A Good Read

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A Good Read: Andrew McMillan and Kathryn Williams

Andrew McMillan and Kathryn Williams

BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Andrew McMillan and Kathryn Williams

A poet and a singer-songwriter share favourite books with Harriett Gilbert

Writing advice from the master of horror, a novel about a puppy lost in the Colombian jungle, and a book about how to come to terms with the end of the world.

ON WRITING by Stephen King, chosen by Kathryn Williams
THE BITCH by Pilar Quintana (translated by Lisa Dillman), chosen by Harriett Gilbert
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute, chosen by Andrew McMillan 

The singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams loves books about the craft of writing and her choice of a good read is 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft', by the master of horror, Stephen King. The book gave her practical tools and advice which helped her to write her debut novel, The Ormering Tide. She also loves what we learn about King's life - from his flatulent childhood nanny to the devastating 1999 accident which almost ended his life. 

Harriett's choice this week is The Bitch by Colombian author Pilar Quintana, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. In a village on the Pacific coast of Colombia, between wild jungle and wild seas, a childless woman develops a complicated relationship with an orphaned puppy. 

And the poet and novelist Andrew McMillan chooses On the Beach by Nevil Shute. In Australia, a group of people try to come to terms with the end of the world. A nuclear war has wiped out all life in the northern hemisphere and the radiation is drifting steadily south. What would you do if you knew that you, and everyone you know, had only months to live? 

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

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Andrew McMillan and Kathryn Williams

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