Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

Find out the writing and reading habits of this week's authors. Cressida is the multi million selling creator of How To Train Your Dragon. And Edward has compiled a book of maps which chart the rise of exploration. They talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cressida Cowell is the multi million selling creator, author and illustrator of How To Train Your Dragon. Her latest book is the second in the Wizards Of Once series. Edward Brooke-Hitching is the author of the critically acclaimed books The Phantom Atlas and Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports . The son of Franklin Brooke-Hitching, collector of the largest and most comprehensive library of British exploration and discovery ever accumulated, he is also a writer for the BBC series QI and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His latest book is The Golden Atlas - charting the evolution of maps and exploration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The reading habits of bestselling author Ian Rankin - covering the likes of Charles Dickens, Alistair MacLean, RagnarJonasson...and Jilly Cooper Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See if Matt can keep his sh*t together in front of his all time favourite author...Ian Rankin comes in to chat about his new bestseller In A House of Lies - the 22nd Rebus novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The author of the multi million selling Jack Reacher thrillers talks about his reading and writing habits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The multi million selling author of the Jack Reacher books pops in to the pod to talk coffee, movies and cotton buds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan and Anna from the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast discuss their Book of the Year - amazing facts from 2018. And explorer Levison Wood tells us about his latest adventure, which he has written about in his new book Arabia - 13 countries, 5000 miles...on foot, camel and tank. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover the reading habits, loves and suggestions of explorer Levison Wood and the QI Elves Anna & Dan (No Such Thing As A Fish). Levison has written a book about his recent journey around the Arabian Peninsular - 13 countries & 5000 miles via foot, tank and camel. The Elves have released the Book of the Year - amazing facts that may have passed you by in the past 11 months or so. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two of the world's finest authors grace our studios...three if you include Simon. But even Matt would agree 4 would be stretching it. Markus Zusak's debut novel The Book Thief sold over 8m copies. His latest effort Bridge of Clay has been over a decade in the making. Anthony Horowitz has written books featuring Sherlock Holmes and James Bond (not together, yet...) His new novel The Sentence Is Death is a murder mystery, the second in the bestselling series starring Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon and Matt find out the reading habits of authors Anthony Horowitz and Markus Zusak. Plus your tweets, letters and suggestions. Anthony Horowitz is one of Britain's most successful writers - specialising in mystery and suspense. His work for young adult readers includes The Alex Rider series. His work for adults includes two Sherlock Holmes novels The House of Silk and Moriarty ; plus Magpie Murders and The Word Is Murder . He was also chosen to write James Bond novels by the Ian Fleming estate, starting with Trigger Mortis  which he then followed up with Forever And A Day. He was the creator and writer of the ITV series Foyle's War, Collision and Injustice and the BBC series New Blood. Markus Zusak's breakthrough novel was The Book Thief. Published in 2005, it has been translated in to 30 languages, winning a host of international awards - and was made in to a film starring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. His latest release - 10 years in the making, is called Bridge of Clay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.