Arugula? What we've learned at #SJsTwitterBookClub
A recap of the events so far, and a look to the future
Hi everyone,
How are we all doing? The clocks have gone forward, spring is here (allegedly, it snowed yesterday) and we’re slowly emerging out of lockdown, so hopefully you’re feeling good. If not, I hope things improve soon.
I thought it might be fun to recap some of the past events on #SJsTwitterBookClub, and to look forward to what we have in store…
I started #SJsTwitterBookClub on a whim really, in response to an off-the-cuff direct message from a friend with whom I’d enjoyed a few of #TimsTwitterListeningParties. He wondered why no one had done something similar for books, and I realised I was wondering the same thing. I decided I’d give it a go.
I wanted to go big for the first event and so I invited David Nicholls (@DavidNWriter), partly because he’s really warm and funny in real life and also far, far too nice to hate me if it all went wrong. We decided that rather than plump for the obvious (One Day), we both fancied chatting about his more recent novel, Us. I wasn’t quite sure how, or even whether, it was going to work, but the hour or so flew by.
Amongst other things we learned that Douglas, the protagonist of Us, started off much more pompous and stiff (David’s words, click the tweets below to read the threads).
And also that David much prefers adapting other’s work for the screen than his own (‘like pulling teeth’).
We also learned about David’s process…
… and that Gillian McAllister (@GillianMAuthor) writes and then discards an entire first draft before starting again…
A fact that Gillian herself confirmed when she did #SJsTwitterBookClub in January, discussing ‘How to Disappear’, as well as where she has her best ideas…
Flushed by the success of the event with David Nicholls I forged on. We chatted with Paula Hawkins about The Girl on the Train, Steve Cavanagh about Fifty Fifty and poet Brian Bilston about his novel, Diary of a Somebody.
We’ve now done 22 events, with many more planned. Along the way people have had the opportunity to ask questions of Joanna Cannon, Will Dean and Will Carver, Ian Rankin, Adam Kay and Val McDermid (who definitely trumped everyone with the traditional final question of the evening, which is ‘What’s the largest animal you could get over the bar of a standard goal post?’)…
… which has necessitated a change in the rules to stipulate ‘with your bare hands’.
(BTW this is a thought experiment only and no woolly mammoths, or other animals, were or will be harmed as a direct result of the book club).
We’ve found out who John Niven would beat in a fight…
… what Kristin Hersh thinks her band 50FootWave resemble…
…and Mark Billingham told us about seeing Thorne on the screen.
We’ve had lots of great chats, with many more planned. The full schedule is here, but just as a heads-up, tomorrow (Thursday 8th April at 7.30pm) we’ll be talking about Anna Bailey’s fabulous debut, Tall Bones, then next week, (WEDNESDAY April 14th, a date change was necessitated by a diary clash), Clare Mackintosh will be talking about I Let You Go. Do join us - if you haven’t already, it’s easy. You just need to be on Twitter at the appointed time, following both me and the author in question, then keep an eye on the hashtag #SJsTwitterBookClub. Join in, ask as many questions as you like. That’s it! After all, how many other book clubs have pyjamas as the official uniform?
All the books are available over at my bookshelf on bookshop.org (NB I get a small commission for books bought via that link), and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors who’ve joined in so far.
Who would you like to see on #SJsTwitterBookClub? Drop me a note and I’ll see what I can do.
Happy reading!