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
Sunday 23 April 2006
Richard E Grant talks about his film diary "The Wah Wah Diaries", how mental health has been presented in fiction and Philippa Gregory launches a new series of literary confessions.
Richard E Grant
Film actor Richard E Grant talks about his film diary "The Wah Wah Diaries", an account of his directorial debut of a film "Wah Wah" which he wrote and tells the story of his traumatic childhood in Swaziland.
The Wah Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film - Richard E Grant
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 0330441965
With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 0330349678
By Design: Richard E Grant
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 033036829X
Literary Confessions
In the first of a series of literary confessions, Philippa Gregory reveals what else she does when she is alone in her study trying to write and how she treats books
The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0006514006
The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0007190301
The Virgin's Lover - Philippa Gregory
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0007147317
Mental Health in Fiction
How mental health institutions and psychiatrists have been presented in fiction. Open Book talks to two writers whose books explore the issues of mental health, M.J. Hyland and Clare Allen, and considers how humour has been used to explore madness.
Carry Me Down - M.J. Hyland
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
ISBN: 1841957348
How the Light Gets In - M.J. Hyland
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
ISBN: 1841956112
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 0571226167
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0141187883
Poppy Shakespeare - Clare Allan
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 0747580464
The Diary of a Madman - Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol
Publisher: Signet Classics
ISBN: 0451529545
An Angel at My Table - Janet Frame
Publisher: The Women's Press Ltd
ISBN: 0704346931
Faces in the Water - Janet Frame
Publisher: The Women's Press Ltd
ISBN: 0704338610
To the Island - Janet Frame
Publisher: George Braziller
ISBN: 0807610429
Reading Clinic
Your suggestions for books set in nineteenth century Australia in response to this query to our Reading Clinic In common with I'm sure many people my ancestors spent time in Australia. Can you recommend some light reading - fiction or non-fiction - set in the colony in the period 1850-1900? Perhaps a 'family saga' or something similar? Something which would give a flavour of what life was like there at that time?
Thanks for all your letters and email - all the titles you recommended are on our Book List.
Tapu - Judy Corbalis
The Secret River - Kate Greville
Kings in Grass Castles - Mary Durack
English Passengers - Matthew Kneale
A Fortunate Life - A B Facey
Green Dolphin Street - Elizabeth Goudge
Bring Larks & Heroes - Thomas Keneally
The Conversations at Curlow Creek - David Malouf
Pity the Swagman - Joseph Jenkins
Sara Dane - Catherine Gaskin
The Fortunes of Henry Mahoney - Henry Handel Richardson
We of the Never, Never - Aeneas Gunn
The Little Black Princess - Aeneas Gunn
The Potato Factory; Tommo & Hawk; Solomon's song - Bryce Courtney
Jessica - Bryce Courtney
Robbery Under Arms - Mary Durack
The Tree of Man - Patrick White
Man Versus the Outback - Patrick White
My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin
My Brilliant Career Goes Bung - Miles Franklin
Portrait with Background - Alexandra Hasluck
The Bequest - John de Falbe
Lucinda Brayford & The Cardboard Crown - Martin Boyd
Robbery Under Arms - Rolf Boldrewood
Naked Under Capricorn - Olaf Ruhen
Brittany 's Book - Tom Keneally
The Floating Brothel - Sian Rees
Eucalyptus - Murray Bail
For The Terms of His Natural Life - Marcus Clarke
Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsey
Mr Hogarth's Will - Catherine Helen Spence
An Australian Girl - Catherine Martin
An Australian Bush Track - J D Hennessey
Fugitive Anne - Rosa Campbell Praed
The Singing Line - Alice Thomson
Outbreak of Love - Martin Boyd
Remember Me - Mary Pearce
Epic Journeys of Freedom; Black Founders,
The Unknown Story of Australia's Black Settlers - Professor Cassandra Pybus
The Timeless Land - Eleanor Dark
The Astronomer of Rousdon - Charles Grover
Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
To Brave Every Danger - Judith Cook
The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes
Portrait with Background - Alexandra Hasluck
The Scent of Eucalyptus, Frangipani Garden - Barbara Hanrahan
