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Tom Cox and Sophie Scott

Neuroscientist Sophie Scott and writer Tom Cox discuss favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.

THE STONE DIARIES by Carol Shields, chosen by Tom Cox
HOW TO WRITE A THESIS by Umberto Eco, chosen by Sophie Scott
PARADISE by Abdulrazak Gurnah, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Writer Tom Cox joins neuroscientist Sophie Scott to discuss favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Tom's choice is the 1995 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Stone Diaries. Following the story of one woman’s life from birth to death, the novel also charts the unsettled decades of the twentieth century. Sophie puts forward a very different book, a non-fiction by Italian writer and academic, How to Write a Thesis. It first appeared on Italian bookshelves back in 1977, but still rings true for many. And finally, Harriett's choice is a historical novel called Paradise by the Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah, which is both a coming-of-age story, and a tale of the corruption against the backdrop of European colonialism in East Africa.

Produced for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley

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Release date:

28 minutes

On radio

Monday 15:00

Broadcast

  • Monday 15:00

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