Bedside Reading

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textMy Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrick Backman was, on first reading, my least favourite Backman novel.  Is that b...

Medicine Man

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHappy New Year and welcome to season 6 of Bedside Reading!!I so enjoyed meeting John Quin in 2022 at the DotMD festival. Our paths have ...

Christmas Special 2023

19 Dec 2023

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Send us a textA reflective look back over 2023 and some thoughts for 2024 as I'm joined by friends of the podcast to think about their tops reads...

Kaleidoscopic Minds

12 Dec 2023

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Send us a textWhat a treat to welcome Catherine Bell and Stephanie Farrell Moore to Bedside Reading to talk about their wonderful small anthology of p...

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm delighted to welcome the wonderful Andy Tagg, ED consultant (and part of the DFTB team who ate lego heads and calculated their ...

Christmas Shopping Ideas

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's such a treat to welcome back Ana Sampson for a dive into ideas for your Jolabokaflod.  As happens every time I speak to Ana w...

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textOliver Sacks classic book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is one of the absolute classic texts in the genre of stories from the ...

Song of Achilles

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA confession, I don't like Greek mythology. AT ALL. I did however love this book both when I first read it 10 years ago and on re-r...

The Madness

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text"It took 20 years,” writes Fergal Keane in The Madness, “before I came to the point of accepting I was addicted to war.”This ...

A Fortunate Woman

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was a huge privilige to meet Rowena Christmas aka "the doctor" from Polly Moreland's wonderful book A Fortunate Woman...

Loveless

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was an honour when paeditrician Cristina approached me on Instagram to tell me how much Loveless had meant to her when she listened t...

Kitchen Table Wisdom

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhen Claire McKie recommended Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Remen to me I realised she wasn't the first person who'd suggeste...

Frontline Midwife

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat a book! Anna Kent's Frontline Midwife blew me away.  Getting to meet her to record this conversation was just phenomenal.  ...

You're the only one I've told

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAsh Bainbridge is an agender parent, student midwife, and advocate for language as safety, progress, and glue. They join me today to dis...

Slug

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHollie McNish https://holliepoetry.com/ is a poet, performer and writer.  Her collection Slug (and other things I've been told to ...

Wonder

19 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's a bit nerve wracking when you welcome another podcast host to guest - this week was a joy though as I'm talking to Dr Jan...

Tiny Pieces of Enid

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textToday's episode was made possible by the power of the platform formerly known as Twitter (which I can't bear to refer to by it...

Queenie

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textQueenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neit...

A Place for Lost Souls

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text‘Ultimately, my experiences as a mental health nurse have taught me that we should judge less and open our hearts more.’Belinda Blac...

The Star Outside my Window

22 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThere are few people on #MedTwitter as passionate about children's books as I am but today I have completely met my match in the ut...

The Lost Properties of Love

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThe Lost Properties of Love by Sophie Ratcliffe defies classification. This is a gorgeous book, part memoir, part journey with links an...

Where the Crawdads Sing

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDelia Owens' 2018 coming of age novel Where the Crawdads Sing has sold an incredible 18 million copies and was released as a film i...

Lessons in Chemistry

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textBonnie Garmus' debut novel about chemist Elizabeth Zott, co-narrated by Six-Thirty the dog who must be one of the most fabulous ant...

Everything Everything

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI loved talking to London GP Eugenia Lee about Everything Everything  by Nicola Yoon,In this fabulous YA novel we meet Madeline Whitter...

Pride and Prejudice

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to Season 5 - I'm so excited!! 85 episodes, 4 seasons complete and now it's time for season 5.  I'm joined today...

Beartown

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA cracking novel to finish season 4. This is a book about community, about values, ambition, and also about hockey (but do not let that ...

Cat Brushing

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's a big "welcome back!!" this week to Charley Baker, Associate Professor of Mental Health at The University of Notting...

Project Hail Mary

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA lone astronaut.An impossible mission.An ally he never imagined.Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission -...

Time to Think

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textNancy Kline's Time to Think is probably the non fiction book which has most changed my clinical and teaching/mentoring practice eve...

This Winter (a Heartstopper novella)

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThe Netflix adaptation of Alice Oseman's Heartstopper graphic novels was the highlight of my TV watching year last year and I was s...

This Child of Ours

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis episode was planned anyway but it feels only right to share during Pride Month as part of the importance of us all reflecting on LG...

Redface

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDescribed in a review as: 'An honest, brave and much needed account of what it feels like to live with severe social anxiety. Havin...

Rebel Ideas

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWe tend to surround ourselves with people we identify with, in appearance, beliefs and perspective. This subconscious habit, known as ho...

What Happened to You?

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week I'm joined by Belfast GP Susan Buchanan to discuss Bruce Parry and Oprah Winfrey's bestselling book What Happened to...

Demon Copperhead

09 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week a massive thank you and well done to Lewi Gee my amazing sound editor who tackled a recording which had been horribly messed u...

You are not alone

02 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm joined this week by counsellor Bridget Hargreave https://www.cayatherapy.co.uk/bridget-hargreave to talk about Cariad Llloyd&ap...

Half The Sky

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm joined this week by Victoria Kinkaid, military doctor, women's health enthusiast, feminist and host of the Virago Voices p...

The Body Keeps the Score (and The Birth Debrief)

18 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIlliyin Morrison is a midwife by background and now well known on instagram as @mixing-up-motherhood and working as a birth debrief faci...

This too shall pass

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHow many times have we consoled ourselves with the truism "this too shall pass"? In the world of change which we all currently...

Mr Loverman

04 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textBarrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he's lived in Hackney since the sixti...

Many Different Kinds of Love

28 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textTuesday 28th March 2023 marks the third anniversary of poet, writer, broadcaster and all round national treasure Michael Rosen's ad...

Unforgettable

21 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textImagine being a household name, a sporting hero and a member of England's world cup winning rugby team from 2003.  Imagine having ...

The Well Gardened Mind

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI admit that when neonatologist Helen Chitty https://twitter.com/helenchitty4 got in touch to recommend The Well Gardened Mind  by Sue ...

Belly Woman

07 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week contains International Women's Day on March 8th and when I started talking to Benjamin Black about hsi stunning book abou...

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textRebecca Wait's fourth novel I'm sorry you feel that way is out in paperback on March 2nd.  Described by i-news as "one o...

Kathryn Mannix - With the end in mind

21 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to Series 4 of Bedside ReadingIt is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome the one and only Dr Kathryn Mannix to talk about her p...

I Survived

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textToday's episode, the final one of series 3,  is all about a topic which doesn't get spoken about enough: coercive control.  ...

The Queen of Bloody Everything

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoanna Nadin's The Queen of Bloody Everything, is about mothers, daughters and how we can make many choices in life but can't ...

Can You Hear Me?

31 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA young man has stopped breathing in a supermarket toilet. A pedestrian with a nasty head injury won’t let the crew near him on a busy...

A Still Life

24 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm so delighted that Kathleen Wenaden asked to come and talk about the beautiful, gentle evocative book with me because this has b...

The Cure for Good Intentions: Sophie Harrison

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was a really pleasure to talk to GP and writer Sophie Harrison about her book The Cure for Good Intentions which was a BBC Radio 4 b...

I am I am I am

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textMaggie O'Farrell is one of my favourite writers and it was such a pleasure to reread her memoir I am I am I am for todays episode w...

Set Boundaries, Find Peace

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSet Boundaries, Find Peace had a title which both intrigued and slightly scared me.  The author Nedra Glover Tawab is something of an i...

Twixtmas Special: Ten good reads from 2022 and 8 to think about for 2023...

27 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's a funny time of year, one of endings and beginnings and what better way to mark the end of 2022 than to have some friends of t...

Christmas Special: The Turn of the Screw

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm delighted to welcome back an old friend of the podcast, Catriona Davis to talk about a real classic ghost story - Henry James&a...

Love After Love

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIngrid Persaud's  debut novel Love After Love blew me away the first time I read it in 2020 shortly after it was published.  Re-r...

Atonement

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text"It’s the summer of 1935, and young Briony sees her older sister Cecilia plunge nearly naked into the fountain of their country h...

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text**SPOILER ALERT** We tried hard to keep the twist a secret here but then Rahhiel got a bit carried away and mentioned a little part of i...

The Four Winds

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week's book choice is the newest novel by prolific American writer Kristin Hannah.  Set in the dust bowl of the USA in the 19...

How India Works

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textNaveen Jayadev is a GP in North Derbyshire and a Training Programme Director for the Chesterfield and Derbyshire Dales GP Training Progr...

The Island of Missing Trees

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis novel by Elif Shafak is undoubtedly my top read of 2022 and so it was a delight to be approached by Sabina Dosani to discuss it.  ...

Earthed

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textRebecca Schiller's memoir Earthed was described by today's guest, Anna Young,  as "like a car crash told in prose poetry...

Liz O'Riordan: speaker, writer, breast surgeon with breast cancer....

18 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was an honour and a pleasure to record today's episode with one of the most engaging, gracious and thoughtful people I've m...

Shuggie Bain

11 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textCould this be one of the most devastatingly beautiful books I've ever read? A rollercoaster of emotions from hope to despair and ba...

Tornado of Life

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAbsolutely brilliant to talk to Jay Baruch about his fabulous book Tornado of Life.  We talk about making time for stories, narrative a...

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI really loved my conversation with Associate Professor of mental health and self confessed "book pusher" Charley Baker about ...

What Remains?

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was a huge honour to have this book and this guest to launch series 3.  I was approached by Ru's publicist to ask if I might co...

Atlas of the Heart

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWatching Brene Brown's "power of vulnerability" TED talk was a life changing moment for me as a clinician and when I star...

Histories

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSam Guglani's novella Histories captivated me from the moment I picked it up and having reread it more than once has compelled me a...

The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA warm welcome to Manchester based GP registrar Lava Yuki who grew up in Ireland and is an almost exact contemporary of the writer of th...

Self Compassion

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textMy guest today is MedTwitter royalty in the form of Bethan John. Follow her brilliant twitter self here: https://twitter.com/msbethanj W...

The Culture Code

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt was a huge pleasure to welcome Dave Hindmarsh to Bedside Reading to discuss The Culture Code  by Daniel Coyle. Dave is the brains be...

Vesper Flights

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSheffield GP Jo Maher and I know so many people in common that it felt only right that we should finally meet in person in order to reco...

12 books for a year of good doctoring

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAn episode with a difference this week as we celebrate changeover week for doctors in training in the UK.I've asked 12 GPs across t...

Listen

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI am so thrilled to welcome Rema Jyothirmayi back to Bedside Reading to talk about Kathryn Mannix's wonderful second book Listen.We...

Suzanne Koven: Letter to a Young Female Physician

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat an absolute treat and privilege it was to speak to Dr Suzanne Koven http://suzannekoven.com/ about her incredible book Letter to a ...

Counselling for Toads

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat a joy to be back talking to Ed Pooley again, this time about the wonderful Counselling for Toads.   We talk about anthropomorphise...

The Health Gap

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textBolsover GP Dr Selina Flinders joins Tara this week to talk about Sir Michael Marmot's brilliant The Health Gap. We talk about heal...

A Terrible Kindness

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textPaediatrician Natalie Francis and I had a great time discussing Jo Browning-Wroe's wonderful novel A Terrible Kindness. We talk abo...

dotMD festival special

21 Jun 2022

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Send us a textA very very special episode this week as Nicola Davis and I explore our best bits from the incredible dotMD festival in Galway which we ...

Endurance

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week I'm joined by Ralph Emmerson, a GP, GP trainer and self confessed "Shackleton nerd" to talk about Alfred Lansin...

Solve for happy

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textTRIGGER WARNING: early in the episode we talk about a termination for medical reasons of a much wanted pregnancy and there is discussion...

Re-educated

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textBrilliant to be joined again by Naren Senthil Nathan this time to talk about Lucy Kellaway's wonderful story of " how I change...

The Heart's Invisible Furies

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJohn Boyne's novel The Heart's Invisible Furies has one of the most powerful opening chapters of anything I've ever read....

Close to where the heart gives out

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat a treat this week to welcome author and retired GP Malcolm Alexander to Beside Reading to talk about his wonderful book Close to wh...

Psycho-logical

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI'm delighted to be joined by London GP and podcast fanatic James Thambirajah to discuss Dean Burnett's book Psychological.  ...

Guts

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat a treat to be joined by a  member of #medtwitter royalty. Ben Lovell and I had such a great discussion starting from Kristen Johns...

Room

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back and welcome to Season 2. It is o exciting to have you back listening to us. I absolutely loved recording this episode with ...

BONUS EPISODE: Talking to Strangers

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's the end of series 1 and today's episode is a flipped one where Ed Pooley is interviewing me about Malcolm Gladwell's...

Stuart a Life Backwards

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Tara and Kate Smith, A GP in Oxfordshire as we talk about the book that changed  Kate's career:  Stuart a Life Backwards by ...

Patience

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textTara was excited this week to talk to another Tara who loves books almost as much as she does! Tara McCormack is an Emergency Department...

Vicky Thomas - poet, paediatrician and so much more

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text In honour of world poetry day on 21st March, in a slight change to the format this week I'm delighted to welcome Dr Vicky Thomas ...

The Pull of the Stars

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAnother pandemic, 104 years before I met Jenny Slough to talk about it but the parallels with 1918 Dublin and 2020/21 London are uncanni...

Invisible Women

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's International Women's day, in a special episode to mark the occasion catch Tara talking to GP Registrar Eleanor Love abou...

Mend The Living

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWhat a treat it was to talk to Ani Gavrilovic about what must be one of the most moving, and thought provoking novels I have ever read. ...

Mothership

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Tara this week as she talks to Mahima Chandrasekar about the powerful love story of the NHS and its neonatal care that is Francesca...

The Salt Path

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIt's Valentines Day this week and in celebration we have a love story on the podcast today. This isn't a traditional schmaltzy...

Patient

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Tara George and Trisha Cantley as they talk about Ben Watt's memoir Patient. Yes it is that Ben Watt from "Everything But...

The Year of the Runaways

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Tara as she talks to Ripon Ahmed about Sunjeev Sahota's phenomenal novel "The Year of the Runaways".   This is a wo...

A Man Called Ove

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis episode Tara is talking to Emma Cunliffe a locum civilian medical practitioner for the MOD and long standing Out of Hours GP about ...