Podcast: Books and Authors

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 Bristol by Sally Heaven
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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 KnightJournalist 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 rural Idaho, who were preparing for the end of the world, and didn't believe in school, doctors or medicine. It's about how she studied her way out of a difficult upbringing, eventually earning a PhD at Cambridge University.Sam Knight (staff writer at the New Yorker and author of The Premonitions Bureau) also picks a memoir, but of a very different kind. He goes for Hilary Mantel's beguiling Giving Up The Ghost. In it, she explores the real, and imaginary, ghosts of her life - the illnesses that have haunted her body, the family she would never have, and the art of writing.Harriett Gilbert brings a work of fiction by a writer she loves, the Irish writer Anne Enright. They discuss her latest novel The Wren, The Wren, a story which speaks about the inheritance of trauma and the price of love.Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol
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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 canon?Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
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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 GilbertComedian 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 award-winning collection of essays by food writer and critic Jeffrey Steingarten. His impassioned, funny, and mouth-watering anecdotes are all bound by a gluttonous curiosity that too often tips into obsession.And Harriett Gilbert chooses a novella by Samantha Harvey called Orbital. Set on the International Space Station, it follows six astronauts as they reflect on life back down on Earth, in all its fury and glory.Producer: Becky Ripley

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 previous chair of the International Booker.Kamila, Sara and Ted pick out some of the books, including Wolf Hall, Lincoln in the Bardo and On Beauty, which have stood out for them: books they'd recommend to others, and re-read again and again.Producer: Kirsten LockeBooks List:Best of Friends – Kamila Shamsie
Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie
Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins
In the City by the Sea – Kamila Shamsie
Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro
Seasonal Quartet – Ali Smith
The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
Maps for Lost Lovers – Nadeem Aslam
In Memoriam – Alice Winn
On Beauty – Zadie Smith

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 GilbertComedian 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 chooses a novel by Claudia Piñeiro called Elena Knows, following a day in the life of Elena, a 63-year-old woman struggling to come to terms with both her own illness and the death of her daughter.And Harriett Gilbert chooses a short Swedish novel by Ia Genberg called The Details, exploring the relationships that define us, and the small but profound details that stay with us.Producer: Becky Ripley

Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts discuss AI and the novel.

The two writers choose favourite books. Recorded at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Chris Power explores the writing of Katherine Mansfield on the centenary of her death.

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival the two authors discuss favourite books

Alan Hollinghurst speaks to Chris Power about his new novel, Our Evenings.

Alan Hollinghurst speaks to Chris Power about his new novel, Our Evenings.

Rachel Kushner on her Booker Prize shortlisted novel, Creation Lake and Sarah Moss.

Matt Haig discusses his new novel, The Life Impossible and Lord of the Flies at 70.

Graham Norton speaks to Johny Pitts about his new novel, Frankie.

Elif Shafak discusses her new novel. Hanna Pylväinen on writing about the Arctic Circle.

Evie Wyld, Jessie Cave and Camille Bordas

Lauren Elkin, Michèle Roberts and Maria Balshaw

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, chosen by Rachel Parris
DID YE HEAR MAMMY DIED? by Séamas O'Reilly, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
BOTH NOT HALF by Jassa Ahluwalia, chosen by Sonali ShahComedian and musician Rachel Parris and broadcaster and presenter Sonali Shah join Harriett Gilbert to read each other's favourite books.Rachel Parris (Late Night Mash, Austentatious) chooses Barbara Kingsolver's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Demon Copperhead, which is based on David Copperfield and boldly takes on America's opioid crisis.Sonali Shah (Escape to the Country, Pilgrimage, Magic FM) picks Both Not Half: A Radical New Approach to Mixed Heritage Identity by the actor Jassa Ahluwalia, who had always described himself as 'half Indian, half English'. So he decided to come up with a new way of thinking about all kinds of individuality.Harriett brings a wonderfully funny and loving memoir by the Irish writer Séamas O'Reilly: Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?Producer: Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol
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Benjamin Myers, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Claire Kohda