{"id":25,"date":"2018-05-25T09:18:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T08:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/?page_id=25"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:41:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:41:02","slug":"judges","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/book-society-choices\/judges\/","title":{"rendered":"Recommended!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recommended!<\/em> The influencers who changed how we read <\/em><\/strong>published June 26th 2025.<\/p>\n

Format: PP: 300. ISBN: 978-1-7391047-5-7. Price: \u00a314.99. Recommended! | Holland House Books<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Cover design by Ken Dawson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018unexpectedly moving\u2026 a tribute to the healing power of reading\u2026\u2019 Dinah Birch, Times Literary Supplement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026enormously engaging history \u2026 a fascinating, gossipy and well-researched slice of publishing history.\u2019 Catherine Taylor, The Observer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018A fascinating guide to bygone concepts of \u201ctaste\u201d\u2026 Recommended!<\/em> is an engaging piece of publishing history.\u2019 D. J. Taylor, The Spectator<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Recommended!<\/i> is that rare kind of publication: a highly readable, very engaging trade book, but one that is based on in-depth academic and archival research.’ Faye Hammill,\u00a0Modernist Cultures\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018A captivating book that garlands its incredible research with an approachable chattiness.\u2019 Simon Thomas, Stuck in a Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018More meat than the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.\u2019 Helen Meller, Lumb Bank and Arvon at Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘A deeply researched, stylishly written piece of narrative history, full of detail and telling vignettes. The organisation \u2013 around the five characters at the heart of the Book Society \u2013 works wonderfully, giving an emotional richness to the story. An enormous pleasure to read, while also deepening immeasurably my understanding of the literary business of the interwar period out beyond the well-walked squares of Bloomsbury.’\u00a0Dennis Duncan, author of Index, A History of the\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘In this dynamically narrated and archivally-rich study, Nicola Wilson brings book history to life as she takes us behind the scenes to show how Britain’s first book club made its choices. Wilson argues for the importance of the Book Society as an under-acknowledged powerhouse in the shaping of 20th-century literary tastes. Those tastes belonged of course to specific individuals, each with their own personal story, and Wilson shows us the intimate friendships; networks and connections; and at times bitter disagreements behind the book choices.<\/p>\n

The story of the Book Society is one that also addresses some of the most pressing issues of our own literary moment – in this era of influencers and algorithmic recommendations, whose stories are told? Whose are chosen for splashy promotions and wide distributions? What does it mean to be an ‘outsider’ in a cliquey literary marketplace? A must-read for today’s ‘busy reader,’ this book is a triumph of imagination, historical research, and storytelling.’\u00a0Claire Battershill, University of Toronto, author of Circus<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

‘This is essential reading for all those who love books and literature. The story of the Book Society, the club that in the 1930s opened up reading and book buying to the man in the street, is of course the main focus, and how good to see Hugh Walpole\u2019s pivotal role in it fully recognised. But as Nicola Wilson takes us through the Book Society\u2019s 40 year history, setting the story against a backdrop of unfolding national and world events, she displays in the process her truly astonishing depth of knowledge of 20th century literature. This is no dry academic tome but a tremendously readable and insightful account of a fascinating story. It is filled with engaging anecdotes and numerous quotations, many of which have not been published before, all gleaned from her wide-ranging research. This book is a very impressive achievement indeed.’\u00a0Nicholas Redman, Chairman, Hugh Walpole Society<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Nicola Wilson\u2019s deeply engaging account of the lives, political engagements, and literary predilections of five celebrity Book Society judges points to the myriad, often opaque forces that shaped readers\u2019 tastes and drove the literary marketplace in the first half of the twentieth century. Wilson\u2019s archivally informed and lively narrative charts the course of the Book Society\u2019s ambitious aims: to democratize knowledge and culture by steering readers towards the most worthwhile of the countless many new books published each year. Wilson intertwines these ambitions with the emotional and professional priorities of each judge: a disparate group of popular writers and public intellectuals whose influence on British literary culture here receives the attention it deserves. Wilson reminds us of what\u2019s at stake in acts of cultural gatekeeping; by insisting on well-written, enjoyable, and informative books, the Book Society championed books and reading for everyone.’ Nicole Reynolds, Ohio University\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before Reese Witherspoon and Zoella\u2019s Book Clubs, there was Oprah Winfrey and Richard and Judy. And before them, there was Hugh Walpole and the Book Society. This is the story of Britain\u2019s first celebrity book club and the judges who changed how we read. For forty years between 1929-1969, the Book Society chose from the best of world literature to mail out one book a month \u2013 fiction, history, travel, or biography \u2013 to subscribers in over thirty countries. The judges established what a good \u2018book club book\u2019 looked like: well-written, entertaining, informative; worth investing your time and money in, not too highbrow nor obscure. Making book-buying easier, they started a revolution. And the legacy of their taste is still with us on bookshelves today.<\/p>\n

Hugh Walpole, J. B. Priestley, Sylvia Lynd, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Edmund Blunden were the literary influencers of their day; household names whose personal lives, affairs, and politics informed their recommendations, mixing the personal and professional; social history with the domestic; love, disappointment, and war. They made global bestsellers with books that saw readers through Empire and the growth of fascism and antisemitism, the Great Depression, Spanish Civil War, and World War Two.<\/p>\n

Recommended!<\/em> The influencers who changed how we read <\/em><\/strong>explores how a group of writers shook up the interwar book world, changing how we buy and think about books.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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