In an age when Amazon are selling more kindle e-books than hardbacks and we’re still mourning the loss of Borders in Leeds (weren’t their magazine racks the perfect place to hang about when you had an hour to kill between finishing work and going out for the night?), the strange truth is that Literature Festivals and Book Groups are undergoing a golden age. New festivals are springing up around the country at an almost unseemly rate – and everyone, from pop stars to army colonels, is getting in on the act.
Book Festivals offer a unique opportunity to meet authors, ask them about their work, gain new insights into the imaginative world and craft of writing and have a book signed. As for the writers, they get to have a night off from staring at a computer screen to engage with their readers.
Alongside this has been the equally unexpected rise in DIY book clubs – Richard and Judy’s 2004 Book Club launch almost single-handedly revived a flagging mainstream publishing industry and made book clubs a more democratising social event in the process – no longer the preserve of the middle classes, but open to anyone who enjoys a good read and a drink.
So we thought this interesting age deserved an interesting new idea – a Culture Vulture Book Group which combines online discussion and debate, with a live event at which we get up close and personal with writers.
We’re planning four books and related live events a year and for our inaugural Culture Vulture read we’ve chosen King Death by Toby Litt, described as ‘a gripping literary detective story’ by publishers Penguin. The book also has black edging on every page – very lovely! Toby has agreed to let us grill him about the book at a free Culture Vulture book event at Morley Library on Thursday 14th October as part of the Morley Literature Festival. There’s more information about Toby at his website www.tobylitt.com.
So, get hold of a copy of the book (Leeds Libraries have a good stock and can reserve you a copy) start reading and let us know what you think of the first few chapters using the comments box below or via twitter using the hash tag #cvbookclub. Happy reading!
Win A Book!!!
We have 12 copies of the King Death to give away – just let us know what your favourite ever book is and why (using the comments box below) The first 10 will get a copy in the post and two will be picked by 31st August based on the interestingness of their comment!
I’m not sure if it’s necessarily my favourite, but one book that’s affected me tremendously recently is Cormac MCarthy’s The Road.
I hesitate because it’s too dark a work to be seen as a “favourite”, but it’s beautifully crafted and reads more like a tone poem in parts. There’s a gentle ferocity to McCarthy’s writing that’s quite astounding. The subject is hard, and the book actually reduced me to tears (note: this has NEVER happened before), but there are parts of this book, phrases, snippets, that I’ll never forget.
It strikes right at the heart of what it’s like to be the father of a son.
This online book club idea is absolutely fantastic! I’ll be reading King Death next.
Hi Rich can you email me with your postal address so I can send you your book. Your email is being rejected by my server – info [at] morleyliteraturefestival.co.uk. Jenny
My favourite ever is a Child’s Garden of Verses, simply because I loved it when I was a child. I had the copy illustrated by Hilda Boswell, so it was full of pictures of fairies and all the stuff that captures a child’s imagination. I still love now :O)
Oh, I had this and loved it too! Kay, can you email me your postal address – info [at] morleyliteraturefestival.co.uk – so I can send you a copy of the book; I can’t seem to get hold of you by email
I still have the copy of this I had as a child…it’s more than a little disintegrated now…It is however utterly human still…
Bit of a contrast to King Death, but there you go, lol! ;O)
I love all kinds of books. Jodi Picoult to Twilight series. I love true story weepies too, so ‘Goodbye Holly’ is on my shelf. Fallen by Lauren Kate is my latest read.
If I had to pick one- it would be Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym. Its such a stark change from my standard choice of book (harrowing!) it is a comfort food in novel form. It’s based in a village where the clergy are still adored and being a spinster is what one does with a sister in your family home. It screams of a simpler life which may or may not have ever existed but the people there are akin to Penelope Keith. Love it!
My favourite book ever is Little Women. Followed closely by Bridget Jones, Pride and Prejudice and Vanity Fair.
I can lose myself in any of those books and be transported into their world. Excellent books by excellent authors.
My favourite book is whatever I happen to be reading just at the moment I finish it.
If I’m in a public place, I always look up as I remove the bookmark and close the final page just to see if anyone catches my eye and smiles in shared knowingness of how satisfying it is to finish a book.
I’m currently reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson which is an absolutely huge book. I will likely set off fireworks when I finish that one.
I hate finishing books. I keep feeling like I should still have more to read for days afterwards.
ALthough I do try and catch the eye of people i see reading books I love in public. And am actively jealous whenever I see someone reading The Time Travellers Wife.
My favourite is still “Alice in Wonderland”. I am full of admiration for the quirky humour and the totally original land and its inhabitants. I used to want to be Alice, but now I think I’d rather be the Red Queen.
My favourite ever book is The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle. It’s a fairytale about real people, it makes me cry tears of joy just thinking about it.
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It was my first attempt at a big, grown up book after a long history of chic lit and it totally changed the way I read. Zafon writes a fascinating story with intriguinging characters and a weirdly beautiful setting. I love my mum even more for bullying me into reading it! Everyone should.
Favourite ever book is Lord Fouls Bane, by Stephen Donaldson. The first proper for grown ups fantasy novel I read that told me things could be better than Lord of the Rings!
Number 11! Denied 😀
Don’t worry! As you may have seen we have 2 books to win based on interesting answers…so go for it!
My favourite book is actually a graphic novel; hope they’re allowed in this competition. I’m not often one to get obsessive over comics but ‘Strangers In Paradise’ is a soap opera in black and white; love triangles, murderous lesbian criminal gangs, friendship, heartache and farce.
Favourite modern novel, yet to be beaten – Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky
And why is this your favourite modern novel Adelle? As you may see there are two books to be awarded beyond the ten, based on interestingness of answer…
my favourite book is to kill a mockingbird because struggling with dyslexia as a child it was first book i read all the way through and enjoyed and i got a B grade on my course work also it really makes you think about how society judges people and let their own prejudices take over 5 years on i still regularily reread it
I suppose one of things I like about The Sheltering Sky is the expansive nature of the prose. It gives great detail, in terms of the atmosphere of the back streets, the colour, texture and sound of Morocco – yet it doesn’t clutter up the story.
When I read it, I was sucked into Bowles’ world. I didn’t even think I was reading a book, lost my sense of self – I was feeling, touching and tasting Bowles’ story. Pure escapism. Like a literary form of synesthesia. There aren’t many other writers who have a similar effect, which is why it makes it onto my hitlist.
Hard to choose only one book….so I won’t. My favourite books are the ones that transport me completely to another reality and experience. I step out of my life and see the world from a different angle. Books that I’ve had to stop everything for and devote myself to completely include:
Jane Eyre – ‘Reader, I married him’ is a killer line, but shame about poor old Mrs Rochester
Birdsong – I felt physically shocked reading it. powerful stuff
Brideshead Revisited – totally absorbing but didn’t really get the appeal of conversion. Borrowed a beautiful hardback from the library
Pride and Prejudice – swoon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – sob
Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist by Simon Armitage – giggle
Looking forward to the book club
My favourite book is the secondhand poetry book my two best friends gave me for my 18th birthday. It’s like an early Top 100, as it’s called The Best 100 Poems (and they’re all French, so no bias there!)
I love it most of all, because of who gave it to me and the inscriptions they wrote in the front. I know every one of the poems in the book by heart, so I always it with me and, if I’m ever bored waiting for a train or something, I can entertain myself.
The other thing about the book is that the (or a) previous owner had drawn pencil sketches of a woman in the margin, mostly dancing. Sometimes they’d had a practice at drawing a shoe on one page and added it to a full length portrait on the next. I have enjoyed wondering about who the owner was and what their relationship to that woman was – were they a bored pupil doodling in their book at school? Was he or she in love with that woman? Was that the person they wanted to be? Did they want to design shoes? Is there a connection between the poem and the picture etc.? Is there a reason why she has her arm perched jauntily on a particular word? I bet the explanation’s quite dull, but it’s stimulated my imagination and made me think much more about the content. And isn’t that what books are for?
Brilliant comments – I feel my bookshelves are about to be swelled with lots of new must-read books. Congratulations to the first 10 of you who commented – a copy of King Death will be winging its way to you shortly. Do let us know via this blog what you thought of the first few chapters once you get started.
We still have 2 copies to give away by the end of the month to the most interesting comments – so keep your favourite book suggestions rolling in!
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry was incredibly powerful and descriptive and gave a rich, indepth insight into such an interesting and complex culture in India…and just when you think it can’t get any worse….it does!
Toby Litt has been working on a piece with Opera North Projects and the composer Alice Hall, Resonance, setting his very powerful poems about parenthood to music. It’s all very powerful here!
Hi Lindsey – I came to see/hear it and it was amazing. As a fairly recent mum, I couldn’t quite believe a man had written those poems as they seemed to really capture what it’s like being a new parent. I found them really moving.
Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra is an amazing challenging read and so different from Red Earth and Pouring Rain which was also extremely good. Metaphysical but also following the constraints of the crime fiction genre. Elegant, restrained but filled with physicality and vibrant violence. Like a really amazing yoga work out for the mind.
so difficult to pick a favourite book, there are so many to choose from! i love reading, just wish i had more time to read more books!
one of my favourites is the wind-up bird chronicle by Haruki Murakami. its weird in a good way and i’m not sure i can say i fully understand everything thats going on it, but i love it, and his other books. it always sticks out in my mind as i was given it as a present the week before i moved to leeds, which was big changing point in my life.
another book i read around the time i moved to leeds always sticks in my mind – accordian crimes by e. annie proux. its the tale of an accordian and its many owners, very moving and imaginitive.
i also love jonothan lethem, in particular amnesia moon.
i’m always on the look out for new (to me) authors so i will definitely try to check out the other books mentioned in the comments.
I read Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami with my book group and I found it really hard going, so perhaps I should try again with Wind-Up Bird Chronicle!
My favourite book is: Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey.
It is a non-fiction book that reads like a novel.
It tells of the rise and fall of the Fitzwilliam family of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Barnsley. They were land owners, owning the largest private house in England – 365 rooms, and five miles of corridors. They also owned coal mines. It was an extremely rich family, there were the jealous siblings, mad ones, illegitimate ones, the scandalous happenings, and skeletons in cupboards, black sheep family members banished to the colonies.
It also gives a goood social history of the lives of the coal miners and their families. Also charting the rise of Trades union Movement. How the Coal Industry came to be Nationalised.
This book really entertains, educates and inspires you to find out more. It is Catherine Baileys’ first book, taking her two years to complete.
What a difficult question. Unsurprisingly to those who know me I enjoy a wide range of genres but in particular political biography / autobiography. Choosing from within this field I would have to pick Michael Foot’s biography of Nye Bevan. Why? Numerous reasons: for the research that Foot has put into it; for his highly skilled use of the English language, as displayed elsewhere in his oratory and journalism; for his at times personal insight into the man of whom he is writing. However, for me it is for the impact that learning about Bevan the man, his motivations for his involvement in politics and the significant progressive changes he made to the UK.
The best book ever is quite obviously cat in the hat by dr seuss. Its got everything: comedy, rhyme, drama, a talking cat! Having two kids, I mustve read it a hundred times and my youngest used to know it off by heart. Even the film version is amazing. I can’t say enough about the vitues of this book. Read it immediately!
Not sure I have a favourite either, but I did really enjoy We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver, the first 50 pages were turgid in my opinion but after that, I overcame the irritation with the narrator and got lost in it, even my husband enjoyed it. The honesty, and self awareness is great, and uncomfortable. I’ve gone on to enjoy the rest of her novels.
I love most books by Sarah Walters, but in particular Fingersmith which has the most brilliant twist, that I could not have predicted, it made me gasp!
The Magus by John Fowles stands out in my mind as a book I loved as a student, helped me find a really good friend in the first year at Uni, based on a shared love of it!
Once I get started there are loads I could warble on about…Looking forward to reading Toby Litt’s latest (I can vividly recall Corpsing)
Only just spotted this blog on the MLF website … my bookshelves are so full of stuff I’ve read over the years that it’s hard to choose just one so here are a few of my recent favourites …
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson was my No.1 for a long time but recently I’ve waivered in favour of Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale. Both are similar in that they tell their stories over several different time periods, maybe that’s why I also enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Then closely followed by Pride and Prejudice (of course!) and last summer I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy … I’m so glad I read them before the films come out!
I love Kate Atkinson’s books too – Behind the Scenes is so rich in detail, and has really great characters.
Favouritist, like ever? Fair Play by Tove Jannson, because:
It was awesome to find out that my childhood favourite of The Moomins wrote for adults, and that Sort of Books were translating them one by one
She has such a deft,light touch, conveying so much with so few words
It’s an immensely moving account of two people in love, in life, making art and getting along sometimes, not at others. These two people happen to both be women, and Tove was brave to write this at the time, drawing on her won life as a lesbian
That’s my favourite….
Someone else has recommended her writing for adults to me, so I’ll definitely add this to my post-festival reading list!
My favourite ever book has to be The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It’s just beautiful. All the cliches do actually apply – complex, gripping, powerful… etc etc. Suffice to say it’s one book that I can read time and time again – that says it all really!
I just saw this blog – it looks a fantastic idea. Anyway I’m guessing that I’m too late for the competition to win a book so I’ve just reserved one at the library instead. Exciting!
PS – No way could I start to get it down to one book. Oh alright. Of all time? It has to be the incredible ‘Middlemarch’ by George Elliot. Total weaving narrative joy. It’s got everything: Breathtaking romance, Medicine. Cottage improvements. Politics. A trip to italy, and a really horrible religious baddie. What more could you ask for?
I have got to chapter 16 of King Death and am storming through it. Anyone else started?
obviously don’t want to give any spoilers but I can say I’m really enjoying it, I love the 2 perspetives you get on lots of events – and I find the writing really accessable.
Often it really annoys me when books have made up rich famous people as characters, which this book does, but so far it’s been handled realistically and not sensationaly like a chic lit. (i guess cos it isn’t one)
Only one thing has annoyed me in the book so far – when Kumiko used the phrase Cellphone Concession – i know she’s not actually english, but she’s not meant to be american either. It just sounded weird to me. Am i wrong, do english people actually say this?
Books are like old friends and at different times books will pluck the strings of interest and stay with you forever. In no order the 5 books that have stayed with me….
To kill a mockingbird by harper lee – a book I read at school but completely got under my skin, wonderful characters and a dialog and prose that still evokes my emotions today. A book for all ages.
A suitable boy by vikram seth – a true epic that sprawls a generation and tells a history. A soap opera of a read that to me rivals war and peace.
Necroscope by brian lumley- horror in it’s truest form, atmosphere and graphic are the order of the day and the start of a fantastic series. Harry Keogh is so memorable and a anti-hero that is the staple of this tale….. Lovecraftian in tone and memory!
The stand by Stephen king. As a constant reader of mr king I still see this post viral landscape as his definative work, dark tower omited. It nevers dates and sets a yardstick for others to follow( the recent justin Cronin effort the passage for one) this book had everything -horror, fantasy, optimism and dread…. A fantastic book.
1984 by orwell. This book sets the standard for sci-fi and literary classics. Worryingly prophetic and a book that never dates. The final pages stick in the mind.
To chose one is difficult, but the stand by king is it for me
Struggling…really struggling…my life would be diminished to the point of vacuousness without novels…
They are my inspiration, my solace and my maintenance…I read all the time…all sorts of everything and I fall in love time and time again with both the narrative, the characters and the writing…Gone With The Wind is probably the one that obsessed me the most and Midnight’s Children is the one that enchanted me the most…but for contemporary fiction Melissa Marr’s series beginning with Ink Exchange is utter magic…
Congratulations to Claire and Fiona who’ve won the last two copies of King Death and thanks to you all for the fantastic reading suggestions. So many books to read post-festival, yikes!
Don’t forget you can borrow Toby’s book from your local library (Leeds has several copies that can be reserved) so I hope you’ll all feel inspired to read and comment on the book even if you haven’t won a copy this time.
Thanks to Jenny for getting the ball rolling with her feedback so far after Chapter 6 – do please join in the debate once you’ve started reading King Death