Reading groups and book groups are all the rage at the moment. Never ones to buck the trend, we at Bookgeeks thought it would be fun to try an online reading group. Here’s how it will work:

• Participants will read the chosen book – The Bird Room by Chris Killen, which is published on January 22nd 2009. To get things rolling, publishers Canongate will give ten copies away to UK readers, which will be sent out several weeks before publication. If you don’t snag a free copy, you can still join in, we will wait until two weeks after the book is published before we kick things off.
• Once we have all had time to read the book (I will be reading it too), we will get things started with a review – and then that’s where you come in. We want your comments, your thoughts, your questions, here on Bookgeeks – and then Chris Killen will be logging on to answer them! It’s not everyday you get the author drop in to your reading group, is it?

Here’s a bit about The Bird Room, so you can decide if you might like to join in.

When a boy named Will meets Alice, he can’t believe his luck. She’s smart, sexy and, much to Will’s surprise, in love with him. Alice brings meaning to his urban existence and his McJob. But the course of modern love did never run smooth and soon devotion leads Will to something darker.

Elsewhere in the city Helen is an actress. Or she will be one day. For now she finds work as a model. She used to be called Clair, but she wants to be something new and she can be anyone. She’s an actress, remember.

A love story with a twist, this explosive debut novel brings Will and Helen’s lives together in a tale as tight as rope and as black as tar. The Bird Room is a candid, funny, intimate portrait of a generation.

Chris Killen (Photo credit: Sarah Lee)

And here’s an exhaustive biography of the author:

Chris Killen was born in 1981. He currently lives in Manchester. The Bird Room is his first novel.

His website is http://dayofmoustaches.blogspot.com/

We feel like we’ve known him all our lives! Anyway, if you’re interested, please fill in the entry form, indicating whether you want a free copy, and whether you would like to join in even if you don’t get one. And…. go!

Terms and Conditions

1. Closing date for entries: 19th December 2008.
2. Open to residents of the United Kingdom only.
3. Entry to the competition is via the form above only. Anyone submitting multiple entries will be disqualified.
4. The winners will be selected at random from those entries received before the closing date.
5. Only the winning entrants will be contacted by Bookgeeks. The webmaster’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
6. The winners’ names may be published on the Bookgeeks website after the closing date of the competition.
7. The competition is not open to Bookgeeks contributors and their families, or to Canongate employees and their families.
8. It is the beautiful bird which gets caged. ‘Nuff said.

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