Literature lovers who feel somewhat undernourished by mainstream TV schedules, fear not: The TV Book Club is returning to More4 at the end of the month.
Not only that, but the show is set for an ‘interactive makeover’ which means fans can read along with the books (that might take a while…) and send in their own reviews via email and video messages.
It hasn’t be confirmed but we’re anticipating the inevitable Twitter ‘#tvbookclub’ hash tag popping up on screen too – even if it ends up mostly being used to make snarky comments about Dave Spikey’s hair.
Echoing the sentiments of 2011’s Booker Shortlist judges, the show’s managing director Amanda Ross told the Bookseller that the focus of the show was on books that have that most slippery of qualities: ‘readability’.
The first book to be covered when the series begins on Sunday 29 January will be S J Waton’s Before I Got To Sleep, one of ten planned titles that Ross says “scream ‘don’t put me down’ at the reader”. Sounds terrifying.
Offering their critiques of the novels will be a panel that includes comedian Spikey, comedian Meera Syal and Footballer’s Wives actress Laila Rouass.
The 10 shortlisted books for the next series of the TV Book Club are:
29 January
Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson (Corgi/Transworld)
5 February
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Granta)
12 February
The Somnambulist by Essie Fox (Orion)
19 February
Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (Myriad)
26 February
Rules Of Civility by Amor Towles (Sceptre/Hodder)
4 March
Girl Reading by Katie Ward (Virago Little Brown)
11 March
The Report by Jessica Francis Kane (Granta)
18 March
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (Picador/Pan Macmillan)
25 March
Half Of The Human Race by Anthony Quinn (Vintage/Random House)
1 April
You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik (John Murray)