Get Into Reading: Now We Are 10!

Yes, Get Into Reading has reached the grand old age of 10! As our regular visitors will know, we've spent the whole month of Sep10ber celebrating this momentous milestone with a different literary perfect 10 each week:

• Desert Island books - Ulysses and Pride and Prejudice were popular choices
• your favourite book when you were 10 - this created a huge response on Twitter with some clear favourites including Roald Dahl and Anne of Green Gables
• Describe your favourite book or poem in 10 words - tricky but doable!

Finally, we've had our special month-long Sep10ber poll to find Get Into Reading's favourite books and poems, as well as their ideal readers. The results are in...

• Favourite Get Into Reading Book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Favourite Get Into Reading Poem: 'The Road Not Taken', Robert Frost

Both are well loved here at The Reader Organisation, so we're not too surprised by the results! The task to nominate an ideal reader for these stories and poems demonstrated a distinct liking for deep voiced classical British actors - Patrick Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Tennant, Ian McKellen and Alan Rickman. However there were a few more unusual suggestions, including 'Usain Bolt', 'My mum' and 'Tommy Steele'!

Thank you to all who voted and contributed their thoughts; we've had a brilliant month engaging with our readers, finished off in true TRO style with a birthday party! It was a lovely evening, with lots of tea and cake, an emotional recap of the past 10 years from founder Jane Davis, and lots of lovely readings from Roger Phillips, Angie Macmillan, and Brian Nellist. Get Into Reading members also read their favourite poems and told us what they love about their weekly group. We had a memory wall full of contributions - you can read a selection here.

Get Into Reading groups now take place in every corner of the UK and beyond, connecting people with literature and each other. Ten years ago, Jane was determined to get books into the hands of those that need them, and so it continues, reaching more people than she could possibly have imagined. People and books are at its heart, so we finish with the thoughts of Peter Flowerdew, a longstanding group member and volunteer:

“I have been a Get Into Reading member for 5 years. It has made me more confident talking to people and I have found kindred spirits in the weekly group.  It has helped my mind develop and inspired me to go back to education – I have recently graduated from university with a 2:1 combined honours in Humanities.

Thursday reinforced the uniqueness of Get Into Reading yet again. There were contributions from readers, prizes and a potted history of GIR by its founder, Jane Davis. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the other original founder members, a truly evocative event.”