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Book Club Extras
Showing posts with label Book Club Extras. Show all posts

Friday, 19 March 2021

Book Club | January - March Roundup

 

 

How We're Using Our 2021 Book Club List

When we introduced this year's BB book club we encouraged anyone taking part to use the list of prompts in whatever way best suited their reading habits. Whether it be simply trying to tick off all 24 prompts by 31st December 2021, selecting your favourite 12 and tackling one each month across the year, or even using them to create bingo sheets, there are lots of ways to get involved. So how have some of Team BB's members chosen to use the list?

Anjali: While I'm not sure I'll be able to cross off all the prompts, I'm definitely trying! Though I'm definitely slotting the books I'm reading into the prompts, rather than choosing a book to read that's based on a prompt. It's working so far, and out of the 7 books I've read so far this year, I've only not been able to slot one book in.

I have a few more books on the go at the time of this post, so I'll be ticking a few more off the list in the next week or so!

Erin: I'm hoping to cross off all of this year's prompts! With the books I've read so far I could have completed a few more already but I've chosen to only purposefully tackle around two per month, and similarly to Anjali I’m not currently specifically picking out books only because they fit the prompts.

After reading a few books in the autobiography/memoir category through the first couple of months of 2021, and having a bunch more on my TBR, as an additional challenge I've also chosen to try and complete this particular prompt every month throughout 2021.


What Have We Read So Far?


Anjali

With Foiling On The Cover: The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

On Your TBR For Over A Year: This monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

With A Face On The Cover: Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

A 2021 Release: Game Changer by Neal Shusterman 

500+ Pages: Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare

A 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Winner Or Nominee: The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
 

Erin

A 2021 Release: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

With A Face On The Cover: Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

A 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Winner Or Nominee: The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Set At Or Featuring A Wedding: Majesty by Katharine McGee

A Murder Mystery: This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston

Bonus Challenge - books that fall into the Autobiography/Memoirs genre read so far include:

  1. We're Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union
  2. Straight Outta Crawley by Romesh Ranganathan
  3. To Be A Gay Man by Will Young
  4. As Good As It Gets by Romesh Ranganathan

 

If you're joining in with our 2021 book club we would love to hear from you! Leave a comment or contact us on Instagram (@bloggersbookshelf) to let us know which prompts you've crossed of and the books you've chosen to read.

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Monday, 14 December 2020

Features | 5 Popular Authors To Read For Our December Book Club


In case you missed our previous post, our final book club prompt for 2020 is to read a book by an author whose work you've never read before. We recently shared the two Young Adult titles Anjali and Erin have chosen to read, but if you're still stuck for ideas today's post is for you!

Below you'll find a short list of five authors whose work comes recommended by Team BB. We've selected a few names who have written multiple books we've enjoyed and listed our top picks, but we feel like you could pick up any title by one of these authors and it's sure to be a great read. Of course these are just a few suggestions and we couldn't include every amazing author we would recommend so if you've already read works by all five of the authors listed, why not visit the BB archives for more inspiration?

 

1. Juno Dawson 

First up we have Juno Dawson, author of a whole range of amazing YA novels, as well as non-fiction titles on topics such as sexuality, gender and mental health. Juno has been a firm Team BB favourite since the early days of our blog but if you haven't yet read her work now is the time!

Our top pick: Meat Market (2019)

2. Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo's latest release the amazing Clap When You Land was a huge success this year, winning the author a whole host more fans as well as a Gooreads Choice Award! Acevedo has a performing arts and slam poetry background which shines through in the lyrical way her novels are written.

Our top pick: With The Fire On High (2019)

3. Morgan Matson

Another YA author we love is Morgan Matson, whose contemporary tales feature everything from road trips to big family weddings, scavenger hunts and of course romance along the way. Whilst many of her books would be considered perfect for summer, we still think she would be a great choice for our December book club.

Our top pick: Since You've Been Gone (2014)

4. Taylor Jenkins Reid 

We couldn't write this roundup without including Taylor Jenkins Reid, another author whose work several members of Team BB have read and loved in recent years. Jenkins Reid has a way of making her characters and stories feel so realistic she might even have you taking to Google to find out more about Daisy Jones or Evelyn Hugo!

Our top pick: The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo (2017)

 

5. Neal Shusterman

With so many books to his name we're sure that you will have heard of Neal Shusterman's work before but if you've managed not to pick up a copy of Unwind, Scythe or Challenger Deep yet why not make time this month? We love how Shusterman always finds unique ways to discuss some really interesting topics through his popular YA titles.

Our top pick: Scythe (2016)


Whether you choose one of the authors listed above or not, if you join in with this month's book club prompt don't forget to share your photos and/or mini book reviews with us over on Instagram using #bloggersbookshelf

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Sunday, 10 May 2020

Features | 2020 Book Club Illustration Challenge (January - April)


Back in January I decided that I wanted to set myself an extra book club challenge for 2020. Alongside reading books to fit our list of monthly prompts I wanted to also create a design/pattern inspired by each one and share them over on my Instagram account @sawyerandscoutdesign. As we're now over a third of the way through the year, I thought it might be nice to share a roundup of the designs so far, with a little bit about the process of creating each one.


January - A Book By An Author You Love

Inspired by: After I Do (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

When I was thinking abut ideas for my January design I had just watched a brilliant Skillshare class from Teela Cunnigham to learn the basics of Procreate. The class included four projects, one of which showed how to create this type of decorated lettering design with florals. I had so much fun with the class project that I decided to use the technique for my book club piece too, and have used it on many other occassion since as it's such an enjoyable process!

I knew that I wanted to keep to some sort of colour palette for these book club pieces throughout the year and so the colours used here determined what that palette would be for the rest of 2020. I'm still really happy with how this one turned out, although less happy about how much the quality seems to have been affected when uploading to Instagram! As I have discovered a love for creating this type of design, and find them very relaxing to work on, I have a feeling this may not be the only piece in this style for the book club project.



February - A Book With A Tree or Leaves On The Cover

Inspired by: A Place For Us (Fatima Farheen Mirza)

For my February design I wanted to take direct inspiration from the cover of the book as it related to the prompt, and also really liked the idea of it representing the family tree as the book itself is centred around a family.

I really struggled with how to use my newly created colour palette for this design, and made various versions in different colour combinations before finally settling on a simple blue and pink palette. For the lettering, I drew up my own letters for the book title, something I hadn't tried before... as you can probably tell by how shaky and uneven they are! I think that the piece would have looked much better without the lettering, and perhaps with a few more details added into the branches, so I may at some point revisit it and create an updated version. As you'll see from the next two designs, this was the point where I realised I may not want to include the book titles and authors in every month's design.



March - A Book About Siblings

Inspired by: The Most Fun We Ever Had (Claire Lombardo)

I had been wanting to draw up a pattern using ginkgo leaves for a while (they're just so pretty!) so of course I jumped at the opportunity to do so for my March design inspired by The Most Fun We Ever Had. A ginkgo tree in the garden of the family home is mentioned several times throughout the novel, and both cover designs I've seen include ginkgo leaves in some way too.

As mentioned above, this was the month I firmly decided that I didn't want to include the book's title and author in each piece as the pattern felt like a strong enough design on it's own. Again, I played around with various colour combinations, but in the end really liked the idea of highlighting one of the leaves in each bunch with a pop of yellow. This is another design I think that I may revisit, perhaps using a different colour palette, in future.



April - Written By A POC

Inspired by: Pig Heart Boy (Malorie Blackman)

I had a vision for April's design even before I had picked up the book, but honestly I really struggled to bring it to life. I've never drawn a heart before (as you can probably tell!) and also wanted to experiment with using a bit more texture and shading. I really enjoyed using different brushes in Procreate to add a little depth and texture to the initial line drawing and would definitely use this technique again.

At first, I wasn't sure about how it had turned out. I couldn't decided whether it needed more detail/florals in the background and I can certainly see a few mistakes/bits I would change, but after sitting with it for a while I actually quite like it. This piece needed to feature a heart as the main focus, and I think I managed to achieve that, even if it isn't perfect!
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Friday, 8 May 2020

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid | Review


Erin was right, The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is a great read.

In 2019, Erin reviewed The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, and I have to admit, while I enjoyed reading the review, as I do all our reviews, I didn't think I'd ever pick up this book. Historical fiction isn't a genre I usually spend much time in (unless it's YA historical fiction), nor is the adult genre in general. I'm definitely a Young Adults sort of reader, with a love for fantasy, too. But not general/contemporary adult fiction.

But then our Blogger's Bookshelf book club theme for May is 'a book with a number in the title' and I didn't have any books on my shelves that met the criteria that I hadn't already read. 'Perhaps it's time', I thought. 'Time to give Evelyn a chance.' I'm so glad I did.

You can head back over to Erin's review to find out a little more about the book, as I don't want to repeat things. But I did just want to make a few comments.

“Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.”

Like I said, I'm not a big reader of the genres this book fits into usually, but from the first pages I was drawn into the story. In fact I actually started this book before the book club for May began (oops shh), and I did so accidentally. I had it on my Kindle and clicked open the first page and read it ... and found it very hard to put down. There were many nights in a row where I read for too long and spent too much time in the story.

For the most part, The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is a classic Hollywood tale, one you'd definitely see on the big screen. A beautiful girl wanting to be big in the film industry, does whatever she can to get there, even if that includes lying, cheating, sleeping, and marrying her way to the top. She makes it, of course she does, because she's strong and determined and passionate about chasing her dreams. But at what cost?

It was quite different to what I was expecting - although if you asked me what I was expecting, I don't think I could give you an answer - but it was captivating and heartbreaking all the same. While there was an ongoing question throughout the tale, I knew what it was going to be before it was revealed in the last few pages, and knew the answer from the moment a key character was introduced. Nevertheless it was still stunningly done, and I have to commend Reid on her writing and storytelling.

What I found most captivating about this book, and Erin mentions it in her review too, was the characters. Reid has this way of writing her characters with such depth it's like they were actually real people. While many characters were uncomfortable and unlikable, there were some that I really enjoyed reading about ... which of course made it all the more heart wrenching when those characters were ripped away. (If that seems like a spoiler, it's not really. The book covers Evelyn's entire life from when she was a young girl to the moment she employs a writer for her biography - it's a 70 something year timeline, people are going to die.)

In case it wasn't clear from the beginning, I really enjoyed The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, so much so that I'm going to check out some of Taylor Jenkins Reid's other books. Luckily, Daisy Jones and the Six has a number in it too, so I might just read another for book club!

Have you read The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo? What did you think?
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Monday, 4 May 2020

Features | 12 Ideas For Our May Book Club Theme


 Photo by Daily Nouri on Unsplash

There are so many different options for this month's BB book club theme 'with a number in the title' so I thought it might be fun to share a few suggestions. For today's post I scrolled through my Goodreads shelves to find recommended titles with numbers 0 through 11 in them (all of the books listed below I rated between 3 and 5 stars) and I even managed to sneak a few all time favourites in there too! I've also included links to reviews available in the BB archives if you'd like to find out more about any of these titles.

0. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Instead of kicking off this list by starting at 1, I wanted to include a recommendation for 0 too. If you haven't yet read Malorie Blackman's popluar YA dystopian series Noughts and Crosses, now is the perfect time! Not only does the first book in the series fit in with our book club prompt this month, but the BBC adaptation was also released recently so you can read the book and binge the TV show too; win-win!

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I can't quite remember why I picked up a copy of Ready Player One back in 2012, but I do know I'm glad that I did. This Science Fiction title quickly became one of my favourites and is still a book I often recommend to people today. I haven't yet listened to the audiobook version, but I think this story would be amazing in that format too.

2. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Okay, okay I may be cheating with this one since it's not technically a 2 in the tile, but second definitely contains a number if you imagine it as 2nd, and we encourage you to interpret the book club prompts however you wish! There's just something about Morgan Matson's books that I really enjoy, and you can find out a little bit more about this one in an Author Spotlight post from our archives.

3. Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food Love, edited by Caroline Tung Richmond and Elsie Chapman

I picked up this short story collection last year after being drawn in by the beautiful cover design. In this YA short story collection, all of the tales are connected by the fact that they are set within the same restaurant/cafe area. As with every anthology, there were some stories I enjoyed much more than others, but overall it's a great little collection. Just make sure you have snacks ready because all of the food talk is bound to make you hungry!

4. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

For this pick, I dug way back into my Goodreads archives to 2013. This book was hugely popular upon it's release and I remember lots of bloggers and YouTubers talking about it which is probably what encouraged me to buy a copy. As I said in my review, this book is one for book lovers but also those who love technology and typography. I'm even tempted to put this on my 'to-be-re-read' list!

5. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

One of my more recent reads was the latest release from Rebecca Serle, which has likely been popping up all over your Instagram feed lately. The book is a contemporary tale which follows Dannie who falls asleep one night as normal, only to wake up and find herself five years in the future. Whilst at first she thinks it must have all just been a strange dream, she quickly realises that this might not be the case.

6. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

There's only one book that comes to mind when I think of those with a 6 in the title and that's Daisy Jones and the Six! This novel is made up of interviews with members of a popular 70's band and is a fictional tale that manages to feel 100% real. I would highly recommend the audiobook version of this one (I plan on listening to it again this month!), although it's a fantastic story in any format.

7. The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Similarly to Daisy Jones, this is another work of fiction with characters that feel very realistic and is such an addictive read. Here we follow Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo who decides it's time to tell the truth about her rise to fame and the many marriages that made newspaper headlines throughout her career. Again, I would highly recommend the audiobook version of this one if you can get hold of it.

8. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I haven't yet finished reading this trilogy (I have the editon with all three books in one and it's a lot of pages) but I really enjoyed the first part of the story as it felt very unique. If you haven't yet read any of Murakami's books, 1Q84 could be a good place to start!

9. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Taking place at a health resort this novel follows nine strangers as they head to what they think is set to be a perfect spa experience, but of course things aren't exactly as they seem. I didn't enjoy this one as much as Big Little Lies as there were a few bits that were a little too over the top for me, but it was still a good read overall and I know a lot of people thoroughly enjoyed it.

10. Ten by Gretchen McNeil

This YA murder mystery style novel is a tale inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None which sees two best friends travel to an island to attend an exclusive party which quickly turns into a nightmare. With the mystery element and creepy setting, this is a read you're sure to fly through.

11. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

My final pick for this list is Station Eleven, another title which was very popular upon it's release back in 2014. Following a selection of characters as they try to navigate a post-apocolyptic world, I remember thinking that this one was such an interesting read. If you like dystopian novels, Station Eleven is the one for you.

If you do join in with our book club this month, don't forget to let us know which book/s you're reading by tagging @bloggersbookshelf or using #bloggersbookshelf on Instagram.
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Saturday, 17 November 2018

Six of Crows Duology | Leigh Bardugo | Review


A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

If you missed it, this month's Book Club book is The Language of Thorns, by Leigh Bardugo. It's a short story collection with beautiful images throughout, telling the fairy-tale-like stories from the Grishaverse. What's the Grishaverse, you ask? It's this incredible land that Leigh Bardugo has created, and subsequently has written quite a few tales about.

While I read and loved the Grisha Triology (Shadow and Bone, Seige and Storm, Ruin and Rising), the Six of Crows Duology are now probably two of my favourite books. Instead of a review of both books in this duology, I thought I'd give you my over feelings about a few different aspects, treating the story as done, rather than two.

Setting

Being a part of the Grishaverse we get to dive right back into this incredible, but it's based out of a city we didn't get too much of in the Grisha trilogy: Ketterdam.

If you've ever fall into a fantasy world and struggled to get out of it, then  you the wonders of returning to a land you're familiar with, just with different characters, plot and tone. That's what it was like for me returning in Six of Crows. I already loved the world that Bardugo had created when I read Shadow and Bone so coming back to that was such a treat. The hustle and bustle of Ketterdam is different than that of the other cities, it's a bit rougher, the people are a bit more suspect and the feeling on the whole is a bit darker. But just as epic.

Characters

The characters in Six of Crows duology are absolutely brilliant. Kaz is the leader, but he's not quite the typical leader you might expect - he's got an attitude like no one else, he can be a bit of you-know-what at times, and he has a physical disability and walks with a cane. But he's an excellent, strong leader, with a sharp mind and incredible scheming skills. The others in the group all have their backstories, their quirks and their strong personalities. There's a lot of growth over the course of the story, and it was a joy to read.

Plot

Both books involve a getting-in and getting-out quick kind of story line. They're engaging, and entertaining, dangerous and full of challenges that you're just hoping the team can get through. It's a fantasy heist story like no other, and it's one that I want to re-read, for sure.

Have you read the Six of Crows Duology? 
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Friday, 13 July 2018

BB Book Club | UK vs USA Book Title Changes

If you missed this month’s Book Club announcement, we’re reading Alexander McCall Smith’s book, Portuguese Irregular Verbs. Head on back to that original post to get an overview of what it’s about.

In short, it’s a book about a philology professor (philology is the study of written language), and his adventures. As part of July’s language-y theme, I thought it would be fun to look at some of the ways in which language works in the books we read. In a recent post called Book Titles In Other Languages, we took a look at the changes that book titles go through when they’re being translated into or out of English. 

In my research for that post I found quite a few book titles that didn’t change between languages, but rather changed across English itself, most commonly between the United Kingdom and the United States (and sometimes Canada, though Canada titles and US titles were often the same). 

A book's title will change when it is being published in a new country for a few reasons; the words aren't relevant or don't mean the same thing as they do in the original country, if it's a saying that's not well known or used in the new country then it might change, the overall concept is slightly different, or the publishers think it'll do better with an altered name. 

Check out this infographic of UK vs USA book titles that have changed names as they’ve travelled over the Atlantic. 


A few honourable mentions:

P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie have numerous titles between them that have changed.

Jenny Nimmo, the English author who wrote the Charlie Bone series, also had ‘Charlie Bone and the’ added to the beginning of most American versions, as well as a multitude of other alterations.

Further afield, Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally was originally called Schindler’s Ark, and was changed when the Australian novel was released in America. 

Can you think of anymore? Perhaps it’s an Australian or New Zealand novel that’s been changed up for the English or American market? Do share! 
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Friday, 29 June 2018

BB Book Club | Book Titles In Other Languages

Mongolian edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*

While we haven't started reading it yet (although high-fives all round if you have!) July's Book Club pick is Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith. You can find the BB Book Club July announcement here, but in short, the book tells the tale of a professor of philology, the study of written words and language.

In keeping with a language theme, and before we dive into the 128-page story, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the books we know and love, and check out their translated titles. Book titles that are translated often have completely different titles than the original, and this happens for a few reasons: the translated language simply doesn't have a word that means the same thing as the original language word, or the phrase, metaphor, simile or structure of the original version doesn't translate well, or turns into waffle in the new language.

Some of the book titles I'm sharing today have been translated from their original language into English, and some have gone the other way. One is similar to the original English version, but for the most part, the translation has made a big difference.
philology - noun: // the study of literary texts and of written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning.

1 | The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green


The Macedonian translation of this well-loved Young Adult novel by John Green is 'The World is not a Factory for Fulfilling Wishes'. The original title, if you remember the story, is an altered version of a quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, when the character Cassius says: "the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars." In this context, one interpretation says that it is not fate that drives people to their decisions, but rather simply being human, and all that comes with that. Green takes the quote and changes it in TFIOS, the meaning being altered to infer that the fault most definitely is in our stars; there are some things that happen in life that are thrown upon us, with no fault of our own (like cancer in the story). The Macedonian translation, then, doesn't really have the same meaning, nor the same catchy nod to Shakespeare.

2 | Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer


While the original English title doesn't really make too much sense - I guess Twilight is when the sun goes down? Vampires, sun, Edward sparkling etc - but the French translation is 'Fascination'. Um. I guess that's true?

3 | Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver


Short, simple, makes sense in English. The German title of this YA story is 'When You Die, Your Entire Life Passes Before Your Eyes, They Say'. Long, with commas, and I guess it makes sense in German.

4 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson


Originally published in Swedish, the title was 'Men Who Hate Women'. When it was translated into English in the American market, it was changed. This has to big one of the biggest book title changes in recent history. The whole focus of the title changes from a man-centred one to a woman-centred title.

5 | The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien


There have been many translations that have been a bit iffy when it comes to Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, but the Swedish translation of 'The Hobbit' is 'The Hompen'. To make it funnier, some of the main characters, locations and creatures were renamed, including poor Biblo Baggins, whose named changed to Bimbo Backlin. In fact, there was a lot of funny translations in The Hobbit - you can find them here. Even just a skim read of this article will have you picking up the Swedish changes.

While we may laugh at the translated versions of some of these books, it's important to remember that it goes both ways: an original title in a language other than English might not work if it's translated to English. Every language has different sayings, different meanings, and a different culture driving the way the language works, so a translation is never going to be spot on.

And, after all that, these titles I've shared have been translated back into English so we can enjoy them. We may have missed the meaning behind some of them, too.

Do you know any other books that have different translated titles? Feel free to share them! 

*Photo by Anjali; shows Mongolian edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the translation of which reads pretty much the same as the English. Don't mess with Rowling! 
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Thursday, 7 June 2018

BB Book Club | Some iconic Meet Cute's from other books

In honour of our book club book of the month, Meet Cute, I thought I'd bring to you some of my favourite iconic meetings of characters that I've read so far. The thing about books is most the time characters have met before, so rarely do we have meet-cute scenes especially in YA, it's all about the story and the journey characters have together.

In film and television, a meet cute is a scene in which a future romantic couple meets for the first time.


5. Maddy and Olly in Everything, Everything. Hello, if you could meet and technically not meet at the same time while still being adorably cute this is it. Friendship formed with a sheet of glass in between.

4. Louisa and Will in Me Before You. Or should I say the scene where we fell in love with Louisa and her awkwardness and really wanted to love Will but couldn't? Literally the whole world went crazy about this couple for a few months and their first meeting was far from perfect - and I think that's what makes it so great.

3. Elena and Gabe and Troy in Kindred Spirits. If there was ever a perfect meet-cute bonding over a fandom in 60 perfect pages it would be this. Not all meet-cute's involve two people, some involve three people and a cold sidewalk outside a cinema. If you haven't read this piece of cuteness you should, you don't even have to like Star Wars to love it.

2. Number two is actually many a meet-cute if I say Count Olaf you may know what I mean. Not all meet-cute's result in love, some result in hate. Obviously in A Series of Unfortunate Events, the first time the Baudelaires and Count Olaf meet is the most iconic moment in the series and it's the first time we meet Count Olaf too. But why this is so high on the list is the number of times the Baudelaires and Count Olaf first meet in his many disguises we could almost lose count.

1. Finally, at number one is one of the most iconic meeting's of all: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Who can deny the thousands of memes displaying the famously made up version of the conversation between the two - "And you are?" "Your future Husband". Hot damn, I'm not a super Romione shipper but how can you deny that first step in what will be one hell of a journey for the two of them.


These are just some of the few I could remember but yours would probably be different - so let me know! What do you think is the most iconic meet-cute scene? 


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Wednesday, 7 March 2018

BB Book Club | Links Inspired By Broadcast

broadcast liam brown

As we announced last week, this month's BB book club pick is Liam Brown's Broadcast, a novel which explores the topics of social media and living our lives online. The book follows popular vlogger David, who is presented with a unique opportunity to expand his audience and be the first star of a new show called MindCast where his every thought, feeling and memory is live-streamed to the world.

Whilst we may not all be YouTube stars like David, most of us have and regularly use at least one social media account - it's just a part of modern life, right? We know that many of our readers are fellow bloggers used to sharing snippets of their lives online whether it be opinions on books or more personal posts but how much more are we sharing without even realising?
"We're talking about creating a limitless universe inside each and every person's head. A truly inclusive utopia for all. A virtual heaven, right here on Earth." - Broadcast, p178
Perhaps at first the ideas explored in Broadcast seem far-fetched, and luckily no one is asking us to undergo surgery to implant microchips into our brains... yet. However advances in technology mean it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a balance between the online and offline worlds and many elements of David's story feel unsettlingly close to reality.

As an additional post for this month's book club I thought it might be interesting to create a Bookish Links style roundup with a bit of a Broadcast-inspired twist. Instead of sharing all things bookish, today's post is full of links related to the subjects and themes explored in our March book club pick.

broadcast liam brown

To Read...

1. In this post Sali Hughes shares her experience of realising she was addicted to her smartphone and how she's tackled the problem.

2. This discussion explores the idea of privacy in the modern world and how we're sharing much more online than we may believe. There's also links included which will take you straight to the related TED talks from those contributing to the article.

3. If you've ever settled in for a relaxing evening with a good book only to be distracted by your phone you'll find Janine's post incredibly relatable.

4. Fitness tracker style bands feature in the novel and this article has some interesting information on the future of wearables.

5. Teen Vogue shared an article looking at the link between social media and anxiety.

6. For a longer read take a look at this article from The Guardian which discusses smartphone addiction, how tech companies can keep us hooked on social media and what all of this may mean for the future.

To Watch...

1. In this TED talk Zeynep Tufekci discusses algorithms, the data social media websites such as Facebook and YouTube are collecting and how this is used to influence the ads we see online.

2. Another TED talk to add to your watch list is Sherry Turkle's 2012 talk about her changing opinion on the internet and how we are both connected and alone all at once.

3. As the book's cover suggests, the story will appeal to fans of the anthology series Black Mirror (available to watch on Netflix). Season 1's Fifteen Million Merits and season 3's Nosedive in particular explore similar themes.

To Listen To...

1. Manipulation is a TED Radio Hour episode which includes a section from Tristan Harris that explores the idea of our devices controlling our lives.

2. Technology has come a long way since the 90's when Jennifer Ringley set up a website uploading a black and white webcam image from her apartment every fifteen minutes, allowing the whole world to watch her every move. In this early epsiode of Reply All Alex talks to her about the experience.

3. In the book all of David's thoughts are broadcast live to the world. This episode of Invisiblia titled The Secret History Of Thoughts looks at dark thoughts in particular - what do they really mean and how much control do we have over them?

4. The final link of this roundup is a podcast episode from Stuff They Don't Want You To Know which looks at how much the internet really knows about us and what happens when you 'delete' things online.

If you're reading our March book club pick don't forget to send us your feedback on the book via this Google form by 23rd March.

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