{"id":39606,"date":"2023-11-13T14:52:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T13:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1923719"},"modified":"2023-11-13T22:02:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T21:02:17","slug":"sara-cox-introduces-a-new-chapter-of-her-tv-book-club","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/sara-cox-introduces-a-new-chapter-of-her-tv-book-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Cox introduces a new chapter of her TV book club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between the Covers continues on BBC Two this week. <\/p>

By Ed Grenby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 13 November 2023 at 13:52 PM<\/p>

\n\n
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This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to Celebrity Book Club Wife Swap, the new series in which Sara Cox steals famous people\u2019s spouses in exchange for literary recommendations.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been commissioned yet, but, says Cox, it\u2019s \u201csomething we could maybe try for a spin-off \u201d from Between the Covers. And it\u2019s all because of Rob Delaney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cox admits to developing a crush on the Catastrophe star last time he was a guest on her book club series, and now that he\u2019s back as a guest on her new series, she says \u201cthings have got worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love him so much I want to be married to him for a day a month. Nothing fruity, I just want to go into B&Q with him, do some DIY around the house, get a Domino\u2019s, maybe watch a film together. My husband can hang out with his wife for a day, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This seventh outing for Cox\u2019s programme also features several guests she hasn\u2019t expressed a desire to marry \u2013 names as diverse as Geri Halliwell-Horner, Bill Paterson<\/a>, Adrian Edmondson<\/a> and Anita Rani.<\/p>

Each guest brings in their favourite tome for discussion, but they also discuss one new book change in direction from a major author as it\u2019s set in the near future [Faulks is most famous for his First World War novel Birdsong] and concerns the birth of a child who makes us question what it means to be a human.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll admit, I found it a bit challenging myself, but it\u2019s certainly interesting. One included Ade Edmondson, Annie Macmanus and the comedian Chris McCausland, and we all loved this \u2014 except for Chris, who couldn\u2019t really relate to it, but he was very funny about it. We want people with different tastes on the show, though; that adds a little bit of spice to it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Bill Paterson, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Sara Cox, Miles Jupp, Ellie Taylor. BBC\/Cactus TV<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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REMEMBER, MR SHARMA <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by AP Firdaus, Sceptre, \u00a318.99. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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RT Shop price \u00a317.50 incl p&p <\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI had one of my heroes on this show: Sandi Toksvig joined us, as well as Alex Jones and others, and we all thought this book was great. It\u2019s a lovely story of a young boy in India discovering the history of his mum, and why people end up a certain way. It was also an education by stealth because it starts around the Partition period, and it\u2019s the kind of book where you might do a little bit of Googling at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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FALLING ANIMALS<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Sheila Armstrong, Bloomsbury Circus, \u00a314.99. <\/b><\/p>\n

RT Shop price \u00a314.99 incl p&p<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFalling Animals is a fascinating book and this was a fascinating show. The panel \u2014 including comedians Ed Byrne and Suzi Ruffell \u2014 all really admired Armstrong\u2019s writing, but we questioned whether it was so beautiful, with such stunning similes for instance, that it actually distracts from the story. We also discussed Captain Corelli\u2019s Mandolin, which Ed chose for us because he wanted to recommend the book over the film.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Ade\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Ade Edmondson, Angela Barnes, Sara Cox, Chris McCausland, Annie MacManus. BBC\/Cactus TV<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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DEVIL\u2019S BREATH <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Jill Johnson, Black & White Publishing, \u00a314.99. <\/b><\/p>\n

RT Shop price \u00a314.99 incl p&p<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an interesting group of guests here: Kerry Godliman [Ricky Gervais\u2019s wife in After Life], Ben Miller, Nish Kumar and the comedian Laura Smyth. Laura used to be an English teacher, which made for a great chat in the studio, but also made me sad that she\u2019s not teaching any more. Devil\u2019s Breath was another one where we all learned something: it\u2019s a murder mystery involving poisonous plants and a professor of botanical toxicology. The panel really liked it, though I got a bit lost, possibly because I was listening to the audiobook and I couldn\u2019t flick back to remind myself of things like you can with a physical book.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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THE UNSPEAKABLE ACTS OF ZINA PAVLOU<\/b><\/p>\n

by Eleni Kyriacou, Head of Zeus, \u00a314.99. <\/b><\/p>\n

RT Shop price \u00a314.99 incl p&p<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was maybe my favourite book. It\u2019s based on the true story of the second-last woman to be executed in the UK, in the 1950s \u2014 the titular Zina Pavlou, a Greek Cypriot woman who could speak very little English. We had Bill Paterson on for this one \u2014 everyone fell in love with him; all the make-up girls, the producers \u2014 together with Geri Halliwell-Horner and Miles Jupp, who I don\u2019t think had hung around with many Spice Girls before. He was quite intrigued by Geri, who was being very Geri, checking our birthdates and astrological signs even as they were counting down the last four seconds before recording started in the studio. And then, suddenly, we\u2019re discussing books!\u201d<\/p>