From the quiet shores of Islay to the vibrant atmosphere of the Edinburgh International Book Festival...

Back row (left to right): Mina, Jean, Diana, Isobel and Mavis
Front row: Joey, Maggie, Adrienne and Anne

A rapt audience of over 200 people attended Penguin’s Desert Island Book event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to hear Bill Duncan and Joan Bakewell talk about their favourite books.

Jackie McGloan, a well known Scottish journalist, chaired the discussion. Also in the audience were the runners up of the Penguin/Orange Reading Group Prize: The Isle of Islay Book Group. They were in Edinburgh in place of High Down Prison Reading Group, who, for obvious reasons, were unable to accept first prize of a weekend trip to Edinburgh.

Joan Bakewell opened the discussion by choosing Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Penguin Classics) as her first choice. She said it was, ‘One of the greatest books of English literature and it bears reading over and over again. It stands for all the great 19th century novels on which I was brought up and to which I remain devoted. The plot is perfectly brilliant and thoroughly worked out and it is full of extraordinary characters such as Magwitch and Miss Havisham.’

Joan enthused about her second choice, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Penguin). ‘It is about love in old age and I am eligible for that now! It is a very moving story about two people who knew each other early in their lives and then went their separate ways and then came together in their later life to have as rapturous a love affair as they might have had, and possibly even more so, in the twilight of their years.’

She went on to recommend that book groups should brave foreign books. ‘There is a whole world of translation which is worth exploring. My advice would be don’t be daunted by the fact that it isn’t in your own language. The art of translation is now so brilliant that these books are now immediately accessible.’

As her third and final choice Joan chose Time Will Darken It by William Maxwell. She said the book was a tribute to her own book group. ‘My book group brought this man and this particular book to my attention.   And for that I’d like to say "thank you, book groups".’

Bill Duncan chose Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges (Penguin) as his first choice. ‘For me one of the things that Borges does absolutely beautifully is that he writes such incredible prose, in such an economically spare way. I think he writes the most beautifully measured, detailed prose.’ Bill’s second choice was Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (Picador) because he loved the ‘physical viscerality’ of McCarthy’s prose. His third choice was a little known book, Unravelling the Ripple by Helen Douglas (Pocketbooks). He called it ‘a beautiful wee book.’

When asked which childhood favourites he would have taken with him Bill said,

   ‘I can remember reading The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. I remember the chapter called ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’. It was strange and mystical and ethereal and had a strangely unsettling effect, particularly in the context of the book which was otherwise quite straightforward and comfortable. I also have an affection for that chapter because it is the name of Pink Floyd’s first album which took me on a youthful foray into psychedelia and hallucinogenic culture.’

Jackie McGloan included the audience in the discussion too. Their first choice was War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Penguin Classics). Joan Bakewell agreed that it was a wonderful book. ‘War & Peace is a sensationally well worked book and just utterly absorbing   - unfolding a whole era of history but also giving a way of thinking about that era of history from someone at the heart of it. It was a very close runner in my case, I would have brought it too if I could.’

One of the Isle of Islay ladies chose Pride and Prejudice as her favourite comfort read. Diana from the group said, ‘In times of woe and in times of creeping into bed, I’d take that with me. I can open it anywhere and I’d still find something in it.’ Joan Bakewell agreed and said,‘but Jane Austen is more than comfort. She is a really brilliant commentator on human behaviour with a marvellously satiric eye.’

Other favourites were George Elliot’s Middlemarch (Penguin Classics), The Complete Diaries of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield (Virago) and Flann O’Brien’s The Best of Myles Na Gopaleen (Paladin). As the setting was Edinburgh, a selection of Scottish literature was discussed with Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Canongate) and Lanark by Alasdair Gray (Canongate) taking the top slots.

Joan Bakewell concluded by saying that desert island’s aren’t the only places where a good book is a necessity. ‘My greatest fear is being on a long train journey without a book. If I am hurring for a train and have to pick up a book quickly, I would grab one of the PG Wodehouses from the shelf and I would read it in the course of the journey and be totally happy by the time I arrived. They create a world of nonsense but utterly coherent with amazingly recognizable characters with a turn of wit and phrase which is remarkable.’

At the end of the event both the Islay ladies received a round of applause from the audience and the ladies were awarded their certificates by Joan Bakewell. The ladies then went on to meet both authors after the event. They also met Ali Smith for a drink later in the day as part of their prize.

Scroll down to see pictures of their day in Edinburgh and to hear what they thought of their time there in their own words.

A day in pictures...


The Isle of Islay Book Group with Bill Duncan and Joan Bakewell


The group meet Bill Duncan to discuss The Wee Book of Calvin


The Islay ladies have lunch at Bonham's Restaurant


Later the group meet with Ali Smith and congratulate her on her Booker nomination

The Islay ladies celebrate with a glass of champagne at their hotel

The Port Ellen, Isle of Islay Book Group on their trip to Edinburgh... in their own words

Anne says:

From the quiet shores of Islay to the vibrant atmosphere of the Edinburgh International Book Festival it  was a truly breathtaking, delightful, cherished experience. We were all well looked after, effortlessly whisked us off to meet numerous authors and given the opportunity to browse through the books. The whole event was a dream which will be remembered by our group for many months to come - especially in the long winter nights.

Diana says:
Everyone in Edinburgh seemed to be so delighted to be there. The authors and audiences were all sharing in a happy and stimulating experience. We felt privileged to join in and to be made to feel so special. In an isolated community like ours such experiences are rare and so doubly appreciated. We were looked after with care, thoughtfulness and good humour. Our thanks to all who made for such a magical day.

Joey says:
What a marvellous, unforgettable weekend. From the meetings with the authors, to listening to their readings it was just so interesting. Special thanks to Penguin and Orange for making it all possible and to Julie who looked after us so well.

Maggie says:
Port Ellen book group might well have been runners up in the Penguin Reading Group prize but we were certainly  the winners with our wonderful prize trip to the Edinburgh Book Festival. Julie Duffy was charged to look after us and she did this with such style, welcoming us with champagne and smiles, escorting us to the Speigel Tent to meet and chat with authors such as Joan Bakewell, Ali Smith and Bill Duncan and hosting a fabulous lunch for us in Bonham's. Oh how we were spoiled and so lovely to be able to indulge in our favourite activities of talking, listening, reading and even some writing! We returned to Islay, laden with books - many signed copies - and highly motivated to share our experience with our community. Watch out Penguin – we might be asking you to help us stage our own book festival!

Mavis says:
Highlights of the Edinburgh Book Festival: the whole place buzzing with single minded conversation, everyone talking about books and authors, writers and writing; finding new names and new titles to explore in the year ahead; meeting Bill Duncan and talking about his motivation for writing; Sebastian Barry reading from his latest bok - a truly theatrical performance leaving me longing for more; an inspirational chat with Ali Smith; browsing in the book shop - always enjoyable - but somehow taken to another level by the lively atmosphere of the festival; just wonderful to be immersed in a world where books have precedence.

Mina says:

Memories of Book Group visit to Edinburgh:

Arrive at the pier half an hour early.

Rest arrive - Anne giggling with excitement.

All aboard - suddenly realise -  no Adrienne -  ferry leaves in ten minutes.

Frantic phone calls - wrong number -  Christine is bemused but not amused, at being wakened at unearthly hour.

Thinking we will have to physically restrain Isobel from getting off ferry to wait for Adrienne, when she suddenly appears.
Relieved sighs all round.

Stop at Inverary - somebody wants to buy shoes.

Stop at Loch Lomond, sun shining, lunch alfresco.

Mavis needs another stop, search road signs, Airdrie suggested. In one end and nearly out the other of Airdrie when health and fitness centre with large car park is spotted.

Joey tells attendant that we are thinking of joining, we are invited to look around, we troop in, find toilets and troop out again.

Back on the road, next stop Edingurgh...hopefully.

Hotel found, Mavis releases us from bus.

We change for a night in Edinburgh.

We meet Julie from Penguin. She is young, lovely, and produces champagne. This is the beginning of the VIP treatment.

It continues all next day at the book festival. We meet authors, share wine and talk with them. I find that Joan Bakewell and I had been avid readers of The Girl's Crystal, she had always wanted to be Sally. Who hadn't?

We lunch luxuriously at the Bonham Hotel.

We crocodile back to the book festival, meet more authors, drink more wine and all the time the talk is of books.

We buy books.

The young Julie somehow manages to shepherd us all to where we should be, at the time we should be there, this is not easy. An Islay "ten minutes" can mean anything you want it to mean.

We travel everywhere in taxis. I have a vague memory of Joey in the front seat, having intriguing conversation with driver about the gangland families of Maryhill in Glasgow; who had got done in and by whom! She must write about her community nursing there in the seventies.

Coming home, Donald at the ferry carries my bag up the gangway.
‘What the.....have you got in here?’
‘Books’
‘Books!’ his look says, ‘she's definitely flipped this time.’

Coming off the ferry a young man I sort of recognise takes my bag.
‘I was in your playgroup’ he offers; then ‘what have you got in here?’
‘Books.’
‘Books? Oh aye, books, do you remember The Hungry Caterpillar? 
Who could forget The Hungry Caterpillar?

Jean says:
 
Meeting the authors was a great pleasure.  Of particular interest was Bill
Duncan.  His choice of a violent  and 'masculine'  book was brave as the
audiences were overwhelmingly female.  I bought the book.
The other great treat was lunch at a very smart restaurant.  We are a bit
limited on the island when it comes to 'eating out.

Isobel says:
5.45pm, Saturday 20 August at the Edinburgh Book Festival in Charlotte
Square nine women from Port Ellen sit with Ali Smith round a table in a
recess of the Spiegel Tent.
Animated conversation .....
all speak (one at a time)
all listen.
WE ARE A GROUP.
The future?
Poetry -?  Yes
Translated books? Maybe.
Book Festival ?????