The TV Book Club Shortlist Announced.

Nick Hornby Heads List Of Authors Set For Big 2010

Ten books that are set to become must-read favourites are today announced as the first titles in a new series of The TV Book Club, due to return to TV screens in January.

Funded by Specsavers, the ten part series screens weekly on More4, with repeats on Channel 4. The new panel of presenters critiquing each week’s chosen title consists of TV personalities Jo Brand, Gok Wan, Laila Rouass, Dave Spikey and Nathaniel Parker.

Launching with Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger on Sunday 17th January 2010, the rest of the selected titles in transmission order are: Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, The Rapture by Liz Jensen, Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne, The Way Home by George Pelecanos, Wedlock by Wendy Moore, and The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick.

The authors, a combination of established writers and emerging talents, include Nick Hornby, who features with his latest work Juliet, Naked. Nick is no stranger to literary success, having won global recognition for his award-winning books Fever Pitch and About a Boy, which along with High Fidelity have all been made into high-grossing movies. Meanwhile, The Way Home author, George Pelecanos is a TV and film producer and has written and produced extensively for the cult hit crime-fighting drama, The Wire. Sarah Waters, who has written The Little Stranger, has previously enjoyed success with her books Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, winning the South Bank Award for Literature and being named as Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards.

Each week the revived TV Book Club will also feature a major celebrity interview and an author who has been previously selected discussing how the programme impacted on their success. Previous writers that have benefited from featuring on the TV Book Club include Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop and Cecilia Aherne.

Testament to its undeniable success, previous Book Club entries (from Richard & Judy’s daytime show) have been made into high-grossing movies. Alice Sebold’s best-seller The Lovely Bones is about to go on nationwide cinematic release on 29 January 2010 starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon and directed by the Oscar® winning director of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, while Cecilia Aherne’s PS I Love You, was released as a motion picture in 2007 starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler.

Amanda Ross is the creator and producer of the original and revived TV Book Club and as Managing Director of Cactus TV, which produces the series, has been instrumental in the overwhelming impact it had in its previous guise on Richard & Judy’s daytime show.

Amanda heads up a team of four who trawl through almost 800submissions from Britain’s publishing houses, before whittling them down to an enthralling and entertaining top ten reads. Amanda’s influence in publishing has been recognised both by The Observer Review, where she was named the Most Powerful Person in Publishing 2006 and the Evening Standard, which has named her one of the top 50 Most Influential Londoners.

On this year’s shortlist, Amanda Ross says: “With the new series backed by Specsavers and the public faith in our Book Clubs, we are only too aware of the overwhelming responsibility when choosing the shortlist. But I think this year our recommendations will encourage more people than ever to read along.”

Specsavers marketing director, Richard Holmes says: “Sponsorship of the Crime Thriller Awards in October opened a new chapter for us and so it seemed only natural to continue our relationship with Cactus TV and fund The TV Book Club. The partnership highlights our passion for reading and there’s no doubt that this ten part series with its new format will be even more successful. I believe this great selection of titles will appeal to a wide variety of audiences”.

For more information please contact Taylor Herring PR on 0208 206 5151.

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About Specsavers: Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world. The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director. Specsavers has more than 1,340 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia. The group plans to continue its successful international expansion by opening stores in New Zealand. Annual turnover for the Specsavers Group is forecast to reach a record £1.4 billion in 2009. Specsavers was voted Britain’s most trusted brand of opticians for the eighth year running by Reader’s Digest in 2009.

About Cactus TV – Cactus TV is a member of the ALL3MEDIA group and run by husband and wife team Simon and Amanda Ross. Productions include Saturday Kitchen for BBC1, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain for BBC2, Rachel Allen, Galaxy British Book Awards and 8 years of the Richard & Judy show live from Cactus studios.