On this week’s show, Claire is joined by Richard, Alison and Sian to talk about summer reading. Do people really read differently when off on holiday? The four share their picks, while discussing the books chosen by the likes of Aminatta Forna, John Banville and Salman Rushdie in the Guardian Review’s summer reading special.
Then Claire sits down with the novelist Ross Raisin to discuss his latest book, Read This If You Want to Be a Great Writer. Drawing on his second career as a creative writing teacher, Raisin decided to put together a guide based on his experiences of reading, writing and teaching. He discusses what makes “good writing”, as well as his last novel A Natural, a book about a footballer which is coming out in paperback as the World Cup commands global attention.
Reading list
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli (Allen Lane)
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (Jonathan Cape)
Calypso by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)
Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth)
Force of Nature by Jane Harper (Little, Brown)
Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (Doubleday)
Year of the Drought by Roland Buti (Old Street Publishing)
Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli (4th Estate)
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera (And Other Stories)
The Stand by Stephen King (Hodder and Stoughton)
The Vorrh by Brian Catling (Coronet)
Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin (Phoenix House)
Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes (Mantle)
Circe by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury)
Never Anyone But You by Rupert Thomson (Little, Brown)
Read This If You Want to Be a Great Writer by Ross Raisin (Laurence King)
A Natural by Ross Raisin (Vintage)
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
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