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| | | OPEN BOOK
Spotlights new fiction and non-fiction, picks out the best of the paperbacks, talks to authors and publishers, and unearths lost masterpieces. | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN | | | |
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| | PRESENTER | | | |
|  | | | | Defying any attempt to pigeonhole her skills and talents Mariella combines her television and radio career with that of a prolific journalist.
Over a fifteen-year TV career she has continued to impress both audiences and critics with her friendly, accessible and intelligent screen presence. Her projects run the gamut from current affairs to movies and the arts.
As a journalist she is currently the film critic for Harpers And Queen and has a weekly dilemma column in The Observer Magazine, while her book reviews and travel pieces appear regularly in the press. She has also been a member of the Booker-Mann Prize panel.
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|  | | Listen to DBC Pierre interview
The Reading Clinic:
Do you have a problem that concerns books? If so, Open Book's Reading Clinic wants to hear from you.
For instance, do you have a partner who never reads and want some suggestions as to what might entice them in to the world of literature?
Are there some books or genres that you have never managed to get your head round and to which you'd like an introduction?
What book do you give to the person who has read everything?
Where do I start with Proust?
What book should I take on a long train journey?
How do you get teenage boys to read?
If you want a full and frank discussion of your particular literary conundrum, then Open Book's Reading Clinic can prescribe the right book for you.
Please contact Open Book here with your literary ailment, giving as many details as you can including a daytime contact number if possible.
This week's programme:
Mariella Frostrup talks to Booker prize winning author DBC Pierre about his debut novel Vernon God Little. The book looks at the plight of an innocent adolescant winning through against the odds. Despite its unlikely subject matter - it tells the story of a young boy accused of taking part in the massacre of 16 of his class mates - the book is also very funny. DBC Pierre at one time suffered from a cocaine addiction and claimed that regret had inspired him to write his award winning book. How do emotions affect the way in which writers write - is it possible to write when you are in despair, or really angry? Open Book talks to writers Terence Blacker, Magaret Forster and Rachel Cusk about how emotions have inspired or inhibited them. And finally Mariella Frostrup is joined by two of Britain's funniest writers, John O'Farrel and Jenny Éclair to recommend some of the wittiest writing around. What makes a book funny to some and not to others. Is humour timeless and why are funny books looked down on. Find out how to have a literary laugh.
Interview:
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (Faber & Faber)
Feature:
Have the Men Had Enough by Margaret Forster (Penguin Books)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Penguin Classics)
I Married A Communist by Philip Roth (Vintage)
A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother By Rachel Cusk (Fourth Estate)
Homebird by Terence Blacker (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Reading Clinic:
The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe (Penguin Books)
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters by Sue Townsend (Puffin Books)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Vintage)
Health Food Cookery Book by Barbara Cartland (Hodder)
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (Penguin Books)
Monty Python’s Big Red Book by Graham Chapman (Methuen Publishing)
Other Suggestions:
Stars and Bars by William Boyd (Penguin Books)
The Comedians by Graham Greene (Vintage Classics)
The Onion Eaters by J. P. Donleavy (Penguin Books)
E-mail Open Book here with your comments and views.
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