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27 November 2023

Ahir Shah, Andi Osho, Ed Byrne and Suzi Ruffell came to Between the Covers bearing a quartet of terrific book recommendations. Read on to discover: A political philosophy blockbuster in Thomas Hobbes’ magnum opus Leviathan; actor Will Smith’s personal memoir about the road to celebrity and its pitfalls; why Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz are to blame for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin being underrated; and a fictional journey into Old Hollywood with a twist.

This week Ahir Shah, Andi Osho, Ed Byrne and Suzi Ruffell share their reading recommendations with Sara Cox on Between the Covers.

Episode four - Favourite books from our guests

Ahir says: I think that Leviathan is a spectacularly interesting work, proven by the fact that there was some guy from Wiltshire nearly 400 years ago that people are still talking about.

This is one of the canonical texts of Western political philosophy. I think what’s fun to me about it is that he’s basically trying to work out loads of things about society from first principles. Reading it is like reading an adult play the child's game of, ‘But why, but why, but why?’

I think at the core of it, though it’s not explicitly stated because he would have been killed, it’s basically trying to work out how society and power function and has foundations without God. A big section of this is about religion, and he would never have been able to say publicly that he was an atheist; there's still debate about that because it would have been an extremely dangerous thing for him to do.

This is a time where there’s huge political upheaval across Europe: it’s the English Civil War; he was born during the Spanish Armada. Everything across the known world, as far as he’s concerned, is in this tremendous state of flux… I think that anyone who is interested in having a starting point for thinking about how the world works, politically and socially, even if their starting point is to viscerally disagree with loads of this, as I do, [will find this] exciting for that reason.

Andi says: So I read this probably four or five months before the Oscars, and I agree with Oprah on this - that it’s fantastic. It’s just an incredible story.

What I really like about his story is that it’s marking a lot of entertainment history and it’s super-nostalgic. Because when I was a kid I was watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and his movies have been some of the biggest movies in the world. But he also couples this with imparting the wisdom that he’s acquired through the life that he’s lived - coming from really difficult circumstances, an abusive father, that type of thing.

So when what happened, happened, and it’s obviously not excusing it, but I think this book gave a really interesting context as to how somebody in his position could do what he did. I’m not suggesting people read it for that reason, but I think he shouldn’t be defined by that one, terrible act.

I think it’s just a really fascinating look at entertainment history, and a man going on a major journey of transformation through all the things that he’s experienced. And trying to make sense of what he came from, because he didn’t mature the moment he got his first movie or whatever. He was still a kid making mistakes. And he’s very candid, at times, I'm almost like, ‘you didn't need to tell us that – you can keep that on the DL!’ I got a lot from reading it.

Ed says: I love this book and I feel it’s been slightly maligned. I feel it’s one of those books, it’s considered maybe a little bit too saccharine because it is, at its heart, a romance. But I'm an incurable romantic, and I also like a bit of historical war fiction thrown in.

You already know most of the stuff he tells you from a historical point of view, in that the Italians changed sides during World War Two. But something about this book really humanises the story and just makes you think, ‘imagine how that would be, to suddenly be fighting against the people you were previously fighting alongside.’

I find when you talk to women who have read it, versus men who’ve read it - they seem to have a completely different opinion, which I think is quite interesting on its own. But I also think a bad film was made from it, and ever since then people have dismissed the book out of hand. I hope that just coming here and bringing it up will rehabilitate the book, especially after what Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz did!

Suzi says: I took this book on holiday with me and I feel like it’s got everything: There’s Hollywood glamour; it’s the 1950s; it spans the whole career of this woman - you meet her, she’s in her late-70s, and she decides to do a ‘tell all’ right at the final stages of her life.

She’s had seven husbands and has been in and out of the press all of her life, but her life starts with very, very humble beginnings and as a young teenager she marries a guy as her ticket to Hollywood, just to get away from an abusive father, because she decides she’s going to do anything to be a star.

Then she has a whole tribe of different husbands - one or two of them she has feelings for, one of them is like a best friend and then there’s this love story that is sort of woven throughout it, which is a love story with another woman (I don't think I'm giving too much away).

I love reading about forbidden love. Certainly, there was a time when people like me couldn't love in an open way and it would have had to have been very secret - and that is actually only 50 years ago.

I just felt that I was swept up in the romance of 1950s Hollywood, and what it would have been like at that time. And then to chronicle this ageing actress’s life who has seen all the different parts of the movie industry change.

There’s a huge plot twist in the final chapter where you go – ‘ahhhhhhhhh!’ I highly recommend it. I loved it.