This Week's Programme
Presenter Maev Kennedy tours a dark, dangerous and foul-smelling London
with official city biographer Peter Ackroyd and Scottish writer Louise
Welsh.
Ackroyd's latest novel depicts a fictional collision between devoted
brother and sister, Charles and Mary Lamb, and the all but forgotten
literary impersonator, William Ireland. Typical of Ackroyd's style, the
book is an illusion of historical truth in which nothing can be trusted.
Louise Welsh's second novel, Tamburlaine Must Die, sees
playwright Christopher Marlowe travelling around London during the last
three days of his life. Welsh takes the reader on a ghost train ride
through a violent and chaotic city lit by flaring torches and
devilish-red gleaming eyes.
And as both books grip the reader so strongly they can be devoured in
one sitting, Open Book considers the epithet of 'page turner' - a
quality mark or a dire literary insult?
Programme Book List
1) The Lambs of London, Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
ISBN: 0701177446
2) Tales from Shakespeare, Charles & Mary Lamb
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
ISBN: 1853261408
3) Essays of Elia, Charles Lamb
Publisher: Dent
ISBN: 046001014X
4) Tamburlaine Must Die, Louise Welsh
Publisher: Canongate
ISBN: 1841955329
5) The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh
Publisher: Canongate
ISBN: 1841953830
6) Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Publisher: Sceptre
ISBN: 0340822775
7) Atonement, Ian McEwan
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0099429799
8) Morality Play, Barry Unsworth
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0140175741
9) Without Blood, Alessandro Baricco
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
ISBN: 1841954853
10) The Ninth life of Louis Drax, Liz Jensen
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 0747571066
E-mail Open Book
with your comments and views about the programme.
Open Book Needs You!
Open Book will be exploring the activity of reading aloud in a special programme this summer and we'd like to include you.
Have you had an interesting experience of reading aloud - or being read
to? Perhaps as part of a courtship, or in less than happy, or unusual
circumstances - we'd like to explore them all.
Write to us at Open Book:
Reading Aloud
Room 7057
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London W1A 1AA, or...
E-mail Open Book with any of your experiences
Presenter Maev Kennedy tours a dark, dangerous and foul-smelling London
with official city biographer Peter Ackroyd and Scottish writer Louise
Welsh.
Ackroyd's latest novel depicts a fictional collision between devoted
brother and sister, Charles and Mary Lamb, and the all but forgotten
literary impersonator, William Ireland. Typical of Ackroyd's style, the
book is an illusion of historical truth in which nothing can be trusted.
Louise Welsh's second novel, Tamburlaine Must Die, sees
playwright Christopher Marlowe travelling around London during the last
three days of his life. Welsh takes the reader on a ghost train ride
through a violent and chaotic city lit by flaring torches and
devilish-red gleaming eyes.
And as both books grip the reader so strongly they can be devoured in
one sitting, Open Book considers the epithet of 'page turner' - a
quality mark or a dire literary insult?
Programme Book List
1) The Lambs of London, Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
ISBN: 0701177446
2) Tales from Shakespeare, Charles & Mary Lamb
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
ISBN: 1853261408
3) Essays of Elia, Charles Lamb
Publisher: Dent
ISBN: 046001014X
4) Tamburlaine Must Die, Louise Welsh
Publisher: Canongate
ISBN: 1841955329
5) The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh
Publisher: Canongate
ISBN: 1841953830
6) Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Publisher: Sceptre
ISBN: 0340822775
7) Atonement, Ian McEwan
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0099429799
8) Morality Play, Barry Unsworth
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0140175741
9) Without Blood, Alessandro Baricco
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
ISBN: 1841954853
10) The Ninth life of Louis Drax, Liz Jensen
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 0747571066
E-mail Open Book
with your comments and views about the programme.
Open Book Needs You!
Open Book will be exploring the activity of reading aloud in a special programme this summer and we'd like to include you.
Have you had an interesting experience of reading aloud - or being read
to? Perhaps as part of a courtship, or in less than happy, or unusual
circumstances - we'd like to explore them all.
Write to us at Open Book:
Reading Aloud
Room 7057
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London W1A 1AA, or...
E-mail Open Book with any of your experiences