With James Naughtie.
Khaled Hosseini talks about his global bestselling novel, The Kite Runner with a group of invited readers.
The book describes how the happiness of an afternoon's kite flying competition in late-1970s Kabul is broken when young Amir fails to help his best friend Hassan avoid a terrible incident. The effects on the duo's friendship are d ... Show More
Jul 6
Tom Holland
Presented by James Naughtie, Bookclub speaks to the award-winning writer, historian, and podcaster, Tom Holland, about his book Rubicon, which looks at the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic. Originally published in 2003, the book won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for non- ... Show More
28m 37s
Sep 2022
Nahid Shahalimi Gathers the Voices of Afghan Women
It was just a year ago that the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. On that date, Nahid Shahalimi, an Afghan female writer living in Germany, realized that she needed to hurry to record the stories of prominent Afghan women who soon would try to escape their country, or st ... Show More
38m 13s
Feb 2022
Joseph Heller's Catch-22: A novel of twisted logic and absurd bureaucracy
"That’s some Catch, that Catch 22". It’s a novel that gave rise to a new term in the English language and gave voice to American soldiers serving in Vietnam in the 1960s. Since its publication in 1961, Catch-22, Joseph Heller’s best-selling novel, has not only come to symbolise t ... Show More
39m 36s
Dec 2018
Ayana Mathis: “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie”
New York Times best-selling author Ayana Mathis discusses her sweeping debut novel, “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.” The book tells the story of the children of the Great Migration through the trials of one indomitable heroine, Hattie Shepherd, and her unforgettable family. Ayana s ... Show More
29m 49s
Dec 2023
Kadare, Gospodinov, Kafka and Dickens
The Palace of Dreams is a novel from 1981 that is ostensibly set in the 19th century Ottoman empire, but the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare cleverly smuggles in thinly veiled criticism of the totalitarian state presided over by Enver Hoxha. The book was duly banned shortly after p ... Show More
45m 7s
Mar 2024
The New Coming-of-Age Story
For centuries, the bildungsroman, or novel of education, has offered a window into a formative period of life—and, by extension, into the historical moment in which it’s set. Vinson Cunningham sent the draft of “Great Expectations,” a book loosely based on his experience on Barac ... Show More
50m 1s
Apr 2024
Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, "A Nose and Three Eyes" (Hoopoe, 2024)
Written by iconic Egyptian novelist Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, this classic of love, desire, and family breakdown smashed through taboos when first published in Arabic and continues to captivate audiences todayIt is 1950s Cairo and 16-year-old Amina is engaged to a much older man. Des ... Show More
39m 3s