'IT'S WHAT you like, not what you're like that really matters," claims John Cusack in High Fidelity, a motto you can imagine being a favourite of Cherie Blair, who has yet to shake off that 'Lady Macbeth' tag. The art we're influenced by helps make us the people we are, and over the next six weeks Radio 2 will delve deep into the minds of six well-known figures, to find the novel that has had the most impact on them.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns: The Novel That Changed My Life (BBC Radio 2, Friday, 7pm), Blair will discuss how Khaled Hosseini's depiction of female suffering in Afghanistan has influenced her views on patriarchal relations, and her charity work. Oth
er highlights over the coming weeks include Vic Reeves giving his take on beat writer Jack Kerouac's On The Road and Alex James on Treasure Island.
With Great Pleasure (BBC Radio 4, Thursday, 11.30am), which returns for a new series, has a similar premise. In front of a live audience film critic Mark Kermode kicks things off with an extract from William Blatty's novel, The Exorcist, to demonstrate how Blatty's exploration of evil is an attempt to affirm the existence of God.
For a more easy-going cultural fix, try Material Girls (BBC Radio 4, Saturday, 10.30am), where Emily Maitlis compares two of America's most famous female style icons, Madonna and Barbie, both of whom turn 50 this year. The cult of celebrity crops up elsewhere on Radio 4, when Andrew O'Hagan reads from his Book Of The Week: The Atlantic Ocean (Monday to Friday, 9.45pm). His new collection of essays considers British and American relations from a personal and political point of view.
The full article contains 289 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
