Michelle

New thread started for new era.

That's all you need to do, post a reply in this thread. (Just in case it's not clear, one person will win all five books)

168 views, and only 4 entries? Free books people!

Each competition will state if it's in the UK only, or International - this is usually dependant on who is supplying the prize(s). Each competition will state a closing date, and usually a random draw will be made straight after this date. The winners will be posted on the forum, and I will attempt to contact you for your details. If there is no response after 3 days, I will draw another name (unless there are other time limits, such as from a publisher). Admins and moderators are usually eligible to enter, as I arrange the comps myself. If there is an exception to this, it will be made clear. If you have any queries, please feel free to ask.

Recently we’ve made some tweaks and changes to the forum. Considering the popularity of social media, we’ve shifted the emphasis onto personal reading logs, social reads and general book discussions. The ‘library shelves’ are still there, if you want to discuss a particular author, book or genre, but the heart of our community are readers chatting about their reading. The lovely people at Hodderscape have kindly agreed to help us relaunch the forum with a fantastic competition. The Hodderscape team are on facebook and twitter, and they also love talking about books! So, what so we have on offer? Red Rising by Pierce Brown The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity’s last hope. Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it’s all al lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought. Until the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield – and Darrow isn’t the only student with an agenda. TimeBomb by Scott K Andrews (proof copy) New York City, 2141: Yojana Patel throws herself off a skyscraper, but never hits the ground. Cornwall, 1640: Gentle young Dora Predennick, newly come to Sweetclover Hall to work, discovers a badly-burnt woman at the bottom of a flight of stairs. When she reaches out to comfort the dying woman, she’s flung through time. On a rainy night in present-day Cornwall, seventeen-year-old Kaz Cecka sneaks into the long-abandoned Sweetclover Hall, in search of a dry place to sleep. Instead he finds a frightened housemaid who believes Charles I is king and an angry girl who claims to come from the future. Thrust into the centre of a war that spans millennia, Dora, Kaz and Jana must learn to harness powers they barely understand to escape not only villainous Lord Sweetclover but the forces of a fanatical army… all the while staying one step ahead of a mysterious woman known only as Quil Smiler’s Fair by Rebecca Levene Smiler’s Fair: the great moving carnival where any pleasure can be had, if you’re willing to pay the price. They say all paths cross at Smiler’s Fair. They say it’ll change your life. For five people, Smiler’s Fair will change everything. In a land where unimaginable horror lurks in the shadows, where the very sun and moon are at war, five people – Nethmi, the orphaned daughter of a murdered nobleman, who in desperation commits an act that will haunt her forever. Dae Hyo, the skilled warrior, who discovers that a lifetime of bravery cannot make up for a single mistake. Eric, who follows his heart only to find that love exacts a terrible price. Marvan, the master swordsman, who takes more pleasure from killing than he should. And Krish, the humble goatherd, with a destiny he hardly understands and can never accept – will discover just how much Smiler’s Fair changes everything. A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgewick If life has taught me one thing, it is this: that the worst monsters are entirely human. It began in a hole in the ground, in Paris, in the days after the liberation. What I saw there I saw only for the time it takes a match to burn down, and yet it decided the rest of my life. I tried to forget it at first, to ignore it, but I could not. It came back to me; he came back to me. He hurt people I loved… And so I took the first step on a journey from which there would be no return; a path that led me to fear, to hatred and to revenge – but, above all else, to blood. Rooms by Lauren Oliver A compulsive and powerful ghost story narrated by two spirits who inhabit the walls of an old house. It’s a tale of family, ghosts, secrets, and mystery, in which the lives of the living and the dead intersect in shocking, surprising, and moving ways. Yes, that’s FIVE books – as well as a Hodderscape Dodo Keyring! All for one person! All you need to do is take a look at the books, and tell me, as a reply in this thread, which one you would choose to read first. Alternatively, if you've already read and enjoyed any of them, let me know why, or leave your review. This is for our existing members as well as new, but as always, if you're a Supporter, you'll get a double entry. It’s UK only I’m afraid, as the publishers are sending out direct. (I’m trying to arrange something for the rest of you, so stay tuned!) Closing date is midnight 30th August 2014. When you’re done, make sure you visit Hodderscape: Website: www.hodderscape.co.uk Twitter: @hodderscape Facebook: www.facebook.com/hodderscape

That's the lovely thing about twitter - you can follow who you want, and you don't have to post at all if you don't want to. JUst make sure you follow @bookclubforum

For those of you expecting the usual post-apocalyptic read, I've lifted a couple of quotes from reviews.. Emily St. John's writing has a real literary feel to it, I love how she subtly poses questions for the reader to mull over, sometimes providing answers and other times, leaving them open. Station Eleven is an interesting read that I think a lot of people will be talking about. http://dot-scribbles.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/book-review-station-eleven-by-emily-st.html Station Eleven is, in many ways, a love letter. It's a love letter to the earth and the civilisation we know now and that we take for granted in many ways - the earth and civilisation that is the past in Station Eleven. It's a love letter to the resilience of humankind, and its ability to cope with the end of the world. And it's a love letter to creativity and art, one framed within a beautifully written piece of work. http://girlreporter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/review-station-eleven-by-emily-st-john.html

Following our tweaks and changes, we have some new competitions, starting off with FIVE chances to win a copy of Station Eleven. An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse. DAY ONE The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb. News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%. WEEK TWO Civilization has crumbled. YEAR TWENTY A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe. But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild. STATION ELEVEN Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'. Thrilling, unique and deeply moving, this is a beautiful novel that asks questions about art and fame and about the relationships that sustain us through anything - even the end of the world. ----- Station Eleven has been taking Twitter by storm, even before publication, and the lovely people at Pan Macmillan are offering a chance for you to get your hands on a copy. To be in with a chance, simply imagine a society where society has collapsed, electricity has gone, transport stopped etc - what do you think you'd miss the most? Reply here, and I'll enter your name into the draw. UK only I'm afraid, , as copies are coming from the publisher. Closing date midnight on Sat 23rd August.

Ah, but I didn't mention the trilogy, just Divergent.

I've just come on to mention Patrick Ness - A Monster Calls and More Than This are fabulous! It's hard to recommend YA, as different people like different types... so.. some of my favourites.. Anything by James Dawson - his books are all rather different, but tend to have a dark theme.. horror, murder etc Anything by Cat Clarke - she writes contemporary YA with some really good twists and ideas. A recent favourite was The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale. The Hunger Games and Divergent. We Were Liars by E Lockhart Terra by Mitch Benn (although this is a kinda kids/YA/adult crossover!)

What a brilliant day!

I certainly can't come up with just one! i will be posting something, but later on.

I know - I can't really pick a best YA. I may have to come up with a few!

It all sounds awesome frankie! Enjoy the library!

Aug 18th - I read it to impress (&did it?) Hmm.. I don't think I've ever read anything to impress anyone. Anyone else?

I think the problem may be with titles such as Most beautifully designed book - I keep thinking that I need to keep thinking to come up with the best. So, I'm going to block words like that, and think A beautifully designed book. Of course, saying that, I can't think of anything!

With the formal reading circles coming to a close (at least for a while) we thought we'd open up something which can be used by everyone. Do you have a book which two or more of you would like to read together.. or even a series? Please use this section to arrange this, and of for the actual discussions. It's a new section, and so we're not setting any specific rules. Hopefully as you start to use it, it will evolve into something useful and well used.

Please post further book news in the new section here: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/61-book-news/ Separate threads will help discussion continue and the topic not to be hidden by the next piece of news.

This is just to let everyone know that the reading circles as they are will be finishing after the September one. Don't worry though, we have good things planned.

As I've said before, there's a difference between writing a critique, which to me is an in depth look into a book, and a review, which is a (spoiler-free) overview of a book. The latter is what I read, and is aimed at readers who are considering the book.

I like the idea of graphic novels, but I'm quite fussy. I have The Walking Dead Compendiums which I like, and I recently reviewed this one: http://bcfreviews.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/the-truth-is-a-cave-in-the-black-mountains-by-neil-gaiman/

Yesterday was Best quick read and today is Best long read... there must be lots of ideas for these two?

That sounds excellent, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I think everyone was shocked to hear today of the death of Robin Williams, a great sadness that he gave so much and yet felt the need to take his own life. May he be in peace now. I wanted to celebrate his life, and his films, as I'm sure many have different favourites. So to start, mine include Hook, Awakenings, Jumanji, The Fisher King.. and my absolute favourite, Dead Poet's Society. I also remember watching Mork and Mindy. "Oh captain, my captain."

I'd love to be able to create something similar in clay or plasticine or something, so I could keep it.. but I have no talent in that way!