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#SwellBookClub #books #BookReview #AuthorInterview π
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 2:05
Buddy Read: LONG BRIGHT RIVER π
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Hey, everyone, I am so excited to share that we are going to be starting a buddy read in January for the novel Long Bright River. So a few of us here on sale have have already agreed to be part of this buddy read in which we'll be chatting about the book here on Swell as we read it, and I wanted to post about it a bit in advance, so if you're interested, you can join us
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 4:35
I think what the issue is that it's just crime. It's a crime drama, right? So that's just not my genre. I just don't enjoy police solving a crime. And I know there's a sister involved and all this. It did just get interesting, because great. I've just been listening to the soul book. What's the name of her?
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 3:24
I don't know why, but I know something about her that I like, that was the only character that just felt some semblance of something. Everyone else is just, I don't know, just plain annoyed in general, throughout. So welcome to my first book of 2021. I'm done Yay
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 0:32
So I'll be kind of leaving little messages and things I'm thinking about and seeing and questions I have as I go along. I'm really excited, excited to start tonight and hope you had a good New year
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:30
I just came across this quote and I had to read it because I absolutely love this description. So it's on page 87, and it goes, Every pal officer in the facility was a pleasing combination of authoritative, funny, and kind. It changed for most of the other adults in our lives around whom we were mainly expected to stay silent. Each child had a favorite officer, a mentor, and small lines of children could often be found trailing after their chosen idol
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 0:39
In just a couple pages after that, this paragraph also really stood out to me. But if I was selfconscious about my appearance, I was proud of my intelligence, which I thought of in secret, as something that rested quietly inside me as I sleeping Dragon guarding a store of wealth that no one, not even key, could take away a weapon I would one day deploy to save us both myself and my sister
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:01
And really I now feel much more invested with this revelation that Officer Clear is Simon, who I'm assuming from what we know in the first 100 pages is who Mickey or Mikkela goes on to have her kid with and be involved with, which is just wows up, because I think what he's like more than ten years older than her, met her when she was a kid, so very complicated, that's for sure. And I really want to see how this is going would develop for sure
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 1:16
Hey, Boey, that was my question to see if you liked it so far. And I'm guessing you're beginning to like it because in the beginning it was like world building. You said you were are in the first 100 pages. How many pages are in this books? I know. I did it as an audio, so it's so tricky when you do it as an audio. There's no page numbers. It's just a percentage of how much of the book you've read
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:35
I think because of the voice of Mickey, the narrator, her voice is so like, straightforward and calm and direct that it has this kind of lazy river sort of quality to it. Like I feel like I'm just floating along. It still is moving quickly for me. So the book is I think I have the hard back version and it's 480 and I'm at 170 right now, and I only just started it last night
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 0:28
Hey, Bowie, I like the audiobook, but I don't have a preference. Like, it's not like I'd be like, oh, my gosh, you gotta do Long, Bright River on Audio. I can totally see reading the book and getting the same effect. I don't know why, but that doesn't mean the audiobook wasn't good. I mean, I liked it. It was just your run of the mill, your regular old audiobook
Trevor H
@TheologyCentralΒ Β·Β 1:59
This sounds like a great book. So I am so grateful I stumbled across your suggestion. I'm definitely going to be getting the book and reading it, but I would like to offer a suggestion to you that may add to people following you and following along with whatever book you're currently reading. You should create an Amazon Book Club very easy to create. It's absolutely free
Swell Team
@SwellΒ Β·Β 0:15
Sreeja V
@WordsmithΒ Β·Β 0:19
Hey Babi, thank you for this review. I just got the book recently on Kindle and I started reading last night and I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Excited to be doing a review after a while. Thank you for this
The lives of people devastated by addiction, poverty, and the deprivation of the human condition. I'd like to delve into specific aspects of the book I loved, but I think I'm going to do that in my next as well. Overall, it's a dark, disturbing and at times Apache read, but one that redeems itself in its final pages. So these are my initial thoughts on long, bright river, and I think I'll be back with more
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 0:55
So I personally will not be using the Amazon Book Club feature, although that's really cool that they have that. And I'm glad that it worked for you, but if you haven't checked out bookshop, I definitely recommend it. You can choose to support your local bookstore with every purchase. Also Libre FM as well, which Shahnaz got me into, and I love that I can still get audiobooks but also support my local bookstore too
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:15
Bob tearing your initial thoughts here, Ramya, I completely agree with you. Part of why I was really excited to read this book is because knowing the bit I know about this writer, I had a feeling that, you know, this is wasn't just straight up genre fiction, but was going to be more literary fiction using elements of genre like thriller, crime novel, mystery. I think what you're saying is totally spa and I agree with you
Trevor H
@TheologyCentralΒ Β·Β 3:00
I have the book club so that people will find my podcast. I use Amazon for my own evil agenda. That's what I try to do, right? I'm going to manipulate the evil Corporation to benefit me. Okay, maybe that sounds kind of sinister, but all right, you get the idea. So all right, I'll stop talking
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:52
And you were just making me laugh because I've just been trying to promote bookshop more partially because I am close to some local book owners. And so it's just like a passion of mine. But it has taken me a while to wean myself off of Amazon when it comes to books, because it's so fast. Right. But then once I started ordering from bookshop, I realized like, oh, this maybe takes like a day or two longer. It's fine
Lori Palmer
@loribpalmerΒ Β·Β 1:03
I don't want to make too many more comments until I get a little bit further and or finish it, but I am definitely enjoying it so far. Have a great day, friends
Trevor H
@TheologyCentralΒ Β·Β 3:14
But this is who they really are internally. Does that set up any keys to interpreting the message of the book? What do you think? How important do you think the opening few paragraphs of a book really is in film analysis? It's super important. But what do you think those of you who are experts about books and reading and interpretation would love to get your thoughts. All right. I look forward to. I'll probably finish the books book in the next few minutes
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 2:18
I love this question so much, and it's partially because I also love studying films and just stories in general. And I think thinking about the way books, particularly novels, work through the lens of film, is super useful and really helps from a writer's perspective to figure out, like, Man, how does this work? And how can I do this myself? So I love that you ask this question because I think it's hugely important
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 4:18
And I think that is essentially a good, solid structure to follow, whether it's a book or a novel or anything, because for whatever reason, when you do it that way, I think people like it for the introduction to introduce other to tell you what's going on, where this book is going or where this movie is going. Yeah
Trevor H
@TheologyCentralΒ Β·Β 4:55
Thank you so very much for taking the time to offer a reply and for offering some very interesting thoughts. Now I know in your reply you asked me to provide a list of books that I think have the perfect beginning, but I'm not not going to do that, and I have a good reason for not doing it
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 0:29
Since I've listened to the whole book, I think it's very unfair for me to comment but I will say it's very enlightening. I really enjoy your take on the opening and your perspective on it. So I just want to say thank you for it and yeah. Alright. I'll catch you later. Bye
Trevor H
@TheologyCentralΒ Β·Β 3:05
So usually I'm pretty good at I think finding what the director or writer really was trying to say. But I think I'm better at doing that with music and movies, and I cannot say I'm an expert at doing it with books, and it's risky when you're 6% to throw out some crazy theory where everyone can laugh at you who's read the book and go, Man, he is so far off, he doesn't know what he's talking about
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 3:01
Hello. So earlier up, if you scroll up, I have given my thoughts on the whole book. However, my caveat is this. I just read a book, just kind of take it for what it's worth. I'm not going to psychoanalyze. It like you do, which is great. I love it. I love that you can break elements down like that. A good friend of mine does that too. And I'm kind of like, what? Really?
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 3:29
I didn't want it to happen. But the fact that she took the risk and took us there, I mean, that is dark. The fact that Casey or Mickey was preyed upon by this guy has his kid. And then at the point I am in the book, the scene at McDonald's just like, broke my heart for Thomas. So far, I'm really rooting for Thomas and Mickey. I don't know what's going to happen to Casey
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 5:00
And as some of you know, four stars for me are books that I really enjoyed was invested throughout. I am happy that I spent some of my time here on Earth reading them, and I would recommend it to someone else, not everyone, but there are some people that I would recommend this to, and I think would enjoy it. But I doubt very much that I would read this book again or feel drawn to picking it up again
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 0:37
Like, did that work for you? Did you feel like it was too much have an opinion on that and thoughts. But I want to hold off until I hear what you all have to say. Really excited to talk about this bookmark
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 4:56
But even with that book, I was just like, okay, well, I don't know. Again, I don't have a family member who is having that issue, but I will tell you that I do know of a family friend whose son just recently, like, two months ago, was found in his apartment. We don't know what happened. I mean, he could have overdosed whatever. He'd been going on and off drugs for a long time
Lori Palmer
@loribpalmerΒ Β·Β 1:49
I can see why people liked it, but it wasn't for me, I think, because I was expecting a thriller and because it was more of a crime drama and mystery that's just not my typical genre. True crime, any kind of crime or anything like that. I just don't get too excited about. So it was all right. It wasn't for me, but I'm so glad I read it because I got to learn what all the hype was about
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 2:55
I did feel like I was in other world, but it's not like it changed my life or anything. But I am so glad that you read it because like you said, I wanted to know the hype around it. I wanted to see what it was about. So I am really glad that we still read it. And then last thing to Shahnaz. Oh, my gosh. Yes. You're so cold. I'm just kidding
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 3:02
It. Oh, yeah. February. I am going to do a classic. And I think I've already called it the Dorian Gray book, The Picture of Dorian Gray because I wanted to do a classic classic. And also I have not read The Picture of Dorian Gill. Great. Now I will give both of you an option to switch that to the book that I know both of you have, which is the one that Libra gave out Frieda Zorino, whatever the last name their eyes were watching
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:56
I feel like I've just been reading so many dark depressing books that yeah, I definitely need to start listening to The House and The Cerulean Sea soon because I need more joy in my life when it comes to my books. As far as the buddy read for February. Very good question. So I have already read Picture of Dorian Gray twice, actually
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 2:28
So in my podcast, you have a book club episode, which all the book club, or maybe a mini book club or a book talk or those kind of things or author interviews, author conversations, little segments right in my podcast. So what if I did a Madam Coldhearted segment and then just take a book and repetition? I mean, it wouldn't be anonymous. Obviously not. This would be people would know who it is because it is my podcast and all of that. Yeah
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 1:56
And I feel like out of any person I know you are someone who could pull that off, and it could be funny and fun and not just seem like mean spirited or something. I think the only thing with that to consider is like, will that at all affect how authors feel about potentially coming on your podcast or something like that? Yeah, I think that's the only thing I would consider, but I think that would be an awesome segment or it could even be like a reoccurring
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcastΒ Β·Β 1:39
Hey, Bowie. So I think I have a happy medium. I know Coldhearted and Happy medium. St sentence doesn't go, but I think I have a happy medium. So let's say do a month and review every month, right? On my podcast, where it's a mini review of books I have read. So, for example, month in review. January, the first book I read in January would be Long Bright River
Bowie Rowan
@bowieΒ Β·Β 0:08
I think this is a great idea. And I am very excited for more Madame Coldhearted to be around. That's all I have to say
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