Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts
1/13/2017
Book Club Reads: January+February
I love me a good book club and while I may be slightly biased about the informal one I created on Goodreads last year I find they motivate me to explore books outside my comfort zone. It also gives me a chance to read material from new (to me) or sometimes debut authors and also discuss them with a wider circle of people. Today we have the first two books selected for my self-named book club, both exploring androgyny and to a degree, masculinity...
Descent of Man by Grayson Perry-A recommendation from Jenna Todd, store manager at Time Out and also the latest selection from Florence Welch for her book club, Between Two Books. As someone who reads a lot of feminist slanted literature, I was really intrigued by the concept of reading something about masculinity. Especially when it is complete with a recommendation from Caitlin Moran, "Grayson Perry for King and Queen of England." It looks at what it means to be masculine and a man in this day and age, as well as exploring the idea that maybe our perception and shaping of masculinity and its facets is due a reworking. I can't wait to read and eventually review this one.
The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman by Navaz Batliwalla-I saw this book when I was holidaying in Melbourne at the end of last year and regretted not grabbing it. Naturally I had to buy it when I got home. The New Garconne is written by the blogger and genius behind Disneyrollergirl which is now one of my favourite corners of the internet. She looks at the history of gentlewoman style as well as interviewing women like Bella Freud among others and then concluding with a consideration of how to achieve this look yourself. I started this book earlier in the week and I am loving it so far. Highly recommend if you're into fashion and understated, chic style
-Have you read these books? What did you think of them?
9/19/2016
4 Online Book Clubs To Join
The Internet can be a bit like the high school cafeteria in many ways, both good and bad. One of its amazing abilities is its tendency to unite likeminded people, sharing common interests and beliefs. We might not always find our people in high school but we more often than not will find them online. Readers and literary enthusiasts can now find their place online too in digital book clubs. Here's some I recommend you cast your eyes over...
Between Two Books-This is one of my favourite online book clubs, and it was established by Florence and the Machine fans. They discovered Florence shared a love for literature and now she recommends the books, along with some of her friends every few months. They have a Facebook page and closed group for discussions but you can also find them here. Some of my favourite books have been past recommendations from the club; The Goldfinch, Not That Kind Of Girl and Just Kids, among others. At the moment they are reading salt and bone which are frustratingly a bit harder to track down but if you can get hold of copies you should.
Austentatious Book Club-Zoe aka readbyzoe established this Jane Austen book club a couple of months ago and already it is brimming with enthusiastic readers. At the moment there are books assigned through to January so if you want to join in you can get organised and obtain the books in advance. Last month they read Pride and Prejudice and they are currently reading Persuasion. I skim-read Persuasion back in Year 13, in fact it's probably not fair to say I skim read it because I remember nothing. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice right now and liking it so far, it's easier to read than I expected which is a bonus.
The Feminist Orchestra Book Club-Jean's book club is another of my favourites and has unearthed some books for me that I might not have read otherwise. I Call Myself A Feminist and Take it as a Compliment in particular are worth reading. The Feminist Orchestra is another one that sets out their books in advance and have assigned books through to the end of the year. While I don't think I'm going to get around to participating in all of the reads, I will definitely be picking up December's book.
Rookie Mag-So this is not strictly a book club but given Rookie post anywhere between 2-3 book posts per month I had to include them. They recommend a range of texts, including plays, diaries and of course the novel. A wide range of themes are often covered too so while you may not always find something to take your interest in their posts, one on sci-fi reads didn't interest me whatsoever, there's plenty of others in the archives. Some of the Rookie interviews that they conduct are great ways to find out about reading material too.
-Are you in any online/offline book clubs? Which ones do you partake in+recommend?
7/08/2016
An Update: Book Clubs and Writing
Hey everyone. TGIF, no really. It's just been one of those weeks. I'm sure we all have them. At least Friday's ending on a high though, I'm off to a Benefit event tonight to see all their new brow offerings. More on that soon, but as Benefit are the queens of brows I imagine it will not disappoint. Today I have a little update for y'all on the book club and some writing I've done lately. How admin-y of me. Anyway, updates...
Book Club: First things, first, Sophie's Book Club needs a new name. I am not a fan of that unoriginal name I coined very, very quickly. If you have suggestions, leave 'em below please! At the moment we are still reading The Girls. I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days and then film/write up (still deciding) a review. At the moment though I like it, but I'm not blown away. That's all I'll say for now. If you want to join the discussion, head here.
Next month, we are reading Ctrl, Alt; Delete by Emma Gannon. It doesn't seem to have been released in NZ but you can buy it online here. If you're in Auckland, you can request it here. I read an extract in one of England's Sunday papers. Unfortunately it seems to be back behind a paywall now but it was brilliant so if you like memoirs with a bit of nostalgia for the big ol' internet thrown in then you might like this one. As for September's book, I'll set up a poll very soon.
Writings: Some of you will know that I also write about fashion+beauty things over on local website FashioNZ. It's a really great place to keep up to date on all the fashion news going on in New Zealand. There's also awesome giveaways and inspiring interviews to keep everyone happy as well. Recently I've done a couple of stories for them: Fascinating Fashion Reads and I interviewed musician+songwriter Anna Coddington about her current collaboration with Trilogy. Check that out here.
I think that's all for now. Have a great weekend guys! I'm hoping to get some blogging things done and maybe have a play with the new Benefit brow bits. Keep an eye on my Insta+Snapchat (both @nanwintour) for all the 'deets. Have a good one, and I'll see you with a fresh new post on Monday!
5/30/2016
The Book Club
I did it, I finally started a lil' book club. After some friends and I became a bit frustrated about cultish young-adult fiction, one of them suggested I start a book club. Then I took the question to Twitter and quite a few of my followers were keen so I bit the bullet and made one. Side note: I refuse to use the phrase "highly requested" because I don't have tons of followers and I dislike that expression. Anyway, Sophie's Book Club, because original names escape me, is a thing and if you want to know more, keep reading...
Sophie's Book Club is over on Goodreads and is going to be a place where we can all discuss books in a friendly environment and hopefully get some engaging and inspiring discussion going. I plan on also doing blog posts about the books we read as well as YouTube videos. Most of the time we'll be reading writing by women, and in fact I think all the books I have in mind so far are by women. They'll be inspiring and thought-provoking, although I am partial to books that are more for escapism than anything else so they may appear as well.
We'll be reading one book per month, starting from July and you can vote in the poll here or just leave a comment below if you're not on Goodreads and I'll add your picks to the tally. The books up for July are; The Girls, Vinegar Girl and Ctrl Alt; Delete. Whichever book comes second in this poll will be our book for August.
I think that covers everything for now. This post is laden with bad book puns so that's surely a sign I need to wrap things up. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments and your votes for July's book. I'll be back Wednesday with a beauty post for you all! More like a paper-themed post on Friday because I brilliantly misread my schedule.
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