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Hello Reader,

I have been thinking I might start an online book club for those interested in literature from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. I’ll call it something like:

The Dead Writers Club.

If you’re interested in joining, or know someone who would be, express your interest by emailing me at – deadwritersclub at booktopia dot com dot au

Regards

John Purcell
The Booktopia Book Guru

P.S. I will post more details when I make them up.

P.P.S. My aim is to encourage readers to persist with a classic novel they may put down because they are not sure it is worth the effort. They may think it slow, or not relevant to their lives, or too descriptive, or the language may seem foreign to them.

I would also like to share experiences with those who already love the literature of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. I think by expressing our enthusiasm as a group we can encourage the doubtful to take a chance with some of the best books ever written.

How would I/we do this? That is undecided. It may be through Twitter and Facebook. It may be through comments on the blog or a forum page. Or the posting of reviews. It may be done via a webinar or YouTube or Skype. We may even organise groups in the real world to get together, give them questions and guides, and then ask them to publish their notes (or film their discussion).

Who knows? It is up to us. The thing is to make a start – so drop me an email deadwritersclub at booktopia dot com dot au to tell me you’re in.

Here are a few examples of me expressing my enthusiasm for literature:

The book is dead. Long live the book!

Did you just call me an idiot? No, I said I enjoy reading the classics…

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

The Magus by John Fowles

Lolita by Nabokov

Freedom by Franzen

The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas

The Weekend by Bernhard Schlink

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell