The Book Club Haters' Book Club

Nur and Teah talk about how reading fit into their lives in the past year, where the concept of time was just really, really weird.

We read Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown for the book club. It was... not for us, but we're happy if it is for you! Also discussed: Helen Hoang's latest release The Heart Principle and why we won't be reading it any time soon, how we've been reading a lot (spoiler: because of lockdown). Our next book is The Sword Dancer by Jeannie Lin.

Other books mentioned:

Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux

Goodreads isn't a very good platform, so we're looking for other systems to track our reading. Let us know how you track yours! Our book club for March is Deanna Raybourn's An Unexpected Peril, and we get a bit personal on how the book touches (or not touches) us on the inside. We're taking a break from book clubbing for the fasting month, and we'll be back in May to read The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty... again. HOORAY!

How do you picture characters while reading? Teah and Nur find out they visualise books differently, and talk about how to answer when somebody asks for a book rec. This month's book club is Kathrina Mohd Daud's The Fisherman King, and it's less about the book and more about the feelings surrounding the book.

Next month, we're reading the sixth (!) instalment of the Veronica Speedwell Mystery series by Deanna Raybourn, An Unexpected Peril.

We talk about our reading habits in 2020: the good, the bad, and, sometimes, the absence. Join our first book club in 2021, where we will be reading The Magnolia Sword: The Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas!

Is it true you age into loving coffee table books, because Teah and Nur are at a point in their lives where they not only accept coffee table books, they want them. This month's book club pick is Beginner's Luck by Kate Clayborn.

We'll be rounding up our 2020 reading next month and maybe stuff we're looking forward to reading in 2021!

New month, new books! Teah read loads, and Nur read some but can't remember much about them. During Question Time, a fairly simple question about covers turns philosophical, and turns out there are just some old favourite books that we don't want to go back to. The discussion about the book club pick for October, The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf, is led by Teah because it was a hard book to read for Nur.

We will be reading Beginner's Luck by Kate Clayborn for November, so join us then too!

Teah shares her reading experience with RF Kuang's The Poppy War (it's part of a thrillogy/threelogy/trilogy), Nur talks about comfort reads helping with her C-PTSD, and our hosts discuss September's book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc.

The book club pick for October is The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf.

Teah finished the Mona Eltahawy book and shares its interesting perspective on using violence. Nur is insecure about suggesting romance novels for the book club. We delve into the finale book from the Daevabad trilogy, Empire of Gold. Join us for September's book club where we'll talk about Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc.

While both Nur and Teah have turned to crafting, only one read May's book club pick Three Women by Lisa Taddeo.  Join us reading The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty, starting with CITY OF BRASS in June!

How have our reading habits changed during these strange times? Teah and Nur talk about dystopia, hope, and coping with uncertainty, before diving in for April's book A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn.

We know we said the book club pick for May is The Handmaid's Tale, but we've since changed it to THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo. Join us next month!

Teah is reading again, and Nur talks about listening to nonfiction audiobooks while her hands are busy. Our hosts discuss friendship in books (or lack of),  and gush over February's book club pick Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon.

Join in our book club for March, where we'll be reading Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn!

Books mentioned: Sex Power Money Sarah Pascoe, The Joy of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadly Sins by Simon Laham, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, 365 Days of Creativity by Lorna Scobie, Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara, Sweet Bean Paste Tetsuya Akikawa, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, Fence by C.S. Pacat

One is out of their reading slump, and the other is still very much in it. Nur and Teah talk reading goals for 2020, how book clubs work, and their unsuccessful attempts with January's book Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri.

February's book club pick is Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by David Aja and Matt Fraction!

Teah and Nur talk about their recent respective reading slumps, list their favourite 2019 reads, and, finally, get down to business about Twilight.

We recorded this episode thinking The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty would release in March 2020, but later we found out the date had been changed to June 2020. So we are NOT reading City of Brass for January. Instead, our next book club pick is EMPIRE OF SAND by Tasha Suri!

Books mentioned: Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Cantlin Doughty, The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Masterclass on the Art of Organising and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor, Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan, Brothers Sinister series by Courtney Milan, The London Celebrity series by Lucy Parker, The Sixth World series by Rebecca Roanhorse, About Betty’s Boob by Vero Cazot and Julie Rocheleau, Quran by Allah, TWILIGHT by Stephanie Myers

Teah and Nur reveal their book pet peeves (the amnesia plot! Women characters who are there just to be strong and nothing else!), Nur gushes about Lucy Parker’s London Celebrities series, Teah tells us about the author she has a grudge on, and finally, our hosts discuss FENCE Vol. 1 by C.S. Pacat and the different ways they read it.

The next book club pick is Twilight by Stephenie Meyers!

Nur and Teah talk about the pros and cons of reading comics and manga, Teah shares her go-to sources for book recs, and our hosts discuss August's book The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson, with perhaps a bit of overthinking about the nature of jinn on Nur's part. Join us in reading September's book club pick FENCE Vol. 1 by C. S. Pacat!

Our hosts discuss their differing opinions on Sherry Thomas' A Study in Scarlet Women, talk about diverse books, and vent their frustrations about May's book A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. The book club pick for June/July is Eat Up: Food, Appetite, and Eating What You Want by Ruby Tandoh.

Corrections: 

-Teah meant Ahmad Fuadi and not Eka Kurniawan, whose book she actually likes.

-Nur was supposed to say "May" instead of April.

Books mentioned: 

Nur and Teah discuss murder, jinn, and historicals –only one of these is in March's book My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Join us for the book club in April where we read NIMONA by Noelle Stevenson: gingerhaze.com/NIMONA

Works mentioned: The Quran by Allah, A Veronica Speedwell Mystery series by Deanna Raybourn, The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty, Chance of A Lifetime trilogy by Kate Claybourn, The Curious History of Dating: From Jane Austen to Tinder by Nichi Hodgson, The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety At The Turn of The Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum, History Ever After: Fabricated Historical Chronotopes in Romance Genre Fiction by Jennifer Hallock, Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, Please Look After After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein, Song of the Long March by Xia Da, The Private series by Kate Brian, The Famous Five by Enid Blyton, Mind Platter Najwa Zebian, God In Pink by Hasan Namir, Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone.

Teah and Nur talk about what they've been reading, discuss the Young Adult genre, and go over February's book The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor. Join us reading March's pick MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite! 

Other books mentioned: The Quran by Allah, Morgan Dane series by Melinda Leigh, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed, Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty, The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Mr Midnight by James Lee, Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee.

Teah and Nur introduce the podcast series and discuss their 2018 year in books and 2019 reading goals. The Book Club book for February is The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor.

Books mentioned: Al-Quran by Allah, The Supportive Animals Book: A Feel Better Comics by Sylvia Carrus, The Sword Dancer by Jeannie Lin, State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang, Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction by Ken Liu (ed), The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, Ready Player One by Ernest Kline, and An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King