A Good Read

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Factual

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Books and Authors

BBC Radio 4 LW

A Good Read: Yanis Varoufakis and Patrick McGrath

Yanis Varoufakis and Patrick McGrath

BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Yanis Varoufakis and Patrick McGrath

The Greek politician and economist Yanis Varoufakis and novelist Patrick McGrath guest

Their books encompass debt, WW2 and race and class in contemporary American life

The Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis chooses Margaret Atwood's treatise on debt - Payback:  Debt & The Shadow Side of Wealth as his go to book for students of economics.  It examines money lending throughout the ages and how it has been portrayed in classic literature.
Patrick McGrath's choice is a novel by Nigel Balchin set during the London Blitz: Darkness Falls From The Air which he loves for its humour and for its stoic main character Bill Sarratt, a civil servant whose attempts to get anything done are thwarted by bureaucracy.  Yanis describes Bill as a 'Sir Humphrey' from Yes Minister character and was unexpectedly delighted to discover the novel.
Harriett's choice is by Kiley Reid: a smart look at race politics in the USA through the story of a young black nanny and her white employer, white boyfriend and black friends.  Such A Fun Age was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

A Good Read

Yanis Varoufakis and Patrick McGrath

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4