books | The Reader's Room

Dec 7

Read Around the World: Wales

The next stop on our world tour of reading is Wales! This month, we have a special guest contributor: Louise. Louise is from Wales and runs the wonderful blog book a week. You should check out it! She will be sharing some fun facts about her country, Welsh literature, and her personal recommendations for books to help immerse you in your “travels.” I’m especially excited to feature Wales as it is home to the book lover’s paradise Hay-on-Wye. I’ll hand it over to Louise to tell you more…

Non 1001 Book Review: The Gap of Time Jeanette Winterson

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
Published in 2015. Part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Retold series
Reviewed by Book Worm
Rating 5 stars
Find it here: The Gap of Time: A Novel (Hogarth Shakespeare)

Amazon synopsis: The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s “late plays.” It tells the story of a king whose jealousy results in the banishment of his baby daughter and the death of his beautiful wife. His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited.

In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time. Written with energy and wit, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other. Read more

Dec 2

17 Comments

Love it or Hate it? The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Have you ever noticed how some books seem to drive a wedge between people? You check the reviews and find almost no middle-of-the-road ratings. Instead people either seem to love it or hate it. Welcome to the Love it or Hate it post! Each month, we’ll pick one book to review and two contributors will battle it out to convince you to pick it up or throw it out. Last time we discussed The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. For the first time since starting this feature, the “Hate it/don’t want to read it” people won with 58% of the vote! Many thanks to our reviewers for their awesome reviews. Our very own Book Worm was the Love it Reviewer and Zombie Kitten was our Hate it Reviewer.

This month’s selection is yet another of Boxall’s 1001 Books to Read Before you Die: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Read the reviews and let us know whether either of the reviewers managed to convince you. I do have strong feelings about this book but I’ll leave it up to you to guess whether I loved it or hated it (I was not one of the reviewers). Read more

Dec 1

3 Comments

Reader’s Room Scavenger Hunt

scavenger hunt

It’s official! Today is the start of our winter reading challenge. We hope that many of you join us over the next 3.5 months for our Reader’s Room Scavenger Hunt. Each day in December we will post a fun item or task for you to tackle. You then have until March 15 to find the perfect book, read it, provide a short review, and provide photo evidence. Read as many books as you want for the challenge. Reading even one book will qualify you to win cool bookish prizes. Keep reading to learn more. Read more

Nov 30

23 Comments

Terrible Reviews of Great Books: Orwell’s 1984

There is no such thing as a universally loved book. Each month, we’ll feature a book from Time Magazine‘s list of the best 100 English language novels of all time. From the mean to the funny, to the downright absurd, we will highlight some of the strange reasons why some people hate these great reads. This month’s book is 1984 by George Orwell. I have to admit that I last read this in high school and it wasn’t my favorite book, but it certainly merited better than some of these 1-star reviews from Amazon. Keep reading to see why some people hate this book. Read more

Nov 29

2 Comments

November Monthly Recap

It’s time for our monthly recap! Find out which books were favorites, which were duds, and which ones we plan to read the following month. We’ll end our wrap up with a calendar of book-related events/facts from the month of November and we’ll highlight our December content. We’ve also added a list of upcoming book releases for December (scroll to the end for the list).

One randomly selected follower (email or wordpress follower) will win a $10 amazon gift card. Scroll down to see if you are the winner. The prize is only awarded if you contact us with your email address so make sure to check these monthly recaps each month to see if you won! We also want to hear from you so let us know what you read in November and what you look forward to reading in December. Read more

Nov 27

1 Comment

Bookish Gift ideas for the Holidays

Looking for the perfect gift for that special book lover in your life? Here are a few ideas.

Kid’s Corner Interactive Picture Books: Tap the Magic Tree

E has always loved books and story time but some children are more reluctant readers. Interactive books may be one solution to increasing reading engagement. This month, E and I take a look at a few of our favorite “interactive” picture books. Keep reading to find out which ones are our favorites and why. Read more

Nov 20

2 Comments

1001 Book Review: Broken April

Broken April by Ismail Kadare
First Published in: 1978
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/Buy it here: Broken April

In the last three weeks I’ve been reading a lot of books set in the Balkans, but none have stood out as much as Broken April. Ismail Kadare is Albania’s most well-known author and in 2005 he became the first winner of the International Man Booker prize. Broken April is a powerful novel about Albania’s tradition of blood feuds. Read more

Nov 19

7 Comments