The Northern Echo launched an online book club the Reading Room in time for World Book Day.

It helps celebrate the fact that millions of people in Britain and around the world love books.

Membership in the Reading Room is simple - all people have to do is read the book of the month selection and submit their views on the book.

Comments and reviews are published online at www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk and also once a month in the paper's book page, to help the project become a forum for discussion and sharing of ideas.

Madam Doubtfire author Anne Fine, who lives in the North-East, is the Reading Room's honorary president. Her book was turned into the film Mrs Doubtfire.

She selected the first Reading Room book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and said: "Books show you something underneath, the deep, peculiar workings of character and conscience."

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