A Good Read Folgen

MOON TIGER by Penelope Lively, chosen by Sara Collins NUMBER GO UP: INSIDE CRYPTO'S WILD RISE AND STAGGERING FALL by Zeke Faux, chosen by Oliver Burkeman LORD JIM AT HOME by Dinah Brooke, chosen by Harriett Gilbert"I'm writing a history of the world" - so begins the choice of novelist and broadcaster Sara Collins: Penelope Lively's Booker Prize-winning novel Moon Tiger. Claudia Hampton, a famous writer and historian, lies dying in a hospital bed, her mind flitting across the years of her remarkable life and the people she's known. Sara Collins loves the book's romance, its jagged structure, and its unlikeable heroine. Do the others agree? Sara is the author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, which won the Costa First Novel Award and was adapted for television in 2023. She was one of the hosts of the How to Write a Book Podcast and is a former judge of the Booker Prize.As a newspaper columnist, for many years Oliver Burkeman wrote This Column Will Change Your Life in The Guardian. He is the bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and, more recently, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. His choice is a non-fiction book by the investigative journalist Zeke Faux about the characters who have made and lost billions in the wild and volatile world of cryptocurrency. And Harriett's choice is Lord Jim at Home, a novel by Dinah Brooke. Giles Trenchard is born into a life of privilege, but also into a world of hidden cruelty and emotional deprivation. Everyone agrees it's brilliantly written, but how do Harriett's guests feel about its dark content?Producer: Mair Bosworth

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 GilbertAs 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 International Booker Prize and he has judged many other awards, including the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. His choice of a good read is a slim, genre-defying book by Chilean author Benjamin Labatut which packs a huge punch. It's about the scientists and mathematicians whose work has shaped our world, and the unintended - sometimes horrifying - consequences of scientific advancement. Inua Ellams is a playwright, poet and curator. His work includes Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall, and an updating of Chekhov's Three Sisters, set during the Biafran Civil War, and he's recently been announced as one of the writers of the next series of Dr Who. His choice is Isabella Hammad's 2023 novel Enter Ghost. After a disastrous love affair, British-Palestinian actress Sonia goes to stay with her sister in Haifa. Intending the visit as a holiday, she finds herself investigating her family's history and getting involved in a production of Hamlet, to be staged in the West Bank. Presenter Harriett Gilbert's choice is Ghosting by Jennie Erdal. A fascinating account of Jennie's time as ghostwriter for 'Tiger' (the publisher Naim Attallah), penning everything from novels to love letters in his name. Producer: Mair BosworthPhoto copyright Tiu Makkonen.

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 GilbertTV 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 author Ramita Navai shares the epic novel A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, his Dickensian masterpiece of modern India.And Harriett's choice is An Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, capturing four ladies' unforgettable holiday on the Italian Riviera.Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio Bristol Follow us on instagram: agoodreadbbcPhoto credit David Venni