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
13 April 2008
This week on Open Book: former Children's Laureate Anne Fine on a dark new novel for adults; a beginner's guide to Dostoevsky; and the £11,000 book...
Anne Fine
Mariella meets the novelist Anne Fine, whose many books for children have been praised for their sensitive and humorous treatment of difficult themes. But she's also written several novels for adults, including her latest, Fly in the Ointment. It's a dark story about a woman's clandestine attempts to maintain contact with her grandchild. Anne Fine tells Mariella about it, and explains why bringing up children has never been more difficult.
Fly in the Ointment: Anne Fine Publisher: Bantam Press
Publishers Go Green
As a major publisher launches a new range of eco-friendly books using recycled board and paper from sustainable forests, Mariella is joined by Tom Tivnan of The Bookseller to discuss how an industry enormously dependent on paper and road freight can become more evironmentally aware.
Dostoevsky for Beginners
Mariella is joined by the novelist James Meek and the BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent Bridget Kendall to discuss a writer they both admire: Fyodor Dostoevsky. One of his greatest novels, Demons, has just been issued in a new translation. Dostoevsky is famous for his dark themes and the forbidding size of his novels, but there are riches to be found within. Mariella gets some advice on where to start.
Demons: Fyodor Dostoevsky. Translated by Robert Maguire Publisher: New Penguin Classics
The Florilegium
Prince Charles has commissioned a book recording the plants in his garden at Highgrove. Just 175 copies of the Highgrove Florilegium are being printed, and a copy will set you back £11,000. Mariella talks to the writer Anna Pavord to find out what a florilegium is, and why they are among the most lavish and expensive books ever produced.
