Sunday 16:00-16:30, repeated Thursday 16:00-16:30, except first Sunday in the month when it is replaced by Book Club.
Open Book spotlights new fiction and non-fiction, picks out the best of the paperbacks, talks to authors and publishers, and unearths lost masterpieces.
This week
Sunday 20 November 2005
Jeremy Mercer on the five months he spent living in the legendary Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company; a new website dedicated to Scottish books, and we launch the Open Book 'Book of the Year' list.
Jeremy Mercer was a crime reporter in Toronto who was forced to flee and found himself penniless in Paris. He took refuge in the legendary bookshop Shakespeare and Company and stayed for five months. He talks to Kate Mosse about his account of that time - "Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs".
Marion Sinclair from the Scottish Publishers Association and critic Stuart Kelly discuss Books from Scotland a new website dedicated to Scottish books which is launched on 2nd December.
The Rose Window is one of the most famous features of Gothic architecture. Painton Cowen has spent years researching how they were built, their meaning, their history and has now published his second book on the subject. Kate Mosse met him in Canterbury Cathedral under the small Rose Window in St Anselm's Chapel.
Martin Gurdon casts an eye over those novelty books which proliferate next to bookshop tills at this time of year.
Open Book Book of the Year - we'd like to hear about the books you've most enjoyed reading, which were published for the first time in hardback or paperback in 2005. Email us with your suggestions or write to Open Book, BBC Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA.
Booklist
Jeremy Mercer
Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 0297850881
Scottish Literature
A God's Breakfast - Frank Kuppner Publisher: Carcanet Press ISBN: 1857547446
Mobius Dick - Andrew Crumey Publisher: Picador ISBN: 0330419927
Lucky Day - Richard Price Publisher: Carcanet Press ISBN: 1857547616
Painton Cowen
The Rose Window: Splendour and Symbol Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN: 0500511748
Martin Gurdon's Novelty Christmas Books
A Little Book of Internet Dating
A Little Book of Essential Foreign Swear Words
A Little Book of Essential English Swear Words
A Little Book of Chavs
A Little Book of Chav Speak
Can Reindeer Fly?: The Science of Christmas
The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas
Trade Secrets Christmas
Oi, Pikey!: A Celebration of Cheap Living
Bad Cat
Off The Wall
Car Badges: The ultimate guide to automotive logos worldwide
