This month’s book club book was the rather wonderful ‘The People of Paper’ by Salvador Plascencia.

At the Cross Keys on Saturday night, we held our annual review of the November book and the annual review of the year. It’s been an interesting old year on the book front and I’d like to talk a little bit about the Paper book (but aren’t all books made of paper, I hear you cry – more on that later).

This is one of the few books that genuinely plays with the notion of author, reader and character and although I wouldn’t want to spoil it for any readers, I would want to try and entice you into reading it.

It’s endlessly innovative and genuinely creative in a way I’ve not seen before. I fully accept that I’m no Stephen Fry in terms of the books I’ve read, but this book is fresh and delivers ideas almost on a page by page basis. I read the paperback version which plays around with the notion of paper and ink in a very cost effective way but apparently the hardback version (which I eschewed) is hugely entertaining with bits chopped out.

It’s wonderful in this day and age of digital delivery (and you all know what an enthusiast I am in this area) that a book is specifically written for the printed page, with the characters so intrinsically linked to the medium. It’s difficult to see how it would be beautiful on an iPad or Kindle – but no doubt it would be fine, just not as uplifting.

I think I love the printed page as much as the digital screen and as long as the two media coexist effectively, everything will be alright.

It’s really hard to say too much about this book without giving huge chunks away and therefore ruining the pleasure any potential reader will no doubt receive when immersing into the luxurious melancholy the book contains.

Leave me a comment below or send me a DM if you’d like my copy – I’d love to see it go to a good home and then on elsewhere.