Simone’s Comments (group member since Apr 13, 2020)

Simone’s comments from the The Nerd Daily Book Club group.

WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT THIS MAGNIFICENT BOOK

Hey gang!
Here's FINALLY the read-along schedule!

Week1: Chapters 1-6
Week2: Chapters 7-11
Week3: Chapters 12-16
Week4 (and a half): Chapters 17-23

Sooo, it's officially September! I hope you all loved the book as much as I do :))
Can't wait to read your reviews! And don't forget to post them to Amazon as well <3

HAPPY TEARS YOU GUYS ❤️💖❤️

Hello Hello!

I am absolutely ecstatic to reveal our September read: A Star Is Bored by the absolutely amazing Byron Lane!

I am sure we will have LOADS of fun with that book!

So settle in and let's bring it!!

100%!!! The whole moving thing and that her brother and mother are not feeling well is just such a huge thing and I WISH Isa would've just told Alex :S on the other side I do understand why she didn't. There is a lot going on, with Alex, his friends, his father, the never ending pressure... but still!

YES!!! Absolutely. I also sometimes get weird vibes from people but when I first read it it definitely made me more aware of what gave me those vibes. I finally realised that it's mostly people staring intently at me I go out of my way to avoid. But I also know what it's like to be avoided and so it just sucks.

Amazing, guys! Keep them coming ❤️ I can’t wait for the q&a next Saturday!

Does anyone have any questions for our fabulous Ismée? 🤗

Also re: Alex thinking Isa is ashamed... I get that. It’s such a problematic situation because Isa has never once thought anything negative about him being Latino but knows her mother. And alex is just so used to being judged that obviously his mind immediately jumps to that :/

YES!!!!! 100% agreed!!! Also the fact of how aware everyone is just breaks my heart.

Like Alex is so young and this is something he has to deal with every single day. The micro aggressions, the looks, the assumptions! And how the police is super ready to charge them with something - anything - it seems until they hear baseball. Because surely only respectable people play baseball? It’s so senseless!

I know why Isa didn’t tell her parents. I think mainly because she KNEW how her mum would react and she probably thought her mum wouldn’t make a scene in public. At the same time I 100% Understand Alex‘ feelings about the whole situation because he‘s back in a place where he feels judged based on the colour of his skin!

I absolutely adore the love story between the two, it is so sweet and hopeful and Ernest and at the same time there are things they are keeping from each other because they feel like they’re in this lovely bubble. Again. I get it.

I just want to protect them at all costs honestly 🙈

HAHA I knew exactly what you meant! I loved that whole scene. The way Isa just pretends she doesn't understand them for the longest time and then BAM. Just gets them idiots telt? Is my favourite thing ever.

I agree about the food. Even though I hate hate hate when people eat smelly food on the train. But I don't care what kind of people. A white person having McDonalts or - god forbid - kebab or Bratwurst on a train is definitely no walk in the park. But the way it's being described makes it so clear that the woman holds her nose, takes her boy further away etc. because of racism. And that, put in our current climate, is such a powerful scene I thought. It's so small but obviously has such an impact on these teenagers and worst of all: Alex sounds like he's used to it and understands it to some degree? There's such defeat in there that makes me so sad.

And yes, Alex not being arrested - for no reason - is because he was with a white passing girl. How sad is that? Even on a different train? Imagine if you were just a Latino on that different train minding your own business and not even knowing what had happened?

SAME. How come we‘re stressed about this? Alex didn’t do anything wrong?! I was honestly so nervous. I love how the book makes it clear that Alex is Latinx and has to deal with racism in such a real way eg. When he thinks about what white people see when they look at him.

Honestly, it’s so brilliantly described the unfairness and the horribleness makes me want to scream!!!

Listen. Happy weeping. Swooning. We will be doing it!

Strangers talking to me on a crammed train? Hell no.

But I thought their meet cute was so nice that I would DEFINITELY be frustrated if I couldn’t talk to Alex the next time I saw him tbh!

Oh and please do post all the questions you have in here.

I‘ll be posting Ismée‘s bio in a couple of days in case you have questions about her work with las musas etc. :)

PLEASE BE THERE TO WATCH ME MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF!!

We‘re currently figuring out a platform but it’ll happen on the 22nd of August 2pm EDT. That’s 6pm CEST, which means 5pm for our British friends 😘

Ooooo the hardback is so pretty though 😍😍 I cant wait to hear what you all think. I‘ll just be sitting here in anticipation because I’ve started early this morning and am already swooning again 🥰🥰

Ahhh hi guys!!! I‘ve also decided on the audio book. I do have the book on my shelf but Haaah the narrators are so lovely and the Spanish and the... love.

How are we feeling about it so far?

I LOVE that the premise is a love story on the subway honestly 🥰

No worries Nicole! We want to be a low-key fun bookclub so no stress allowed! Of course you can join in whenever (or start whenever since noone else has yet announced their participation this month) so take you time, we're not going anywhere <3

Hi Book clubbers!

For this month, we thought it would be important to read a book that in some way elevates Black voices in our community, due to all the issues that have come up, resurfaced and taken over our lives in the past couple of weeks.

We thought: Why elevate one if we can elevate a lot of them, which is how we settled on the unusual format of the short story.

The past few weeks have been important. For all of us. They have been a wake up call for some, a glimpse of light for others and for almost all of us: the start of life-long learning.

The protests for All Black Lives have been a starting point of a long, long journey we must all commit to to make everyone on this planet equal. We know that we learned a lot these past few weeks, we read a lot, we listened a lot and it opened our eyes to so much injustice done in the world.

We would like to hear from you how you experienced the past weeks, what your plan is for moving forward and how you fight racism and inequality on your level because we think it's important that we as a book community take a stand together. Discuss together, talk together.

We would love your thoughts from each and every one of you for what your hopes for the future are and what we can do to achieve them.

Lots of Love,

Mimi & Simone