A New Kind of Book Club - by Debbie Bennett

So you really want to join a book club. You ask around and find a few events locally, but they’re not quite right for you – nothing wrong with them, but your ideas don’t quite fit.

Maybe you’ll just stay home and read books instead. But then you think on it a bit more and decide to start your own book club. It helps that you have contacts in the hospitality industry and you know just the right place to host such a thing…

And so the Knutsford Literary Society was born. I went to the first meeting on Thursday 3^rd March and met organiser Emma for the first time, together with twenty or so other people. In a wine bar in Knutsford (shame I had to drive ..) together with a group of people who all had a love of books in common. What’s not to like?

Corks Out has a lovely little upstairs room and a huge outdoor space which will be great when the weather improves. Perfect for a small and cosy get-together and a bit of mingling! And the fact that 3^rd March was also World Book Day was apparently purely coincidental.

Emma says she didn’t want the kind of book club where everybody agrees to read a set book each month and then meet to discuss it. She wanted something far more informal – where readers and writers could come together and discuss books, reading and anything else of a literary nature. So some of us were asked to bring a book of our own (not one we’d written) for a book-swap table – we had little cards on which to write why we loved this book and recommended it to others. Problem was I had a huge book cull of over 100 paperbacks last week (funnily enough to the Red Cross charity shop in Knutsford). And any books I’d really like to recommend are also books I want to keep all to myself!

After a bit of wine-fuelled mingling, Emma welcomed everybody to the group and those of us who’d brought books got a chance to talk – about the swap-books, and our own books and writing. We had a table where we could sell our own stuff, give away promotional goodies (more hideously expensive Vistaprint keyrings – thank God they are least tax-deductible!) and sign up to the group mailing list. Later on, erotica writer Mollie Blake gave a short reading (not the sex scenes!) to give a flavour of how Emma sees the group progressing.

Future events will include evenings “hosted” by local authors, who will be able to talk about their books, do a few readings and a Q&A session. There may also be evenings devoted to aspects of publishing – ebooks, editing etc or just learning about other books generally. Kind of a book club spliced with a writers’ group, with something for everybody in an informal atmosphere. I’m looking forward to April.

Knutsford Literary Society intends to meet on the first Thursday of each month from 7:30pm at Corks Out wine bar in Knutsford. There’s a big car park nearby and parking is free after 6pm.

www.debbiebennett.co.uk