by Ben Whitehouse

One of the things I'm most looking forward to at the festival this year is the book club because I know it's going to be interesting. (Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to lots of the Festival but I have a love affair with books which is why I'm the literature coordinator and not in charge of selection of toilets)

We've got an awesome line up of awesome speakers, musicians and big-brained thinkers across the this year but the things that makes my heart swell with affection every year is you, the festivalgoer, always passionate, always engaged and always with an insightful comment on your lips. (And this isn't me just trying to flatter you, gentle reader, I mean it!)

This year we've picked three very different books which we commend to you for discussion at the Festival.

1) Jackie Kay's collection of short stories – Wish I Was Here

This was selected as short stories don't often get look at enough. In travel terms a novel is a long trek from here to there; you can prepare for the long haul journey with lots of bags, equipment and correct clothes. Short stories are weekends away, you've got to travel light and pack generically without knowing what the weather or destination will be like. Booker Prize winner, Anne Enright said: "These stories charm, move and entertain the reader in full-hearted, direct prose. They are full of narrative satisfactions, written with a democratic ear and a poet's poise, with a lyrical twist of phrase that wrings precise emotions from the reader, every time."

2) Henry David Thoreau – Walden: Or, Life in the Woods.

With the book Walden Thoreau documents the two years where he built a cabin in the woods, moved into it and lived simply. The cabin experience represents the crucible where Thoreau developed many of his sharpest ideas, had formative experiences and turned him into the literary giant we know today. John Updike said that Walden risks "being as revered and unread as the Bible." Thoreau's reflection on his solitary two years living on the shores of Walden Pond was a book that once captured the imagination of Tolstoy and of Gandhi and we're hoping it captures your imagination too. To read the rest of John Updike's rather beautiful review of the book follow the link to the Guardian website.

3) Carol Ann Duffy's collection of poetry – Rapture.

This is a bit of a selfish choice, I read these poems recently at my own bookgroup at the insistence of a friend. She assured me these were some of the most affecting poems I'd ever read. I seem to involuntarily roll my eyes at this kind of hyperbole but I was quickly proved wrong. Poetry sometimes feels like the scrawny cousin of the short story but these poems demonstrate the economic beauty of the love poem. Xan Brooks wrote of the poems:  "Rapture is an extended rhapsody on a love affair, ushering the reader from first spark to full flame to final, messy conflagration."

If you don't own any of these books, click on the link below to buy them from the Greenbelt bookshop. Your local library should also stock these.

We'll provide you with space, bring a mug of something warm and prepare to share your thoughts with other equally passionate souls. I can't wait to hear what people will have to say about these books. Will you be there? You won't want to miss this, it's going to be great!

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Ben Whitehouse is Literature Coordinator for the Greenbelt festival. His blog- White Like Milk – is here and you can follow Ben on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/benjaminbrum