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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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|  | | Cover of A Little History of British Gardening by Jenny Uglow (Faber & Faber)
Listen to Amélie Nothomb interview
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To see the books that you nominated as life-changing and to hear the programme again, select 11 April in the Recent Programmes section on this page.
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:
In this week's Open Book, Mariella Frostrup discusses the best and worst of gardening books with gardener Beth Chatto, writer Victoria Glendinning and Royal Horticultural librarian Brent Elliot. How literature has shaped and mis-shaped our view of the First World War, historian Richard Holmes discusses Tommy, his new book on the British soldier. The American heavy metal band who are promoting literacy through science fiction on playing in libraries and throwing books at their fans.
And the phenomenon of Amélie Nothomb, the Belgian writer who has taken France by storm, talking about her new novel.
List of Books:
Gardening Book Recommendations:
A Little History of British Gardening by Jenny Uglow (Chatto & Windus)
RHS Plants for Places: 1000 Tried and Tested Plants for Every Soil, Site and Usage (Royal Horticultural Society)
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust (Timber Press)
Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos by Graham Stuart Thomas(Frances Lincoln)
Perennial Garden Plants or the Modern Florilegium by Graham Stuart Thomas (Phoenix)
The Well-Tempered Garden by Christopher Lloyd (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
We Made A Garden by Margery Fish (B T Batsford)
Reader’s Digest New Illustrated Guide to Gardening (Reader’s Digest Association)
Look At All Those Roses: Short Stories by Elizabeth Bowen (Jonathan Cape)
A selection of books by Beth Chatto:
Beth Chatto’s Woodland Garden (Cassell Illustrated)
Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden (Frances Lincoln Ltd)
The Dry Garden (Orion)
Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook (Orion)
The Damp Garden (Cassell Illustrated)
The Green Tapestry (Collins)
The Dry Garden (Sagapress)
English translations of books by Amélie Nothomb:
The Book of Proper Names (Faber & Faber)
Fear and Trembling (St Martin’s Press)
The Character of Rain (St Martin’s Press)
Loving Sabotage (W.W. Norton)
Richard Holmes’ new book Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front is published by HarperCollins.
For further information on Blöödhag click here
E-mail Open Book here with your comments and views.
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