Let's read together
Welcome to the latest edition of Leeds Libraries Readers' Group newsletter. We’ve got loads of exciting news to share with you about our Readers Group collections, and we’d like to tell you about some great literary events to put in your diary too. We’re also going to shine a light on two Readers Group collections we think you should know about, and share some book recommendations.
If you’re an existing subscriber we have lots of information about how we can support your established group; if you’re a new subscriber and are interested in setting up a Readers Group of your own – welcome aboard!
Readers Group collections
In each newsletter, we’d like to shine a light on some readers group sets from our vast range of collections. Here’s what we’ve chosen this month, we think you’ll love them.
Our first selection is Norwegian Wood by Japanese literary sensation Haruki Murakami. He's renowned for books that blend real life with strange and surreal twists, but this stunning novel is a little more straightforward by his standards. It's a beautiful story about a man looking back deep into his past when a Beatles song reminds him of the great love of his life. Dealing with the themes of time, memory, grief and loss, this is essential reading for fans and newcomers alike.
Fans of Gentleman Jack walk this way for our second recommended read, The Moss House by Calderdale-based writer Clara Barley. The book is a fictional telling of the life of the real Gentleman Jack - Anne Lister of Shibden Hall in Halifax, who was a traveller, scholar, landowner and mountaineer at a time when women's place was supposed to be in the home; the book details her forbidden relationship with her neighbour Miss Walker, and how they used The Moss House as a private sanctuary for a world that judged them all too harshly. We did a brilliant event with Clara when the book came out. We love it, and think you will too. Anne Lister aficionados will also be very interested in one of our upcoming events this spring, keep reading to find out more...
Search through our extensive list of Readers Group collections, and reserve them for your group using your Readers Group’s library card.
Events
As ever, we’ve been hard at work planning a whole series of fantastic literary events for the next twelve months, and we have a couple of dates for your diary already. Make sure you book early as tickets for these will be in high demand.
A Pen Dipped in Poison with author J.M.Hall
Riversmeet Arts and Crafts Cafe, Thursday 30 March, 6pm
Readers are invited to join us at Riversmeet Café in Methley to be celebrate the launch of J.M Hall’s sequel to his popular cosy crime debut ‘A Spoonful of Murder’
In ‘A Pen Dipped in Poison’ retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma are back at their usual table at the Thirsk Garden Centre café with a brand-new mystery to solve…
Book your ticket.
Murder Most Foul with author Blessin Adams
Local and Family History Library, Thursday 20 April, 6.30pm
Great and Horrible News: Murder and Mayhem in Early Modern Britain explores the strange history of death and murder in early modern England, yet the stories may appear shockingly familiar, especially to a former judge who presided over murder trials the Old Bailey until 2022.
Leeds Libraries is proud to present in our Local Studies Library, amongst the City’s most comprehensive newspaper archive, a truly criminal evening with authors Blessin Adams and HHJ Wendy Joseph KC. Great and Horrible News unfolds personal accounts from people involved with nine historic murder cases. These stories are pieced together from the author’s original research using coroner’s inquests, court records, parish archives, letters, diaries and the cheap street pamphlets that proliferated to satisfy a voracious public, with an appetite for gory details.
Book your tickets.
Leeds True Crime Workshop
Leeds Central Library, Monday 24 April, 6:00pm
Delve into the murky world of Leeds True Crime!
Join our research librarians for an interactive workshop investigating the stories of Leeds historical crimes. Get hands on experience with historical newspapers, photographs, maps, directories and books.
Book your tickets.
Terraformed: young black lives in the inner city with Dr Joy White
The Reginald Centre, Chapeltown, Thursday 18 May, 6:30pm
Connecting the dots between music, politics and the built environment, Terraformed centres the lived experiences of black youth who have had it all: huge student debt, invisible homelessness, custodial sentences, electronic tagging, surveillance, arrest, ASBOs, issues with health and well-being, and of course, loss. Dr White will be in conversation with writer and hip-hop MC Testament, discussing how young black lives are affected by racism, neoliberalism and austerity and other key social issues of the 21st century.
Book your tickets.
Who was the real Gentleman Jack?
Leeds Central Library, Thursday 1 June, 6:30pm
Jill Liddington's classic text Female Fortune was the book that inspired Sally Wainwright to write Gentleman Jack (BBC1/HBO, 2019 & 2022). If you watched Gentleman Jack and wonder what Anne Lister did next, then this is the event for you! Was Anne Lister’s ‘union’ with Ann Walker ‘as good as a marriage’ - or was it better? And what was heterosexual marriage really like for women in the 1830s? Join Jill in conversation with writer and Senior Librarian Stu Hennigan as she discusses her new book As Good As A Marriage, where she writes about all the above, and much, much more. There will be plenty of time for Anne Lister fans to ask questions too!
Book your tickets.
 Enjoy instant eBooks and eAudiobooks with BorrowBox.
Head over to leeds.borrowbox.com, where you'll be able browse thousands of books. You'll discover all of your favourite books and authors available to read or listen to for free!
BorrowBox enables everyone to experience the joy of books and storytelling through its user-friendliness. Features include everything from a dyslexic font and customizable text size on the eReader, to having complete control over the speed of the audio on the eAudioplayer.
There is now a Quick Reads collection, short books and great stories by bestselling authors!
Visit Leeds Libraries Online Learning to find a handy user guide for BorrowBox.
 BorrowBox presents an exclusive online event with Ann Cleeves
Online, Wednesday 22 March, 5pm
Borrorrowbox would also like to invite you to an exclusive online event with bestselling crime author Ann Cleeves! Register here.
Add these to your to read pile...
We'd like to finish by telling you about a couple of new books that we're really excited about this year.
First up is Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry. It's a tender, devastating portrait of an ageing man coming to terms with the failings of his own past and is as beautifully written as we've come to expect from one of modern fiction's most skilful wordsmiths. This one's destined to land on the shortlists for quite a few awards, we reckon...
We'd also like to recommend Hermit by Jade Angeles Fitton. It's a haunting and evocative book about the human desire for solitude over the centuries, which blends memoir with social history and some wonderful nature writing. This one's due in May and is definitely one to watch out for.
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What are you reading?
Send in a short book review of 3 or 4 sentences, plus an image of you or your readers group with the book, and we will feature it in our next newsletter. Contact leeds.libraries@leeds.gov.uk or tag us in @leedslibraries
Looking for new members?
Is your readers group looking for new members? If so, please contact leeds.libraries@leeds.gov.uk so we can update our records. If anyone asks us if there are any groups in their area looking for new readers, we can point them in your direction.
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