Joe Dunthorne and Iszi Lawrence

A Good Read

BBC

Arts, Books

4.2 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, translated by John E. Woods, chosen by Iszi Lawrence Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles, chosen by Joe Dunthorne Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert

Historical fiction author and broadcaster Iszi Lawrence adores the sensational novel Perfume, and has done since she was a teenager. For her, it immerses her in another world and is wonderfully cynical about the futility of chasing ultimate fulfilment through creating art and performing to a crowd.

The poet and novelist, author of Submarine, Joe Dunthorne chooses the forgotten cult classic Two Serious Ladies. It makes him happy because every sentence is a surprise, and that makes him want to write. But he admits that it's not for everyone.

And Harriett's choice is Oh William! by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout. Which prompts the discussion, can you love a book if you loathe the central character?

Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio Bristol Follow us on instagram: agoodreadbbc

Photo copyright Tom Medwell

Transcript

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0:00.0	Things just swirling around my head.
0:03.6	Am I really the product of this?
0:06.1	Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests.
0:11.0	Little did I know what more was to come.
0:13.4	I'm Jenny Clemen and in the new series of The Gift,
0:17.5	we'll hear more stories emerging out of the ever-expanding global DNA database.
0:22.8	They did know that I was different.
0:25.7	You had kids together.
0:27.0	Yeah.
0:27.5	Then you met.
0:28.3	Then we met.
0:29.2	The Gift.
0:30.1	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:34.2	BBC Sounds, music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:38.3	Hello, I'm Harriet Gilbert. Thank you for downloading a good read, the podcasts,
0:43.3	where two guests and I recommend books we love and describe why we love them.
0:47.3	We don't always see eye to eye, but I hope you'll find some great reading suggestions here.
0:52.3	You love books? Great. So do we. And each of us has chosen one we'd especially like to
0:58.8	recommend, though whether or not we share one another's taste is a different matter. With me today
1:03.9	are two writers. Joe Dunthorne is a poet and the author of three novels, including submarine,
1:09.8	which was made into a film by Richard Ayawadi.
1:12.8	His latest book, a family memoir called Children of Radium,
	...

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