books | The Reader's Room

Sep 21

Kids Corner: Judging a book by its cover

Despite the age old adage not to judge a book by its cover, a good cover is everything in the world of children’s literature. Whether it’s at the library or in the bookstore, first impressions are everything when it comes to picking out that perfect book. So what would a four-year old think about the covers of some of our most well known adult literature? I put it to the test by showing E some classic selections from my bookshelf and asking her to tell me what the stories were about. Here’s what she said… Read more

Sep 20

Final Summer Challenge Update

It’s time for our final Summer Challenge update! Last day to finish your books and post your reviews is September 22 by midnight (your local time). Keep reading to find out who is in the lead, to get some insight into how we will judge the winners, and see who made our final honorable mentions.
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Sep 18

23 Comments

Book Riot Quarterly Subscription Box #08

Three months ago I received my very first Book Riot box. I was pretty disappointed and came close to canceling the subscription. You can read that review here. I still haven’t read either of the two books, never used the organizer, and haven’t framed the poster (although I plan to do so soon). Yet, I decided to give them another shot and yesterday I received my second box. Check out what came in the September box and whether I’ve changed my mind about the subscription. Read more

Sep 16

7 Comments

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Release Date: September 29, 2015 in the U.S. & September 24, 2015 in the U.K.
Reviewed by: Jen
Rating: 4 stars
Pre-order your copy here: The Heart Goes Last

To say that Margaret Atwood’s newest novel is highly anticipated, is the understatement of the century. The Heart Goes Last is Margaret Atwood’s first stand-alone book in over 10 years. Her last one, The Blind Assassin won the 2000 Man Booker Prize. The novel is a reworking of the Positron ebook series: a series of 4 short stories that were released exclusively as ebooks. The hype is deserved. If you loved The Handmaids Tale and Oryx and Crake, you will probably love this book too. Read more

Sep 15

2 Comments

And the 2015 Man Booker Shortlist books are…

The 2015 Man Booker Shortlist books were revealed today. Making the list were the following books: Read more

Sep 14

6 Comments

2015 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Predictions

Tomorrow the 2015 Man Booker short list will be announced, so it is time for some predictions! You may have noticed that our blog has been taken over by long list book reviews lately. We’ll get back to our regular post schedule next week. We came close to reading all the long list books between the two of us. Not too bad considering that neither of us had read any of the books prior to the announcement. So we completed 11.5/13 books (Book Worm is half-way through A Brief History of Seven Killings). We reviewed 9 of those books and Jen will post her review of The Moor’s Account next week. For each book, we rated with 5 criteria including originality, character complexity, and writing. Two 2 “free” points were given for being published in English and being published in the U.K (criteria for the Man Booker Prize). See which books we read, how we personally ranked them, and which ones we think will actually make the cut.
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Sep 13

2 Comments

Summer Challenge Update #8

It’s time for a Summer Challenge update! Next Sunday will be our final challenge update before the close of the competition September 22. Keep reading to find out who is in the lead and see who made the honorable mentions. Read more

Sep 11

6 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy

Next time I come up with a brilliant idea to try and read all the longlist books before the shortlist, please stop me. Luckily for me (unluckily for her since she got dragged into it too) I have a wonderful co-blogger who helped me out by tackling half the books. Will we make it through the whole longlist before September 15? It’s questionable, but we are getting close.

Next up… Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy. Find out where it ranks for us. Read more

Sep 10

4 Comments

Man Booker Longlist 2015: The Year of the Runaways Sunjeev Sahota

Less than 1 week away from the shortlist announcement and we actually might make it through the entire list! This last week has been a rush to get them all finished before the 15th. We’ll go back to our usual 3 days per week posting schedule as soon as we are done with the long list books. Next up… The Year of the Runaways by Sahota. Will this make our short list? Read more

Sep 9

3 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: The Chimes Anna Smaill

With the shortlist being announced on the 15th, we are hoping to pick up the pace and finish all the longlist books in the next week. Regular posts will be delayed so we can try to finish up our longlist reviews and make our predictions. Next up in our 2015 longlist travels is another book we both read: Anna Smaill’s The Chimes. Find out if it makes our shortlist. Read more