Duchess of Cornwall Launches Book Club on Instagram

The launch is the latest in a series of efforts made by the Duchess in order to promote healthy reading habits.

London, UK, 2021-Feb-10 — /EPR Network/ — If sites weren’t enough incentive to get you reading, you can now get book recommendations from a British noble. The Duchess of Cornwall has launched her very own book club on Instagram, making for a nice addition to the large number of online reading communities available on the internet.

Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, identifies as a lover of reading and has proven herself to be a passionate promoter of literature. Camilla has worked with many charities focused on literary pursuits over the years and serves as a patron for various literary-oriented organizations, such as The London Library.

Now she is setting out on a new pursuit to encourage others to read or offer selections for avid readers. Camilla has started a royal book club on Instagram. Camilla had previously released her own lockdown reading list as spring and summer of the pandemic went on, which proved to be quite popular. She says that since that initial release, people have been contacting her from all over.

With so much interest and the United Kingdom experiencing frequent lockdown blues, Camilla has put forward her initiative to help and allay some of the boredom or low feelings and promote reading at the same time. The initiative started off its book club selections by listing four books for readers to check out. The newly-released list features the authors Hilary Mantel, Delia Owns, Elif Shafak, and William Boyd. According to Clarence House, each selection will enjoy its own highlighted period on the account for two weeks.

The online account will also display information on the book and author. Researchers created the book club kits as part of their Lockdown Reading Project, where researchers studied how the pandemic is changing reading habits.

Camilla appeared in a Clarence House-released video to speak about books and reading. It’s clear that the Duchess does have a passion for the activity that she wants to share with others. She describes reading as a “great adventure”, saying that she would love it if everyone else enjoyed reading as much as she does personally.

Jonathan Douglas serves as the National Literacy Trust’s chief executive and can vouch for how important reading can be during a pandemic. He cited book sales increasing and more people joining libraries as evidence of how reading helped people endure the first lockdown, as about 39% of citizens were reported to have turned to reading during this period, according to the Office for National Statistics. Douglas says that reading has proved to be a “therapeutic and emotionally supportive” activity and hopes the initiative will see the creation of a national habit as one out of six adults experiences literacy problems in the United Kingdom.

As for Camilla, she hopes that the book club will be beneficial to others. “I think I’d like it to be something that everybody could delve into […]”, she mused of the club.

The Reading Room will feature seasonal releases of the new book lists. The second list is expected to be shared later this spring.

Source: IV Media