Challenge: Zombies!

This is a special challenge for the month of October. Join us, if you dare!

We chose this listopia to get you started:


Anyone can add books to this list. Have fun voting and reading!


What is your personal goal for this challenge?

Melissa's Musings

A (former) member, Melissa, is currently reading Living History but recommended it for this week's throwback.


Hillary Rodham Clinton came of age during a time of tumultuous social and political change in America. Like many women of her generation, she grew up with choices and opportunities unknown to her mother or grandmother. She charted her own course through unexplored terrain -- responding to the changing times and her own internal compass -- and became an emblem for some and a lightning rod for others. Wife, mother, lawyer, advocate and international icon, she has lived through America's great political wars, from Watergate to Whitewater.

Make sure to keep an eye out for Melissa's review!

National Novel Writing Month


November is National Novel Writing Month.

You can write a novel in a month, track your progress, get pep talks and support & meet fellow writers online and in person.

Interested? Find out more here.

Connect with our group: Casual Readers NaNoWriMo Event

Fall Challenge

The Fall Challenge begins today!

We decided to keep it simple and encourage members to choose from the Best Books To Read In Autumn.

This specific listopia is a list of books that are enhanced by the atmosphere of Autumn.

Anyone can add books to this list. Have fun voting and reading!

What is your personal goal for this challenge?

Monthly Group Reads: Secondary Series

We have decided to offer our Casual Readers another monthly choice beyond the poll selected primary group read.

There will be a secondary group read selected for each month. 

These will always be part of a series versus a stand-alone book.

How are these reads chosen?
 
Secondary Series choices are provided by your moderators as well as by member suggestions.
 
COMING SOON: Naked Werewolf Series







Jolene's Blast from the Past

Another Throwback Thursday is here once again!

Jolene chose Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.


This group member gave it FIVE STARS.

Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

She not only read the book and the graphic novel, but also watched the mini-series and listened to the radio drama!


She may have also mentioned something about having a huge crush on Benedict Cumberbatch.




Monthly Group Read Changes

 Many of you are not willing to wait until near the end of the month to start a formal discussion.

Moving forward, the official discussion thread will include a spoilers tag and start in conjunction with the beginning read date.

Until you have finished reading the book, please do not participate in the official discussion.

If you are not happy about this change, feel free to voice your opinion here.

Furthermore, our monthly group reads will now always begin on the first of the month and end on the last day of the month.

International Read Like A Pirate Day

Thursday, September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Why not also have an International READ Like A Pirate Day?

Click HERE to join the Goodreads event as well as find some savvy suggestions.



Enjoy, mateys!

THE BONE SEASON: 10 Questions

Our group discussion will begin on Wednesday, September 25th.

Here are a few things to ponder until then...


  1. Did this book consume you immediately or did it take you a few chapters to warm up to it?
  2. Some are calling Samantha Shannon the next J. K. Rowling and referring to this seven-book series as the next Hunger Games. Do you agree or disagree?
  3. Did you find the Victorian slang hard to follow and understand?
  4. The Raphaim speak Glossolalia, which is otherwise known as the language of angels. Do you think this is a clue to how the series will develop?
  5. Was there a specific passage that you thought to be personally insightful or profound?
  6. Roughly translated, the Hebrew word Sheol means hell. Did you catch any other religious references?
  7. What is the significance of the field of red poppies in Paige's dreamscape?
  8. The Imaginarium has already secured the film rights. What are your opinions on casting?
  9. If you could become one of the characters in this book, who would it be and why?
  10. If you could ask Samantha Shannon only one question, what would it be?


Lila's Throwback

Every Thursday, we feature a throwback.

These reads are hand-picked by our members as a highly recommended re-read.

This week, Lila selected Dancing Barefoot.


Wil Wheaton - blogger, geek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher - gives us five short-but-true tales of life in the so-called Space Age in Dancing Barefoot. With a true geek's unflinching honesty, Wil examines life, love, the web, and the absurdities of Hollywood in these compelling autobiographical narratives. Based on pieces first published in Wil's hugely popular blog, www.wilwheaton.net, the stories in Dancing Barefoot is a vivid account of one man's version of that universal story, the search for self. If you've ever fallen in love, wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a Star Trek convention, or thought hard about the meaning of life, you'll find a kindred soul in the pages of Dancing Barefoot. In the process of uncovering his true geeky self, Wil Wheaton speaks to the inner geek in all of us.

Lila gave this book FIVE STARS, so make sure to check out her review!

Two More Weeks


You only have two more weeks until discussion begins on our September group read, The Bone Season!


Also, the poll for our October group read will close on September 25th.

Make sure to cast your vote!

Cherish's Choice

Throwback Thursday is here again!

This week, one of our members, Cherish, chose Soulless.

She gave this book FIVE STARS for a fun steampunk filled jaunt through the paranormal as your neighbor.


First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?