Welcome to the Reading Rooms [please read before posting]

[Nik]

WELCOME TO HOUSMANS' READING ROOMS

These boards have been set up to provide an online space to discuss the best political writing. At the heart of this is the Book Club - each month we choose a book to be the Book Club Book of the Month.

The chosen book will be available to buy at a discounted rate via Housmans, either in-store or by mail order. This book will then be the focus of discussion for that month. As often as possible the author of the book will also come online to discuss their work. Most often than not the author of the book will also give a talk at Housmans Bookshop.

The motivation for setting up the Reading Rooms was from a discussion about radical bookselling/bookreading, where the point was made that to get the best out of a book it is important to be able to discuss the ideas further. We hope that by hosting the Book Club online it will enable people from all over the country, if not even further afield, to take part in the dialogue.

[Nik]

Here's the email that's about to be sent out to announce the opening of the Reading Rooms!

I’m really happy to announce a new initiative for 2012: an online book club forum we’re calling ‘Housmans’ Reading Rooms’. It will work much like a normal book club, with a new book up for discussion each month, the difference being that instead of coming together in the shop to talk about it, discussions can take place over a longer period of time, and from the comfort of your home (or internet café). Hopefully it will also allow people from across the country, if not the world, to join in. What’s more, we will also try to arrange for the author of the book to join in the discussion.

If you’re not familiar with forums, don’t worry as it’s very simple, so please don’t be put off by the technology. Go to the Reading Rooms here: http://www.housmans.com/bookclub/ and register yourself. You’ll be asked to create a Username (we would encourage using your real name) for which you need to have an active email address in. Once that’s done you’re up and running and will be able to post comments on ‘threads’ as they arise. Give it a try and you’ll soon get the hang of it.

We’re hoping to kick off the book club proper in March, with Mark Fisher’s thought-provoking book ‘Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?’ Mark will be giving a talk at Housmans, as well as joining in the discussion online.

But rather than wait until March to get involved, you can sign up and now and talk about any book you like, for example in the ‘Your best read of 2011’ thread http://www.housmans.com/bookclub/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3
…or start a thread on a book of your choice.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A BOOK CLUB MODERATOR?

In order to make the book club a success we need a small group of individuals to help in its running, by being a Mod on the forum, choosing books, and most importantly reading the books and stimulating discussion. If this is something you think you might be interested in, please email me: nik[at]housmans.com