Categories
Other

The TV Book Club 2010

I recently mentioned the new TV Book Club, launched to replace the Richard and Judy Book Club on More4 and Channel 4 in the UK.

The TV Book Club has now announced it’s selection for 2010:

The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters (Featured on 17th January)

 

Blacklands – Belinda Bauer (Featured on 24th January)

Sacred Hearts – Sarah Dunant (Featured on 31st January)

Juliet, Naked – Nick Hornby (Featured on 7th February)

Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese (Featured on 14th February)

The Rapture – Liz Jensen (Featured on 21st February)

Brixton Beach – Roma Tearne (Featured on 28th February)


The Way Home – George Pelecanos (Featured on 7th March)

Wedlock: How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match – Wendy Moore(Featured on 21st March)

The Silver Linings Playbook – Matthew Quick (Featured on 28th March)

Unsurprisingly they look exactly like selections from previous Richard and Judy years (Amanda Ross picked the books for both clubs). Last year I enjoyed reading the complete list, but I don’t think I’ll do that again this year. I have already read The Little Stranger (see my review here) and have had Cutting for Stone on my wish list for a while, as I have heard so many great things about it. I’m not sure how many of the others to attempt – they all appeal to some extent, but I’m not sure I want to squeeze them in to my already massive TBR pile.

Have you read any of these books?

Which do you think I’d enjoy the most?

38 replies on “The TV Book Club 2010”

Thanks for posting this list Jackie. I hadn’t caught up with news of the TV book club so will watch how it gets on with interest. I also have Cutting for Stone on my radar and I’m wondering if Brixton Beach would fit into the South Asian authors challenge which I’m going to join.

I’ve never gone out of my way to read Richard & Judy books but did read A Quiet Belief in Angels soley because it was on their list and thought it was wonderful.

Tracey, I think that Brixton Beach would fit in well with the South Asia challenge, It does sound like an interesting book, but I’m wondering if I’d find reading about the tube bombings too disturbing – I don’t want to make my fear of tube trains any worse!

I enjoyed Quiet Belief in Angels too. I look forward to finding out how the TV book club compares to R&J.

diane, I hope it is as good as it looks. I saw that you had a copy of Blacklands and look forward to seeing your thoughts on it. I’m going to have to get a copy of Cutting for Stone next time I’m passing a book shop. It sounds like a fantastic book!

I think it’s interesting that they’re going to hit one book per week – that seems like a lot of reading for people to accomplish in order to keep up. Not necessarily the act of reading one book a week, but just that if one wanted to read other books as well, that would be quite a lot of reading. But perhaps things are different in the UK and all of you read more!

Steph, One a week does sound like a lot, but I don’t think they are expecting everyone to read all the books and I think most people buy the book after watching the show – they never give spoilers. I don’t think that people in the UK read more, but I’d be interested to know the statistics on that!

Oh thanks for popping this list up Jackie, as you know I have decided to not do any read-a-long-a-thons this year and part of this list would tempt me (I already have a few of these books on the TBR) but I wouldnt rush to get the others. It feels very like and R&J gorup but slightly fresher in terms of the variation of choice. Wedlock is one I am saving at the moment for a sudden day-a-thon read. I reckon you might like Cutting For Stone sounds literary and plot worthy. The Silver Linings Playbook I hadnt heard of before and it looks like fun.

Simon, I’m not convinced the choice is any fresher than R&J’s selection – there are still a lot of big, well known authors in there.

Wedlock was one of the ones that instantly grabbed my attention. If I see a few favourable reviews then I may be tempted to buy it.

I have seen lots of positive reviews for Cutting for Stone and have been wanting to read it for over a year now. I’m sure I’ll love it and will probably buy a copy in the next few days. It’s sad that you won’t be reading a long this year, but hopefully we’ll still be able to compare notes on a couple.

I’ve heard some really good things about Sacred Hearts. And, my book club is reading Cutting For Stone later this spring. Good luck with your choices. 🙂

I can definitely recommend Sacred Hearts as an excellent read- very absorbing and a vivid depiction of the life of a convent in Renaissance Italy which shouldn’t be interesting but is absolutely fascinating.

Interesting list! The closest thing to this that we have over here is the Oprah book club, which has come and gone several times over the years. People get snobby about Oprah books, but she actually does choose some that are quite good. There’s “popular fiction” as well as classics and award winners among the Oprah books, and this looks similar–plenty to appeal to different tastes, from what I can tell

The only books on this list that I’ve read are The Little Stranger, which I loved, and The Rapture, which I thought was ok as a thriller but not fabulous (plenty of excitement, but the main character drove me nuts after a while).

Teresa, I hadn’t heard of The Rapture before seeing this list, so it is interesting to hear from someone who has read it. I do enjoy those end of the world novels, so could be tempted by it. Why did the character drive you nuts?!

I read Cutting For Stone, which was quite good.
I may have to check out BlackLands, very creepy cover. Then I went to Amazon to read about it and saw a blurb about it by Ann Cleeves whose books I love, so of course, I will love this one. 🙂
The buying no new books this year is not going too well so far….

Great list! I read Sacred Hearts and The Rapture. I really enjoyed both, even though they are nothing alike. The Rapture is very end-of-worldish but actually quite realistic. Sacred Hearts is a beautiful story about love and the female world of life in a convent. I can’t wait to see which ones you choose!

Like you, the only one I’ve read is The Little Stranger. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t even heard of the others, and subsequently, it’s no surprise that I have none on my wishlist/TBR.

Looking through the comments (and Amazon), Cutting for Stone and The Rapture seem like the ones most likely to make it to my list. However, I’m determined not to add anything to it at the moment, so…

They’ve got some interesting choices there. I guess this is your version of Oprah? Even though the selections are good, I hate following the masses. I will almost NOT read something just because it is too much the “in” thing. I guess I’m a little stubborn that way!

I’ve only read The Little Stranger from this list and the only other one I am interested in reading at the moment would be the new Nick Hornby book. It will be interesting to see how the show goes.

I think out of allof those the Silver Linings Play Book sounds most interesting. And possibly cutting for stone, although I had heard of that one already and thought I might like it.

Oh I’m so envious at you all in the UK! Book club on television sounds like a great idea! I have read The Little Stranger and Cutting for Stone. Cutting for Stone was one of my favorite reads in 2008, begging for a re-read. It’s a tome!

Matt, I was surprised at how big Cutting for Stone was when I saw it for the first time. I love long books though, so am looking forward to reading it soon. I really hope the TV Book Club is as good as it looks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *