A Good Read

Harriett Gilbert is joined by actor David Morrissey and Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips to discuss some of their favourite books.David Morrissey's choice is the 1934 crime classic 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' by James M Cain.Trevor Phillips chooses 'The War of the End of the World' by Peruvian Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.Harriett's choice this week is 'A Handful of Dust' by Evelyn Waugh.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

Harriett Gilbert is joined by the BBC's Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders and novelist and journalist Roisin McAuley to discuss favourite books.Stephanie Flanders' choice is 'The Great Crash 1929', a classic account of financial disaster by one of the twentieth century's most influential economists, John Kenneth Galbraith. A witty and elegant analysis which is compelling even to those who can't tell their leverage from their margins.Roisin McAuley chooses a novel by the award-winning Patricia Ferguson, 'Peripheral Vision'. The quality of her writing and the intelligence of her psychological insights into her characters has drawn comparisons to Muriel Spark.Harriett's choice this week is a classic fifties detective story from Dame Ngaio Marsh: 'Singing in the Shrouds', her twelfth novel to feature the detective hero, Roderick Alleyn.Producer: Mary Ward-LoweryFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus at the Royal College of Art, and broadcaster Nikki Bedi talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books they love. Christopher's recommendation is a passionate political polemic: Ill Fares The Land: A Treatise On Our Present Discontents, by Tony Judt. Nikki picks The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the story of a boy growing up in an Indian family in America.Harriett's choice is the first in the celebrated Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin.Producer: Beth O'Dea First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Chef Rick Stein and Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, recommend favourite books to presenter Harriett Gilbert. Rick Stein talks about Lifting the Latch (A Life on the Land) by Sheila Stewart, which he enjoyed because it's set in the area of Oxfordshire in which he was born and spent his childhood. The true-life story of rural labourer Mont Abbott, It's been described as a rival to Lark Rise of Candleford.Lord Dobbs' choice is Train to Trieste by Domnica Radulescu, a powerful love story set in Ceausescu's Romania.Then Harriett Gilbert brings something completely different to the table: Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.Producer: Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.

The classicist Mary Beard and writer Bidisha talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books, in an edition recorded in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.Books discussed:The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood PublisherCold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons PublisherThe Odyssey by Homer PublisherProducer: Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.

Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo joins short story writer Sara Maitland and presenter Harriett Gilbert to talk about the books they love, and share their enthusiasm for their choices. Their favourite books cover the globe from Venezuela to Edinburgh to Steep in Hampshire, where Michael Morpurgo and the subject of his book both lived. He chooses Under Storm's Wing by Helen Thomas, a collection of her memoirs and letters about life with one of Britain's best-loved poets. Sara Maitland's book, House-Bound by Winifred Peck, is described by all three as a real oddity, a book unlike any other - but a rather good oddity. And Harriett Gilbert picks The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka, a slender novel about a man with a terminal illness, which turns out to be surprisingly gripping. Producer: Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Harriett Gilbert talks to Alexander Waugh and Xanthe Clay about their favourite books.Letters Between a Father and Son by VS Naipaul Publisher: PicadorJane Grigson's Vegetable Book by Jane Grigson Publisher: PenguinA Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf Publisher: PenguinProducer Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Harriett Gilbert talks to polymath Raymond Tallis and political journalist Allegra Stratton about their favourite books. Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel Publisher: Fourth EstateThe Walk by Robert Walser Publisher: Serpent's TailWhat I Loved by Siri Hustvedt Publisher: SceptreProducer Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Satirical writer John O'Farrell and historian Juliet Barker talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books - all of which use an unusual blend of fact and fiction. They evoke the lives of the Brontes, the worst civilian disaster of World War II and the British mandate in Palestine. The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan Publisher: Headline ReviewThe Report by Jessica Francis Kane Publihser: Portobello BooksPanther in the Basement by Amos Oz Publisher: VintageProducer Beth O'DeaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.

Fay Weldon, Louise Welsh and Harriett Gilbert discuss favourite books by Lionel Shriver, HG Wells and Jean Rhys. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Publisher: PenguinFay Weldon's choice: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Publisher: PenguinWe Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver Publisher: Serpent's TailProducer: Beth O'Dea First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.