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 19th August 2007
Novelist Christopher Hope celebrates the work of Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
South African novelist Christopher Hope joins Mariella to celebrate the work of Joseph Conrad, whose classic novels include Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim, who was born 150 years ago.
The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad – John Stape Publisher: William Heinemann
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad Publisher: Penguin Classics
Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad Publisher: Penguin Classics
The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad Publisher: Penguin Classics
Heaven Forbid – Christopher Hope Publisher: Picador
My Mother’s Lovers: A Novel – Christopher Hope Publisher: Atlantic Books
Nicholas Shakespeare
Nicholas Shakespeare's latest novel, Secrets of the Sea, is the portrait of a marriage. Alex and Merridy live in a claustrophobic small town in Tasmania where their lives are haunted by past bereavements, and by the absence of a child.
Secrets of the Sea – Nicholas Shakespeare Publisher: Harvill Secker
In Tasmania: Adventures at the End of the World – Nicholas Shakespeare Publisher: Vintage
Snowleg – Nicholas Shakespeare Publisher: Vintage
Bruce Chatwin – Nicholas Shakespeare Publisher: Vintage
Scottish crime post-Rebus
Tony Black discusses the new kids on Scotland's fictional detective block who might fill the shoes of Inspector Rebus, as he faces retirement in Ian Rankin's twentieth Rebus novel, due out in September.
Absolution – Caro Ramsay Publisher: Michael Joseph Ltd
Hard Man – Allan Guthrie Publisher: Polygon
Go to Helena in a Handbasket – Donna Moore Publisher:
Donkey Punch – Ray Banks Publisher: Polygon
Biographers working with the family
Biographers Peter Stanford, Jane Ridley and Adam Sisman discuss the benefits - and disadvantages - of having the co-operation of the subject's family when writing a biography.
C Day-Lewis – Peter Stanford Publisher: Continuum
Edwin Lutyens: His Life, His Wife, His Work – Jane Ridley Publisher: Pimlico
The Friendship: Wordsworth and Coleridge – Adam Sisman Publisher: Harper Collins
A.J.P. Taylor: A Biography – Adam Sisman Publisher: Mandarin
