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
23 November 2008 and 27 November 2008
Will Self on the maverick American novelist William Burroughs; the many lives of Bluebeard; and books about the future of our planet
Self on Burroughs Will Self joins Mariella to discuss the work of William Burroughs. As Burroughs's earliest work of fiction appears in print for the first time, they talk about the American writer's take on addiction, society and experimental writing.
Bluebeard Matthew D'Ancona's novel Nothing To Fear, published this week, is a retelling of Charles Perrault's fairy tale Bluebeard, whose eponymous protagonist is one of the most sinister figures in literature. Other writers to have tackled the story include Angela Carter and Kurt Vonnegut.
As Carter's translation of Perrault is republished, Open Book talks to Matthew D'Ancona and to the fairy tale expert Jack Zipes about the enduring appeal of the terrifying Bluebeard.
The Reading Clinic Mariella is joined by the science fiction writer Adam Roberts to offer advice to a listener looking for books which can help suggest the future of our planet in a hundred years' time.
If you have a query for the Reading Clinic, why not send it to [email protected]
