Auntie knows best: the BBC reading group

Q. What's Catch-22 got to do with it

A. BBCi, the BBC's website, ran a vote to choose a book for 'simultaneous reading', and Joseph Heller's classic satire was the winner. They approached mayor Ken Livingston with the idea of nominating a book which Londoners - and indeed anyone else - should all be encouraged to read at the same time. This would get people talking and help break down barriers and thus create a sense of community and communal action.

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Q. Where did they get the idea from

A. The USA, of course. It all started in Chicago, when mayor Richard Daley asked all the city's 3 million inhabitants to read Harper Lee's celebrated tale of race and childhood, To Kill a Mockingbird. Corporate sponsors offered a $5 rebate on the book's cover price, Starbucks gave free coffee to discussion groups and 40,000 'Are you reading Mockingbird ' badges were dished out.

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This proved such a success that Los Angeles - perhaps a city better known for less literary artistic pursuits - declared Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's tale of a future society in which books are banned (451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns), to be its choice. And now the whole state of California is being asked to get together with John Steinbeck's Depression-era tale of Okie folk, The Grapes of Wrath. New York is considering the idea and mulling over possible titles. Native Speaker, a novel set among the city's Korean inhabitants, is the hot favourite.

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Q. What was on the BBC shortlist

A. The five books on the shortlist, along with selected comments by their sponsors, were:

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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: 'If anything goes close to illustrating the present world situation, this must be it.'

The Napoleon of Notting Hill by GK Chesterton: 'An excellent book for redefining the meaning of a community and re-awakening civic pride.'

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: 'A beautifully written novel with wonderful characterisation and atmosphere. I was in tears when I reached the last page, not just because of the emotive storyline, but because I knew I'd never read a book like it again.'

How to be Good by Nick Hornby: 'It would be one way to get Londoners smiling on the Tube, unless of course the Northern Line has broken down again.'

Middlemarch by George Eliot: 'It's easily one of the greatest novels ever written, in any language.'

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Q. And who decided all this

A. The BBCi punters. They nominated the books, the best suggestions�were put on the shortlist and the readers voted. The results were: Catch-22 45%; Birdsong 17%; How to be Good 13%; Middlemarch 13%; and The Napoleon of Notting Hill 8%.

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A spokesman for BBCi told the answerbank: 'The shortlist was drawn up from the many suggestions sent in - we looked for books which had been suggested most frequently, and then tried to select from a variety of genres so that even though it was an unscientific exercise there was a range of different choices for people.� We also tried to get a balance of eras in which the books were written, tone, and weight. I think we managed to get an acceptable balance.'

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Q. Has it been a success

A. Seems to have been - so, keep an eye out for anyone reading Catch-22 and, if you've read it yourself, go and have a chat about it. Simple. You know it is - just go up and talk to a complete stranger on the Tube and then bathe in the warm glow of a new friend made. However, not everyone is bowled over by the idea, with some recalling that 'recommended' books at school were what put them off reading in the first place.

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The whole thing is building up to an online discussion on BBCi on World Book Day 2002.

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Q. World Book Day What's that

A. You don't know This Thursday, March 14, is World Book Day. Initiated by UNESCO five years ago, World Book Day is a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and it was marked in over 30 countries around the globe in 2001. The idea is to encourage children to get into books, and every British schoolchild in full-time education will be entitled to receive a World Book Day �1 Book Token.

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It's being backed up with a poster campaign called 'Get Caught Reading' which features Anne Robinson, Ben Elton, George Best, Huw Edwards, Sue MacGregor, Frank Skinner, Denise Lewis and Stephen Fry. Last year's celebs included David Ginola, Audley Harrison, Nigella Lawson, Suggs, Tony Hawks, Ioan Gruffudd, Mariella Frostrup and Jamie Oliver.

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Q. Didn't Jamie Oliver recently announce that he wasn't much of a reader

A. He did, on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4. Still, at least he's honest about it.

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To find out more about the BBC reading groups go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1846000/1846511.stm

For more on World Book Day go to http://www.worldbookday.com

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See also the answerbank articles on National Poetry Day and Joseph Heller

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For more on Arts & Literature click here

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By Simon Smith