Meet our Man Booker Prize 2016 reading groups. These six groups will be shadowing the judges as they read through the six shortlisted titles. You can follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as they discuss their titles and chat with each other over the coming weeks leading up to the Prize announcement on Tuesday 25 October.
Wordsworth House Book Group are from Cockermouth in Cumbria, so-called 
because we are all connected by the famous poet’s childhood home. We first became a group back in 2008 when several of us National Trust staff and volunteers realised we were spending far too much time chatting about books when we should’ve been working. We meet once a month in a proper la’al (small) pub, our first ever read was On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and we’ve never intentionally read anything by Wordsworth! We’re so pleased to be shadowing the Man Booker Prize 2016 because we think it will help to engage more ‘real’ readers like us to get fired up about new novels in a world of bewildering choice and we can’t wait to dive into Do Not Say We Have Nothing.
Book and Brew is a book club from Newcastle upon Tyne. We’ve 
been meeting since January 2015 and read all kinds of fiction from contemporary and classic writers. Our core members meet once a month for a book review, typically followed by a natter and a brew. We were shadow judges for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and are slightly addicted to tweeting authors as a result. One of our members has even been inspired to set up a book blog here: bookandbrew. We’ll be reading His Bloody Project.
Llangollen Library Reading Group started over 15 years ago at the dawn 
of the upsurge in Reading Groups. It was set up by the librarian of the time, with the intention to explore, enjoy, discuss and share the love of books and reading. Everyone is welcome and no genre of books is exempt from being discussed. So books included have included the obvious such as classics and prize winners, to less obvious including children’s books such as Holes and non-fiction like Bob Dylan’s biography. Discussions are lively, especially if we disagree on a book! We are all excited at shadowing the Man Booker Prize 2016 because it will give our discussions an extra frisson. We all love books, so to be able to relate our book chats to something as important as the Man Booker will enhance that enjoyment. All That Man Is is the book we’ll be discussing.
Wine, Women and Words has been meeting for more than six years and 
we’ve read a wide variety of books in that time. We are super excited to have been selected to shadow the Man Booker Prize 2016 and looking forward to getting started on our book. Some of our members will definitely read one or two of the others too. We’ve known each other for many years after meeting in the school playground – through our children. We’re an eclectic bunch spanning many nationalities, backgrounds and careers and look forward to our book group evenings, lunches or weekends away. Why does our group work so well? We have a mutual love of books and by forming the group were looking for intellectual stimulation beyond the boundaries of our family lives and work. As our name suggests, we like a glass or two when we get together and our group provides an important outlet for us all. We’ve cried together, laughed together, we share our lives – we are a sisterhood. Our prize title is Hot Milk.
Scunthorpe Pageturners started life eight years ago and it was everybody’s wish that 
it would be an inclusive group. We hold meetings on the last Tuesday of the month at 19:00hrs. The timing is important as we feel it allows a full spread of age ranges and includes working and retired members. For a more social feel we meet at the Lincoln Court residential community via an arrangement with the local housing association. We’re a pretty diverse bunch with two civil servants, two council workers, a creative writing teacher, a ceramicist, a housing association official, a dinner lady, a grandmother, and a former factory worker. We joined the book group for the same reason; not just that we loved books and reading and wanted to talk with like-minded souls – it was that many of us he felt that we weren’t reading any contemporary literary fiction and wanted to try reading books that we wouldn’t normally choose. We’re looking forward to shadowing the prize and being in regular contact with the other groups and sharing our opinions. Will we agree with the judges? Will our book be the winner? We can’t wait to get started on The Sellout.
Gloucester Book Club have 49 members, about 30 of 
whom are active and avid readers. We began three years ago after one of our members tried to find a local book group. She couldn’t, so she decided to start one! We meet twice a month to discuss our latest read, often in a local pub or a member’s house. Luckily we never all agree on anything and our conversations are always extremely lively… It seems talking is no problem at all with people who have just read the same book! We all see the Man Booker Prize shortlist as a great showcase for high quality literature – where would we be without it?! To be asked to read and review one of the six books is no hardship at all. We’re sure we will all feel that little frisson of excitement that we’re involved in such a noble enterprise. We can’t wait to read and discuss Eileen.
Get involved
Tell us which book do you think should win this year’s prize. Share your thoughts using #ManBooker2016 or comment below. Don’t forget to leave your reviews on the books.
Keep up with the latest news on the Man Booker Prize website and join in the conversation and share your pictures on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #ManBooker2016
Inspire your reading group with these Man Booker Prize 2016 longlist readers’ guides which are now available to download on the Man Booker Prize website.
