Get Brutal

It could play a part in Oxfam’s Bookfest.

IF you have a spare moment, take a look at your bookshelves and start being honest with yourself.

If you haven’t read that chunky copy of Don de Lillo’s Underworld by now, then you probably never will.

OK, the never-ending baseball scene at the start is breath-taking, but let’s face it, that’s the best bit, so why not let someone else have a go?

And as for Jonathan Franzen’s Corrections – do you really want to endure the agony for a second time?

If the answer is no, then it’s time to get brutal with your old books.

Next month, Oxfam is staging Bookfest, where there will be 400 book-related events across the country, and there is no better time to bag up your old books and hand them in as a donation.

The festival runs from July 4 to July 18, and will feature authors giving readings, doing book signings and even volunteering in stores.

In Oxford, award-winning author Philip Pullman is expected to make an appearance at the Oxfam bookshop in St Giles, where he will take a look at the work going on behind the scenes.

And at the Oxford Playhouse on July 3, authors Mark Haddon, Joanna Trollope and Nicholas Shakespeare will read short stories they wrote for the Ox-Tales collections, which will be sold in Oxfam stores and other high street bookshops from July 4.

The Sunday Times magazine has already published one of the stories by American-based Zoe Heller, and is expected to publish further stories by top authors over the next few weeks.

Charlie Hayes, a spokesman for Oxfam's books division, said: “Bookfest got off to a brilliant start at the Hay Festival, where we received about 4,500 book donations from members of the public.

“We ran a bookshop from the festival site and people who visited us were surprised at how good the quality of the stock was.

“We also received a donation of about 25,000 books in 18 pallets from some book dealers which has been sent to our book barn in Huddersfield to be sorted.

“And Pemberton’s, which ran the bookstore on the site, selling books written by the authors appearing at the festival, gave us their entire excess stock.”

On June 16, there will be clear evidence of just how valuable book donations can be to Oxfam when an auction takes place of some of the most valuable donations over the past 12 months or so.

Valuable books picked out by Oxfam volunteers in shops up and down the country will go under the hammer near Kidlington, with a total guide price of about £44,000.

These include a first edition of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which was handed in to the Oxfam bookshop in St Giles.

A similar auction held in Oxford last year featured A Study in Scarlet, the first appearance in print of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Those attending the auction were stunned when the book sold for £15,000.

You can also support Bookfest by attending the readings at the Oxford Playhouse and snapping up copies of Ox-Tales.

Oxfam’s general charity shops and 130 specialist bookshops bring in £1.6m every month from the sale of books.

The money could buy 50,000 emergency shelters, or 64,000 goats, or provide clean drinking water for 2.1m people.

For further information about Bookfest visit the websites oxfam.org.uk and oxfordplayhouse.com