Glamour Magazine: Book Club Event

Any event that involves books, champagne and inspiring, insightful writers is right up my street – so when I heard that Glamour Magazine were hosting their first ever Live Book Club event, I called up my two friends who love books as much as I do (one an aspiring author and one working in publishing) to come along too.

We arrived at the Conde Nast College on Greek Street in Soho to a welcoming of complimentary glasses of champagne and the exciting promise of a Glamour goody bag after the event (five years of working in PR has not diminished the sheer pleasure of receiving a goody bag!).

On the agenda for the first book club was a Q+A with two fantastic writers of contemporary women’s fiction, Adele Parks and Jessica Ruston. The lovely Dawn O’Porter (and fellow Guernsey girl I might add – read my review of her latest book Paper Aeroplanes here), was due to chair the event but sadly couldn’t attend due to a sick bug/post Glasto comedown. Get well soon Dawn!

The evening began with an introduction from Glamour editor Jo Elvin and questions were kicked off by deputy editor Natasha Poliszczuk, who successfully navigated the conversation about both books for the people that had not read them (me) to form the perfect line between discussing the story and making you want to read it, without giving too much away.

Jess Ruston was talking about her latest book The Lies You Told Me. She talks about the fact that a theme throughout all of her books is the idea of the hidden and finding the darkness in her characters, which is certainly something found in this book. A story of a daughter, Klara, who searches for the truth behind her mother’s disappearance, the book sounds utterly intriguing and uses the Gone Girl-esque literary device of the diary form throughout the novel.

The book has lent itself to comparisons with Gone Girl (read my review here) due to the abundance of unreliable narrators throughout the novel – a constant pendulum swings through the book that makes you question everything you might have believed the page before. You can buy this book, currently on offer, on Amazon here.

Adele Parks’ latest offering, The State We’re In, is her thirteenth book and has impressed critics with a real change in tone from her previous work. Natasha from Glamour couldn’t recommend the book highly enough either and asked Adele, who was utterly charming, many interesting questions that produced great anecdotes that had the audience in fits of giggles.

The story begs the simple question; ‘What would you do if you were sat next to a stranger and they could change your life forever.’ Initially, this has the chance to be a cliche but Adele somehow explained herself to show that cliches are sometimes necessary but it’s important to write with enough depth to make the story believeable. You can buy Adele’s book, also on offer, from Amazon here.

Soundbites from the evening

Adele [when asked about her literary influences]; “I’d say my work is Helen Fielding meets Tolstoy – it’s Anna Karenina meets Bridget Jones where someone doesn’t die!”

Jess [on her planning process for a novel]; “It’s all about the name for me, I can’t write the character properly until I get the name right.”

Jess [on the ‘chick lit’ label]; “It’s derogatory in the sense that people sometimes use it to lump ALL fiction by women in this category. It’s not – there is a time and place for labels and sometimes chick lit works for more romantic stories perhaps, but otherwise the term Commercial Women’s Fiction suits best.”

Adele [on tips for aspiring authors]; “Be serious about it and WRITE. I don’t believe in writer’s block – as long as you have the idea you have to make yourself write – try and write something everyday, even if it’s just for 20 minutes.”

What was most uplifting about the evening was the fact that it clearly showed there is a huge audience out there for fiction. The media like to talk about how the 21st Century is seeing the death of the book with the overtaking of all things digital, but the evening showed there is undoubtably a love for all things books. Just as a new film comes out now and people get excited by a trailer (as we do of course live in a hugely visual world), it seems people are just as excited about a new book and having the ability to delve into other people’s lives and situations whilst on our daily bus into work or on our armchairs on a lazy Sunday. It’s the feeling of escaping into a story that we can identify with or comment on, that can make us see and feel differently about the world we live in after closing the final page.

The session ends with the chance to purchase the latest books from the authors and to get your copy signed (FYI, these signed books make fantastic presents for book lovers!)

(Below: Contents of the very generous goody bags – particularly love the Elemis hand lotion and OPI nail varnish)

The reason for the Glamour book club events is to bring together like-minded women who want to discuss these books and how they relate to their own lives. I was genuinely so impressed by the value for money of the evening – at £10 a ticket the access to the authors, the nibbles and champagne and the goody bag, was well worth the price tag and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Thank you Glamour Magazine – another reason to name you one of my favourite magazines out there. If you fancy attending the next Book Club event (which hasn’t been announced yet), follow the Glamour Book Club on Facebook for updates or follow Glamour on Twitter using @GlamourMagUK.

LMNH x