Our Book Club

What books to read

2012-01-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

We are all busy with work, after work running around after families that any "me" time is gratefully appreciated and limited. So how do we make the most out of any spare time we have. At OurBookClub we provide online book reviews that are independent and honest. We let you know if we enjoyed it or if it adds value to your time for example of there are books, games, tv series or movies all linked together.
I know there is nothing more disappointing that coming home from the bookstore, or even from uploading your Kindle or other eReader, to find the book just wasn't what you expected. Hopefully OurBookClub can take some of the nervous anticipation out of that wait. Plus if you want to be prepared we have a monthly newsletter that highlights our picks and what we will be reading in the month ahead - you can subscribe at OurBookClub Subscription page. If you don't have time for a lot of reading, keep up to date through our Twitter or Facebook feeds.
Any books that you purchase through our site also goes to helping the site keep running.
Thanks
Tracy

More reviews....wish I could read all day

2012-01-29T22:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, well it was super hot for me with a couple of nice 42oC days. Of course this translated to switching on the air-con and spending hours on the couch reading (and watching the tennis, some amazing matches boys!). Suffice to say, have posted a couple of new reviews of some great books I have recently read. This includes The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. His latest book deals with the very ugly disease cancer and had me both laughing and crying. A really beautiful and moving book, which presented a very different side to the story, the cancer victim who is left behind. Earlier this month I had read his book Looking for Alaska, which is almost an ode to Holden Caufield and is a great coming of age story (note to self, pick up Catcher in the Rye again).

I also managed to finally get my hands on the second instalment in the Immortal Beloved series, Darkness Falls. Five hours later I was done and counting down the days until the third book hits shelves (Jan 2013, so a long time). I have to say I love this series so very much, primarily due to it's narrator, the completely hilarious, but deeply troubled Nastasya. Yes ok it's about immortals, but her struggles and fears are so realistically portrayed, I couldn't help but feel for her, even when she makes stupid decisions (particularly forcing herself to walk away from the Viking god Reyn). While the second book has me hoping things will work out for them, I now have an impossibly long wait to find out!

I also read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, which despite being a really interesting and clever story, was just a little too drawn out for me (I'm impatient by nature).

And now I am back at work and have started reading Kirsten Tranter's second novel A Common Loss about 4 friends reeling from the death of the 5th member of their group and the knowledge that he might not have been the man they all thought he was.

If only I could go back to lying on the couch.....

Nat

Another day - more books

2012-01-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

Well another rainy weekend here in Sydney has given me some time to update some bits on our website, finish off some books and post their reviews. In the meantime I have been reading Guerilla Social Media Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson and Shane Gibson to get a handle on all the social networking and technology that is so prolific. At ourbookclub we now have a web page, blog page, Facebook account and Twitter account and somewhere along the lines we also have to read books, watch movies and ultimately go to our day jobs to pay for our passion.
The book is certainly interesting and provides information about not getting too caught up in every piece of social networking software, but instead picking what you think the majority of your target audience will use and go with that, also finding the software that lets you post in one place and replicate in other places, so you are not repeating yourself on the different medias. That sounds good :-)
Also in the book are helpful suggestions on the secret world of search engine optimization. I have been struggling with this for some time. How to come up with the right site title tags, descriptions, page names and text so that those wonderful bots at Google and Bing can find us and make us more accessible to others. We seem to have got it right in some areas but not so in others, so that is an ongoing work in progress.
I am sure when the internet was developed words were mentioned about a paperless office - well we don't have as much paper, but we do spend just as much time online reading, reading and more reading.
Oh well finally now have time to sit down and read an actual book.

Tracy

New reviews!

2012-01-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Some new reviews have gone up - they might not happen as frequently now both of us are back at work (insert large groan), but we will try our nest! Under Literature and Fiction you can find reviews of Torn by Cat Clarke and Looking for Alaska by John Green. Under Bodice Rippers you can find reviews of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith and Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tribensky and under Travel there is a review of Shanti Bloody Shanti by Aaron Smith. We hope you can find something exciting to read in all of this and for all of you returning to work after you break....we share your pain!
Nat

Yeah new books have arrived

2012-01-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

I am now back in Perth, Australia although packing to head to Sydney for work commitments. However, this morning saw a large delivery from Book Depository and has now spurred me on to read. In the parcel was Richard Branson - Screw business as usual, Sebastian Faulks - On fiction, Christopher Hitchens - Hitch-22, Julian Barnes - The sens of an ending and Haruki Murakami - 1Q84.
In addition I also have the audiobook for the new Steve Jobs autobiography which is going to be my listening on the plan trip.

Happy reading
Tracy

Website Updates

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Natalie and I have taken the Christmas break as a huge opportunity to rejigg some of our pages on the OurBookClub website. We didn't realise how many reviews we are writing and of course that is fuelled by the number of books we are reading. So bear with us for a few days as we finish off making sure our links work and everything is bedded down.

2012 is going to be a huge year for the written and electronic book worlds with lots of new releases which we can't wait to grab and have already pre-ordered. In addition Natalie and I will be attending the Perth and Sydney Writers Festivals to bring you the latest book news.

If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, drop us a line through the OurBookClub website.

Thanks
Tracy

New reviews

2011-12-29T01:02:00.000-08:00

We have a bunch of new book reviews, that are perfect reading material for the summer holidays (sorry to our fans in the northern hemisphere - they're probably good for winter holidays too!). Some light chick-lit with Bloom, And Then Things Fell Apart and The Unwritten Rule, some crime with The Cold Six Thousand and some regular fiction with Taming the Beast.

We hope you all had a fabulous christmas - we certainly did!

Nat

Heading back to Australia

2011-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well after spending the last seven months travelling around Europe in a motorhome the time has come for me to return back to Australia and hopefully get some more time to read. It is amazing how hard it has been to be able to sit down and read as there has always been something to do from sightseeing, driving, eating, more eating and drinking. I am sure Natalie will be excited to be able to hand over some of the book reviews as she has well and truly carried www.ourbookclub.net.au over the past twelve months.
I have been trawling through the bookstores here in London and it is sometimes disappointing to see how many of the new releases we have already read, so I have been looking back at some classics and have packed a few books for my plane trip home.
For my trip I had purchased a Sony eReader to avoid having to carry a library, but alas I still carried two cupboards full of books in the motorhome and almost gave up with the eReader. In the cold weather the batteries went flat very quickly and as we were disconnected from electricity having to use the laptop to charge the eReader was something that we couldn't do sometimes. So my experiment of whether I could swap away from physical books wasn't very successful and that isn't because I am old fashioned, but I can't feel anything for an electronic device compared to a physical book that gives me a sense of joy in selecting, purchasing and then reading.
While I have been away Natalie has also been extremely busy meeting up with local authors and www.ourbookclub.net.au is being noticed by some of the larger publishing houses and we are getting access to books, movie tickets etc which we will be using for competitions through 2012, so stay tuned for those. Information will be released through Twitter or Facebook so make sure that you sign up for those.

Well have a great christmas and New Year.

Tracy

Embracing social media

2011-12-15T19:23:00.001-08:00

Ok, we are embracing the new year by joining Twitter and promoting and using our blog! Stay tuned for more posts...

Want to try writing a book review

2011-08-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

as you can imagine there are a million books being released and we can't keep up with the flow and cover all the areas that we want. Are you interested in helping out and try something different at the same time.

Contact us (http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php) for more information.

Pick of the month for September 2011

2011-08-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

Natalie and I have been busy this month and come up with two very different book of the months which you can view at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/index.php

Finally updating the blog

2011-08-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

I have been travelling in France (following the Tour de France) so didn't get much time for updates, but as usual Natalie was hard at work in the office posting a pile of new reviews and information. To keep up to date why not subscribe to our mailing list at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/Newsletters.php.

In August 2011, my partner and I left France and have now headed to Spain to follow La Vuelta Espagna and brought the wet weather with us which is giving me plenty of time for reading. If only it was easy to get to internet cafes or access wifi my days would be full of updating reviews, but alas Spain seems to be difficult to get things done in, so again poor Natalie is being my inhouse secretarial support and keeping the wheels turning.

Book Picks for June 2011

2011-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

For June 2011, Natalie picked If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman whereas Tracy picked The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Both touching and interesting reads from different perspectives.
Check out the full reviews at Our Book club

Book Clubs

2011-04-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

We have been updating our Book Club page. If you want information about books to choose, questions to ask and links to help you put some pizzazz into your book club. Then check out the www.ourbookclub.net.au Book Club page.

Page to Screen Adaptations

2011-04-03T12:39:00.001-07:00

So you don't have time to read the book or you just aren't into reading. At Our Book Club, we have created a page that lets you know what books have been adapted for the big or small screens.

Check out our Page to Screen page for more information.

If you have any comments or suggestions contact us at Our Book Club and we will hunt down the information.

Literary Events

2011-04-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy updating the literary events page for all the upcoming festivals. Check out our page for information and get involved and free your imagination.

Check out Literary Events at Our Book Club.

Literary Awards

2011-04-03T12:31:00.001-07:00

We have been updated our Literary Awards page with lots more information. So if you want some inspiration, try and read some of the recent longlist nominations at Literary Awards that Our Book Club has been able to locate.

If you have a literary award you would like us to review or follow up, please let us know at Contact Us

New Real Science Genre created

2011-03-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

At Our Book Club, we have created a new genre for science books - don't worry it isn't too nerdy or scary. The genre aims at focusing on books that explain in laymans terms of course, some of the questions that we puzzle over i.e. why does E=MC2?

Check out our Real Science page.

Newsletters

2011-03-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

Each month OURBOOKCLUB produces a newsletter of what we have read, upcoming information and ideas for book gifts etc. To receive a copy, subscribe at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/Newsletters.php.

If you have any ideas on how we can expand, contact us at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php

Literary Events - 2011

2011-03-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

We have been busy tracking some literary events and festivals (sorry for those that aren't based in Australia) and highlighting some very interesting upcoming author talks. Check out http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/Events2011.php for more information.

If you want to have your event listed on this page, contact us at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php and we would love to help out.

Book to Screen

2011-03-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Natalie has been busy creating a new section that lets you know what books have been adapted to the big and small screens. So if you are too lazy to read the book (and yes there are some people out there), here is your chance to catch up with the screen adaptations. Check out http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/pagetoscreen.php

If you know of any books that have been adapted, let us know at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php

Prize Winners

2011-03-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well the longlists have been announced for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

So check out our Prize Winning Authors & Books page for all the up to date information.

Book Club Recommendations

2010-11-23T20:23:00.001-08:00

We have been busy putting up book club discussion questions for books that we have enjoyed recently. This should help you get over writers block when leading your book club discussions.
http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/bookclubs.php

Thanks
Tracy & Natalie

eReaders & eBooks

2010-11-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

We have been busy investigating and testing eReaders and trying to understand all the jargon and information that is out there. There is so much that I am sure even the most technical computer user would be swamped, so we have attempted to make it more manageable and put in our actual experiences to help you navigate this new world.

Check out our information at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/ebooks.php.

Remember if you have any questions or comments you can contact us at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php or join our www.ourbookclub.net.au Facebook page.

Natalie & Tracy

Updated Events page

2010-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

We have been busy collating information for upcoming WA events that are a great way to meet the autors and ask them about their inspirations etc.

Check out our page at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/Events2010.php

Remember if you have any questions or comments you can contact us at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/contact.php or join our www.ourbookclub.net.au Facebook page.

A new our favourite: Lionel Shriver

2010-11-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

In addition to Stieg Larsson and Janet Evanovich we have added Lionel Shriver to the our favourites section. Lionel Shriver has written a great selection of books that highlight the main issues of our time - from population control, to high school massacres and most recently the American health care system (if you can call it that).
Check out http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/Lionel%20Shriver.php for more information.

Thanks
Natalie & Tracy

November 2010 Book Picks

2010-11-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Natalie has selected her book pick (What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt) and Tracy has finally uploaded her book pick (The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) for November 2010, so check out their review at

http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/

Natalie & Tracy

Revised Website

2010-11-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Finally the website has been resigned to be able to start implementing some new features over the coming months.
Check out http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/
and let us know what you think.

Tracy & Natalie

Website Redesign

2010-10-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

We have had an exciting month in October 2010 with a redesign of our website.

This was brought about by issues with our previous webhost and lack of service, so we have now doing it ourselves to ensure that we have the ability to make changes as we want and not have someone else changing the website without our permission.

http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/

Check it out and let us know if there are any problems or something you would like us to incorporate.
ourbookclub@live.com.au

Thanks
Tracy & Natalie