Without The Moon

We were really fortunate to win a set of Without the Moon for our group as part of Serpent's Tail's 30th birthday celebrations - complete with party kit which we made full use of! We had a party to hand out the books and, as it was a club member's birthday around the right time, we had a party to discuss the book as well.

Much quaffing was indulged in, but (unlike some books we've read in the past), we did not need that influence to make the book enjoyable. In fact, for one of our members this was the first book for many months that he actually like and did not find a chore to finish.

The setting was evocative and lent itself well to the tension of the plot, and the characters were nicely rounded - although some of our members felt there were a few too many, making it hard to keep up. The line between reality and fiction was nicely blurred, being essentially seamless. For me, it was listening to an old "Hancock's Half Hour" which mentioned Hannen Swaffer while I was reading that gave me my first indicator that this was based in fact.

While interesting, many of us did struggle to see why the psychic subplot had such prominence as we felt it had no palpable bearing on the case and at times felt a bit intrusive.

Overall, the book was a real hit and we are looking forward to reading more of both Unsworth's and Serpent's Tail's output in the future.

Cityread 2016

As we mentioned before, April is the month of the book in dear old London town. The Cityread scheme celebrates literature in and around London and this year is promoting the controversial Ten Days by Gillian Slovo.

Cityread is an annual celebration of literature that
aims to bring reading to life for the whole capital.

The book, inspired by Slovo's research into the London riots for her 2011 play The Riots, examines the way one community's tragedy can be corrupted and how multiple levels of society collide in the response.

Mental health; community disintegration; police procedure; political wrangling and back-stabbing: you name the social issue and Slovo has probably touched on it in this book.

Our group had mixed feelings when we met this month, but we all agreed that it touches on some serious issues and that, really, the ideas expressed could happily make two or three full-length novels. In some ways, it felt a bit like Slovo was trying a bit too hard to get across all the things she wanted to say and this led to the novel feeling a little disjointed. Clearly, an awful lot had come out of her research which left her with a lot of information to convey, but perhaps the book would have had a more significant impact had she just focused on one or two of these points.

One thing is certain, it definitely got us talking. We shared ideas, created our own mini social manifesto and generally considered elements of life that we wouldn't have normally inclined towards. And, after all, isn't that the point?

To see what others are saying about the issues surrounding the book, why not visit the interactive Digital Installation at Foyles?

To find out more about Cityreads, check out their website: http://cityread.london/

To find out more about Gillian Slovo, click here

Getting Started

What better way to kick-start the blog for a London-based book fan than to discuss a major regional promotion?

April is CityRead month in London. This is a scheme where all the boroughs are encouraged to promote the reading of a specific book, with events and author talks throughout the month to accompany it. This year's book is Ten Days by Gillian Slovo and we are reading it in Feltham Library's book group in March to discuss in April. Keep your eyes open for updates and information about the book and the CityReads scheme over the next couple of weeks!

With a Book in my Hand

... and a passion in my heart:

I will share with the world what it means to read.