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Book of the month

October Book of the Month - vote here for what you'd like to read.

150 replies

TillyBookClub · 24/09/2007 22:10

Hi all,

I'm Tilly - the folks round at Mumsnet Towers have asked me to come and do a bit of matchmaking for the Mumsnet Book Club. Having worked in publishing for the last eight years, most recently as Penguin's Literary Marketing Director, I know there's a bewildering choice out there. Reading a book is a big commitment and you don't want to feel it's all been a waste of time. As Woody Allen put it, "If I was given the chance to live my life over again, I'd do it all the same, except I wouldn't read Beowulf'. So I'm here to help steer us through the best reads throughout the year, with a bit of luck sidestepping the duds. At the very least we're promising the following:

We'll pick books for you to choose from that are page-turning, illuminating and which hopefully tell us something we didn't know before, or make us laugh about something we did.

We won't pick any of the following: misery memoirs, celebrity biographies, yummy-mummy lit, books over 800 pages or books with no punctuation or capital letters.

All the books will be priced under £13 (most will be well under) and will be readily available to buy.

We're keen to focus on contemporary authors so that they can come and do web chats with us, or at least answer some of your questions. But if everyone is longing to try Tolstoy or always wanted to give Nabokov a shot then we'll happily go there too.

As well as choosing the titles, we'll be contacting authors and publishers for insider info on our Book of the Month, links to interviews, author history, previous novels, etc. and also to try and give you the chance to talk to the author direct. We'll invite the author to chat live at the end of our book club session, or failing that we'll try to get him/her to address any questions that crop up from our discussion.

And now for the diary dates:
As a rule we'll pick out three or four books just before the beginning of the month, and then on the first of each month and the week that follows, we'll put it to the vote. Once chosen, we'll have around four weeks to read our Book of the Month, and then we'll chat about it usually on the last Tuesday evening of that month with exceptions perhaps for Christmas/New Year. Copious amounts of fine wine beside the keyboard are an optional extra, naturally.

It would be great if possible if, rather than starting threads early, everyone held onto their opinions and discussion points for our Tuesday session, so we all get to talk about it at the same time and no crucial plot twists are revealed ahead of time!

So the rough diary for the next couple of months will be:

October Book of the Month - Page-turners
September 24th - Choice of three books goes up on site, ready for Mumsnetters to vote on
October 1st - Polls close and Book of the Month selected
Tuesday October 30th, 8.30-10pm - Open discussion on October book

November Book of the Month - Booker Prize
October 24th - Choice of three or four books up on site, polling commences
November 1st - Vote concluded
Tuesday November 27th, 8.30-10pm - Discuss November book

We'll give that a go for starters and see if works out but we're conscious that this is a work in progress - do tell us what is working and what isn't working for you so we can fine-tune it until everyone's (or nearly everyone at least ) is happy.

October's three books are up now - go to our Book of the Month October poll page to cast your vote.

And please do let us know your suggestions and ideas for anything else you'd like us to do with the club.

Thanks and happy reading!

Tillyxx (Mumsnet Book Club Editor)

OP posts:
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JustineMumsnet · 24/09/2007 22:22

bumpity bump

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UnquietDad · 24/09/2007 23:00

Welll..... I'd be interested for various reasons if people want to do

this one

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QueenofBleach · 24/09/2007 23:29

Sounds great but can't guarantee the discussion time and may well add the day after.

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JustineMumsnet · 25/09/2007 08:15

Morning all,
In case you missed this last night... you can vote here for our October Book Club read.

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fryalot · 25/09/2007 08:22

have voted.

(and did you discuss the Tuesday night thing with dp - am very impressed, it's his pool night so I can MN all night )

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JustineMumsnet · 25/09/2007 08:23

Sorry I should really have linked to this page which gives a little synopsis of each of the choices. (Too early in the morning for me).

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Hallgerda · 25/09/2007 09:17

UQD, have you just outed yourself?

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QueenofBleach · 25/09/2007 09:18

Going to pass this month, have already read two of them and didn't fancy the middle one. Will catch up with it in Novemeber.

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casbie · 25/09/2007 09:36

Placed my vote will try and buy asap!

thanks for organising tilly!

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USAUKMum · 25/09/2007 12:03

voted!

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Lorayn · 25/09/2007 12:17

voted

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Notyummy · 25/09/2007 12:30

Vote for In the Country of Men.....vote for In the Country of Men




I've read Restless and I want to read that instead.


Vote ITCOM ITCOM yaaaaah ITCOM!!

< Walks into the distance still chanting>

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MadamePlatypus · 25/09/2007 18:28

This sounds great! I have voted. Please could I ask one more thing re: future book choices - no books where the main plot revolves around something tragic happening to a child e.g. 'Child in Time' by Ian McEwan. Regardless of its literary merit, I just won't read it.

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Lorayn · 25/09/2007 18:29

I agree madameplatypus, I would rpefer to be able to comment on the author/writing style/storyline than be totally wrapped up in the fate of some poor child

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casbie · 26/09/2007 16:58

agreed!

i would like to read something out of my comfort zone, in historical, scientific, humour, thriller etc genres.

just because we are mums doesn't mean we can't think of anything besides kids/parenting.

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bossybritches · 27/09/2007 18:06

Agree with the others -I've voted.

Looking forward to the reads-might treat myself to all three regardless of the BC choice!!

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Jacaranda · 27/09/2007 18:11

Have voted!

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tyaca · 27/09/2007 22:24

really looking forward to this. great idea and thank you very much,

no idea which book to vote for, so not going to this particular polling booth and looking forward to reading whatever you guys select.

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pageturner · 27/09/2007 22:36

Oooh, I'm October Book of the Month!

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tyaca · 27/09/2007 23:44

hi tilly,

without wanting to come across a bit single white female, i think i used to work with you

greys inn road, a good nine years ago...

will be v impressed if you remember who i am, and will feel v foolish if i'm wrong.



xc

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Hallgerda · 28/09/2007 08:02

I've voted

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RubySlippers · 28/09/2007 08:05

have voted

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lilstarry1 · 28/09/2007 09:28

I've voted, am disappointed to see my choice is the least popular! Always the way! Am hoping to participate regardless tho'!

Thank you for organising this all, if it all works it'll be fab!

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blueiris · 28/09/2007 09:29

Hi Tilly,

As an independant author/publisher working from home (while enjoying the delights of helping with nappies and the art of winding) I have just published a children's book "Whimsical Will Learns to Fly" as an interactive CD, under our own label at www.beauxreflets.com

If anyone would like to write a review on www.mumsnet.com we would be very pleased. Perhaps you may like to include the book in next months bookclub or even offer a few copies as prizes in a bookclub competition? (we have a few copies to give away as part of our launch)

Regards
Andy

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TillyBookClub · 28/09/2007 10:37

Hi all

Looks like Country of Men and Restless are neck and neck, might just be a photo finish on Monday...keep the votes coming...

And big thanks to everyone for their messages so far, want to make this BookClub as satisfying as can be so keep them coming too.

MadamePlatypus and Lorayn, I'm with you on books about horrible things happening to children. I have to skip vast parts of newspapers/TV news now for that very reason. I promise to avoid them.

Casbie, you're spot on - we should try books that we might not usually give a second glance. The loose plan is to have a theme each month, so sci-fi or crime will definitely come up through the year.

Tyaca, you're right, its me! My very first job was at John Smithson on Grays Inn Road on a C4 documentary called 'Sex Bomb'. Had to answer the phone with 'Hello, Sex Bomb' and try not to die of embarrassmentDoes the 'c' stand for Clara?

Andy, we're pretty much focusing on Adult titles for this Book Club (its a kid-free pleasure), but if a Childrens Bookclub does pop up then will let you know. Congratulations on publishing your book, that's a huge achievement.

And if anyone has any bookish questions at all then please drop me a mail or post a message - am happy to recommend books outside of the BookClub, or suggest good Christmas presents...

tx

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