For the past two years, I’ve been plotting and planning to put together my dream podcast. I’ve been watching so many people putting out shows and knew that once I had the right idea and good people with me, I’d give it a go.
The first thing I needed was the idea. It was always going to be books but I wasn’t sure of the angle. As a fan of Desert Island Discs, I always like the idea of a ‘selection’ scenario whereby the guest talks about a few items of interest and maybe a twist question at the end.
I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child but I’m always conscious of people who don’t read or read very little so I wanted to make a show that was inclusive and that’s where the choice of guests matters so much as I wasn’t making a show for book lovers only but rather one for people interested in stories and the people telling them. This happens over the course of 45 minutes and through the prism of the books chosen by whoever is sitting across from me.
The show is called The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy and here’s the pitch! Every week, a guest is invited to bring three books from their bookshelf; The book from childhood, the book that made them cry and the book that changed their life. At the tail end of the conversation, I ask one final question which is: ‘What is the name of the autobiography you haven’t written yet?’ and that’s the show.
Every week, there’ll be a Ryan Recommends moment whereby I tell the listener about a book that I’ve read recently in much the same way I’ve done in this column every week since I started. I’m particularly happy about this part as it’s one thing that keeps coming up when people get in touch and say they miss the recommendations in the morning so this allows the regular readers to take a punt on something I’ve been reading in a given week.
The other thing I like about the podcast (and forgive the humility bypass) is that it can also be ‘played’ among friends, family and fellow nerds over coffee or a pint: What three books would you choose and tell me about that autobiography title.
I’ve tried it out at a few lunches and people really get into it so give it a go later and see what happens. You could always secretly take note of the choices and pack them up as a birthday/Christmas gift… Thoughtful, economic and geeky. What’s not to love?
My editor suggested I give it a go so here’s my take on The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy with Ryan Tubridy (if you know what I mean)…
1- The Book From My Childhood
Such a tough question but I’d have to go with Roald Dahl and George’s Marvellous Medicine. For starters, I often tried to put a spoonful of everything I could find in the kitchen into a massive bowl in a bid to emulate George and his bonkers concoction. Really though, it could be any of Dahl’s books for children and largely because he understood that children are fundamentally good and adults are a pain in the neck.
He got the fact that it’s hard being a kid in that you’re small, physically weak and yet much more perceptive than most adults ever gave you credit for. These books made me a more interested dad and Toy Show presenter as a result. From Willy Wonka to The BFG and beyond, there are always a few adults who could communicate with kids and they are usually the ones who refused to fully grow up while all around them moved on!
2- The Book That Made Me Cry
I’m not someone who cries when reading. In more recent years, I’ll shed a tear watching It’s A Wonderful Life at Christmas or listening to Muppet Or A Man with my girls but that’s largely tied up with memory and love. Books make me more reflective than physically emotional and yet there is one book that I found heart breaking at the time and that’s Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
This is a beautiful and mysterious story set in the near future (mild dystopia rather than out and out science fiction). It features a group of friends who live in what feels like an orphanage of some sort but as the story unfolds, all is not what it seems and suddenly we see the characters with a completely different set of eyes and all bets are off. The writing is elegant, the storytelling hypnotically brutal and the end is where the tears start to gently trickle.
3- The Book That Changed My Life
This was between the Chronicle of the 20th Century and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. I’m going to go for the former but let me urge you to read the latter. Anyway, As a young teenager, I was given the Chronicle of the 20th Century which was a book like no other.
Essentially, it’s a year-by-year look at the twentieth century that focuses in on certain days but all in the form of newspaper-type reports. You read about the Titanic or both World Wars as their stories unfold, it’s gripping even now to open the books and get lost in them.
Amongst the photos and news stories featuring politicians like JFK and Winston Chruchill, there are glamorous shots of The Beatles and Frank Sinatra. This book showed me the past in a way no regular history book could. It got me hooked on the past and pop culture, both phenomena I’ve been absorbed by since. Life changing.
4- The Autobiography I Have Yet To Write
I was tempted by God in a Hoodie (a lovely quote Sinead O’Connor came up with in a conversation we had shortly before she died) but I prefer the more hopeful and positive Elvis song title and how I like to end any conversation or difficult moment in life… Peace in the Valley.
The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy starts this Tuesday with David Walliams picking three books from his shelf.
