A fine sultry, summer evening – the perfect occasion to sit in the courtyard garden of Mostly Books to discuss ‘What Makes a Good Bookgroup Book?’ And even better if we entice a couple of authors to discuss the topic with us...
As our opening event to mark Independent Booksellers Week (a week in which everything wonderful about independent booksellers is celebrated), it was a great opportunity to gather and discuss what is so great about being in a bookgroup – and why we get more fun and pleasure out of debating some books rather than simply enjoying them privately.
Our first guest speaker, Louise Millar said she had been invited to join in many bookgroup discussions about her psychological thrillers and said the thing she noticed people particularly liked to discuss was the issues that are raised in her books (her books are so popular with reading groups that they feature reading notes and points of discussion in the back, something not universally popular with the audience).
Louise explained that her books have domestic settings where the characters are often faced with very modern dilemmas – who to trust to pick up your children from school, what lies you would tell to cover any cracks in order to successfully adopt a child? – the sort of issues people can relate to - or at least imagine themselves in - and find it stimulating to debate.
On the evening, Louise read from her latest novel 'The Hidden Girl', another taut tale that ratchets up the tension and suspense, involving a woman who 'moves to the country' in an attempt to improve her life ahead of an impending adoption, but the rural idyll turns into anything but.
Thrillers are really popular choices for book groups, perhaps as crime fiction is predominantly read by women and women tend to outweigh men in book groups. In a discussion actively joined in by the audience - many of whom were bookgroup members themselves - the consensus was that the act of meeting up and discussing a book - the social aspect - was more attractive to women, which might explain the dominance of women at groups. (Mark did make the point, however, that there is at least one all-male bookgroup that meets regularly in Abingdon).
Publishers know that bookgroups are hugely popular and that meeting to discuss books is a great way to extend what you read and also to think in different ways about a book you may not have got very much out of if you’d read it alone.
Kate Clanchy, our other guest speaker, an acclaimed and award-winning poet who has written for radio, a memoir and a novel said that her book ‘Antigona and Me’ had been marketed as a bookgroup book because it is full of issues and opinions, even though it is a memoir.
On the evening she read from her first novel, the Costa shortlisted ‘Meeting the English’, which is on many bookgroup reading lists as a great summer read.
We agreed that it might be difficult to put your finger on what exactly makes a good bookgroup book, but definitely the book that is not a good book group book is one where everyone agrees, opinion is not divided and there is not much to discuss.
Often bookgroups are groups of friends and they can all have the same viewpoint. We felt that bookgroups work best if people come ready to discuss rather than expecting to have loved everything they read. In addition, an atmosphere or tolerance and respect in discussions is far better than just an 'I loved it / I hated it' approach.
Publishers increasingly view the ‘bookgroup’ book as a genre in itself, with books published that are targeted at being read and discussed in a group, reading group notes provided to help readers to scratch beneath the surface of whether a book is simply an enjoyable personal read or not.
There was general agreement that it is not always the books that you think will be good for discussing that stimulate the best debate, which sometimes can make it difficult to choose what to read. The event rather took on the form of a good bookgroup discussion: most of the audience contributed, and it was interesting to get a poll on the types of genre that made a good bookgroup memoir: most did not read exclusively fiction for book group choices, mixing in travel writing and biography/memoir as popular alternatives to mix things up a bit.
But the final vote of the evening was: is there such a thing as a 'bookgroup book'? It wasn't unanimous, but the majority felt 'no'. In the end a strong bookgroup with plenty of mutual respect and a good standard of discussion can deliver the best discussions when allied to a well-written novel with plenty of themes.
Many thanks to Louise Millar and Kate Clanchy for inspiring such an interesting debate, and thanks to all the bookgroups who not only came along, but who support Mostly Books by choosing and buying their books from us (and feeding back which books have lead to a great discussion!). Huge thanks to Macmillan for making the whole thing happen.
If Independent Booksellers Week is a time to celebrate bookshops, for us it is also a great time to say thank you to our customers for supporting high street bookselling and being part of the bookish community here in Abingdon.
What makes a good bookclub book? Is it a chance to read an author you wouldn’t have otherwise discovered? To provoke or to entertain? To divide opinion – or help to unite it?
On Wednesday 25 June at 7.30pm – as part of celebrations for Independent Booksellers Week – we’ve invited two dynamic, and very different, authors to Mostly Books to help us find out.
Louise Millar writes psychological thrillers, and Kate Clanchy is a poet and Costa-shortlisted author. Together they are going to debate the qualities that make a book that gets book-groups talking.
Louise Millar has published three novels and is making a name for herself as a writer who puts her characters in almost unbelievable situations – but also ones we can all imagine happening to us.
She began her journalism career in mainly music and film magazines, working as a sub-editor for Kerrang!, Smash Hits, the NME and Empire. She later moved into features, working as a commissioning editor at Marie Claire. Her books ‘The Playdate’ and ‘Accidents Happen’ have won huge critical acclaim for her combination of family drama and slow-building psychological suspense.
Her latest novel 'The Hidden Girl' is another taut, psychological thriller in which wife Hannah Riley and her musician husband move to Suffolk, and an idyllic life threatens to unravel - but are the increasingly sinister events Hannah is witnessing simply in her head?
Kate Clanchy was born and grew up in Scotland and now lives in Oxford. Her poetry collections have brought her many literary awards, she is the author of the much acclaimed Antigona and Me, and was the 2009 winner of the BBC Short Story Award. She has also written extensively for Radio 4. In 2011 she was appointed as the first Oxford City Poet to encourage the reading and writing of poetry in Oxford and the region.
Her Costa-shortlisted debut novel ‘Meeting the English’ is about a group of characters living in that quintessentially English borough of Hampstead, but whose backgrounds could not be more different. It’s a richly conceived, original and very entertaining social comedy about the lies we tell to fit in.
The two authors will be debating what makes a good bookgroup book – as well as talking about their own writing.
Even if you are not a member of a bookgroup, we promise an evening of lively discussion – and a celebration of a good read in the company of two writing talents. The event takes place at Mostly Books at 7.30pm, on Wednesday 25 June. Tickets are £3, to include a glass of wine.
Places will be limited – so please email to reserve your tickets, or call in at the shop.
It's Bank Holiday on Monday, so today's 3 4 Friday #fridayreads is some gripping crime and thrilling reads if you are in the mood for a good book over the weekend...
Historical novelist Lindsey Davis is best known for her Falco detective series, and her latest book is the start of a new series featuring Falco’s adopted daughter, Flavia Alba.
In ‘The Ides of April’ Flavia walks the mean streets of ancient Rome with all the wise-cracking and nose for danger as Philip Marlow. It’s a gloriously fun read, so full of life it brings ancient Rome right into the room with you. We think this book will win Lindsey a whole new host of fans.
‘Accidents Happen’ by Louise Millar is the enjoyably sinister tale of Kate, who believes bad luck follows her around, but as her in-laws threaten to take away her son if she doesn’t get treatment from her damaging OCD behaviour, she fights to turn her life around. Just as normality seems within reach is bad luck about the strike again?
Clever writing from shifting viewpoints means the reader is deliciously a few steps ahead, but there are still surprising twists and turns in this well-crafted suspense thriller. A compulsive tale that will appeal to fans of ‘Before I go to Sleep’.
Finally, a crime thriller with real depth is ‘The Good Father’ by Noah Hawley. When a young loner assassinates an American presidential candidate, the young man’s father initially struggles to come to terms with what his son is supposed to have done.
What follows is an increasingly taught decent into conspiracy and nightmare as the father tries to discover the truth about what happens, whilst analysing his own role in what his son may have become...
One final note - the all-conquering 'Bring Up The Bodies' is published in paperback next week. Copies in the shop from Tuesday May 7...
