Irenosen Okojie talks to Johny Pitts about her new book, Curandera.

Comedian Helen Lederer discusses Carrie Fisher's wittily honest memoir 'Wishful Drinking.' Ilaria Bernardini explores Alba de Cespedes' feminist novel 'Forbidden Notebook.' Harriett delves into Rebecca F. Kuang's 'Yellowface' addressing cultural appropriation and plagiarism.

Johny Pitts speaks to Garth Risk Hallberg about his new novel, The Second Coming.

Writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has chosen EF Benson's entertaining tale of competitive snobbery in the 1920s, Mapp and Lucia. In a contrasting choice, neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow advocates for Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, a story of a Ghanaian family transplanted to Alabama which takes in neuroscience and opiate addiction. Harriett has gone for a real crowd-pleaser in E. Nesbit's The Railway Children and all three enjoy a bit of nostalgia for the times when children could run free having adventures around the railway. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven.

VOICES IN THE EVENING by Natalia Ginzburg (trans. DM Low), chosen by Tessa Hadley THE ZONE OF INTEREST by Martin Amis (trans. Jessica Moore), chosen by Sebastian Faulks EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal, chosen by Harriett GilbertTwo authors pick books they love with Harriett Gilbert.Tessa Hadley (Late In The Day, Free Love, After The Funeral) takes us to post-war Italy with Voices In The Evening by Natalia Ginzburg. The drama, suffering and fascism are in the past, but traumas surface in the day-to-day, with first loves and lost chances.Sebastian Faulks (Birdsong, Human Traces, The Seventh Son) chooses The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis, after watching the hit film by Jonathan Glazer and wanting to read the book it was inspired by. The haunting novel follows a Nazi officer who has become enamoured with the Auschwitz camp commandant's wife, and goes inside the minds of the commandant, who lives with his family right next to the concentration camp.Harriett Gilbert brings Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, a gripping novella set on the Trans-Siberian Railway, with a chance encounter between a desperate Russian conscript and a French woman.Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol Join the conversation on Instagram @bbcagoodread

Rita Bullwinkel, Mohsin Hamid and Téa Obreht

Recorded at the Hay FestivalSHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stewart ON THE BLACK HILL by Bruce Chatwin AGAINST NATURE by Joris-Karl HuysmansHarriett Gilbert takes to the stage in the BBC Marquee at the Hay Festival for a special edition of the programme recorded in front of an audience. Actor and writer Doon Mackichan known for her outrageous character Cathy in the sitcom Two Doors Down chooses Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart as her good read. It's a touching but heartbreaking tale of a young Glaswegian boy's desperate efforts to save his mother Agnes from the alcoholism that ruins and degrades her. It won the Booker Prize in 2020. As we're in Wales Harriett's fitting choice is Bruce Chatwin's On The Black Hill an account of rural Welsh life in the mid 20th century. It's the story of two brothers' lives over 80 years and their connection to land and community. Bruce Robinson actor, director and writer of the hit film Withnail and I which has been adapted for stage chooses a book that features in the final scene of the film. The I character places two books in a suitcase at the end of the film, one of which is A Rebours - Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Bruce confesses that he's not the book's biggest fan but the ensuing discussion provides an entertaining insight into books we might read when we're younger and how differently we feel about them in later life. It's the story of an eccentric recluse Jean des Esseintes in 19th century France who loathes people and creates a fantasy world for himself but ultimately suffers from his self-inflicted pretentious ennui. "I wish I hadn't chosen this book" proclaims Bruce Robinson as he introduces it. "I wish you hadn't chosen it" agrees Doon Mackichan. They then elicit a lot of audience laughter from their deconstruction of this seminal French novel that all three find pretentious.This is a longer version of the broadcast programme.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Shahidha Bari discusses EM Forster's A Passage to India with Neel Mukherjee, Elizabeth Lowry and Dr Chris Mourant.

ABSENT IN THE SPRING by Agatha Christie (writing as Mary Westmacott) (HarperCollins), chosen by Simon Brett IN THE GARDEN OF THE FUGITIVES by Ceridwen Dovey (Penguin), chosen by Denise Mina HIDE MY EYES by Margery Allingham (Penguin), chosen by Harriett GilbertCrime writers Denise Mina and Simon Brett join Harriett Gilbert to read each other's favourite books.Simon chooses Agatha Christie under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, with Absent In The Spring. It’s a story without any detective and one that, perhaps, reveals a more personal side to Christie's writing.Denise picks the novel In the Garden of the Fugitives by South African-Australian author Ceridwen Dovey, an epistolary novel which begins with a letter that breaks seventeen years of silence between a rich, elderly man with a broken heart and his former protegee, a young South African filmmaker.And for the occasion of having two crime authors, Harriett Gilbert picks a golden age crime book, Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham, where private detective Albert Campion finds himself hunting down a serial killer.Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol Join the conversation @agoodreadbbc Instagram

Kevin Barry, acclaimed author of "The Heart in Winter," delves into contemporary Western themes intertwining gender and identity. Joined by Anna North and Scott Preston, they navigate a poetic landscape while discussing runaway lovers and the complexities of Western characters. Richard Coles adds a twist by connecting morality and mystery in Western and detective fiction, invoking Sherlock Holmes to highlight Victorian anxieties. Their conversation captures the evolution of storytelling and the importance of diverse voices in the genre.