The Reader's Room

Jul 18

2016 Man Booker Longlist Predictions

The 2016 Man Booker Longlist will be released on July 27. This year, we will be hosting our own panel of judges for the Man Booker nominees. Book Worm and I along with our three contributors (see our about page) will be reading and reviewing the Man Booker longlist books. At each stage of the award (longlist, shortlist, and winner announcement) we will be making our predictions. We’ll also be reading and reviewing all the books as a panel so stay tuned for regular Man Booker reviews. Keep reading to find out which books we are predicting will make the longlist this year. Scroll to the bottom to vote for who you think has the best predictions list. Read more

Jul 15

8 Comments

1001 Book Review: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Book Worm and I were kind of at a loss on how to rate this book. Did we love it or hate it? Check out our reviews and let us know what you thought of this book. Read more

Jul 14

3 Comments

Guilty Pleasures Review: Nashville by Heart Tina Ann Forkner

I know we normally review literary fiction and “high brow” literature but we all have guilty pleasure reads and I’m a break from literary fiction to bring you one of my guilty pleasure reads. Check out my review and let us know what sorts of guilty pleasure books you enjoy. Read more

Jul 12

3 Comments

Read Around the World: Spain

Our next stop in our world tour of literature is Spain. Join us as we explore some of what Spain has to offer in terms of literature and find out which books we selected. Spain is another one of those countries that has produced so much excellent and widely read literature that we won’t claim that there is only one book that represents the country. Instead we will each discuss one selected book and we hope you help us create a list of your favorite Spanish books and authors. Read more

Jul 8

14 Comments

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I finished Coates’ Between the World and Me a few days before I learned about the two latest cases of policemen brutality toward African American men. We had planned a different review for today but instead, but with these latest killings, I thought this book was more appropriate. Everyone needs to read this book. Read more

Jul 6

17 Comments

Summer Reading Challenge: 4 more days to join!

There are four more days to join our fun summer reading challenge and earn the chance to win some cool bookish prizes! This summer we will be hosting an Olympics-themed reading game. You will work with teams to pick out Olympic teams to sponsor for various sports categories. All reading and prizes will be awarded for individual reading so teams are more about meeting other readers and brainstorming strategy, although all members of the winning team will win a $5 Amazon gift card.

To read the full rules, check out our challenge page. We expect this to be a fun team activity that will challenge you to expand your reading horizons by pushing you to pick books to match the countries your team sponsors. Participants will be randomly assigned into teams by us. Teams will pick countries together but individual players will get to pick which books they want to read for various sports categories (sports categories will be matched to general book categories). Keep reading to see what kind of prizes you could win. Read more

Jul 5

5 Comments

Kids Corner: Macavity by T.S. Eliot and Arthur Robins

macavity

It’s been a while since we’ve done a Kid’s Corner post so this month we’re featuring a book I received at BEA from Faber & Faber. This book is perfect children over the age of 3+ and is a great way to introduce your child to poems and/or broadway musicals. Read more

Jul 4

2 Comments

Read Different: When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi

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Happy July 4th to those of you celebrating in the U.S. today! Here’s one of the books that Book Worm chose for her read different challenge. If you want to read more about that you can read about it here. If you haven’t already, we hope you join us in pushing your reading boundaries. Read more

Jul 1

6 Comments

Book Review: Smoke

Book Worm and I both read this highly hyped novel by Dan Vyleta. It is described as by Amazon as a “blend of historical fiction and fantasy” for readers of The Harry Potter Series and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Book Worm and I seem less than enchanted with the book. Here are our reviews… Read more

Jun 30

7 Comments

June Monthly Recap

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Time for our June recap! Find out which books were favorites and which were duds. We’ll end our wrap up with a a list of books due out in July and a glimpse of our upcoming content. We also want to hear from you so let us know what you read this month and what you look forward to reading next month. Make sure you read about our summer reading challenge and sign up before July 10 to play in a fun team challenge with a chance to win prizes.
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