Book Loving Kiwis discussion

Hi all,

It's been a while! Back by popular demand (well maybe it's just me haha) the Book Pool Challenge.

The challenge begins on February 1st and finishes at the end of March (2 months). To claim points, please don't start your books from the pool until then.

Sign up by commenting in the thread and choose three books you want to add to the pool. You've got until Jan 31st to do this :) You can join the Challenge after this date, but you will not be able to add books to the pool.

For anyone who hasn't joined in before, or if you just need a refresher, here are the rules:


1. When you sign up pick 3 books you want to be included in the "book pool."

2. You can pick any book released before the challenge has started and that is available in both print and e-book form. If its a book in a series - please only choose the first book in the series. Please no duplicates.

3. Once the challenge starts you will read books from the "pool."

4. At the end of the month whoever has read the most books from the pool is the champion!

Main thing is to read, have fun and maybe discover your new favourite book or author :)

Book Pool:

Participants:

1. Carol She's So Novel - 4
2. Boadicea - 2
3. Darkpool -1
4. Tiffany
5. Nat - 5
6. Erica - 5
7. Kerry - 4
8. Angie - 1
9. Jennifer - 10
10. Zellian - 4
11. Bronwyn - 10
12. Kerri - 3
13. Claude - 5
14. Sharlene
15. Kat - 8
16. Minu
17. Chetna
18. Jessica Athukorala
19. HC
20. Bridget - 2
21. Jess - 3
22. Mikko
23. Kathleen

Scores up to message #229

I'll join! I just need to give the books some thought!

Happy New Year y’all.

For me it’ll be:

Auē by Becky Manawatu

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

The Tally Stick by Karl Nixon

Cheers, Boadicea

Squee! Have been in a bit of a reading slump lately, so this might give me the push I need. Will need to think about some books.

Darkpool wrote: "Squee! Have been in a bit of a reading slump lately, so this might give me the push I need. Will need to think about some books."

Darkpool! Long time no see!

Fun! I’ve not done this before.

My three are:

- Slow Down, You’re Here by Brannavan Gnanalingam (except I haven’t been able to find out whether it’s available as an ebook)
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Victory Park by Rachel Kerr

How does the counting work if someone lists a book you’ve read previously?

Ohhh I’m in again !

Crying in H mart - Michelle zauner

Dropbear - Evelyn avaluen

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

Great to see some new faces joining in, and a great selection of books already :)
Tiffany, in answer to your question if you've read a book in the pool already then just skip it. So far we've never had anyone close to reading all the books.

I'm also joining in of course, still thinking about which books to add :)

I'm in for the ride.

My three:
City of Spies by Mara Timon
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
The Calling by Fleur Beale

Ok my three books for the pool are :

1. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

2. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

3. The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey

Just a tip - if there are any new releases on the list and you want to get them from the library in Feb/March it might be worth checking the library now to put the book on reserve - there may be a queue of people already waiting for the book :)

I'm keen, will have a think about books to add.

Oh I might need to switch out drop bear and nightingale which are not widely available .

Can I change them too

Love stories by Trent Dalton

And


Almond : a novel
by Son, Wŏn-p'yŏng

Sure thing Nat :) I'll make the changes tomorrow

Also where are you all based around the country ? I’m in welly ✌️

My picks are:

The Trees by Percival Everett

The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde

Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka

The Last Wild Horses is marked as the 3rd in a series but they are stand-alone climate fiction novels so hopefully an OK selection, but if not could I add The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay.

I’m really keen! Will consider my three choices. I’m in Wellington 😊

Hi Angie, I agree those Maja Lunde books can be considered stand alone so will add that to the pool :)

I'm also based in Wellington :)

Nat wrote: "Oh I might need to switch out drop bear and nightingale which are not widely available .

Can I change them too

Love stories by Trent Dalton

And


Almond : a novel
by Son, Wŏn-p'yŏng"

I've made that switch :)

So excited for this! I have always loved the Book Pool events, I find it helps me to try something new or different that I never would have forced myself to read as well as bump up the number for the book reading goal.

My three picks - I've decided to go for two physical books that are sitting in my massive pile and one eBook that I have tagged that's available from the Auckland Libraries (and hopefully available for everyone else).
My picks are a bit along the YA/Juvenile/Teen reads, they're also smaller on the page count side so hopefully if you're just needing something a bit light I've picked well for you :)

I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher

Awesome pics Zellian. That's also what I love about the book pool - such a range of different reads to try :)

Here are my choices off my 'to read' list :)

The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Thanks Erica

Also could you remind me on mobile phone how I can type the book so it hyperlinks to the novel like you all have in comments .

I'm in
I'll think about books and add in a few days
Claude

Hi Nat, I'm not sure how to do the links on the phone app sorry. I do it using my laptop.

Hi Nat - you need to change from the app to the website version. I think you can select this on the bottom of the screen somewhere. I can see it on mine in the bottom right hand corner under the App Store logo.

Okay, 1 book nominated for now and I’ll add others if I can find some that suit my requirements.
It's like this, you see…
• I read on Kindle. I buy these books.
• I like to support NZ authors, You’ll know that if you follow my FlaxFlower reviews page on my Flaxroots website www.flaxroots.com
• As I have done many times before, I did a search on New Zealand novels on Amazon kindle. As usual, the result frustrated and saddened me. Because –
– most are shockingly overpriced for a digital book – usually because they are added by publishers who have no idea how Amazon digital pricing works, and are not interested in digital editions anyway. I price my digital books at US$2.99 or $3.99, though Amazon often bump them a bit as they reserve the right to do so.
– most that are reasonably priced are part of a series. I’m not interested in series – give me a good one-off novel every time.

Only Forward, Never Back

If anyone would like to recommend a novel – NZ, one-off, contemporary, well-written, priced under US$5 – do let me know.

Cheers, and happy reading!
Bronwyn Elsmore

Well hello lovely Kiwi readers! A friend has pointed me to this fun reading challenge and I’m up for it if you’ll have me!

My books for the pool are:

Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell
She’s a Killer, Kirsten McDougal
Calypso, David Sedaris

Bronwyn wrote: "Okay, 1 book nominated for now and I’ll add others if I can find some that suit my requirements.
It's like this, you see…
• I read on Kindle. I buy these books.
• I like to support NZ authors, You’..."

Hi Bronwyn - a friend of mine (Ray Wood) has just published a book Between the Windows of the Sea It's available on Kindle for $5.83. I would have popped it on as one of my choices for this challenge but when I last looked, I don't think there was a Kindle version!

It's set in NZ and the Southern Ocean and a real page-turner!

Bronwyn wrote: "Okay, 1 book nominated for now and I’ll add others if I can find some that suit my requirements.
It's like this, you see…
• I read on Kindle. I buy these books.
• I like to support NZ authors, You’..."

NZ author set in Auckland, NZ.
https://www.amazon.com/No-One-Can-Hea...
The kindle price to buy is US$3.47

Welcome Bronwyn and Kerri - glad to have you join us :)

I'm absolutely loving the selection of books so far, this is really getting me excited about reading for the year!

Oksy so here are my picks
1. Lessons in chemistry by bonnie garmus
2. The Twisted ones by T. kingfisher
3. All good people here by Ashley flowers

Good times ahead!
Claude

Claude's wrote: "Oksy so here are my picks
1. Lessons in chemistry by bonnie garmus
2. The Twisted ones by T. kingfisher
3. All good people here by Ashley flowers

Good times ahead!
Claude"

ooh I've heard so many good things about Lessons in Chemistry :) Have added those three to the pool.

ERICA, you are such a champion!
I’ll nominate 3 books and try my best to read them :) and some from the Pool too. Picks coming soon.

Nat wrote: "Love stories by Trent Dalton"

I read this last year. It's really lovely, he met such a mix of ordinary people.

I've had a bit of trouble this time, as I like to include at least one title by a Kiwi author & the books that I really wanted to read (both well known authors) aren't available as an ebook or kindle.

So I have selected Station Life In New Zealand by Lady Barker (please note that Station Amusements in New Zealand is a different book by the same author) Even though Lady Barker only spent three years in NZ, she is usually categorised as a New Zealander. I thought this is the first book written by a New Zealand woman, but I can't confirm this. Available for free from both Project Gutenberg & Amazon.

The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Boadicea wrote: "Happy New Year y’all.

For me it’ll be:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Cheers, Boadicea"

The Lumineers has been constantly popping up for me the last few months, three or four times either at book fairs or op shops I've picked it up to buy and then put it back. My sister in law also happened to think to grab it for me as well (she works at op shops as well) but it was taken but a customer.
Its like I keep getting signs to try this massive 800+ page book hahah.

To anyone who manages to get through this in the Book Pool, you are awesome cause I do not think I could even make a decent dent.

Claude's wrote: "Oksy so here are my picks
1. Lessons in chemistry by bonnie garmus
2. The Twisted ones by T. kingfisher
3. All good people here by Ashley flowers

Good times ahead!
Claude"

Oh, I've got Lessons in Chemistry on my shelf, but haven't got to it yet, so this will be great motivation.

Lesley wrote: "Bronwyn wrote: "Okay, 1 book nominated for now and I’ll add others if I can find some that suit my requirements.
It's like this, you see…

Thanks for the suggestion, Lesley. I don't usually favour crime/murder, but will give this one a go. It was reviewed on my FlaxFlower site a couple of years ago and received well.
Review http://www.flaxroots.com/flaxflower/a...
Cheers.

No One Can Hear You

Jennifer wrote: "Bronwyn wrote: "Okay, 1 book nominated for now and I’ll add others if I can find some that suit my requirements.
It's like this, you see…

Thanks for the suggestion, Jennifer. I have made a note of it and may come back to it. Cheers.

Hi Bronwyn, just confirming - is No One Can Hear You your second book choice for the pool? I've assumed it is and added to the Pool :)

Hi, its been a while since I've done a challenge so I am in too :-)
Thanks!!

My picks are:







Hope these are ok! :-)

Great to have you joining Kat :) Those books look good to me.

After a quick think, I'm going with women on the covers from my TBR list. My picks are:

Girl, Woman, Other
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Mexican Gothic

Sharlene wrote: "After a quick think, I'm going with women on the covers from my TBR list. My picks are:

Girl, Woman, Other
[bookcover:My Year of Rest and Re..."

That's a cool idea Shar :)