Thursday, 31 January 2019

Book Club | January 2019 Roundup

And just like that the first month of our new-look book club concludes!

Thank you to everyone who shared photos and mini reviews over on social media throughout the month. We loved seeing how you interpreted our January prompt 'a roadtrip novel' and which books you were reading - we hope you enjoyed them!

Below are a selection of our favourite images and mini reviews shared over on Instagram - there will also be a roundup of photos in our latest newsletter which hits inboxes tomorrow morning.




The @bloggersbookshelf Book Club theme this month was ‘road trip novels’ and I chose How To Be Bad for my pick. It follows three girls who borrow a car to drive across Florida, hoping to visit the boyfriend of one of the girls and escape a few of their individual problems, but of course driving for hours in a small car with two other people isn’t exactly the best way to avoid your problems. Especially if some of your problems are tangled up with the very people you’re travelling with. It’s a really fun story that deals with a couple of tough themes in a way that feels very real and very teenaged. Also there are alligators. What more could you want? - Next month’s theme is ‘novels under 200 pages’ and I’ll be reading The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, so keep your eyes peeled for my review of that one. 👀 - #bloggersbookshelf #bookshelfbookclub #bookstagram #bookbloggers #currentlyreading #instabooks #reading #books #bookworm #booklove #bookcovers #prettybooks #beautifulbooks #instabooks #bibliophile #vsco #vscocam #vscobooks #igreads #booklover #elockhart #laurenmyracle #sarahmylnowski #howtobebad #hotkeybooks
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Mosquitoland by David Arnold


"Mosquitoland is about Mim, a teenage girl who boards a greyhound bus in Jackson, Mississippi, and makes her way across America to Cleveland, Ohio. Along the way she meets various people, and writes letters to Isobel, where we learn a little more about her life, her parents' divorce and why Mim is on medication.
While I had heard good things about Mosquitoland, I did struggle to get through it. It wasn't quite the road tripping novel I had hoped for, nor was it a real page turner. However, it did have enjoyable parts here and there, and I liked the idea of the story. A 2.5 stars from me." - Anjali, @anjalikay

 

AMY & ROGER'S EPIC DETOUR BY MORGAN MATSON


"I decided to re-read Amy & Roger's Epic Detour for our January book club. It had been over three years since I originally picked up this fun YA roadtrip novel and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed by my re-read. Whilst I had read the book before, there were so many little elements that I had forgotten about and, as always, I just loved the characters Matson created. Overall I enjoyed the book just as much on the second read and would definitely recommend picking it up for our October prompt 'written by an author with an alliterative name' if you didn't get a chance to read it in January." - Erin, @sawyerandscout





The Wangs vs The World by Jade Chang


"My book club read follows the Wang family after the collapse of the patriarch, Charles Wang's, cosmetic's empire and consequent bankruptcy. Charles pulls his young kids, Grace and Andrew, out of their respective privileged, private schools, and hauls them and his second wife Barbara across the country on a road trip to upstate New York, where his eldest daughter, Saina, is currently hiding out after a nosedive in her own career as an artist.

The book flips between each family members' perspective, giving us each of their unique perspectives on the situation, as well as their perception of what it means to make it in America. Whilst none of the characters are particularly likable (Saina and Grace are the only two I warmed to) it was super interesting to see how the family dynamic changes when literally all of their material possessions are ripped away from them overnight." - Ria, @rcagz





For the @bloggersbookshelf 2019 reading challenge for the January road trip novel prompt I chose to read “The Wangs vs. The World” by Jade Chang. Charles Wang, the patriarch of the Wang family, cosmetic empire crashes and the family wealth disappears. Arrogant and mad, he makes a rash decision to take his second wife (Barbra), pull his daughter (Grace) out of private school, and his son (Andrew) our of university to road trip to New York where Charles’ eldest daughter, Saina, lives; hoping her trust fund has not been affected. The trip brings the family together and each character (even the car!) gives their narrative throughout the novel. I felt invested in the characters, though they were not always likeable. I liked the pacing of the novel. This wasn’t as hilarious as I expected but it felt rambunctious. “In the end, all we had were the people to whom we were beholden.” . . . . #2019reads #readinggoals #bloggersbookshelf #bloggersbook #bookshelfbookclub #readingchallenge2019
A post shared by SnacksandReads (@snacksandreads) on




Currently Reading • The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder • Bloggers Bookshelf Book Club Pick January - A roadtrip novel • "Hannah and Zoe haven't had much in their lives, but they've always and each other. So when Zoe tells Hannah she need to get out of their down-and-out New Jersey town, they pile into Hannah's beat-up old Le Mans and head west, putting everything - their deadbeat parents, their disappointing love lives, their inevitable enrollment at community college- behind them. As they chase storms and make new friends, Zoe tells Hannah she wants more for her. She wants her to live bigger, dream grander, aim higher. And so Zoe begins teaching Hannah all about life's intangible things, concepts sadly missing from her existence- things like audacity, insouciance, karma, and even happiness." • • • • • #bookstagrammer #book #bookstagram #themuseumofintangiblethings #wendywunder #currentlyreading #readingrightnow #bloggersbookshelf #bookshelfbookclub #bookclub #roadtrip #penguinteen #penguinbooks #razorbill #razorbillbooks #usedbook #thriftbooks #librarybook
A post shared by Molly Jo (@btwnseaandsun) on


We'll be introducing February's book club tomorrow so don't forget to check back!

Use the hashtag #bookshelfbookclub and tag @bloggersbookshelf to share your photos and mini reviews with us throughout the month.

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