The Year is Half Over? Time to Check in on Those Reading Goals

June 26, 2018 Emily

Y’all, I am so proud of myself. Why? Because every year, I've challenged myself to read 50 books over the course of the year, and last year was the first year I actually did it. Yes, I know, I'm a magical unicorn. Hold your applause, because this year, I've decide to make my 50 Book Challenge a little more challenging by joining in on the 2018 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.

There are a lot of reading challenges like this out there, so you might be doing something similar. Or maybe you've never heard of anything like this before. If you haven't, I think (?) I would recommend it, just because it forces you to read outside of your comfort zone and gives you opportunities to discover new books you might not have picked up otherwise. For me, a lot of these books have been sitting patiently on my TBR list for a while, and this challenge is what's finally pushing me to pick them up.

So now that we're halfway through the year, I thought I would take this moment to check in on how I'm doing and give you guys a rundown of the books I've read so far.

We Went to see Hereditary and Nothing Will Ever Be the Same

June 21, 2018 The Squad

If you’ve listened to our most recent podcast episode all about the Michelle McNamara’s true crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, then maybe you caught our very special “Stuff We’re Into” segment. This time, “Stuff We’re Into” was brought to you by the A24 horror film Hereditary, which Mary and Emily had recently seen and could not stop thinking about. We gushed about the movie without giving away any of the movie’s insane details, and then we urged Kelli and Susan to go see it as soon as possible.

Well, Book Squadders (Squaddies? Bookies? We haven’t decided on the best moniker for you guys yet… leave suggestions in the comments section), Kelli and Susan have seen Herediary, and Emily went to go see it AGAIN, and we are ready to talk about it. We’re dying to talk about it. And we’re not going to be spoiler-free about it this time. So do yourself a favor. Go see the movie, and when you’re ready, our thoughts will be here. We will wait. *click*

John Green All the Way Down

June 20, 2018 Todd & Mary

After months and months of me saying that we are going to write about John Green, and then not writing about John Green, it's happening. Right now. In this blog post. While this conversation began as an assessment of Green's latest novel, Turtles All the Way Down, Todd and I also take the time to talk about Green's career as a whole, how we came to know his work, and how we see it working in the sphere of pop culture. Todd and I both come from very different backgrounds in terms of understanding Green's work; I study YA literature and write about it frequently, and Todd was once an actual teen boy, which once made him the intended demographic for a lot of Green's work. So without further ado, we bring you JOHN GREEN BLOG POST 2018!

Featured Bookstore: Books Are Magic! Brooklyn, NY

June 14, 2018 Kelli

This month, I’m super excited to feature an indie bookstore that’s brand new to me — and new to a lot of people, really, since it’s only been around for a little over a year. Books Are Magic opened in May of 2017, but you wouldn’t know it from anything about their business. They have a beautiful space with a great selection of books across all genres, a good-looking website where you can order most any book your heart desires, an impressive calendar of events, several different subscription services, and distressingly cute merch… and all of this in their first year of operation. Basically, the people at Books Are Magic have their shit together.

The store is located in the extremely adorable neighborhood of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where Emily and I paid them a visit a few weeks ago. Not only did we have a romantic photoshoot in front of their outside mural, but we also spoke with Books Are Magic’s Colleen Callery (Marketing and Communications Coordinator) about the store, which has quickly become a staple of its Brooklyn community.

The Pure Joy of Tig Notaro's Happy to Be Here

June 13, 2018 Susan

I’ve been a fan of Tig Notaro since I first heard her on This American Life, telling her now-famous Taylor Dayne story. (If you haven’t heard that yet, I’m including it here. It's long, but wait until the very end. Enjoy.) I loved her deadpan style and those perfectly timed pauses. I needed to hear more.

Which Member of the Book Squad Are You?

June 6, 2018 Emily

So today is the 20th anniversary of HBO's Sex and the City. I really considered writing about that today, trust me, because I love that show with all of my heart and will unabashedly defend it (especially Miranda) til my dying day (just the show though, not the movie).

But instead, I got to thinking about my own awesome foursome: The Book Squad. So instead of finding out if you're a Miranda, Carrie, Samantha, or Charlotte for the 5,000th time (I'm a confirmed Miranda, btw), it's time to discover if you're a Susan, Kelli, Emily, or Mary. Fingers crossed you get the result you want! Spoiler: they're all awesome.

All the Hot Button Issues You Can Squeeze Into One Soulless TV Show

June 4, 2018 Emily

The first season of 13 Reasons Why made me uncomfortable. It was not an easy show to watch, but it was well-made, and the actors did a really good job with the material. My feelings about the subject matter and the story were mixed, and are even more so now since the allegations about author Jay Asher. He denies them and says he was wrongfully accused, but like… ugh. Let’s not go there.

Based on what I’ve been reading about this season online, a lot of people agreed with me that this show had no reason to be renewed for a second season. Regardless of how you felt about the story told in season 1, the whole story was told. The narrator Hannah Baker constructed a tight narrative through cassette tapes that concluded with a gratuitous and triggering suicide scene. I really don’t know what else there is to say.

But of course Netflix saw that there was more money to be made on this concept and more wounds to be salted.

The Bachelorette: No, We're Not Saying Becca's Stupid Catchphrase

May 26, 2018 The Squad

Welcome welcome to another season of The Bachelorette, and another blog post where the Book Squad judges all of the contestants based on minimal information and cheesy photographs. We’re fairly underwhelmed with the batch of men Becca has to choose from, and we’re already missing the wonderful men of Rachel’s season (where is our boo Diggy? We love you). But nevertheless, we’re here to… do the damn thing. There. We said it. Never again.

Nailed It!: The Anti-Baking Baking Show

May 25, 2018 Susan

The Great British Baking Show is universally adored, and for good reason. Even the worst bakers of the bunch are still downright amazing. Everything the contestants create is not only complex, but visually stunning. It’s fun to watch it all come together. But we all know that about 90% of the population could never make even the simplest Mary Berry recipes the way these bakers do. Enter Nailed It!: The baking show for…the rest of us.

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