North Books’ third book club edges away from the usual convention of only inviting readers to discuss a single book (though this can happen from time to time) to opening up our evenings to a more general celebration of our shared love of storytelling and the people behind the words on the page. We’ll frame a forward plan in our first meeting but are open to all your ideas. Together we can create a set of events that keeps everyone curious and excited.
Thoughts in the pot so far include asking readers to choose any work from a given writer to encourage a wider discussion of the author’s creativity and output. We are also interested in dedicated genre events as well as putting poets, journalists, songwriters and historians in the mix. Fiction, non-fiction and everything in between.
It’s a book club but it’s a changing one. It will be one thing one month and something else the next time we meet – always, though, it will belong to the group and it will be shaped by you. The only common denominator will be words – and a conversation about them.
JOIN US
Participation will cost £2 (or free if the book is purchased in advance from North Books at a 20% discount). To join the group, please email Jules on jules@northbooks.co.uk.
THE BOOK
Donal Ryan’s latest and (perhaps) most accessible novel
On our inaugural evening, Wednesday 22 March, let's talk about the stories of Donal Ryan, an Irish writer with six novels to his name, and one short story collection. Choose any you like, have a read, and bring your thoughts to the group. All of his novels have been number one bestsellers in Ireland. None of them is a huge tome - so you might even have time to read more than one, or to dip into his short stories.
We can't wait to hear what you all think about the storyteller who has been dubbed “the king of the new wave of Irish writers”. We think The Queen of Dirt Island (his most recent novel) is probably the most accessible to a new reader – but possibly still only available in hardback.
The Spinning Heart was his first, and is written with a distinctive County Limerick turn of phrase. Strange Flowers provides a bit of a prequel-ish backstory to some of the characters in The Queen of Dirt Island. But all of them are great reads – and we hope you enjoy this author as much as we do!