A Good Read: Olivia Laing and Charlie Porter
Author and cultural critic Olivia Laing with fashion writer Charlie Porter and presenter Harriett Gilbert, on the books they love.
Author and cultural critic Olivia Laing, whose books include The Lonely City, Funny Weather and Everybody, is joined by fashion writer and curator Charlie Porter, of What Artists Wear and Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion, and presenter Harriett Gilbert, to talk about the books they love.
Olivia recommends Bad Blood by literary critic Lorna Sage - a memoir of her eccentric childhood and adolescence in 1940s rural Wales. Charlie loves Honey From A Weed by Patience Gray, a cookbook which exalts local knowledge and seasonal cooking, taking readers to a time and place far removed from modern life. And Harriett brings The English Understand Wool, a 2022 novella by American author Helen DeWitt, which takes unexpected twists and turns and which Harriett argues, merits reading more than once.
Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Produced by Eliza Lomas for 大象传媒 Audio
Books
Celebrating reading and the 100 novels that have shaped our world.
How many of these 100 Novels have you read?
After a passionate debate, our panel has come up with this surprising literary selection.
Opening Lines
John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.
Finding Your Story
Ten remarkable novels about identity: Which one will help you discover yourself?
Podcast
-
![]()
Books and Authors
Open Book with Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts and A Good Read with Harriett Gilbert
