Show Notes
Sara welcomes international bestselling author, Douglas Stuart, to the Book Club. They discuss his beautiful new novel - John Of John - and his inspirations behind the story. Douglas tells Sara about his epic trip to the Scottish Islands, the people he met there - and what he learned about sheep farming and textile making (all of which made it into this new book). He also chats about exploring the theme of masculinity and how not growing up with a father figure helped shape and create the central relationship in his novel. Douglas also gives a great book recommendation - and - plays us a short extract from the audiobook too. Here's a little more info on 'John Of John': Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the island of Harris to find that not much has changed except for him. In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, caught between the two poles of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver, and pillar of their local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has kept a faltering peace with her son-in-law for decades. While Cal wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, John is dismayed by his son’s long hair and how he seems unwilling to be Saved. As the seasons pass, everything is poised to change as the threads holding together the fragile community become increasingly entangled.
More from The Radio 2 Book Club
Author, publisher and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Dave Eggers, joins Sara for a chat about his new novel 'Contrapposto'. They discuss his inspirations for the story, his fascination with the art world - and - how Dave himself studied as a Draughtsman. They talk about long lasting friendships, bickering, love and the endurance of art. Dave also recommends us a book he has read recently and loved! Here's a little more info on his novel: Cricket is just a shy kid who likes drawing when he first meets Olympia. She's older, more confident; she bullies him into some light vandalism and instantly he's in love. When they're together, they talk about their futures, how they're going to travel the world, the beauty and rapture of art. Then those futures start to arrive in unexpected ways, the years and decades pile up between them, the art world seduces and disappoints and frustrates them. And they have to figure out, again and again, what it is to be an artist, and who and what to love. This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.
As part of Radio 2's Book Week celebrations, Sara Cox asked a whole host of comedians, actors, authors - and Radio 2 Presenters - to share their favourite books and tell us why they love them so much. Here's our list of featured guests and their book choices! (This is your reading list sorted for the next couple of year) Stephen Graham - 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' by Richard Bach Dame Jaqueline Wilson - 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith Mel Giedroyc - 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish' by Dr. Seuss Clive Myrie - 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens Susie Dent - 'Le Grand Meaulnes' by Henri Alain-Fournier Lee Child - 'Ice Station Zebra' by Alistair Maclean Mark Radcliffe - 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning' by Laurie Lee Sir Lenny Henry - 'The Cat In The Hat' by Dr. Seuss Philip Pullman - 'Sir Patrick Spens' by Anonymous Marian Keyes - 'Cold Comfort Farm' by Stella Gibbons Val McDermid - 'The Crow Road' by Iain Banks Matt Lucas - 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens Jamie Oliver - 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain OJ Borge - 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson
Marian Keyes is a huge champion of books and reading - so who better to help us celebrate Book Week on Radio 2! She chats to Sara about the joys of books and gives some great tips on how to get back into reading, if you've fallen out of the rhythm of it. Marian also teases us with news of a NEW NOVEL! (but she can't say much about it...yet) and gives us a great book recommendation as well! (we pack a lot in!)
Bestselling author, Donal Ryan, joins Sara in the Book Club to chat about his new novel, "Where Are The Kings". He reveals what inspired this book and why he very nearly didn't write it at all. There are lots of elements of Donal- and his own son - in the main character, which make this a deeply personal book. He also talks about balancing humour with the serious subjects of loss and grief. Donal gives us a cracking book recommendation - and we get to hear a short snippet of the audiobook too. Here's a little more info on Donal's novel: Something terrible has happened to Jack but no one seems to want to talk about it. His uncles can tell him about everything from quantum physics to how to hunt for deer, but they can’t seem to tell him anything about their own sister or why Jack doesn’t feel sad for her in the way he should, or why Grandad tries to shoot Jack’s dad when he gets out of the hospital. Still, there’s work to be done in the oily wonderland of his uncles’ garage; there’s his beautiful aunt Rose to hypnotise him and his loving grandparents to console him; then there’s JJ, who wants to fight him one day and save him the next. But with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, it is difficult for Jack to understand the person he is becoming. How can a simple boy learn to become a king?
The Queen Of Crime - Val McDermid - and winner of our Radio 2 Book Club Award - Roisin O'Donnell - join Sara for some good ole book chat. Sara hosts this very special edition of the Radio 2 Book Club from the BBC Sounds Garden at Radio 2 In The Park - Stirling - in front of a live audience. She chats to the authors about their latest novels, their inspirations, why Scotland is such a good setting for crime fiction - and gets some brilliant book recommendations from them too! Roisin is the inaugural winner of our Radio 2 Book Club Award - and managed to bring her trophy, all the way from Dublin, to show off! Apparently airport security had a few questions... Here's more info on our guests' brilliant books: SILENT BONES - BY VAL MCDERMID When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets? Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . . NESTING - BY ROISIN O'DONNELL On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another. What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?