A Good Read – Details, episodes & analysis

Douglas Stuart author of Booker Prize winning novel Shuggie Bain chooses his favourite book - Train Dreams by Denis Johnson - a short novel encapsulating the history of America in the early 20th century through the life of a lonely man in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. He's joined by Radio 1 and The Voice Wales presenter Sian Eleri whose choice is I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman - a dystopian tale of a group of captive women. Harriett's choice is More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman which examines family trauma through the relationship of three generations of women. Strong themes of loneliness run through all three choices as well as questions about our humanity.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Photo credit Sarah Blesener

EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN by Chris Cleave, chosen by Lucy Speed THE HUMAN FACTOR by Graham Greene, chosen by Harriett Gilbert 253 by Geoff Ryman, chosen by Sarah Mills

Former Eastenders and present-day Archers actor Lucy Speed and comedian Sarah Mills talk about books set in wartime London, a 1990s underground train, and Graham Greene's MI6.

Lucy's choice is Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, Which tells the tale of Mary, a woman who becomes a teacher at the beginning of the war, only for her life to take some unexpected turns during the Blitz.

Sarah has selected 253 by Geoff Ryman, the novel originally published on the Internet which tells the stories of 253 passengers on a London Underground train. Harriett proposes a lesser known a Graham Greene novel, The Human Factor, which takes in apartheid South Africa and communism as well as espionage.

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Sally Heaven

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Photo: Louise Cole

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini, chosen by Abi Dare THE FIRE NEXT TIME by James Baldwin, chosen by Harriett Gilbert DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS by Julie Schumacher, chosen by Naomi Alderman

The Power author Naomi Alderman, and Nigerian writer Abi Dare discuss favourite books. Naomi chooses Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, a series of hilarious letters written by a beleaguered academic. Abi champions A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini's tale of two women in Taliban governed Afghanistan and Harriett recommends James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, two immensely powerful essays.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven Follow us on Instagram: agoodreadbbc

Photo credit: Annabel Moeller

Janey Godley's choice is a thriller Remember Me This Way by Sabine Durrant. It's a page turner with a neat twist and tackles coercive behaviour in an interesting way. And it features a dog called Howard. Janey says it has made her think differently about her own mother's relationship with a controlling man.

Mayflies by Andrew O Hagan is Harriett's choice. It's an 80s tale of male friendship through music set in Ayrshire and Manchester and following two of the young men into adulthood.

Mel Hudson chooses The Map & The Territory by Michel Houllebecq. To say it divides opinion is to put it mildly.

Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Maggie Ayre

Jason Watkins chooses Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark as his good read, and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown champions a book with some similar themes, The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Harriett's selection is The People on Privilege Hill, Jane Gardam's book of short stories.

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Producer Sally Heaven

Comedian and writer Isy Suttie and the Radio 1 presenter and author Vick Hope are A Good Read's guests.

Vick loves Zadie Smith's Swing Time, Isy chooses Patrick Suskind's The Pigeon and we hear why Harriett's choice of the Young Adult book A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness has her guests in tears.

Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs

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Telegraph writer and podcaster Bryony Gordon is with poet and author Hollie McNish on this week's A Good Read.

Bryony loves Rachel’s Holiday by her writing hero Marian Keyes; Hollie hoped the The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis would improve her chess; and Harriett Gilbert finds both absurdity and pain in Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe.

Producer: Sarah Goodman

This is the last in our current series of A Good Read, but you can keep in touch with us and find many more book ideas on Instagram: @agoodreadbbc

Actor Adjoa Andoh, Bridgerton's Lady Danbury, and the CBeebies presenter Andy Day share the books that inspire them.

Adjoa is full of admiration for the remarkable women in Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna and Andy is fascinated by the transformation that occurs in Dibs in Search of Self: Personality Development in Play Therapy by Virginia M. Axline. Meanwhile, presenter Harriett Gilbert heartily recommends Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by poet Kate Clanchy.

Producer: Sarah Goodman

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Harriett is joined by a husband-and-wife team: Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show and Radio 4's Rewinder, and Bella Mackie, author and Vogue columnist.

Bella loves Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Harriett chooses The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré and Greg picks Right Ho, Jeeves! He says it’s the funniest PG Wodehouse novel. But why did it make Bella think he was the right man for her?

Producer: Sarah Goodman

Join our Instagram book club: @agoodreadbbc

Jane Hill chooses The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale, and Harriett's choice, Murder in Notting Hill by Mark Olden, takes place a hundred years later, in a very different part of British society. Derek Owusu isn't sure whether Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzerald really is a good read after all. Producer Sally Heaven Get involved on Instagram: @agoodreadbbc