📚 🚶The March webcast
A chat about The L-Shaped Room | On Our Reading Radar guest | March & April events
Dear walking book clubbers,
How are you getting on with The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks? Are you hooked? You still have time to read it before our walks on Friday with the Daunt Books Festival, Sunday on the Heath, and our Monday evening Zoom.
Whether you’ve read all it, some of it, or none of it, I hope you’ll enjoy this month’s webcast, in which I chat a bit about the book and other special rooms, l-shaped or otherwise!
One book clubber shared details of THIS screening of the film tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 6pm, at the Cine Lumiere, followed by a discussion with actor Leslie Caron and composer Gary Yershon. Looks great!
In this email you will find:
Booking details for our March events, including our special guest for the March On Our Reading Radar
The March webcast
Booking details for our April events
Our March The L-Shaped Room events
Emily’s Regent’s Park Walking Book Club with THE DAUNT BOOKS FESTIVAL Friday 15th March, 10-11.45 *** please note the earlier start time this month *** setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8. With special L- Shaped biscuits from La Fromagerie!
Emily’s Hampstead Heath Walking Book Club: Sunday 17th March, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15.
Emily’s Zoom Book Club: Monday 18th March, 8-8.40pm, £1-10 Feel free to tune in even if you’ve not read the book - our zooms are open to all.
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 22nd March, 1.30-2pm: London - with historian, writer & broadcaster Dr Matthew Green. Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of LONDON - Which books and films do you think capture the spirit of the city? This month I’m thrilled to be joined by my old pal Matt Green, who is the most phenomenal expert in all things London. He has literally written the book on it - London, A Travel Guide Through Time - and runs extraordinary immersive London tours. Find out more in next week’s newsletter.
Buy The L-Shaped Room 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.
The March Webcast
I hope you enjoy this little chat about The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks, including a reading of the opening passage, and an exploration of special rooms, prejudice and more. I hope it might encourage you to pick it up if you’ve not yet done so, and spark a few ideas if you’re already reading it. Fear not, no spoilers here. There is also a glimpse of (and some sound effects from) Alfie.
If you like the webcast, I’d be grateful if you could like or comment on it over on YouTube so the algorithm knows we matter and more people can discover our books and book club. In case you’d like to see more of these little videos, you can find them about all our books from the past few years on my YouTube channel: @emilyrhodeswriter.
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. Be warned: there is a deeply shocking moment near the beginning - if you are feeling a little vulnerable, especially about children, please take note and steel yourself…
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