Every month, I lead a group for a walk across Hampstead Heath while we talk about a book. Emily’s Walking Book Club works on the premise that it is easiest to talk to someone when you fall in step with one another, side-by-side. I’m convinced that the movement of our limbs aids the movement of our thoughts, and the fresh air and beautiful views help too.
Somewhere between 10 and 40 of us gather to walk and talk. I wonder what our collective noun would be – a series of walking book clubbers? An edition, a print run? Crucially, we can all talk at once, as the group fragments into twos, threes and fours to allow myriad conversations. We periodically regroup to recap, read aloud and launch into a new topic. This means that no single reader can dominate and, if there’s a clash of personalities, it’s easy to avoid one another.
Reading is a necessarily anti-social activity: the words on the page are taken in only if the wider world, with its many distractions, is zoned out. Perhaps it is surprising, then, that books can inspire socialising. Sometimes a book is so good that it demands to be talked about, ideally with someone else who’s read it.
So, in theory, book clubs should be a joy. Unfortunately, the reality sometimes disappoints. People complain that book clubs with friends tend to dissolve into un-book-related gossip by the end of the first bottle of wine, whereas book clubs with strangers can be intimidating.
For those of you who feel frustrated with your regular book club, but still like bookish conversation, don’t give up; either start up your own walking book club, or join a book club with a difference. There are lots of unusual ones out there – here’s three to get you started …
The Knitting Book Club
”Knitting does amazing things to your mind,” says Gerald Allt, who hosts a monthly knitting book club at his I Knit shop in London’s Waterloo. “It definitely helps to distil your thoughts on what you’ve read.” On the first Tuesday of the month, the click-clack of knitting needles accompanies impassioned literary discussion as people work on their woollens while unravelling complicated strands of plot. Novices be warned, the group is for experienced knitters only, as teaching would interfere too much with talk about the book. “No one feels nervous, even if they come on their own,” says Gerald, “because everyone knows that, at the very least, they can talk about their knitting.” Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee on 1 December, Free, iknit.org.uk
The Art Book Club
The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham holds book clubs alongside its exhibitions. A guest speaker leads the discussion about how a particular book is relevant to the artist’s work. The idea is that the book throws new light on the art, and the art gives an unusual way in to the book. Readers gather inside the gallery, amongst the art, to talk about the book’s relationship with the work around them. “Everyone feels inspired,” says Rebecca Small from Ikon. “It stimulates all the senses.” Heart of Darkness and Fiona Banner on January 12, £4. https://ikon-gallery.org/event/book-club-heart-of-darkness/
The Cinema Book Club
When the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle screen an adaptation of a book, they offer a free book club event, for which an academic introduces the film and hosts a discussion afterwards. Most unusually, at this book club you don’t have to have read the book first – it is as much an opportunity to ask the academic to elaborate on their area of expertise as it is to share your own views. Organiser Amy-Claire Scott says, “People enjoy listening to someone speak passionately and enthusiastically about the film and the subject. The most common thing you hear people saying afterwards is, “I’m going to read that now.” The Muppet Christmas Carol, 13 December, free with cinema ticket, tynesidecinema.co.uk
