Series 3: Episode 6

On The Book Show with Mariella Frostrup this week are actress Maureen Lipman on growing older with gusto; Mark Bostridge on the immortal lady with the lamp, Florence Nightingale; and 60s style icon Twiggy on looking fabulous over forty.

Tune in at 7pm 27 Nov, Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts HD, for the full story

If you liked Maureen Lipman’s Past It Notes and are looking for further volumes laced with wit, wisdom and warmth, then you might like these:

Dawn French: Dear Fatty
From ‘The Comic Strip’ to ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, Dawn French has established herself as one of the best-loved and funniest comediennes of our time. In Dear Fatty, her recently published autobiography, she tells the warm and moving story behind the public woman – her friendship with Jennifer Saunders, the ups and downs of her marriage to Lenny Henry, and her unabashed determination to meet life head on. It’s the memoir of a woman who is, in every sense, larger than life.

Alan Coren: Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks
Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks is an anthology of writing from the former editor of Punch and Radio 4 national treasure Alan Coren, who died in 2007. Edited by his children, Giles and Victoria, it draws together the best of both published and new material from the much-loved humorist who once turned down an invitation to visit Idi Amin in Uganda, saying ‘I’ll probably end up as a sandwich’!

If you liked Mark Bostridge’s Florence Nightingale, and the book has fired your imagination for all things Victorian, here are a couple more you might like:

Lytton Strachey: Eminent Victorians
First published in 1918, Eminent Victorians marked a turning point in the art of biography and helped to crack the old myths of high Victorianism. It consist of biographies of four leading figures from the Victorian era – Cardinal Manning, Thomas Arnold, General Gordon and Florence Nightingale all of whom Strachey gently topples from their pedestals.

Mary Seacole: The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
Written in 1857, this is the autobiography of Jamaican woman, Mary Seacole, whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale’s during the Crimean War. When she first volunteered as a nurse in the war, Seacole was met with racism and refusal. Undeterred, this extraordinary woman set out independently to the Crimea where she acted as doctor and mother to wounded soldiers.

If you liked Twiggy’s How to Look and Feel Fabulous Over Forty, here are a few more instruction manuals worth getting your well-manicured hands on:

Genevieve Antoine Dariaux: A Guide to Elegance: A Complete Guide for the Woman Who Wants to Be Well and Properly Dressed for Every Occasion
This style bible from 60s has been given its very own beautiful make-over. Written by French fashion guru Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, it offers sensible advice like ‘being beautiful is no guarantee for happiness’. Women should instead strive for elegance, grace and style. As well as fashion, there are other useful tips on marriage, sex and shopping – what more could a girl want?

Hardy Amies: ABC of Men’s Fashion
Never keen to exclude the boys, Hardy Amies’ ABC of Men’s Fashion is a does what it says on the tin book. It provides an alphabetical guide to men’s fashion but with added wit, charm and expert knowledge. A pocket sized friend for any man who needs guidance from his blazer to his brogues.


Bedside Table with Andrew Miller
This week we visit author Andrew Miller’s bedroom and find what books he keeps on his beside table:

JG Farrell: Troubles
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland - to the Majestic Hotel and to the fiancée he acquired on a rash afternoon's leave three years ago. Despite her many letters, the lady herself proves elusive, and the Major's engagement is short-lived. But he is unable to detach himself from the alluring discomforts of the crumbling hotel. Ensconced in the dim and shabby splendour of the Palm Court, surrounded by gently decaying old ladies and proliferating cats, the Major passes the summer. So hypnotic are the faded charms of the Majestic, the Major is almost unaware of the gathering storm. But this is Ireland in 1919 - and the struggle for independence is about to explode with brutal force.

Gitta Sereny: Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth
A psychological portrait of Albert Speer, Hitler's Minister of Armaments and War Production. Speer oversaw operations in the munitions factories in which tens of thousands of slave labourers died. During the Nuremberg trials, Speer pleaded ignorance to the Holocaust and evaded capital punishment. In this work, the author investigates Speer's troubled childhood and speculates that a lack of love drove him to become a Nazi. Furthermore, she asserts that before Speer died in 1981, he had accepted responsibility for his participation in the Final Solution.

Penelope Fitzgerald: The Beginning of Spring
Nellie Reed disappears from her home at 22 Lipka Street, and her husband Frank - suspecting she has returned to England - must raise their three young children with the help of beautiful Lisa Ivanovna.


Fine Line with Simon Winchester
Author Simon Winchester picks his favourite line from Hilaire Belloc: Dedicator ode from ‘Verses’.


Book Club: City Books
This week we visit City Books in Hove where Inga Sweetman offers her book recommendation:

Moshin Hamid: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
At a café table in Lahore, a Pakistani man converses with a stranger. As dusk deepens to dark, he begins the tale that has brought him to this fateful meeting... Among the brightest and best of his graduating class at Princeton, Changez is snapped up by an elite firm and thrives on New York and the intensity of his work. And his infatuation with fragile Erica promises entree into Manhattan society on the exalted footing his own family once held back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez's meteoric rise to personal and professional success: the fulfilment of the immigrant's dream. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in the city he loves suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love.

Write Place: Esther Freud
This week we visit Esther Freud’s study to see what has inspired her to writing novels like Hideous Kinky and Love Falls.

Guests’ literary heroes and heroines:
Every week we ask the authors to tell us about their literary heroes and heroines. Maureen Lipman’s favourite character is from Much Ado About Nothing; Mark Bostridge finds the best person from Charlotte Bronte’s Vilette; and Twiggy’s leading character is from Geroge Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. But can you guess who their favourite characters are?

Tune in at 7pm 27 Nov, Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts HD, to find out!

To read the opening extracts of these books and find out more about the authors, visit Lovereading.co.uk.