Richard and Judy Book Club 2008

Posted by Elizabeth Gregory Dec 28, 2007

For anyone unfamiliar with this UK institution, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan host their own tea-time television show, and each year suggest ten books they think their viewers may enjoy. This is of course not a new idea, based as it is on Oprah Winfrey's US version, but it has taken the UK by storm and virtually guarantees huge sales figures for all the short-listed books.

This Year's Shortlist

Blood River by Tim Butcher

A Quiet Belief In Angels by RJ Ellory

Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

Notes From An Exhibition by Patrick Gale

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann

Visible World by Mark Slouka

Each week, beginning from Jan 9th, a different celebrity will argue the case for each novel, and viewers will be able to vote for their favourite. The eventual winner will be crowned at the Galaxy British Book Awards on March 14, but the success of previous nominees such as Kate Mosse, Audrey Niffenegger, Kate Morton and Alice Sebold would suggest that all ten on this year's short-list are winners already.

Read more about the selling power of Richard and Judy in Reading for Pleasure.