I had so much fun this week playing around with a concept that I came across while browsing the NetGalley website and I am happy, if not downright proud, to bring to you the fruit of my efforts.
I announced at the beginning of the week that one way or another, I will finish this book. I downloaded the audiobook, I have the physical copy and the digital one on all my devices. All of this because since Obama I haven't managed to finish any book of a decent length. It's a mixture of circumstance and mental discipline, so I thought I needed a boost to get through this book.
I am now almost halfway through Educated and I believe all of my efforts to get me into it were unnecessary, because it is so well done and engaging that I can't believe how quickly I turn the pages. I will admit the narrator of the audiobook is doing an awesome job, too.
To go back to my reason for being giddy and proud, I spent this week working on our first ever Book Club Kit. I am trying this concept out, and I won't lie, it took some effort, but I am so satisfied with the end result, if I do say so myself, that I would like to create a kit for all our books to come.Â
I will have to trial this one out with you guys and I'll take my queue from you.Â
Without further ado, I present to you Dana's Book Club Kit for "Educated" by Tara Westover.
The gift that keeps on giving
When I started writing this newsletter at the beginning of the year, I didn't think much about the future or whether it would be successful or even if anyone would read it. I admit it was an impulsive decision, but it's one I was keen to show up to, for myself first and then for the beautiful group that we've become. I can't imagine not writing it, I can't imagine my weekends without compiling it and sending it out.Â
So, to celebrate our 6-month mark, I've got some digital surprises for you:
Phone wallpaper 1
Phone wallpaper 2
PC Wallpaper 1
PC Wallpaper 2
Next book club discussion will be on August 25th
This is probably the book we will be most prepared for, considering we already have the questions and an entire kit to help us out.Â
OK, OK, you like to play around in Canva, Dana. We get it. Any other actual book news this week?
Well, I'm glad you asked!
The 2021 Booker Prize longlist has been announced!
They guarantee that the list contains a book for every taste. Here is the list published on the official website:
The 2021 longlist, or ‘The Booker Dozen’, of 13 novels*, is:
A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta Books, Granta Publications)
Second Place, Rachel Cusk, (Faber)
The Promise, Damon Galgut, (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris (Tinder Press, Headline, Hachette Book Group)
Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)
An Island, Karen Jennings (Holland House Books)
A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)
The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed (Viking, Penguin General, PRH)
Bewilderment, Richard Powers (Hutchinson Heinemann, PRH)
China Room, Sunjeev Sahota (Harvill Secker, Vintage, PRH)
Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers, PRH)
Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford (Faber)
*I believe a 'dozen' in this case is like a 'couple' is for Americans: thereabouts...Â
Happy Paperback Book Day!
Photo by Alice Hampson on Unsplash
It's on July 30th, actually, but I think it warrants a mention. Here's a debate I never thought to have with anyone before, or a question I never considered answering in all seriousness. I know hardbacks are considered more prestigious and are usually the expensive first print of any book, but I actually prefer paperbacks when it comes to reading them, holding them and simply looking at them. So what if the cover is a bit more sensitive and prone to getting damaged? I say the more damaged, the more loved they are! Books, I only mean that about books!
The history of how paperbacks emerged in the States is quite fascinating, as reported by the Lithub, which links it to "Tereska Torres’ Women’s Barracks, a fictional account of life among female Free French soldiers in London during World War II (based on the author’s experiences). It’s widely referred to as the first candidly lesbian novel and is credited for popularizing pulp fiction."
Underlined - Flash Fiction in The New Yorker
He’s Very Well Read, by Catherine Lacey
July 29, 2021
I finally got my first ARC from Netgalley
Photo.
Last week I was telling you about Advanced Reader Copies and how some people seem to be able to get not-yet-published books ahead of everyone else. I was telling you about NetGalley.Â
Since then, I created an account and requested 3 titles for advance reading. Two days ago I finally got one approved.
It's a book called A Book at Bedtime, by Barrie Shore and I downloaded it right away.Â
…Only to browse through for more information on it and realise it has actually been already published: Goodreads thinks it was published on July 28th (so two days before I got it) and Waterstones shows the published date as June 28th.Â
One of the other titles I am waiting approval on is Elif Shafak's Island of Missing Trees, which comes out on August 5th. I have already found it available for purchase on Libristo.ro, albeit not the pretty hardcover, but the paperback.
No sign of anything by Stephen King on NetGalley, but I hadn't put my hopes up anyway.Â
Happy Harry Potter Day!
Photo by Tuyen Vo on Unsplash
That was actually yesterday, but again, definitely worth a mention, especially since I think most people in our group would have some fond memory of the experience of reading Harry Potter. And some of us are actually reading it for the first time as we speak: Ella has just finished the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday to mark this internationally celebrated day.
For the next one, The Goblet of Fire, I said I would join her and reread it myself. We might just set up a Zoom chat to talk about it... If we do, I'll send the invite out to anyone else who's interested.Â
Events, reminders and other fun things: