Below is the original post about Juke Books, which went live on Tuesday 12 March. At the end of it, behind the paywall, you will find a Zoom link for the first meeting of Juke Books next Tuesday 19 March at 6pm GMT. I will try to fit in as many readings as possible, but anyone who doesn’t make the cut will go to the top of the list for the next Juke Books.
I will choose the readers purely at random. Please remember that your excerpt must run to no more than three minutes.
Looking forward to it, should be great fun.
I have always found Book Clubs rather boring. In many cases they are about socialising rather than reading - which is fine, but not my thing. Also you often have to read quite long books which you might hate, which is grim.
With this in mind, a few years ago a friend of mine and myself set up a Book Club with a difference, at Lutyens and Rubenstein bookshop in Notting Hill. Instead of us all reading the same book, participants got the chance simply to read from their favourite novels for the benefit of the other members of the group.
It was a lot of fun and we were all introduced to authors and books we would otherwise not dream of reading. I can’t remember why it ended, but while it lasted it was very popular.
Now I want to reintroduce it as a feature of Boot Camp.
The format is simple. I set up a Zoom meet. Anyone who turns up has the chance to read out loud - for three minutes maximum - from a book they love. It can be from a novel, a memoir, a short story or a poem.
( I am quite strict on the three minutes otherwise not everybody gets a chance to read).
Before doing so, they will take less than a minute to explain why they love this book and why they have chosen it.
Afterward the reading, other participants will have a chance to feed back. What they liked, or didn’t like about the extract.
And then we move on to the next reader. And so on, until an hour is up.
It’s a great way of learning about new authors and great books, and it is also very sociable and fun.
So: If you are interested in participating - either as a reader or a non-reading participant - please add your name to the comments list below.
If there’s enough uptake, I will announce a date for the Zoom meeting shortly afterwards.
Hopefully meet you all on Zoom soon.
Tim
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