Peter Hoskin celebrates The Spectator’s rich literary tradition and welcomes bibliophiles across the world to a new online home
The Spectator offices at 22 Old Queen Street are a bibliophile’s paradise. Books are, quite simply, everywhere: in bookcases; on top of filing cabinets; on the floor; and in the recesses where fireplaces should be. The piles grow daily, as publishers send books by the dozen to our literary editor, Mark Amory, and his deputy, Clare Asquith. Until at some point — usually when we fear a terrible literary avalanche — there’s A Great Clear Out, and the process starts all over again.
Of course, the books aren’t there for show. A selection are forwarded to our team of critics, who then write the book reviews which grace the pages of The Spectator each week. Their work forms part of a rich tradition. Previous reviewers have included Kingsley Amis, L.P. Hartley, Peter Ackroyd and the great Auberon Waugh. And while some of the reviews may raise eyebrows (e.g., our original take on George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four: ‘Compounded of novel, satire and thriller, and unsatisfactory as all three. . .’), they are always highly readable and, above all, thought-provoking. Firm but unfair, as The Spectator’s unofficial motto goes.
Now we enter a new era. In association with Barclays Wealth, The Spectator has launched an online book club. The idea is to combine everything which makes the magazine such a beacon on the literary landscape with all the digital razzmatazz of Web 2.0, and, in doing so, to create a natural home for booklovers across the globe. What’s more, membership is free, and all are welcome.
What can you expect to find there? First, the online review archive, which contains a copy of every Spectator book review from the past five years. This will be supplemented each week with the latest reviews and, in time, we will make more and more past articles available. This promises to grow into an invaluable resource; searchable by author, by reviewer and by genre or sub-genre. And, in the spirit of the rest of the Spectator website, you can leave your own comments on the reviews, as if on an instant letters page.
But access to magazine content is only part of the story. Each month, just like many of its real-world counterparts, the Spectator Book Club will select a Book of the Month. It may be fiction or non-fiction; new or, occasionally, old. The only consistent thread is that they will all be books we at The Spectator admire, and which we think readers will find worthwhile. March’s Book of the Month is a case in point: Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones (Chatto & Windus), a profound meditation on the Holocaust, and one of the most impressive recent novels that I’ve come across (reviewed on page 29 of this issue).
With the book selected, it’s time to read and discuss. The reading you do yourself, in the time-honoured fashion. But for the purposes of debate, we’ve set up a Discussion Board, where your digital self can chat with digital others about the Book of the Month or, indeed, about any other aspect of the literary world. From time to time, Spectator staff will drop by to join the discussion, as will some distinguished authors and critics. It’s all geared towards forming a vibrant online community — much as has happened elsewhere on Spectator.co.uk, with the popular Coffee House blog (new.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse).
A final point: the incentives to get involved are financial as well as social or intellectual. In partnership with the venerable bookseller Blackwell’s, the Spectator Book Club will offer featured titles at a reduced price for its readers — including a special 20 per cent discount during this month. Look on it as our own attempt at a fiscal stimulus, and one that’s certainly more stimulating than a temporary VAT cut.
So put your latest read down for a second, swap it for a mouse and keyboard, and join in the discussion at new.spectator.co.uk/books.
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