The Radio 2 Book Club

BBC Radio 2
  • 4.0 (5)
  • Books
  • Updated Weekly

The Radio 2 Book club celebrates the best in new fiction and recommends great reads. Sara will be interviewing top authors about their latest novels, and she’ll be catching up with librarians and reading groups from across the UK. Whether you’re after a summer blockbuster, a twist-filled thriller, or want to curl up with a heart-warming love story, Sara has you covered!

  1. 1d ago

    Who will win The Booker Prize?

    Sara welcomes former librarian turned book influencer, Simon Savidge, back to the Radio 2 Book Club to discuss this year's Booker Prize. The Booker is one of the world's leading literary prizes and often influences what people read at this time of year. In this episode - Simon takes us through the shortlist book by book, and gives us his thoughts on who might (and who should, in his opinion) win! The shortlist is: • The End of Everything by M. John Harrison • The Disappearers by Marlon James • Black Bag by Luke Kennard • May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry • The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout • John of John by Douglas Stuart

  2. Oct 19

    'Contrapposto' by Dave Eggers

    Author, publisher and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Dave Eggers, joins Sara for a chat about his new novel 'Contrapposto'. They discuss his inspirations for the story, his fascination with the art world - and - how Dave himself studied as a Draughtsman. They talk about long lasting friendships, bickering, love and the endurance of art. Dave also recommends us a book he has read recently and loved! Here's a little more info on his novel: Cricket is just a shy kid who likes drawing when he first meets Olympia. She's older, more confident; she bullies him into some light vandalism and instantly he's in love. When they're together, they talk about their futures, how they're going to travel the world, the beauty and rapture of art. Then those futures start to arrive in unexpected ways, the years and decades pile up between them, the art world seduces and disappoints and frustrates them. And they have to figure out, again and again, what it is to be an artist, and who and what to love. This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.

  3. Oct 13

    The best books we've ever read

    As part of Radio 2's Book Week celebrations, Sara Cox asked a whole host of comedians, actors, authors - and Radio 2 Presenters - to share their favourite books and tell us why they love them so much. Here's our list of featured guests and their book choices! (This is your reading list sorted for the next couple of year) Stephen Graham - 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' by Richard Bach Dame Jaqueline Wilson - 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith Mel Giedroyc - 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish' by Dr. Seuss Clive Myrie - 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens Susie Dent - 'Le Grand Meaulnes' by Henri Alain-Fournier Lee Child - 'Ice Station Zebra' by Alistair Maclean Mark Radcliffe - 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning' by Laurie Lee Sir Lenny Henry - 'The Cat In The Hat' by Dr. Seuss Philip Pullman - 'Sir Patrick Spens' by Anonymous Marian Keyes - 'Cold Comfort Farm' by Stella Gibbons Val McDermid - 'The Crow Road' by Iain Banks Matt Lucas - 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens Jamie Oliver - 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain OJ Borge - 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson

  4. Oct 6

    Marian Keyes celebrates The National Year of Reading

    Marian Keyes is a huge champion of books and reading - so who better to help us celebrate Book Week on Radio 2! She chats to Sara about the joys of books and gives some great tips on how to get back into reading, if you've fallen out of the rhythm of it. Marian also teases us with news of a NEW NOVEL! (but she can't say much about it...yet) and gives us a great book recommendation as well! (we pack a lot in!)

  5. Sep 22

    'Where Are The Kings' by Donal Ryan

    Bestselling author, Donal Ryan, joins Sara in the Book Club to chat about his new novel, "Where Are The Kings". He reveals what inspired this book and why he very nearly didn't write it at all. There are lots of elements of Donal- and his own son - in the main character, which make this a deeply personal book. He also talks about balancing humour with the serious subjects of loss and grief. Donal gives us a cracking book recommendation - and we get to hear a short snippet of the audiobook too. Here's a little more info on Donal's novel: Something terrible has happened to Jack but no one seems to want to talk about it. His uncles can tell him about everything from quantum physics to how to hunt for deer, but they can’t seem to tell him anything about their own sister or why Jack doesn’t feel sad for her in the way he should, or why Grandad tries to shoot Jack’s dad when he gets out of the hospital. Still, there’s work to be done in the oily wonderland of his uncles’ garage; there’s his beautiful aunt Rose to hypnotise him and his loving grandparents to console him; then there’s JJ, who wants to fight him one day and save him the next. But with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, it is difficult for Jack to understand the person he is becoming. How can a simple boy learn to become a king?

  6. Sep 15

    Val McDermid and Roisin O'Donnell - Live from Radio 2 In The Park

    The Queen Of Crime - Val McDermid - and winner of our Radio 2 Book Club Award - Roisin O'Donnell - join Sara for some good ole book chat. Sara hosts this very special edition of the Radio 2 Book Club from the BBC Sounds Garden at Radio 2 In The Park - Stirling - in front of a live audience. She chats to the authors about their latest novels, their inspirations, why Scotland is such a good setting for crime fiction - and gets some brilliant book recommendations from them too! Roisin is the inaugural winner of our Radio 2 Book Club Award - and managed to bring her trophy, all the way from Dublin, to show off! Apparently airport security had a few questions... Here's more info on our guests' brilliant books: SILENT BONES - BY VAL MCDERMID When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets? Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . . NESTING - BY ROISIN O'DONNELL On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another. What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?

  7. Sep 8

    'Agrippa' by Robert Harris

    Sara welcomes international bestselling author Robert Harris to the Book Club. This is Robert's FIFTH time on the Radio 2 Book Club, making his the author with the most appearances to date! They discuss 'Agrippa', his new novel, which sees Robert return to Ancient Rome - something he hasn't done since his Cicero trilogy in 2015. They chat about Robert's fascination with the character of Agrippa, why he's not as well-known as Augustus Caesar, and how you get in the mind of a person like that as a novelist. (turns out, all you need is a giant bust of the persons head on your desk!) We also hear a clip from the audiobook - narrated beautifully by Simon Russell Beale - and get a top book recommendation from Robert as well. Here's a little more info on 'Agrippa': Julius Caesar is dead, and the lives of two teenaged boys are about to be changed forever. One is Caesar’s 17-year-old nephew, Octavius, whom he has made his heir. The other is Octavius’s closest friend, Agrippa. To claim Octavius’s inheritance, they must fight the giant figures of the Roman Empire – and, against all odds, they win. Octavius becomes the Emperor Augustus. For twenty years, they rule the world together. Now Agrippa is fifty. Ailing and alone, betrayed by his wife’s infidelity, he takes refuge in his house on the Bay of Naples and begins to write his memoirs. Yet to stir up the past can be dangerous. From his earliest meetings with Julius Caesar, through the epic conflict with Mark Antony and Cleopatra, the great naval battle of Actium and the endless wars to expand the empire, he describes how one man has dominated his life: the cunning, ruthless, unknowable Octavius. When it comes to power, does friendship exist at all?

  8. Aug 31

    'Ghost Month' by Simon Wroe

    Author Simon Wroe joins Sara for a chat about his new novel, 'Ghost Month'. They discuss ghosts and spirits and the inspirations behind this story. The novel is set in London and told from four different character perspectives. Simon tells us about each character and how he formed them, as well as some real-life experiences which influenced him too. He also recommends us a book he's enjoyed reading recently - and - we hear a clip of the audiobook too! Here's a little more about 'Ghost Month': Every September, the spirits of the dead return before vanishing four weeks later in a puff of green ash. The haunting has become a holiday - part Christmas, part Halloween, full of annual reckonings with the past. The ghosts aren't real in any way that can hurt you, so it's hard to tell the silent spectres from ashen commuters: they linger on train platforms, they crowd buses, they take up space on your sofa. The proper term these days is 'people without pulses'. This year, four strangers prepare for a visit from their dearly departed. The season forces them to confront all the things that haunt them, not just their dead. As suppressed truths emerge from the shadows, each of them will end Ghost Month changed in ways they never imagined. Happy Haunting.

See All (106)

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

The Radio 2 Book club celebrates the best in new fiction and recommends great reads. Sara will be interviewing top authors about their latest novels, and she’ll be catching up with librarians and reading groups from across the UK. Whether you’re after a summer blockbuster, a twist-filled thriller, or want to curl up with a heart-warming love story, Sara has you covered!

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 2
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    106
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    The Radio 2 Book Club

You Might Also Like