All in the best possible taste!

Author Tom Brady introduces his witty and charmingly nostalgic memoir of growing up during the decade in which television changed forever: the 1980s.

Philippa Gregory on The Red Queen

To celebrate today’s publication of The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory talks about the book’s central character, Margaret Beaufort, the Mother of the Tudors.

Read an extract from Eleven, by Mark Watson

Mark Watson is an acclaimed novelist and comedian, best-known for his appearances on Mock the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You and Live at the Apollo as well as the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2010 his 60-date solo stand-up tour will play to over 90,000 people.

Meet the author of City of Sin, Catharine Arnold

The BBC’s Meet the Author talks to Catharine Arnold about her latest book, City of Sin.

Filmed in four different locations around the capital, including the Boneyward in Southwark, by the Globe theatre, in Covent garden, and on the Embankment by Waterloo Bridge – all locations covered in the book and connected to the history of prostitution in London.

It’s a Bad Day in Blackrock

Lives are shattered when three private school-educated, rugby-playing young men attack another young man outside a Dublin nightclub.

Watch author Kevin Power introduce his novel and discuss his writing process.

Explore The Lost City of Z!

David Grann discusses his ventures into the hazardous wild world of the Amazon to retrace the footsteps of the great Colonel Fawcett and his followers, in a bracing attempt to solve one of the greatest mysteries.

Hello Dubai

Boom town, modern marvel, commercial hub, where middle-east meets wealthy west, playground for tourists, crawling with ex-pats, built by Indians, owned by Arabs, Dubai has risen from next to nothing to an awful lot in little more than thirty years.

Read an extract from Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian

‘There’ says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, when she come up out of the water after her baptism. Just a few short hours later, Alice is dead, shot by her abusive husband who turned the gun on himself soon after…

Ten songs to tie into my life, by Mark Radcliffe

DJ Mark Radcliffe, whose book Thank You For the Days is out now in paperback, picks ten tracks to tie in to his life story – read about them here on Bookhugger and the watch the playlist on YouTube.

Ferdinand Mount on Full Circle

Author Ferdinand Mount talks about his new book Full Circle, which explores the idea that the society that is now emerging in the twenty-first century bears an astonishing resemblance to the most prominent features of what we call the classical world – its institutions, its priorities, its entertainment, its physics, its sexual morality, its food, its politics, even its religion.

Monique Roffey talks about The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

Monique Roffey talks about the genesis of her novel, what it’s like to be shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and about her writing routine and her influences as a writer.

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Deceptions, by Rebecca Frayn

Rebecca Frayn explains the genesis of her novel Deceptions, a thriller about family deceit, in this exclusive piece for Bookhugger.

Zoya Phan on Little Daughter – A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West

Zoya Phan is a 28-year-old ethnic Karen refugee from Burma. As a teenager she was forced to flee her country after her village was attacked by the Burmese Army. She now lives in London and works for the human rights organization Burma Campaign UK. Listen to her talk about her life in this podcast.

An extract from Talking to Zeus: My Year in a Greek Garden, by Jane Shaw

Jane Shaw was working as a volunteer in Chelsea’s famous Physic Garden when she earned a placement to work for a year on a very special organic garden in Greece. But this was to be no easy-going break in the Mediterranean…

Read the prologue to The Temptress

In Kenya’s ‘Happy Valley’ in the years spanning the 1920s to the 1940s no one paid too much attention to the privileged colonial set as they farmed their estates, partied until dawn and indulged in extra-marital affairs. Not until Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was shot dead at the wheel of his Buick in the early hours of 24 January 1941.

The birth of The White Woman on a Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and educated in the UK – here she talks about the inspiration for her latest novel, recently shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Falling in love with the Great British Public

As Britain wakes up to a new Prime Minister, and the first coalition government since World War 2, Michael Foley, author of Age of Absurdity, takes a light-hearted look at the secrets of success of David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the election that we can now finally say is finished.

Stardust reading group guide

This reading group guide for Stardust includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Joseph Kanon. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Joseph Kanon’s Tour of Hollywood

Follow author Joseph Kanon on a tour of Hollywood as he takes us to the Hollywood of decades past and talks about the role it plays in his new book, Stardust

Jonathan Jones on The Lost Battles

Michelangelo and Leonardo lived five centuries ago, but their works still obsess our culture, with a popular and universal quality that nothing else matches. Author Jonathan Jones discusses his new book The Lost Battles.

Read the first chapter of The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey

Enjoy an extract from The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey, freshly shortlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction.

The Book of Love reading group guide

Cultures throughout Europe believed there was once a gospel written in Christ’s own hand, a treasure of almost unimaginable magnitude. It was referred to by the Cathar culture in France, who claimed to be direct descendants of Christ, as The Book of Love.