International Reads discussion

Welcome to the International Reads book club. This group was started by the lovely Mercedes as a response to the expressed desire of readers and BookTubers to read more diversely. Here feel free to introduce yourself and discuss why it's important to you to expand your reading.

So excited to see so many people joining the group! Welcome, y'all.

Hi everyone! I'm Taylor and I started reading adult fiction about six months ago. I liked reading only YA for a while but then became tired of it. I am still figuring out what my tastes are when it comes to adult reads, so I thought that participating in International Reads will introduce me to some great books I otherwise would not have found.

Hello everyone! I've always loved reading and I do read quite a lot of different genres of books. However, I have not read many international books aside from books written by Australian, British, or Japanese authors. So I joined this group to expand my horizons even further and to discuss about these many books that I have no knowledge of. Really looking forward to all the discussions that will take place soon! ^_^

Welcome, Taylor! You're in a really exciting part of your reading life as you figure out exactly what it is you like. That was me back in 2001. Such great reading memories!

Taylor wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Taylor and I started reading adult fiction about six months ago. I liked reading only YA for a while but then became tired of it. I am still figuring out what my tastes are when it..."

hi there this is a different from what i normal read hope this all work out for me

Hi everyone! I'm Jen and I've always loved reading. I stumbled across the book tube community about 6 months ago and now I watch all of your videos (not brave enough to make my own) and I've gotten so many great book recommendations from them so thank you all so much for that! And thanks to Mercedes for this great new book club! It's a wonderful idea and a great way to socialize and broaden our reading horizons! I haven't time to read the slynx but Ive ordered snow country for the next group read and I'm looking forward to that. Enjoy everyone!;-)

Hi. I'm Inga. I thought about this the other day, and I have no idea how I discovered the booktube community, but somehow I stumbled over it. And I have gotten so many great recommendations, it's awesome. Like others I have come to realize I don't really read very diversely because I just keep reading the same things, from the same type of authors. So I think this'll be really awesome. I should read different books. It'll be good. Have fun.

Hello to you all! I think it's so easy to get stuck into reading the same old stuff. My reading is so much more varied now after the discovery of booktube and goodreads! I find a good way to find new books is to look through goodreads lists. When I wanted to get more into reading Japanese fiction they gave me loads of great recommendations :)

Hi, everyone. I'm Fei Fei (pronounced the French way "Fifi"). My reading history is somewhat inverted. I basically jumped straight from young, middle-grade books to the "adult" genre as a teenager, skipping the young adult category altogether. University changed my reading taste from mainly a diet of classics with some modern literature classics to mostly nonfiction reads - history, popular science, social commentary, memoirs, etc. I read them all. I recently discovered the booktubing community this year and because it is so saturated with YA readers, I have started picking up some YA books. It was Mercedes from whom I found this community. I'm excited to broaden my reading horizon further with you guys! :)

Hello Everybody! I'm a book blogger and I recently started booktubing as well. I primarily read science fiction and fantasy and I'm currently on a mission to read every book on NPR's top 100 science fiction and fantasy book list. But sometimes I need a break from the list and I'm always looking for new and interesting books I haven't heard of before. Hopefully this book club will broaden my horizons and I look forward to reading, reviewing and discussing with all of you :D

Hey Fei Fei :) It sounds like you've got a really varied taste which is awesome! I hope you get something out of this group and read books you wouldn't have otherwise.

I'm fairly similar to you in the respect that I went pretty much straight from middle grade to adult :)

Ohhh I haven't heard of that list Nicole! I shall have to check it out!! And your channel- thanks for posting your channel name in the other thread :) I've recently been thinking I want to read more if the fantasy and sci fi greats. Especially after watching booksandpieces channel :)

I'm so excited to see some more people are starting to make booktube videos!

I think it's incredibly important to read diversely. I'm glad so many people agree.

Welcome to everybody!! :)

Hey everyone, I just really wanted to thank Mercedes for coming up with this wonderful book club, along with all the other booktubers participating. I cannot wait to read more diversely, and I'm looking forward to hearing all your thoughts on the books we will be reading.

I second what Chelsea put - thanks to Mercedes and all of the other booktubers. I feel like a spoiled rotten child on Christmas morning with my favorite booktubers all coming together and creating a book club around such a wonderful theme. :)

I'm looking forward to meeting new authors from around the world. :)

Hello~
I'm not a booktuber, but I enjoy watching everyone's videos and reviews. I usually join book clubs and then never say a thing because I'm so shy and afraid of saying silly things. However, now I'm trying to change that so yay words I am typing yay.

I love to read books from all over the world. My motherlanguage is Dutch so I read a lot of books from the Netherlands and Belgium, but since 8 years I've also been reading English books. So exciting! Many books aren't translated into Dutch but they are into English. I started with easy children's books and now I am reading literature, so I can't wait to find some new interesting books in this group. ^^

So.. hi o/

Hi everyone. I am excited about this book club because I get to read different books that I would never pick for myself. And one of my favorite things is to read a book that I would have never picked to read and end up loving it after I read it. I love a great surprise. So I am pumped!

Hey! My name is Veenaa and I love reading anything that's good so this group that talks about more than the conventional goodreads is apt for me. It sounds like fun and I am super excited to read the book chosen here.

Cher wrote: "I second what Chelsea put - thanks to Mercedes and all of the other booktubers. I feel like a spoiled rotten child on Christmas morning with my favorite booktubers all coming together and creating ..."

Haha this comment made me laugh!

Amanda wrote: "Hello~
I'm not a booktuber, but I enjoy watching everyone's videos and reviews. I usually join book clubs and then never say a thing because I'm so shy and afraid of saying silly things. However, n..."

Hey Amanda,

I'm glad you've had the courage to say hey. I know what you mean - I always join online book clubs and then not say a word. I think we'll all get so much more out of it if we participate and have some great discussions :)

Carmelita wrote: "Hi everyone. I am excited about this book club because I get to read different books that I would never pick for myself. And one of my favorite things is to read a book that I would have never pick..."

I totally agree with you - that is such a nice feeling :)

Ay wrote: "Hello everyone I'm Amy and this group sounds like a fantastic idea. I read mostly Young Adult fiction and my go to genres are dystopian/fantasy/steampunk. I've branched out a bit more into Adult/Co..."

Hey :)

I always think about trying some steampunk but never know where to start!

It's wicked that you've managed to get hold of Snow Country - I'm so glad you can participate!

Veenaa wrote: "Hey! My name is Veenaa and I love reading anything that's good so this group that talks about more than the conventional goodreads is apt for me. It sounds like fun and I am super excited to read t..."

Yay - I'm so glad you'll be joining us!

Mercedes wrote: "I'm glad you've had the courage to say hey. I know what you mean - I always join online book clubs and then not say a word. I think we'll all get so much more out of it if we participate and have some great discussions :) "

Indeed! Thank you for encouraging me. The friendly atmosphere sure helps. :)

Hi!
Im Marian,and I like the idea of this group:)I just finished reading "After Dark:

It was different but a quiet read.Will now look for more books.I am going to look for Natsuo Kirino's novels next.

Marian: I LOVE AFTER DARK! Okay, relax Colleen, relax. I'm Murakami crazy. I have his initials on my finger and "After Dark" is still my favorite.

Amanda, and everyone: I'm so glad you're actively participating. There's definitely no need to be shy here.

Amy: I agree with Mercedes. Some steam punk recommendations would be awesome!

Hello everyone I'm Lauren from Glowingreviews90 on youtube. I'm soup excited when I heard about this book club because I've always love diversity in what I read. I'm fascinated by different cultures and languages having grown up in a muti cultural atmosphere. I've always loved surrounding myself with friends from different parts of the globe so that easily transitions into loving books about those different cultures and places. I can't wait to dive in!

Hello,
I feel redundant but am also looking forward to reading different books and getting a wide range of views on it. I don't have a booktube channel or a blog but I hope to collaborate.
I have not been able to find a copy of the Slynx so I may start only in December.

Greets

Hello book friends! I've always loved to read since I was a little lad. I've been a big YA lover and continue to be and find myself reading different genres since my first job at a library many years ago. Finding the booktube community a year and a half ago has really helped me branch out even more. So I'm excited to read more diversely in this group with all of you. :)

Hello!

Nicola here, I'm robotnic on YouTube. I love what you ladies have started here and can't wait to read/watch/listen along with you all! I'll have to delay until next month (massive deadline coming up!) but I will definitely be taking part in the not so distant & wanted to say hello.

What's the book you've read this year that's furthest from your usual fare or comfort zone?

Nicola x

Hi, I am Kat. I am 16 years old and from Denmark and I am trying to move into the booktube community slowly. I've been reading mostly danish, english, american books most of life, but I wanna expand that.

http://www.youtube.com/bookattalks

Lauren wrote: "Hello everyone I'm Lauren from Glowingreviews90 on youtube. I'm soup excited when I heard about this book club because I've always love diversity in what I read. I'm fascinated by different culture..."

Oh I shall check your channel out :)

Celia wrote: "Hello,
I feel redundant but am also looking forward to reading different books and getting a wide range of views on it. I don't have a booktube channel or a blog but I hope to collaborate.
I have n..."

I look forward to chatting more about Snow Country then :)

Monica wrote: "Hello, I'm Monica. I've recently started booktubing, but I don't update as much as I should on there... I've started reading more diversely recently. I used to read a lot of young adult, but I've b..."

It sounds like you've been branching out this year in terms of genre - so it will be cool to branch out in terms of diversity as well :)

Katharina wrote: "Hi, I am Kat. I am 16 years old and from Denmark and I am trying to move into the booktube community slowly. I've been reading mostly danish, english, american books most of life, but I wanna expan..."

Hey,

Nice to have you here :) I shall check your channel out!

Betty wrote: "Hello book friends! I've always loved to read since I was a little lad. I've been a big YA lover and continue to be and find myself reading different genres since my first job at a library many yea..."

Hey Betty :) I'm glad you found us!

Nicola wrote: "Hello!

Nicola here, I'm robotnic on YouTube. I love what you ladies have started here and can't wait to read/watch/listen along with you all! I'll have to delay until next month (massive deadline ..."

Good luck with the deadline! We look forward to chatting more with you about Snow Country :)

Hi guys!
I'm Vanessa aka chboskyy on YouTube, and I keep meaning to try and vary my reading more! I definitely predominantly read books from Canada, UK, USA, and Japan, so I'd like to try and read a bit more outwith those areas! Although I won't be able to always get my hands on the books being read or have the time, I'd definitely like to take part on the occasion that I do! :)

Hey guys! I'm Kayleigh. I was so excited to hear about this book club idea. I'm ALWAYS looking to discover more diverse authors and/or books. I lovelovelove reading books from around the world, although I've mostly stuck to books from China, Japan, or the USA. I've been wanting to branch out but was never exactly sure where to start, so I'm really excited for this. I can't wait to discuss and hear your guys' thoughts along the way!

P.S. Snow Country has already been in my TBR list so I'm excited to jump in next month and get started :)

Hello everyone! I've always wanted to be a part of a book group so I'm really excited about being able to join this!

I love reading books from different countries (this year I've tried to focus on reading more African fiction before travelling on the continent) but its so easy to slip back into reading books from UK/USA. To me, a new way to get diverse recommendations is always a good idea :) Currently reading the Slynx and really enjoying it so I'm really looking forward to everything that is coming up next!

I'm so glad to see 205 members already! Whaaaat? Yeah, 205.

If you can't read "The Slynx" definitely try and pick up "Snow Country". It's really slim and beautiful from what I've had a peak at!

Hello lovely readers!

I'm Rose, almost 22, Dutch and in my last year of an MA in English Language & Literature.

Some favourite books: Cat's Eye (Margaret Atwood), Matilda (Roald Dahl), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey), On the Road (Jack Kerouac), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), the Book of Negroes (Lawrence Hill).. and the list goes on.

I love learning above all else and that's why I love reading diversely. Most of my reading in the last few years has consisted of uni reading lists, but I've managed to stuff quite a couple of books from my personal (endless) TBR list in there as well.

Colleen's comment about becoming old friends left me all giddy at the prospect of starting an amazing project like this one. :)

This book club is such a great idea and I look forward to participating actively starting with the December novel (or perhaps the November one.. :)).

(Am also in the meanwhile working up the courage to make my first Booktube video. ^^)

Eek, I just ordered the Slynx! I haven't bought a book to read for fun in months (shocking, come to think of it) but I'm too excited to start to wait until December.. :)

Hi everyone!
I love the idea of this group. I kept seeing video's about it on Booktube, and thought I should check it out! The first choice of The Slynx definitely made up my mind about joining the group. It seems like such an intriguing read. I already reserved it at my library. I can't wait to discover more from this group!

Rose: Heehee it's such a cute idea! I want to keep my international reads books all in a separate area on my shelf too. Maybe even print off some of the best comments on the book and slip it inside the cover to reflect back on later. It's interesting to wonder how long this will last!

Maiju: Well now I want to visit Finland! And visit Hungary just to look at the mustaches. My favorite things too look at are something like:
Happy family members, friends, and boyfriend
Book store shelves
Untouched snowy landscapes
A plate of really good food
And men with gigantic mustaches, preferably wearing flannel and looking like lumberjacks

Jen: Bonus points for utilizing the library! I'm trying to use sticky notes more but I really like to underline and margin write in my books so I think I'll be buying all these.

Hello everyone!

I'm American but am an expat in South Korea. :) The book is a bit expensive here and will take 4-8 weeks to ship, so I'll order it on my kindle tonight hopefully!

I'm really excited about this book club and about reading more intentionally with diverse authors and characters. I'm not a book tuber but I may start talking about books on my new channel, especially since I'm starting to read with this awesome group!

:)

Colleen wrote: "Rose: Heehee it's such a cute idea! I want to keep my international reads books all in a separate area on my shelf too. Maybe even print off some of the best comments on the book and slip it inside..."

I thought about the exact same thing yesterday! About writing down interesting ideas/quotes that people post about each book and including it somehow. :) It will be gloooorious. ^^