📚 🚶An L-Shaped Zoom and a London thread giveaway
The L-Shaped Zoom tonight + London with Dr Matthew Green on Friday
Dear walking book clubbers,
Thanks so much to those of you who joined us in Regent’s Park for our walk at the Daunt Books Festival, featuring the special Fromagerie L-shaped biscuits, and also to those who kindly smiled at the DIY L-shaped wafers on our classic Hampstead Heath walk. Regent’s Park was awash with flowers; the Heath was awash with mud. Both walks featured glorious discussions of this brilliant, powerful novel. Thanks Alessandra for this pic of the wafer-chomping moment!
The conversations continue this week: on Zoom TONIGHT at 8pm, and with our On Our Reading Radar live discussion thread THIS FRIDAY 1.30-2pm, featuring Dr Matthew Green, expert on all things London.
Read on for details of these two events and news of April. (And I KNOW I've got to figure out our next few books before long … I’m on the case!)
Tonight’s Zoom
Hope to see you on Zoom, tonight at 8-8.40pm, £1-10: please decide where you are on this scale of what you can afford to pay.
Our Zooms are open to everyone - so feel free to join regardless of whether or not you’ve read the book. You’re also very welcome to treat it like a podcast and tune in to the discussion while cooking or tidying: after we’ve introduced ourselves you are welcome to turn off your video and listen.
If you can book in via Eventbrite using this button, so much the better, as it means you can pay and I can see how many of you to expect.
If you’d rather connect directly, here are the details:
Join HERE | Meeting ID: 720 9694 0669 | Passcode: Banks
Friday’s On Our Reading Radar featuring Dr Matthew Green and a GIVEAWAY
I'm really excited to share our recommendations on all things London THIS FRIDAY 1.30-2pm GMT, with expert guest Dr Matthew Green. You can find out more about Matt’s wonderful immersive London walking tours HERE. He has kindly supplied copies of his beautiful book London: A Travel Guide Through Time as a giveaway to three lucky participants in the thread.
It’s been wonderful having quite a crowd of contributors to our recent On Our Reading Radar discussion threads. If you’ve not yet seen it, do have a look at our last one with the Willa Cather Foundation for some great recommendations of books that explore our relationship with the land, HERE.
In case you’re curious to join Friday’s thread but not sure how to go about it here are some instructions:
Anyone who receives these emails can leave a comment and join the discussion - you do not need to be a paying subscriber. However, substack asks you to create a ‘profile’ before you leave your first comment. All you need to do is create a username - don’t worry there’s no hassle with d.o.b. or favourite colour or anything like that. If you’re not sure about this, I’d advise leaving a comment on a previous discussion thread (you can delete it afterwards if you like), so that you go through the set-up process and are all ready to go next time.
On Friday 22nd March, shortly before 1.30pm, an email will arrive in your inbox announcing the discussion thread, including a link button to ‘see the discussion’. If you click on this link, you go to the substack post, where you can see all the comments and leave your own. Alternatively, just click HERE at 1.30pm and you’ll see the post up on our homepage
On the thread, I’ll be sharing some of my own recommendations for books and films about London and asking Dr Matthew Green some questions. I would love you to do the same!
All participants in the On Our Reading Radar discussion thread will be entered into a draw to win one of three copies of London: A Travel Guide Through Time. I’ll notify winners by email and then get the books to you. Good luck!
April
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson translated by Anne Born
Sixty-seven-year-old Trond seeks solitude in a remote corner of Norway, only to find his idyll destroyed on happening upon a man from his past, who forces him to remember what he’d rather forget… Memories of a childhood tragedy and life in Occupied Norway rise to the surface in this painful and evocative masterpiece.
Why did I choose it? I always have an eye on helping readers discover more books in translation (in the UK, only 3.3% of fiction sales are translated - a shocking statistic that I would very much like to change!), and Scandi-lit is an area in which I’ve read alarmingly little. This book has been periodically recommended to me over the years, and I was immediately absorbed in its atmosphere and gripped by the story when I finally picked it up. Trigger warning: there is a deeply shocking moment near the beginning - if you are feeling a little vulnerable, especially about children, please take note.
The final couple of paragraphs of THIS joint review by Ian Thompson for the Guardian is a great, spoiler-free introduction.
In Regent’s Park: Friday 12th April, 12-1.45pm, setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8-15
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 14th April, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15
On Zoom: Monday 15th April, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 26th April, 1.30-2pm: Solitude Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of SOLITUDE - Which books and films do you think explore the state of being alone?
Buy Out Stealing Horses from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
Happy reading!
Emily
Thank you for a fascinating Zoom discussion this evening Emily and participants, so good to listen to everyone’s thoughts on what I thought was a really excellent book, yes, of its time but one that stirred up so many memories for me of life in London as a student nurse back in the 1970s. I was especially delighted to discover that Lynne Reid Banks is still with us at ninety-four. I make a point now of writing proper letters (not emails) to these authors to thank them ...I wrote to Elizabeth Jenkins who was over 100 and received a wonderful reply from her carer. It seems important to let them know properly that I am grateful for the legacy of their writing.