The idea behind Verse came out of being a very frustrated reader. I have so many gripes about the current experience and the failures of existing solutions: from remembering the next book to read, easily buying it from a seller I want to support, and sharing books I’ve loved with friends and family.
Well, Tom and I have teamed up to finally do something about it. After throwing around a lot of ideas, we have decided to take a shot at trying to make something better. It also means discussing books a lot, which makes it a really fun thing to work on…. and brings us to this week’s post.
We thought it would be nice to share our current reading lists: what we’re excited to read next, where we found it and why. Because half the fun is in the anticipation of something.
Here’s a round up of all the books we’ve added to our list in June.
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Jen’s to read list
Butter by Asako Yuzuki - This is a recommendation from my physio’s book club. Apparently it talks A LOT about butter. I love butter, but how much is too much butter? I’ll let you know.
The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen - This has been mentioned by every entrepreneur I’ve met so far and they were very passionate about it, so I’m looking forward to this. I find all business books are far longer than they actually need to be (in fact, I would pay more for a distilled version that didn’t pad out the argument to hit 300 pages), so I’ll be listening to this on audio so I can fast forward as needed.
Dog by Rob Perry - A bookseller told me about this book that outperformed all their sales expectations - they haven’t been able to keep it on the shelves. Next challenge: trying to get my hands on it.
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household - This is influenced by The Ministry of Time (a fun holiday read) where the male character couldn’t stop reading it. I feel like it was poking fun at the character - but I’ve never heard of it and that’s my favourite category of books to explore.
Imogen by Jilly Cooper - This was influenced by India Knight’s recent post. I’ve never read any Jilly Coopers, perhaps this will be the start of something.
Your Table Is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina - I have no idea where I found this, but it looks like a fun and interesting read. Isn’t it annoying when you can’t place the recommendation… perhaps there’s a feature coming to help us solve this 👀
Tom’s to read list:
I try not to keep long to do lists. Period. For books, even more so. That said, I have a few titles I want to get to sooner than others. Right now they are:
The Virtues of the Table by Julian Baggini - This was a gift from my mother which I have repeatedly avoided due to the sanctimonious tone of the title and cover. On a Sunday morning after a particularly well earned hangover, I found it staring at me from under my coffee table. I decided that perhaps I needed some tabular virtues after all. There was also a lovely note from my mother inside.
Meantime by Frankie Boyle - I saw his Lap of Shame tour a few months ago. My hope is that, as a writer, he will be the swearing man’s Richard Osman. Sometimes a crappy detective novel is exactly what you need, especially when the weather is warm (come on July!) and you are in a beer garden.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake - Uplifting, informative, essential. I actually got through a good chunk of this last year whilst on holiday but then, like an idiot, left it at the bottom of my holdall. I found it while packing for a trip last month. I must finish this.
Here’s the full list.
Other lists you might like:
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Please excuse any typos as lovely proof that this writing is not supported by AI 🤖