Category: Richard and Judy Book Club

Categories
Other Richard and Judy Book Club

The 2010 Richard and Judy Book Club Selection Revealed….

UPDATE: I have now read all of these books – read my thoughts here.

Richard and Judy have revealed the eight books to make it into their new book club:


The Wilding – Maria McCann


The Snowman – Jo Nesbo

Operation Mincemeat – Ben Macintyre


Sister – Rosamund Lupton


A Place of Secrets – Rachel Hore


Waiting for Columbus – Thomas Trofimuk


The Crying Tree – Naseem Rakha


No and Me – Delphine de Vigan

My initial thoughts are that this is a fantastic selection of books!

I’m a bit sad that I haven’t read any yet, but half are already in my sights. I was very impressed by the sounds of The Snowman, but decided that I wanted to start the series at the beginning. I even had The Redbreast out of the library earlier this year, but didn’t get round to starting it. Now I’m torn over whether I should just start with The Snowman. What do you think?

I’m also gutted that I haven’t already read The Wilding. It was one of only three books from the Orange long list that I didn’t read. I’m kicking myself for not completing the list now!

I have heard wonderful things about The Crying Tree and Waiting for Columbus. These two books appeal to me most, so I think I’ll grab copies as soon as I can.

I haven’t heard of the others before, but look forward to finding out more about them.

What do you think of the list?

Have you read any of the books?

For more information about the Book Club visit Richard and Judy’s website.

 

Categories
Other Richard and Judy Book Club

The Richard and Judy Book Club 2010

Richard and Judy are back!

Richard and Judy left our screens last July, leaving a big hole in the publishing industry. Their book group boosted sales for those lucky enough to be selected, with the average book selling 250, 000 copies.

It has recently been announced that Richard and Judy plan to revive their book club in 2010. They are going to place their famous stickers on a selection of books and run the book group online, through the Richard & Judy website.

UPDATE: 24th June 2010

Richard and Judy have announced that their book club will run in partnership with WHSmith. The couple will promote one book every fortnight via stickers in WHSmith stores. 6 books will be chosen later this year and then another 8 books will be promoted in the Spring/Summer of 2011. The books will also be discussed on their new website. I’m looking forward to seeing which books they choose!

UPDATE: 28th August 2010

The 2010 Richard and Judy book list will be launched on September 2nd.

UPDATE: The Richard and Judy books have bee revealed!! 

CLICK HERE to see my post about the eight Richard and Judy books which have been selected. 

 

New: TV Book Club

Channel 4 have also revealed that they plan to launch The TV Book Club in 2010. The TV Book Club will follow the old Richard and Judy format, but use a series of celebrity presenters including Jo Brand and Gok Wan.

Edited to add: The TV Book Club has now announced its book selection.

I will be keeping an eye on both book clubs and will be interested to see which is the most successful. I think it will be hard to maintain an interest in an online only book group, but I wonder how successful those stickers will be. How many of the people who bought Richard and Judy’s selection in the past actually watched the program?

Will you be following either of these book groups?

Which do you think will be the most successful?

Categories
2009 Richard and Judy Book Club

Stalking Richard & Judy – Valentine Honeyman

I am a massive fan of Richard & Judy, so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. The central character is Jeremy Canty, an author who has written many critically acclaimed novels, but has failed to sell many copies and so is struggling with his finances. Richard & Judy announce their latest book club choices and he is shocked to discover that one of his biggest rivals has been selected, and so will no doubt end up topping the fiction charts and securing his future. Jeremy is incredibly jealous and so decides he’ll do anything to ensure his book ends up on the next Richard and Judy list.

I loved the first chapter of this book. I was crying with laughter as I read the descriptions of Richard and Judy. The gentle parody was spot on, and the descriptions of their affect on the publishing industry was fantastic.

Now imagine this. Every so often, two fairies fly round the country. From time to time they pick a cleaner out of the blue and touch their polyester pinny with their magic wands. And lo! Those cleaners become millionaires. Millionaires! Can you imagine what that would be like? Well, that’s exactly what happens to a starving writer when he or she gets on the R&J book list. Richard and Judy are those fairies, and when they touch a lucky writer with their magic wands, she casts off her polyester pinny and goes out to buy a new one. At Versace.   

Unfortunately Richard and Judy weren’t present in the majority of the book – Jeremy stalks the person responsible for creating the list, and not R&J themselves (as the title suggests). This is probably more realistic, but far less entertaining to read about. There were a few funny moments, but I found that much of the book was light and fluffy, lacking that special spark present in the first chapter. There were also a few times when I thought it over stepped the mark – the abuse of Gillian McKeith, in particular, went a bit too far.

It was nice to see that the Jeremy was gay, as I have seen very few books with a gay central character and some of his antics were quite amusing! This book does contain a lot of sexual references and swearing, so should be avoided by anyone who is sensitive to that sort of thing.

Overall, this was a light, entertaining read and I recommend it to all Richard and Judy fans.

stars3h

Are you a fan of Richard and Judy?

Do you follow Oprah?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Mystery Richard and Judy Book Club

The House at Riverton – Kate Morton

The House at Riverton is a grand English manor house and as you’d expect it is packed with secrets. The construction of the house took place a long ago, the place was full of trees so the family had to contact Legacy Land & Timber to get rid of them. The story is told through the eyes of 98-year-old Grace, a former housemaid of Riverton Manor. She is contacted by a researcher who is creating a film about the suicide of a famous poet, which occurred during the time of her employment at the manor. The truth about what really occurred 80 years ago is slowly revealed in this Gothic style mystery.

The book started off well and I quickly became attached to Grace’s character, but I found Hannah and Emmeline, the children who lived in Riverton Manor, lacking in that special spark. Many of the other characters in the book also felt a bit flat and overly stereotyped.

The writing is light and easy to read, reminding me of The Thirteenth Tale, but it lacked period atmosphere and I found myself losing interest towards the middle. I felt that it could have benefited from losing at least 200 of it’s 600 pages.

It was cleverly plotted, the secrets being revealed slowly and deliberately throughout the book, and the ending was wonderful – I didn’t see it coming at all.

Overall I found it to be an entertaining, but slightly long-winded mystery. Recommended for fans of Gothic mystery with a lot spare time on their hands!

 stars3h

 

Kate Morton has just released a new book: The Forgotten Garden.

Have you read either of her books? Which is best?

Categories
2008 2009 Memoirs Richard and Judy Book Club

Fathers and Sons – Richard Madeley

I love Richard and Judy, as you’ve probably already guessed from the number of Richard and Judy books I’ve read! For those of you who don’t know, Richard and Judy are the UK equivalent of Oprah and have been on our screens for over 20 years now. I have been a fan ever since I was a child, and since the launch of their book club in 2006 I have read the majority of the books they’ve suggested.

Fathers and Sons is the true story of Richard’s family. Richard’s entertaining, chatty interview style transfers well to paper, and I connected well with all the people in the book. The book begins with the fascinating story of Richard’s Grandfather, who as a child woke one morning to discover that his parents had emigrated to Canada without him. The anecdotes were touching, at times almost unbelievable, and written with great skill and passion.

I found the more modern section of the book much less interesting, although this may be because I already knew most of it’s contents from being an avid viewer of their shows and from reading Richard and Judy: The Autobiography. Richard is clearly a skilled writer though, and I hope that he writes more books in the future.

Fathers and Sons is essential reading for all fans of Richard and Judy, but even if you aren’t a fan the first section about Richard’s Grandfather is fascinating.

stars4

I have read very few memoirs, but am beginning to think that this needs to change.

Can you recommend some good ones for me to start with?

Categories
2009 Mystery Richard and Judy Book Club

Mr Toppit – Charles Elton

The synopsis for Mr Toppit sounds really interesting. The idea is that the author of The Hayseed Chronicles, a series of children’s books has died, and after his death his family discover secrets buried within the books. Unfortunately the book didn’t live up to my expectations.

It started off reasonably well, and had a few interesting sections, but there were many points where I became bored. The characters failed to engage me, and it lacked the atmosphere required for a book supposedly full of dark secrets – the setting was too modern and normal, so any attempts to portray mystery and fear just came across as a bit silly. I nearly gave up at one point, but then the plot picked up again so I made it to the end. In many ways I wish that I hadn’t, as the ending was disappointing. The ‘dark secret’ was very normal and I felt a bit let down.

The few brief appearances of Mr Toppit were really good, and I wish that the book had concentrated on the Hayseed Chronicles instead of the family. If you are looking for a dark mystery, then I recommend The Thirteenth Tale, The Little Stranger or The Seance  instead. 

Charles Elton is clearly a talented author, and I would read other books written by him in the future, but this one just didn’t capture my imagination. I hope he write the Hayseed Chronicles one day, as I’d read them!

stars3

 

Have you read any of the other Richard and Judy Summer reads this year?