The Origin of “Thumping Good Read”
W H Smith is a British book retailer best known for news stands on major city streets, train stations and airports, like an English version of New York’s Hudson News. From 1992 to 2002, the W H Smith Thumping Good Read Award was chosen by a panel of WHS card-carrying customers, and given to books considered more “accessible” than those nominated for the W H Smith Literary Award.
Thumping Good Read has entered the vernacular, especially in the blogosphere, for books that are fun to read. Diane Setterfield’s Thirteenth Tale and Wilkie Collins’ Woman in White were recent TGRs for me. Astute reader Gretchen commented on a previous post that
when a book describes itself as “dreamy,” or “elegiac,” or mentions the prose at all, it’s usually not a thumping good read.
Can a book be both a Thumping Good Read and Literary? I’m re-reading Jane Eyre, and I think a good case can be made for that work. Additionally, the 2006 W H Smith Literary Award went to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; Entertainment Weekly chose the last Harry Potter as it’s book of 2007. I think it’s possible, but infrequent. I think it’s also what most book groups hope for–a book that entertains and enlightens.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I like that the award was so accessible that “even American writers were allowed to win.”
February 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am
You got me thinking about the last Thumping Good Read I’ve read, and while I’ve read a lot of books I’ve liked recently, the last TGR would have to be Martin Cruz Smith’s Polar Star. I’m not sure it’s literary, though his descriptions have stayed with me since I read it in December.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I think Jane Eyre is a perfect pick for a book that is beautifully written and is also a thumping good read. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive–but it’s a rare book that works in both categories. I think A.S. Byatt’s Possession might also work. The prose is amazing, but it also has a terrific and very dynamic plot.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Gretchen, Possession is one of my all time favorites, probably because I enjoyed reading it while it also made me want to learn more because is was so complex and well done. I credit (or blame…) it in large part for going to grad school in religion.
Kate, I haven’t read Cruz Smith.
And Becca, yeah, that’s pretty funny coming from a news stand’s customer award, no?
February 14th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko novels are like really good mystery candy. The writing is good enough to keep me in the story, but it’s still structured as a mystery, so the plot is exciting enough to render it a TGR, for me. His older books especially are good, as they describe the old Soviet Union in great detail.