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 themes of control and power imbalance. Harriett Gilbert's choice is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke in which the character 'Piranesi' lives in The House populated by endless corridors and statues and The Other.Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio, Bristol

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 England of the past but still throws up ideas of national identity that are relevant today. Tiff Stevenson is an actor and stand up comedian whose TV roles include The Office and People Just Do Nothing. Her satirical Twitter account ‘ Bridget Trump’s Diary’ went viral , was featured on TV in the US and landed her regular satirical writing gigs for ‘Mashable’. Tiff's choice is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings the first of Maya Angelou's books of memoirs about her childhood in the southern USA under segregation. It's a book Tiff loved as a schoolgirl and still loves today. The final book in the mix this week is Harriett Gilbert's choice which unsurprisingly is a crime novel: Exit by Belinda Bauer. As the title suggests it starts with assisted dying carried out by pensioner Felix Pink who has to then go on the run from the police when things take a dramatic turn.Producer: Maggie Ayre

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 stands as her favourite of all time. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin HobbsJoin our Instagram book club: @agoodreadbbc

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: agoodreadbbcProduced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio in Bristol

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 'marmite' to people - they either love him or hate him - he says the book covers a lot of important topics that young men don't often discuss - mental health being the main one. Harriett recommends a noir novel in the same vein as Chandler - The Expendable Man by Dorothy B Hughes who did not receive the same acclaim even though she was writing at the same time and also had books optioned and made into Hollywood movies.Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Maggie Ayre

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 for its humour and for its stoic main character Bill Sarratt, a civil servant whose attempts to get anything done are thwarted by bureaucracy. Yanis describes Bill as a 'Sir Humphrey' from Yes Minister character and was unexpectedly delighted to discover the novel. Harriett's choice is by Kiley Reid: a smart look at race politics in the USA through the story of a young black nanny and her white employer, white boyfriend and black friends. Such A Fun Age was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020.Producer: Maggie Ayre

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 through music set in Ayrshire and Manchester and following two of the young men into adulthood.Mel Hudson chooses The Map & The Territory by Michel Houllebecq. To say it divides opinion is to put it mildly.Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Maggie Ayre

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: agoodreadbbcProducer 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 GoodmanThis is the last in our current series of A Good Read, but you can keep in touch with us and find many more book ideas on Instagram: @agoodreadbbc