Books aren't just for reading. They're for sharing. On National Books Day, Mike Priestley reports on Bradford's pioneering role in the rise of reading groups.

The circle of people in a room at Bradford Central Library, eight women and three men, were getting deeply into the merits of a novel they had all read - Acts of Revision written, by coincidence, by former T&A journalist Martyn Bedford.

"It was well written and well plotted, but it had a feel of being a thriller by numbers," said one woman. "It wasn't from the heart."

One of the men felt that it was very ambitious and most original. "But let's hope it's not autobiographical," he said. Acts of Revision is about an oddball called Gregory who, on the basis of a poor school report years earlier, declares war on the teaching profession.

Some said that despite the skill of the writing they found the book hard work because Gregory was the sort of person you wanted to keep away from. But another woman said she felt sorry for him because he was ill in his head.

"I felt a terrible sadness for him because he was so alone, and so damaged from way back."

Different people, different views - and a chance to exchange them at one of the reading groups run by Bradford librarians to enable people to swap opinions about their common reading matter.

Unlike television viewing, reading for pleasure rather than study is largely a solitary experience. If the book has moved you, you want to tell people all about it.

But what's the point? They probably won't have read it too. As you start to outline the plot and sketch in the complex relationships between the characters, their eyes will probably start to glaze over.

Unless, that is, you join a reading group. The idea of these has caught on in a big way in the United States, where many thousands of " book discussion groups" are thriving in libraries, bookshops and private homes.

Britain has been slow to catch on. But as in so many other things over the years, Bradford has been something of an acknowledged trail-blazer. For four years now reading groups have been run by Bradford Libraries. There are now two at the Central Library, one at Shipley Library, another at East Morton (held in a private house because there is no library there), and plans are being made for one in Bingley.

The idea grew out of the successful Novel Approach course run in 1993-94 with money from the Arts Council Literature Fund for Libraries and led by creative reading consultant Rachel Van Riel. Four years on, membership has topped 60 and is growing.

"We have between eight and 20 people on a course, to get a good discussion going and let everyone have a good say, but the ideal number is between 12 and 14," explains Robert Walters, principal librarian (support services) and one of a team of five members of the library staff who freely give of their time and enthusiasm to chair the discussions at the monthly out-of-hours meetings. They stress that they aren't tutors - only hosts and facilitators.

"We choose two books for each monthly meeting, loosely paired," says Mr Walters (the book paired with Acts of Revision was Theory of War, Joan Brady's biographical novel about her grandfather's experiences as a white slave in the United States, the linking theme being revenge).

The libraries service buys eight paperback copies of each book and members of the group read them and pass them on. When they've finished with them, the books go on library shelves.

At the meetings, everyone is encouraged to have a say about aspects of the books such as characterisation and plot development and talk about what they have got out of them.

"It's partly about opening up reader experience," says Mr Walters. "After all, fiction is about visiting other people's worlds." And unfamiliar worlds they can sometimes be, deliberately so.

"When people go along to a library, they're spoiled for choice with all those books on the shelves. So often they opt for the familiar," explains Robert Walters. "But belonging to a group encourages people to expand their taste. So often people will say 'I enjoyed that, but I would never have chosen it left to my own devices'."

The books chosen are designed to appeal to readers from all ages and backgrounds, although Mr Walters admits that group membership currently contains more women than men - all keen to talk to other people about books from the point of view not of an academic or of a reviewer but of an intelligent, enthusiastic reader keen to share the experience.

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