Book group champions at Hillhead Library
It was bookmarks at forty paces at Hillhead Library in June as five local library book groups battled it out to find the West End’s favourite read - a popular event in Glasgow Libraries’ West End Festival programme.
Groups from Knightswood, Maryhill, the Mitchell, Pollokshields and Whiteinch put the case for their chosen book.
The evening began with Pearl from Knightswood championing "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hossseini, describing it as "a real page turner, the kind that keeps you reading until 2 in the morning!" She was followed by Ann and Garry from Maryhill who spoke about "Being Emily" by Anne Donovan which they found "funny, sad and in parts heartbreaking". Next, David and Gillian from the Mitchell Book Group put the case for "Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson a "novel of consistent beauty" they felt. Rosemary and Sheila from Pollokshields discussed "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver which they summed up as "a very powerful book that makes a big impression". Finally Jean and Sula from Whiteinch discussed "The Lonely Londoners" by Sam Selvon which they said portrayed "the bittersweet love affair West Indian migrants had with London".
Five books presented with skill and enthusiasm by their champions gave the audience a difficult task but in the end "A Thousand Splendid Suns " was the clear winner. Congratulations to Knightswood on their success.
The book related theme continued with a quiz and the teams' knowledge was put to the test with questions about authors, books and films. This was hotly contested but Whiteinch emerged victorious. Will they be back to defend their title next year?