a book which blasts open the way in which we talk about depression.

Presenter and DJ Fee Mak ...