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The Book Club

by The Spectator

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Latest episodes

Lindsey Fitzharris: Sleuth-Hound

October 20, 2026 · 37 min

Who was the real Sherlock Holmes? In this episode Sam Leith is joined by medical historian and author Lindsey Fitzharris to discuss her new book, Sleuth Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes. Fitzharris tells the extraordinary story…
Shaun Bythell: Return of the Bookseller Diarist

October 13, 2026 · 31 min

For this week’s Book Club, Sam Leith, the Spectator’s literary editor, is joined by Shaun Bythell, proprietor of The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland, and author of The Diary of a Bookseller series, to discuss the fourth instalment, The…
Matthew Sweet: The Great Dictator

October 6, 2026 · 45 min

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by author Matthew Sweet to discuss his new biography, The Great Dictator, about the bestselling novelist Barbara Cartland. They explore the extraordinary life behind Barbara Cartland’s…
Steven Pinker: When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...

September 30, 2026 · 37 min

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker to discuss his new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… Pinker explores the powerful idea of ‘common knowledge’ - not simply what we…
John Sellars: Stoicism Is Not What You Think

September 23, 2026 · 28 min

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by philosopher John Sellars to discuss his new book, Stoicism Is Not What You Think. Sellars explores the ancient philosophy of Stoicism and challenges some of its most common…

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Anand Gopal: Days of Love and Rage

September 16, 2026 · 31 min

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The New Yorker writer Anand Gopal, whose new book, long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize, is Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Revolution. What does freedom mean once the…
Hannah Richell: An Ocean and a Day

September 8, 2026 · 33 min

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by bestselling novelist Hannah Richell to discuss her new memoir, An Ocean and a Day. When Hannah’s husband died in a surfing accident, her life in Australia was shattered. Suddenly…
James Marriott: The Dawn of a Post-Literate Society

September 1, 2026 · 41 min

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The Times columnist James Marriott, whose new book is The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-literate Society. Are we witnessing the end of the reading age?…
Simon Sebag Montefiore: The Cauldron

August 25, 2026 · 39 min

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Simon Sebag Montefiore, the author of a number of fantastic books, including The Cauldron, which released this week. Simon and I talk about the making of the modern middle east, and how we…
Celebrating 160 years of Beatrix Potter

July 22, 2026 · 46 min

This week marks the 160th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth. In this week’s Book Club podcast, I’m joined by Penny Bradshaw, author of An A–Z of Beatrix Potter, and the historian and biographer Kathryn Hughes, whose books include…
Tim Whitmarsh: Augustus, Empire and the Making of Christianity

July 14, 2026 · 42 min

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Tim Whitmarsh, Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge and author of Rome’s Age of Revolution: Augustus, Empire and the Making of Christianity. He tells me why, contrary to what we may have…
Dave Eggers: Contrapposto

July 8, 2026 · 38 min

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the novelist Dave Eggers, talking about his new book Contrapposto. Dave tells me why, after years of writing tech-saturated satire, he returned to the world of art; how a novel 20 years in the…

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About the show

Literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented weekly by Sam Leith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.