Back into Book Groups…

Thank you for all your nice thoughts when you popped round for tea and biscuits last week , lovely to catch up with some of you, even though I proceeded to vanish again I did read all your comments. Now that I have actually managed to be at home for a few days on the trot, though I am back off to Derbyshire to see Gran this weekend, and have actually managed a few days of no work and just ‘being’ I have to say I am feeling slightly more normal and caught up with myself a bit – not quite fully but not far off.

Anyway, today I am going to talk to you about book groups because back at the end of last year I said that I wasn’t going to join any more. In fact I think I said I would just stick to doing The Readers Book Club with the lovely Gavin every month, and we have. Oddly we had to have a small crisis meeting about this the other week as over the last few months we’ve been having a bit of a nightmare. Authors have vanished meaning we couldn’t record with them, three publishers promised us books then withdrew last minute making us look a bit stoopid and we thought ‘right, let’s sort this out’. So, we have decided to go seasonal and from now on every three months we will announce three books in advance so people have more of a change to read along and get involved. The summer selection was announced yesterday and here they are…

• The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall (14^th of June 2013)
• Snake Ropes by Jess Richards (12^th of July 2013)
• The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood (8^th of August 2013)

So hopefully this will entice some of you to read along, have discussions on our blogs on the same day and even (fingers crossed) get questions to us and possibly appear on the shows when they go live. What say you?

Thinking about book groups then made me realise how much I have actually missed being in one. To be fair when Gran has been lucid we are still talking about books but as she can’t read I haven’t been able to introduce the idea of an ‘End of Your Life Book Club’ ala Will Schwalbe which we had thought to, though as we are listening to the same audiobooks when together maybe that counts? Regardless of that I decided it might be nice to join one, something I am actually rather nervous about as I have tended to start (and then leave the city within months/a year) book groups in the past rather than join one with friendships already running through it.

Yet the lovely Rosario lives in Liverpool and had invited me to join the book group she is in when I moved over here and I initially said yes but then got too busy with everything. However now, after a slightly humble email from me, I have asked to rejoin and if I can get a copy of ‘Watchmen’ from the library in time I will be joining them next week. If not I will be joining the month after for ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’. From Alan Moore to Agatha Christie, that sounds like my kind of book group! I also caught up with one of my best friends from secondary school, who I hadn’t seen for sixteen – yes SIXTEEN – years but now live two miles from, yesterday and we joked about one on the Wirral. Could I handle two? Well Gran was in three, so maybe it is in the genes?

So what are your thoughts on the Readers Book Club Summer Selection 2013? Have you read any and what did you think? Also do you have any tips for me as someone joining a book group that has been going a while? Are you in a book group and how are you finding it, and what are you reading, what have been your groups highlight reads? Any of you love books but can’t think of anything worse than a book club, just out of interest?

The Persuasion of Procrastination

Why do I always do this? Whenever I have a deadline to read a book I leave it until the last minute. This is where I am currently at with reading Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ for Classically Challenged and yet we are meant to be having the discussion on the novel on Sunday (well, when we will be having as I am determined to have finished it by then), oops. I shouldn’t be surprised though as reading to deadlines is something I always, just about, manage to do and yet I repeat this offense for book group reading, library books that someone else puts on hold and more. Why though, and is it actually detrimental to the book in question?

With book groups I think the main reason I leave it until last minute is the fact that I want the book fresh in my mind. I want to make sure that I don’t suddenly forget a characters name, a vital plot point, the prose style etc. In reality I actually probably forget at least one of these of feel that everyone else has understood the book so much better than I did in the first place I should simply stay schtum and not say anything too stupid or obvious. Interestingly I think that if I read them in advance my initial love/indifference/hatred for the book would have time to dissipate and settle and actually I might feel differently from the thoughts I had at the start. There would also be less pressure and less of me reading the final few pages as fast as I can as the bus turns down the street to the book group venue.

In the case of ‘Persuasion’ there might actually be a bit more to it than simply wanting to have read it in time to remember it. Realistically I like to have read a book, made notes along the way, started a review just after I finish it and then give it a week or so to settle, go back and edit what I wrote and then post my book thoughts/review. I think however with ‘Persuasion’ I have been putting it off, I genuinely believe subconsciously at first, because I think I am just a bit scared/intimidated/cynical about it.

When I first got the book, along with the other Classically Challenged titles, I was really excited. ‘Look at all these canon novels I am going to read’ was rather deliciously running through my head. Then I picked it up and was greeted by this…

“Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed. This was the page at which the favourite volume always opened:

“ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL.

“Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester, by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, November 5, 1789; Mary, born November 20, 1791.”

Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer’s hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary’s birth– “Married, December 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset,” and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife.”

My initial thoughts were ‘oh dear, how boring is that’, followed by ‘ooh Jane Austen is as big a fan of the comma over the full stop as I am’, because it reads like an encyclopaedia entry and whilst I like to know random things the style is just a bit yawn-some. Sorry but it is true. And so, and I think this is because I actually want to like these authors and these books (I am not taking part in Classically Challenged so I can tear these authors apart laughing with delight that I knew I was right about them all along), I have put off reading it. When I went to Gran’s I ‘forgot’ to pack it, when I have had time to read I have somehow picked up something else, when I packed for Iceland alas Jane didn’t make it in my luggage. Now with days to go I am going to have to be very strict and simply sit and read it (though as you will have noticed I have now sat down and written this instead) and nothing else until it is done.

Before I go (more procrastination) though I wondered if you ever get nervous or intimidated when starting a book, and if so why do you and how do you deal with it. Austen lovers, and you recommended I start with this book, please tell me ‘Persuasion’ gets better? Oh and finally, do any of you find you leave reading a book you know you have to read by a certain date, until the last minute? Library books, challenges, book club books, whatever. Let me know.

A Post In Memory of Jane Kelman, A Lover of Books

One of the wonderful things about books is that despite being a solitary activity in the main they can bring you together with other people. This can be through book groups, be they ones you start or ones you join at the library etc, through blogs and forums or random chats in a bookshop or on public transport. Today Gran, who I saw yesterday, has asked me if I would dedicate a post to one of her dear friends, and fellow book lovers, Jane. Here is why…

Ten years ago I attended a book event in my local small library in our small town. Sitting next to me was a young woman almost twenty years my junior. She was called Jane Kelman. With our shared interest in literature Jane and I had plenty to talk about. We both felt that our town lacked a book group, so we decided to set our own one up.

Our library offered to do all they could to help us and they did. Subsequently Jane and I spent happy hours researching a venue for the group. In the end we found an absolute gem. A lively ‘unconverted’ local pub offered us the use of one of their upstairs rooms free of charge. We decided it was ideal.

I think something like twenty five people turned up for our first meeting. Over the years membership has waxed and waned and now stands at around a regular twelve, what I consider being an ideal number for a book group. The first book we read was ’Bel Canto’ by Ann Patchett, I loved it but not everybody shared my views, our latest choice is ‘Fathers and Sons’ by Ivan Turgenev. We have read many, and varying, books over the years. I suspect, as with many  book groups, our discussions have often diverted away from the book in question to other interesting topics.

Despite the occasional fierce argument the atmosphere has always remained really friendly. There are still six founder members left one of them being Jim, our solitary male, who has never wavered in his loyalty to the group even though from time to time he is opposed by a ‘monstrous regiment’.

Unfortunately thought, within a few years of starting up the group my co-founder Jane became ill and after a relatively short illness sadly passed away.

Jane was always a warm, caring, loving friend and a devoted wife and mother. She was also a real lover of literature. She has been sorely missed in our group. So because of all she did in starting the group and because of the truly lovely person Jane was, I asked Simon if he would dedicate a post on this blog to Jane on what is our ten year anniversary. So here’s to Jane.

Dorothy aka Granny Savidge Reads.

Can a Book Group Be Bad For a Book?

Both whilst recording the latest episode of The Readers Summer Book Club and then compiling my post on the book, ‘Bleakly Hall’ by Emlaine Di Rollo, itself afterwards has raised a question in my head… Can a book group be a bad thing for certain books and the reading experience around them?

One of the things I love most about a book group is the discussion, the gossip; chatting and wine afterwards is all a bonus. I have found with book groups in the past that discussing a book I didn’t like and hearing everyone else’s thoughts on it can sometimes make me d a complete 180 with my opinion. It can also be an utter joy, and rather bonding as I found with ‘Mary Barton’, if you all loathe a book and can sit and pick it apart. Yet what if you really enjoyed reading a book and others pick it apart, can it kill it for you?

This has very rarely happened to me before in any book groups that I can think of. Why is this so? Well I think it is because I tend to be more critical about books I am reading with my ‘book group’ brain on, yes even more so than when I am reading a book to review. With reviews I analyse the way a book made me feel and the questions it raises itself of makes me ask myself, yet with a book group book I tend to pick it apart all the more. Or maybe I do this all the time and yet am only aware of it when prepping for a book club – yes indeed, I prep.

It is this very reason why I have never suggested reading a Daphne Du Maurier book as a choice of my own to any group I have been part of, other members have and I have always been quite fearful that my favourite authors work will be picked to death and my love of Daphers altered. Fortunately Daphne tends to be so wonderful that this rarely happens.

Yet for the first time ever recently as I read a book I was thoroughly enjoying, the aforementioned ‘Bleakly Hall’, I found that as I knew I would be discussing it in detail I started to pick it apart as I read not afterwards. Normally I always do this afterwards, not during, and I am not sure why it changed with this book but I ended up almost sabotaging reading it because I was pre-empting the questions/reactions/subjects that the book would raise. It had a house of cards effect/loose thread effect and I started picking.

This then made me wonder if some books are just not book group books. For example, and I am not comparing ‘Bleakly Hall’ to this series it is just an example, I would never take an Agatha Raisin mystery to a book group. It and I would be annihilated and those, for me, are just books I read for pleasure, no more no less and there is nothing wrong with books that you simply read and are entertained by the whole way through. I think ‘Bleakly Hall’ would have been just such a book if I wasn’t reading it in the context I did.

So I wondered if any of you had found that there are some books that simply should be avoided as book group choices. Obviously with book group books the idea is no one has read them and so there is always the risk it won’t work I suppose but maybe some experiences/titles stick out in particular? Do you agree some books should simply be read and enjoyed, not picked apart or should all books be treated with the same analytical internal eye of a reader?

How Many Book Groups Make Too Many?

I love books. I know that sounds like a rather obvious thing to say with a book blog, but sometimes my love of books gets me into trouble. For example at the moment I am in the midst of reading the Green Carnation Prize submissions, of which we have easily had double or maybe treble what we did last year and there are more to come. I also have a big pile of books on the bedside table which I keep ‘meaning to read next’, some advance reading to do for ‘Discovering Daphne’ and another project for the blog which starts in August. Phew! So you might think considering I am part of two book groups the very thought of joining another would seem idiotic… and yet I think I have.

It’s not the fault of the other two book groups that have made my eyes wander. It’s definitely me.

You see with the book group I first joined (that in my own head I call ‘the lovely ladies of Levenshulme book group’ because it is lots of lovely women and me and Paul Magrs) I love the banter and I love the people but until this month a lot of the choices have been re-reads for me. This is of course my fault for reading too much frankly and not theirs at all. However this month, though I have no idea what day it’s happening, we are reading ‘The Lost Daughter’ by Diane Chamberlain which is a book I have never read and would go as far as to say from the cover looks like a book I would possibly avoid. It looks a bit Jodi Piccoult. However this is the very point of a book group isn’t it?

Sadly at the moment the book seems to be avoiding me. I ordered it from the library, they went and loaned it after I ordered it. I have tried book shops and no avail. I could go online, but I feel all funny about online sales after the latest Book Depository news. So if I get it and if I find out when the meeting is I shall of course be going.

The next book group I joined in part because it was organised by one of my lovely new friends up in the north and secondly because I hadn’t read the book, which was ‘Purple Hibiscus’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one I had wanted to read for ages and ages but not quite got around to. The only issue is that I have read the next book that’s been chosen (again my fault not theirs) but I really don’t want to read it again. What is it? ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy. This seems odd, especially as you can see from a review of it back in 2008, when I had read it for a book group too, I came away confused but overall liking it. So wouldn’t this be just the sort of book that could do with a re-read? After all this was a few years ago. The answer screaming at me is no. I don’t want to be confused by it again, and one thing I missed in that review was how long that book took to read. I have it by the bed in case but I will see, I did love the people who went so much – a really lovely mixture. Can I not go without having to re-read it and see if I can remember it fully? I admit I remember one horrid scene in a cinema all too well.

Fate seemed to extend a hand when I found a new book group in Manchester through twitter completely randomly. I think Waterstones Deansgate retweeted them, they are the @NQbookclub. This group are a little specific with what books they choose, which is what attracts me so much – as well as meeting new book lovers that is, as they only read post war classics it seems… Classics such as ‘Revolutionary Road’ by Richard Yates, ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe and next up to read is ‘Rabbit, Run’ by John Updike. Many of you will of course have read these, but I haven’t and yet they have always been books I have fancied (I did read Updike’s ‘Couples’ for a book group and was impressed with the read and the discussion was great) so should I add another book group to my reading schedule?

I am torn, especially as with ‘Bookmarked’ starting soon (exciting announcement about that soon) and the reading I will need to do for that… maybe it is too much? Do I need to give up one? I don’t really want to. How many book groups are too many? Has anyone else found that they go to a book group and each month it’s a book they have read? Does it matter if you pick and choose which meetings you attend, what are your thoughts on etiquette?

Savidge Reads and the RNIB

I am a big fan of doing as much for charity as I can, in fact the best non media job I have ever had was working for Breast Cancer Care, so when I had an email from Melanie at the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) asking if I would like to be involved in a new initiative, as a guest speaker, of people talking to book groups for blind and partially sighted people… I didn’t need any persuading.

So in the next few months I will be taking part in Special Interest telephone book groups. This is the chance for people who already have regular book groups via the phone, also through RNIB, get the chance to ask people in varying parts of the ‘book world’ any questions that they have. I also get the chance to ask them about their reading habits and the pro’s and con’s of the audio book industry. I have already got a list of questions about how the industry is doing, be it good or bad, in terms of resources for those people who might not be able to read a book in its traditional form. I think its going to be an interesting set of discussions.

As always, with any new exciting thing I get to do via Savidge Reads, I like to put out there to all of you for your thoughts and comments. So I was wondering if you had any questions that you would like me to ask these lovely readers in advance? I also know they are very keen to hear about great audio books, which aren’t so much my forte – though I have been really enjoying listening to Sarah Winman reading her own novel ‘When God Was A Rabbit’ since I finished the book – yet I am sure you will all know of some fantastic audio reads. Do let me know.

Happy Easter

I thought that the day slap bang between Good Friday and Easter Sunday might just be the perfect time to schedule a post wishing you all a very Happy Easter wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

I myself have no idea what I will be doing, though not being religious in the traditional sense I am sure I will be turning to my own mini-religion which is of course books and two in particular… My latest book group choices. Strangely enough both of the choices this month happen to have been my own and am am dangerously behind in reading both of them, typical. Thank goodness for a long bank holiday weekend (we are having two long four day weekends on the trott in the UK) which seems the perfect time to be tucking into both ‘Cat’s Eye’ by Margaret Atwood and ‘The Eyre Affair’ by Jasper Fforde, and possibly tucking into some chocolate too.

Wherever you are, whatever your doing and whatever your reading (and do feel free to let me know what all these three might entail) I hope you have a lovely time be you visiting church, spending time with loved ones, eating chocolate, having an adventure, reading or simply having a nice rest!

A Great First Book Group Choice…

Only a quick post today but one that I am hoping that you will help me with. Not that I need to question that, you are all always really helpful! I’m looking for recommendations of books that would make the perfect first book group choice for the first discussion meeting.

Though I’ve joined a lovely book group in Levenshulme (we are actually meeting tomorrow to discuss ‘The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet’ by David Mitchell – thoughts soon) the house mate of one of my friends, who also wants in too which is ace, in the centre of Manchester has asked if I’d like to set up a book group with them and others in the city centre of town. Well how could I say no? I’m not leaving the Levenshulme one, I think I can manage with two and it is a great way of making more new friends and reading more diversely.

I’ve been asked to come up with the first title and I’m a bit stuck. You see when I cofounded The Riverside Readers we had a meeting where we discussed our favourite books, it seems in this group they just want to get a title and get cracking! All good with me but what oh what to choose?

I think something that is a mix of genres, is page turning and also wonderfully written, something not too new and not too old would be good, but are there any books out there which encompass all these things? Help!

Reading With Authors

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was hankering for the Not The TV Book Group to get back together for another whirl this year. Due to schedules, reading resolutions and all sorts of bits and bobs it looks like unfortunately it wont be happening in 2011, but maybe in 2012, we will see. There was mention of me carrying on with some new hosts but that didn’t seem right and so I went away, thought about it and have come up with something a little bit different…

I do love having a new project to put my energies into, I don’t know if you have spotted that yet? Anyway ‘Reading With Authors’ is only in the planning stages (and its only the working title for now), though I have the first guest author and book in the bag already, but its going to be something a little bit different over the early summer months of 2011 where myself and a guest author will both be discussing a book on the blog but not one that the author has written, and probably not even one they have read before. As you read this some emails will be winging themselves out to some more authors asking if they will be joining in and an official list of the authors, the books and the dates will be coming soon.

I am mulling over the idea of authors reading books which aren’t in their genre for example a crime writer reading something almost the polar opposite of their genre and vice versa. Like I said its all in the planning stages which means of course you can help shape it with your ideas. Are there any authors you would love to see discussing the books? Are there any titles that you would particularly like to see discussed that would make fantastic book group choices and have gone under the radar? How often would you like the book group to be? I am thinking of just hosting five, maybe six, to start off with and am thinking maybe every two or three weeks? Hmmm. Any other thoughts and ideas are most welcome so if you have some suggestions do make them known.

Oh and of course if you are an author or someone who knows and author who might like to do this then do email me and get in touch, or if you can make lovely badges for a new logo, ha.

Presumptions, Assumptions & Hype

Book group this week has really got me thinking. You see when I started the latest choice ‘Water For Elephants’ my expectations for the novel were rather low, and so when I had finished it and really enjoyed it I was left pleasantly surprised. It showed me once again that you can’t simply judge a book by its blurb or latest cover, or rather than judging you simply can’t make assumptions or presumptions. I always get presumptions and assumptions mixed up which is slightly annoying as bookish presumptions and assumptions are what today’s post/ramble of mine is all about.

It interested me that out of the rest of the book group the people who knew nothing of it, bought it off the internet and started reading it pronto simply because it was the book group choice got a lot more out of it than those who had read the blurb, got quite excited about the premise and then read on. In fact people who had got really excited about it prior the meeting seemed to think they had been let down in some way. This could of course simply be sod’s law, or the fact that the book just wasn’t quite for them, but it brought up the question yet again of book hype and how it can affect a read for you.  

I brought up the fact that I had personally bought the book ages ago because there was a whirl of hype about it on its release in the US, I had then promptly not read it. I myself am prone to getting swept up in the excitement when a book seems to explode in the media by the tag ‘New York Times Bestseller’ (or any other newspaper) and endless review or of course all over the blogosphere. I would find myself vicariously buying several books in one shopping swoop because I had heard lots of good reviews, and then go off the idea of all of them (probably swept up by another set of rave reviews of another book) and hence end up with the rather large TBR that I now have – I will get through it one day. Yet last year when I put myself on a book buying ban for 12 months I was amazed that the books I heard lots about and instantly wanted would then fade from my mind a few weeks later. I think only four or five are still on my ‘most wanted’ list. I haven’t been out and binge bought those either.

So that showed me up for my ability to be completely bowled over by media which thankfully I think one other book group member agreed would make them consider reading a book too. The other hype that interests me though is the one we do ourselves. It could be because the blurb simply sounds ‘so you’, the fact you have loved the author before, the quotes on the cover, the cover itself (and in this case most people had a cover they actually said made them think ‘Water For Elephants’ wasn’t for them because it looked rather chick-lit like, they aren’t a snobby bunch, and then were again pleasantly surprised), the fact the premise just really appeals, the list can go on and on. Its something I find interesting and so thought would ask you all about it.

How can we stop ourselves from falling for the hype in newspapers and our favourite blogs? Why is it that we hype certain books up so much in our own heads and if we do it extensively can a book ever really live up to the impression we have made of it without even turning a page? Do you think its something we are just programmed to do? Have there been books you’ve been desperate to read, then not bought and eventually not been bothered about? Which books have you hyped up yourself and then been disappointed by and which ones have you had the reverse experience with? Any other thoughts? Oh and who can tell me the difference between assumptions and presumptions?

Simon’s Bookish Bits #29

As a change is as good as a rest I thought I would do one of my recently more random ‘Bookish Bits’ posts. I’ve a few little asks of you, when don’t I, all based around book groups including ideas for a great book group read, the TV Book Group and possible return of the Not The TV Book Group, oh plus a little health update and to remind you to let me know your thoughts on some books that I must get my mitts on in 2011.

First up for discussion today is Book Group choices. I am sure I have mentioned ‘ideal book group books before’ but now I call upon you for recommendations. Tonight I will be meeting up with my new book group for the second time to discuss Sara Gruen’s ‘Water For Elephants’ (which I will be discussing on the blog tomorrow) and afterwards I think I have to come up with a novel that’s my suggestion for a future read. Eek! I mean it’s not like I don’t have enough choice, and ideally I will be nominating something which is currently languishing on Mount TBR, it’s just when you put forward your first choice it says a lot about you. Well, that’s what I think anyway. So what do you suggest, what will cause great discussion without being something too light or too heavy?

Last night saw the return of The TV Book Group who discussed ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue. I was very sad not to see Laila on the opening show as I do have a soft spot for her, I think she really thinks it all through and quietly gets her point across. I did think Meera Syal was an absolutely brilliant addition to the show, really down to earth and real and quite happy to argue the case. You can see all the choices on their website, let me know if you have read any of them already and what you thought, and next week they will be discussing another of my favourite reads from last year ‘The Long Song’ by Andrea Levy.

Now along those lines… I have had a few emails and enquiries in the flesh wondering whether in 2011 we might be repeating ‘Not The TV Book Group’. I would love, love, love to do it again and so have sent the feelers out via email to my lovely co-judges from last year to see their thoughts. I am hoping they all say yes, no pressure of course ha, ha, ha! Would you like to see the ‘Not The TV Book Group’ return in 2011? What sort of titles would you like to see? Unknown new or older books, books from certain eras, debut novels? Let me know your thoughts.

Oh and a little note on my health while we are catching up, no real news because it seems all my records from London have gone walkies and so now I am going through the whole rigmarole again. Back to the tests and the hospital visits and all that palaver… eurgh, let’s go back to discussing books shall we?

So to recap… which books on Mount TBR do you think would make great book group reads and why? Or what other books would you recommend from your own book group experience? What were your thoughts on the new series of The TV Book Club and would you like to see Not The TV Book Group return and with what? Oh and I almost forgot… any thoughts as to books I simply must try and devour in 2011, pop here if so!

New Book Group Nerves

I’ve not been properly up north three days and yet I have already managed to get myself into a book group. The lovely author Paul Magrs, who I now live about ten minutes away from on the bus, and a few of the local people of Levenshulme meet once a month to discuss a wide variety of books and so I have elbowed my way in I was kindly invited to join… but I am nervous.

It’s not about the book, which this month is Susan Hill’s latest ghostly tale ‘The Small Hand’ (which I have already devoured and posted about) which I am sure will give us plenty to talk about. It’s more the fact it’s new… and new people. You see I am not so good with new people. I tend to go really quiet and start looking very uncomfortable, accidently start sneering a little bit (its fear not arrogance) or I rabbit on and on talking absolute gibberish. The later will certainly not do because Susan Hill’s book is worthy of far more than gibberish when discussed and the other two aren’t going to leave a great impression on a group whom I want to make acquaintances and get invited back to meet next month.

I could worry about it endlessly however I will be taking my two year old twin cousins to their playgroup Christmas Party (heavens above) and then off to meet my new doctor before heading off again to look at some rather swanky flats, if I do say so myself, in the afternoon so hopefully that will take my mind off it. I could also maybe spend some time reading the book again, is it cheating if I don’t? Any tips on how or how not to make a lasting impression with this new bookish group?

I will report back in due course and let you know how I do or don’t get on… eek!

Not The TV Book Group… The List

So if you guessed that the short list of books for the Not The TV Book Group might include; a Vampire with amnesia, a girl turning into glass, an environmental data collector in post-war France and Virginia Woolf… then well done you! If you hadn’t guessed that intriguing combination then you will be as surprised as Kim, Kirsty, Lynne and myself were after a ‘meeting of minds’ that started at 12pm and finished at about 3pm.

Yes finally we have come up with what we hope will be eight unusual and interesting reads for us all to discuss over 8 Sundays in the next 18 weeks – we decided to take out bank holiday weekends – each one of us inviting you round to our blogs to have a good old chat, maybe some banter and possibly some heated debate. Enough of me waffling on, you just want to know what the books are so without further ado…

• February 7: Brodeck’s Report by Philippe Claudel (Quercus Publishing, 2010)
• February 21: The Girl with the Glass Feet by Ali Shaw (Atlantic Books, 2010)
• March 7: Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellers (Two Ravens Press, 2008)
• March 21: The Illusionist by Jennifer Johnston (Headline Review, 2007)
• April 11: The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan (Henry Holt & Company, 2008)
• April 25: Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett (Serpent’s Tail, 2008)
• May 9: A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter (Vintage, 2009)
• May 23: Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler (Hachette, 2007)

I hope you will agree it’s a rather eclectic mixture of genres, authors, stories and publishers and one that you will all want to join in with as we have all very much had you in mind whilst doing this. We have held of starting the first read too soon so you can get to your library, a book store (new or old) or any online places of note to get copies and we really hope you join in. In case you are wondering why I have put links to a certain site on, its just so you can see covers and blurbs etc not because we are affiliated with it, just so you know.

How did I choose from so many books? Well I read maybe the first 20 pages of almost any book that fitted the criteria (out in last five years, hadn’t already written about etc, etc) and then looked at what was a bit different, what would make for good discussion and what would also be readable to more than just me but might take you slightly off the beaten bookish tracks. I then whittled them down till I got four books that matched all that criteria and yet were all very different. I have to say I am really quite pleased as my two favorites were the ones that got chosen from my final four.

I have been hankering after Ali Shaw’s ‘The Girl with the Glass Feet’ ever since I heard the title, which sounds a bit random but it’s the truth. The fact that it has been described as a modern adult fairytale and frankly it was almost  job done. Then reading the synopsis I was sold 100%. It also helped that I won this very recently from the lovely Gaskella as it was a book I had been hankering after for ages, it isn’t physically in the building yet but is on its way!

“A mysterious metamorphosis has taken hold of Ida MacLaird – she is slowly turning into glass. Fragile and determined to find a cure, she returns to the strange, enchanted island where she believes the transformation began, in search of reclusive Henry Fuwa, the one man who might just be able to help…Instead she meets Midas Crook, and another transformation begins: as Midas helps Ida come to terms with her condition, they fall in love. What they need most is time – and time is slipping away fast.”

Neil Barlett is an author who has quite a cult following but I don’t personally think that he has had enough attention. ‘Skin Lane’ is his third book and is described as a “taut little psycho-shocker” by none other than Will Self an author I really enjoy. I also liked the idea of a thriller being thrown in the mix and it sounds like this will be thrilling and creepy.

“At 47, Mr. F’s working life on London’s Skin Lane is one governed by calm, precision and routine. So, when he starts to have frightening, recurring nightmares, he does his best to ignore them. The images that appear in his dream are disturbing – Mr. F can’t for the life of him think where they have come from. After all, he’s a perfectly ordinary middle-aged man. As London’s crooked backstreets begin to swelter in the long, hot summer of 1967, Mr. F’s nightmare becomes an obsession. A chance encounter adds a face to the body that nightly haunts him, and the torments of his sweat-drenched nights lead him – and the reader – deeper into a terrifying labyrinth of rage, desire and shame.”

Do pop and see Dovegreyreader, Kimbofo and Other Stories to find out which were their choices and how they chose them – they will probably be more insightful than me as I feel utterly shattered! Book short listing is fun though tiring, who’d have known? What were the other two… I can’t say I might need them for series two if this one goes well!

I will be posting a new page tomorrow morning with the list, all their covers and their blurbs, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Oh, I have only just realized that both my final chosen books were Costa Award Nominee’s, I am hoping that is a good sign!?! I hope you will be joining in be it here or there or for the whole run. I am now off to have a bookish break; I am truly booked out and so will hand over to you, what do you make of my choices, and of course the list as a whole?

Not The TV Book Group

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a book group where you could talk about a book with people all over the world for a whole day? Well odd you should all be thinking that as it seems there is and by popping here you have joined one of the virtual launch parties of the “Not The TV Book Group”, so grab a virtual canapé (the prawn ones are a delight) and glass of something lovely as I welcome you and explain all.

So what on earth is the Not The TV Book Group? Well I am thrilled that myself, Dovergreyreader, Kimbofo and Other Stories have brought together our bookish forces to bring you a fortnightly book group that you can all join in with. This is a chance to make a book group with a bit of a difference.

Before I go any further I do want to state that even though I may have been a little cross about the TV Book Club last week this is in no way designed to denigrate or mock or challenge the show in any way. Yes there is the title but think of the ‘Not The Booker Prize’ the Guardian ran and you will see where we are coming from. The TV Book Group isn’t going anywhere and in truth we all hope that it listens to its audience and prevails as there aren’t enough shows on TV about books here in the UK.

We also haven’t told any publishers that we are doing this, there is no marketing going on, in fact we discounted any freebies that we may have been sent to us by publishers in the past, as for Series One we wanted to bring you something that was just from us, something we are passionate about that’s gimmick free. We aren’t going to be checking on the sales of the books we choose, though if you did want to buy the selection then do feel free, we are just as happy if people head to their local library and check the books out. Anyway now that’s cleared up back to how it will work…

We decided a book a fortnight was a good plan as though I am sure the final list will be a delight I would like to read some other books along the way, as I am sure you all will too. So therefore over the next sixteen weeks we will be taking it in turns to share our virtual lounges/sofa’s/beanbags and thoughts with you all. We really do hope you join in with reading some books which could be gems and some which could be turkeys, time will tell and we will be honest with our feelings on them.

So what are the books? Well as yet they haven’t quite been whittled down, we have a “meeting of minds at midday” today to make a long list of sixteen become a unanimous eight reads. You wouldn’t think choosing books would be hard but choosing four books each for the long list was so difficult, the criteria was;

• Books we have not yet read or written about.
• Books available in paperback in the UK (and hopefully oversea’s)
• Books out now or published in the last five years.

The final eight and their dates will be announced as soon as we are all agreed and then we can only hope that you all decide to join in if you can, wherever you are, the more the merrier. I hope to see you all at each date with all your bookish thoughts at the ready! Until thats announced I wondered if you could guess what any of, or all eight of, the titles? At the moment of typing this I am as mystified as you, I only know what two of them could be. Go on have a guess!