The Reader Online

Following on from last week’s post about Mick Jones’s Rock’n'Roll Library, you might be interested to know that there is also a page (or chapter) of social-networking site Facebook – ‘NOW That’s What I Call READING’ – trying to connect not just people but also the arts of music and literature.

Have you ever thought about your musical taste helping you choose a book to read? For example, if you generally like moody, thoughtful or soulful music you might like to reads books with this tone as well. When you are in the mood for upbeat, happy, dance music maybe you would also read something light-hearted and cheerful.

These reading suggestions are starting points only. We want YOU to contribute ideas, compile your own lists and comment on our selections.

There are book lists, music videos, discussion boards, upcoming events (live music in libraries, etc.) and even a quiz that will recommend a book based on your lifestyle choices (if it’s American Psycho you should probably be very worried…).

So if it looks and sounds like your kind of thing, you can find the group here.

In this second instalment of To Russia – With Love! Kate McDonnell, Project Manager at The Reader Organisation, fills us in on her Get Into Reading group’s response to Anna Karenina. Though Tolstoy’s 800 page-long novel may seem an odd choice for a weekly reading group, made up of people of varying reading abilities, Anna Karenina has been met with a hugely enthusiastic response – for the most part! Here, Kate catches us up on how her group has been getting on with the novel over the past few weeks…

We’re now more than 100 pages in, and around about Week 3 one or two people wondered if we were doing the right thing…

We knew who the Oblonskys were, but then there’s Levin, the Scherbatskys, Levin’s brothers, different strands and more tongue tripping names!

We carried on, and this week were very glad that we had. ‘It’s always like this when we start a big book,’ said one reader who felt less than happy with the book a couple of weeks ago, ‘then somehow you get into it and then everything starts to fall into place. I’m really enjoying it now.’

For this week’s section we read from Chapter 29 – Anna’s train journey back to Petersburg – up to the end of Part One and were able to reflect on how Levin, Vronsky and Anna had all been affected by their time in Moscow and how their attitude to home changes – or doesn’t – as a result.

We found Tolstoy’s description of Anna’s mental state on her train journey fascinating: it’s dark and the snow is whirling outside the window, she’s sleepy and affected by the train’s movement and, because of the inefficient heating system, it’s alternately very hot or very cold in the carriage. As well as that, Anna is reading a novel, and her attention is slipping in and out of her book whilst she struggles with vaguely guilty feelings about what has happened with Vronsky in Moscow, but can’t pin down the cause of them with the rational part of her mind – she seems to end up in a half-waking dream. One group member, who has bi-polar disorder, instantly said that it reminded her of times when she’d been psychotic and this produced a general discussion on altered states of mind and consciousness and how varied they can be whether you’ve had a diagnosis of mental illness or not.

In the next chapter, Anna gets off the train to get some fresh air and who should be on it but Vronsky? Some readers wondered if he were really there or if Anna was imagining him, she’s so subconsciously bound up with him at this time, and someone pointed out that, at one stage, Vronsky’s speech almost exactly echoes Anna’s thought which gives a strange dreamlike feeling to it all. We talked about how it’s possible to hold two contrary views with different parts of the mind – heart? soul? – at the same time, when one reader was struck by Anna’s response to Vronsky’s open declaration that he is following her because he’s desperate to be with her:

The awfulness of the storm appeared still more beautiful to her now. He had just said what her soul desired but her reason dreaded.

We tried to examine just what Anna is feeling here: is there a part of her that just can’t help it? Is she not responsible then? Which should she listen to?

We also met Karenin for the first time and his ‘gristly ears’ caused a lot of amusement! Her feelings for Vronsky suddenly make Anna realise that her relationship with her husband has been an act:

An unpleasant feeling weighed on her heart when she felt his fixed and weary gaze, as if she had expected to find him different. She was particularly struck by the feeling of dissatisfaction with herself which she experienced when she met him. It was that ordinary well known feeling, as if she were dissembling, which she experienced in regard to her husband; but formerly she had not noticed it, while now she was clearly and painfully conscious of it.

Several people were struck by the reality of this, of how Anna could have been dissembling in her behaviour with her husband before and that this was ‘ordinary’ and ‘well known’, but not actually notice with her conscious mind that she’d been doing it until now when her interactions with Vronsky throw those with her husband into high relief. One reader spoke of how she had gone through this experience herself and how appalling it feels.

Karenin’s ironic, coldly bantering, tone of voice with Anna rubbed most of us up the wrong way until the end of Chapter 33 when he comes close to saying something real to his wife about how much he has missed her, but cuts himself off. ‘He really loves her,’ one reader sympathetically commented, as we wondered just what he was going to say, and we realised that we weren’t going to be free simply to scorn him – even though afterwards we had a good laugh and squirmed with some revulsion at the point where Karenin, ever organised and timetabled, even when it comes to having sex, comes to Anna at midnight:

…she heard the measured tread of slippered feet, and Karenin entered, freshly washed, his hair brushed and a book under his arm.

‘It’s time! It’s time!’ said he with a peculiar smile, going into their bedroom.

We discussed why this is so awful and imagined his white feet in his slippers and his horrible preparedness!

At the end of the session, we read a wonderful e e cummings’ poem to help us think about the passion and spontaneity of Vronsky and why this can seem real and true and the scheduled anticipation of Karenin – and to consider the pressure Anna is under:

since feeling is first

who pays any attention

to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you

wholly to be a fool

while Spring is in the world

my blood approves

and kisses are a better fate

than wisdom

lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry

the best gesture of my brain is less than

your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then

laugh leaning back in my arms

for life’s not a paragraph

and death i think is no parenthesis

Karenin, so far, certainly seemed to us to be a man who ‘pays attention to the syntax of things’ and we talked about how you’d feel if you wanted to kiss someone and they said ‘just let me finish drying these dishes’! The poem is very persuasive.

At times during these chapters, Anna wonders about telling her husband, but has she actually done anything wrong yet, anything she should blame herself for? The only man present that day said no, some people weren’t sure, but others disagreed. ‘It’s chemistry and she can’t help it – you can’t help who you fall in love with,’ one woman said. Some people felt she wasn’t guiltless though – even though she’s done nothing wrong externally, there’s some internal movement – but nobody thought she should tell her husband. I asked the group if they wanted Anna and Vronsky to be together and they were momentarily struck dumb! The session finished with the ball in the air…which I hope is how Tolstoy would have wanted it.

Missed the first instalment of To Russia – With Love? Here’s a link back to it.

Books on the Broad are organising a one-day event entitled: “The Readers’ Voice: A Meeting for Readers and Readers Groups”.

The full programme of talks, workshops, debates, and other events is led by fifteen expert speakers – including our very own Casi Dylan (Read to Lead Training Manager) -  who not only share a passion for reading, but the desire to bring its benefits to the community. Groups with a reading list or project to share are invited to bring these to the attention of the meeting. For more details, please click here.

The event is to be held at Jesus College, Oxford, on Saturday 4th April 2009. Entry is £20, and includes lunch, refreshments, and access to the full programme.

Tickets can be obtained from the Oxford Playhouse Box Office on 01865 305 305 or www.oxfordtickets.com/ticketsoxford.

The Institute for the Future of the Book is running an ‘experiment in close reading’ in which seven women are reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and carrying on a conversation about it in the margin. While the comment area–the virtual page margin–is only open to the seven there is also a forum where the rest of us can weigh in on the novel and on the experiment itself. Bob Stein, who is managing the project, emphasises that the best way to read the book is to buy or borrow a copy, but the online version is nicely done. I wonder whether this really adds a great deal to the large, diverse, and often complex conversational output of literary bloggers and their commenters, while the idea that “we don’t yet understand how to model a complex conversation in the web’s two-dimensional environment” is disputed by at least one commentator. It might also be disproved by arguably the largest and most complex conversation in history, Wikipedia. Nevertheless the level of detail this format makes possible is certainly intriguing as an opening up of the seminar room. Here’s what Bob has to say:

On November 10th, The Institute for the Future of the Book kicks off an experiment in close reading. Seven women will read Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and carry on a conversation in the margins. The idea for the project arose out of my experience re-reading the novel in the summer of 2007 just before Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature. The Golden Notebook was one of the two or three most influential books of my youth and I decided I wanted to “try it on” again after so many years. It turned out to be one of the most interesting reading experiences of my life. With an interval of thirty-seven years the lens of perception was so different; things that stood out the first-time around were now of lesser importance, and entire themes I missed the first time came front and center. When I told my younger colleagues what I was reading, I was surprised that not one of them had read it, not even the ones with degrees in English literature.  It occurred to me that it would be very interesting to eavesdrop on a conversation between two readers, one under thirty, one over fifty or sixty, in which they react to the book and to each other’s reactions. And then of course I realized that we now actually have the technology to do just that. Thanks to the efforts of Chris Meade, my colleague and director of if:book London, the Arts Council England enthusiastically and generously agreed to fund the project. Chris was also the link to Doris Lessing who through her publisher HarperCollins signed on with the rights to putting the entire text of the novel online.

Fundamentally this is an experiment in how the web might be used as a space for collaborative close-reading. We don’t yet understand how to model a complex conversation in the web’s two-dimensional environment and we’re hoping this experiment will help us learn what’s necessary to make this sort of collaboration work as well as possible. In addition to making comments in the margin, we expect that the readers will also record their reactions to the process in a group blog. In the public forum, everyone who is reading along and following the conversation can post their comments on the book and the process itself.

Here’s the link again to The Golden Notebook.

Posted by Chris Routledge

Continuing our series of recommendations from inmates of Walton Prison, here is Martin’s take on a thriller written by the former US Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen.

Dragonfire

by William S. Cohen.

I cannot praise this book enough. When I first got it, I thought that it would just help pass the time – boy, was I wrong.

The book opens with the American Secretary of Defence being assassinated. The main character, Michael Santini, current Wall Street banker, former US Senator and Vietnam POW, is rapidly handed the keys to the most powerful military office in the world. The action kicks in and it is a race against time to stop World War Three – threats coming from militia thinking Uncle Sam is giving the good American people the middle finger, to Russia Mafia, to terrorists and ‘rogue nations’.

The level of detail in this book is truly mind-blowing. The author quite knows his material, from the layout of the inner echelons of the Pentagon to the insanely annoying military and political acronyms they throw out like party favours.

I think the main character, Michael Santini, is a work of art; you come to understand his likes and dislikes, often pre-empting the author. He is a no-nonsense man banging his head against the wall that is American politics.

What I like is that William Cohen is not afraid to paint a realistic picture of America, the way the various intelligence chiefs go about petty one-upmanship, showing that if they pooled their resources a lot more might get done quicker and more effectively. He also shows how the country uses the threat of economic and military sanctions to bully other nations.

The author in addition portrays people who truly believe in what the United States stands for: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I feel he is saying that America’s position as the only remaining superpower is under threat from a rapidly emerging China, a sentiment I share.

Dragon Fire presents a terrifying series of events that will leave readers wiping their brows. Written by anyone else, it would remain firmly in the realm of fiction. But William Cohen leaves you wondering exactly what Joe Public isn’t being told in the interests of national security.

A definite must read.

Posted by Martin

Welcome to the first blog post for the Shipping Lines Liverpool Literary Festival. The programme has been confirmed and we have an exciting line-up of events and writers.

Philip Pullman, Roger McGough, Carol Ann Duffy to name but a few of the writers coming from across the UK and abroad to speak at the festival. For a full list of writers please see our website …

As well as writer readings, panel discussions, lectures and workshops, we also have a variety of community events, and a family programme as part of the festival, to engage, entertain and encourage our young readers. All our family events are free to make it easier for families to attend the festival. We have a number of schools’ events also, so please do get in touch to enquire about any remaining slots.

Our website has a full programme of events, plus a complete list of writers with a brief biography. Please visit www.liverpoollitfest.org.uk for all information about the festival, including booking tickets, venues, and if you are not local to the North West, some information about visiting Liverpool.

We will be featuring specific events in future posts, so keep checking in for more information about the festival. Tickets have already been sold which is terrific, and events such as Philip Pullman and Howard Jacobson are going fast. We have ticket discounts available such as buy 5 for the price of 4, so take advantage of booking early. We also have discounts for The Reader Magazine subscribers. Please get in touch for details.

Please get in touch if you would like more information by emailing me at events<at>thereader.org.uk.

And don’t forget you can sign up for email updates on literary festivals in the North West by clicking this link right here.

Continuing our series of reading from the inmates of Walton prison, Anthony recommends this tale of a hard man with a heart of gold.

The Guv’nor Tapes (John Blake, 2007)

Lenny Maclean and Peter Gerard

This book is one of those books that you can’t put down. Bareknuckle fighter Lenny McLean was Britain’s hardest man. There have been many times when his back was against the wall and he has always come out on top. He once went up against eighteen men on his own. Nine ended up on the floor and nine ran away. He has been shot twice and stabbed once, which almost cost him his leg, but he’s never been put down and he always made it to hospital on his own two feet. He has fought the hardest men around and won, like Roy ‘Pretty Boy’ Shaw*.He even went to New York and beat the toughest man the Mafia could find.

What I respect about Lenny is the fact that he’s not a bully, he won’t hurt weak people and he wouldn’t let it happen in front of him. Also this is a man who loves his wife and kids very much and has always looked after them properly.

There was only one downside to the book and that is the beginning where he talks about his childhood. How he survived it, I will never know. His stepfather beat him black and blue from the age of five and it knocked me sick. Maybe if he hadn’t had such a bad childhood he would not have ended up being such a hard bastard.

Lenny went through all this and lived, but then something he could not beat killed him – cancer. Lenny McLean died in 1998. God bless him.

Posted by Anthony

* Roy Shaw actually called himself Roy ‘Mean Machine’ Shaw, but there was no love lost between these two.

Ella Jolly writes to let us know about the book group she runs at FACT in Liverpool and invites anyone interested to attend. The group is being ‘revamped’ from January 2009, to allow screenings of films to take place before the group meets, but the line-up in the coming months looks great too:

Monday 29th September at 6:30pm in the FACT cafe: ‘The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne

Monday 27th October at 6:30pm in the FACT cafe: ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh

Monday 24th November at 6:30pm in the FACT cafe: ‘Quantum of Solace’ by Ian Fleming

Why not come along to enjoy lively discussion of the books behind some famous films?

Information about FACT is here.

Sunday 21st – Friday 26th September 2008, Burton Manor, Cheshire

The Reader Organisation would like to announce its first five day intensive residential
course for people who want to become accredited Get Into Reading practitioners.

We are looking for candidates who are passionate about the transformative power of books and reading, who are able to demonstrate a wide interest in and knowledge of classic literature, including poetry, or who can demonstrate a powerful willingness to develop such knowledge.

Over the five days all course members will participate in at least ten reading group sessions, as well as meeting some of our reading group members, volunteers and project staff and talking to them about what makes GIR work for them.

In addition, you will be asked to read masses of new stuff and to write logs and prepare sessions each evening. There will be films to watch (for book-of-the-film-group sessions) and play-reading to be done in the evenings. (And there’s a village pub not too far away!)

Go here for full details and to download an application form.

Go here to read ‘The Reading Cure’ by Blake Morrison.

Just posted to the Features Pages an essay by Angela Macmillan entitled ‘Reading Groups: The Crucial Factor.’ Here’s an extract:

Once wrongly dismissed as something for bored housewives with nothing better to do, The Reading Group is now a hugely popular idea made real. Whatever form it takes, be it academic or domestic, formal or informal, general or specialist, always at its very centre lies the honourable intention to read and talk about books in company.

Most people who join book groups are already committed readers, yet in discussions one frequently hears someone’s thoughtful idea followed up by ‘But of course I’m not an expert’. I am afraid that too many people think they have to have literary qualifications or a specialist language in order to talk knowledgeably about what they have read. Anyone for whom reading is a serious pleasure will have something to say about the book currently chosen, but it is not always easy to put into words the tangle of thoughts that go on in the act of reading itself. It is one thing to read but quite another to talk about or even to write about reading. Sometimes our thinking is not even formulated into coherent thoughts, but is somehow felt and held at some pre-verbal level. Yet the effort of trying to pull random thoughts and impressions together into some sort of order and meaning can be exhilarating and rewarding. The best groups will offer the context and supportive company in which each member can try to give public expression to their own private response to a book. That means not resorting too quickly to shorthand opinions or overstated likes and dislikes.

Good books are meeting grounds. But the meeting ground (the book) is not a limited space; it expands as more people put their minds to it. The reading group means we are all in it together, giving and taking and allowing the book to open up in discussion. ‘I never knew there was so much in it’ is an exclamation that entirely proves the value of reading groups. I may be describing an ideal reading group and an ideal is not always attainable, but I have led and participated in reading groups of various sorts for many years and in that time believe I have come to know what makes for a successful session and what does not.

Here’s the link.