Creating your perfect reading list
And the first of our Jan books of the month
As we build out the capability of Verse, one of the features Iām most excited about is lists. Lists capture your reading in a way that works for you. Think of it like creating a playlist of your favourite books, and then being able to share it as a perfectly packaged present to your friends and family, compete with a recommendation on why you love them. You can group them into different themes or use cases, in a seamlessly organised way, according to your preferences.
And it looks like this š
This also means when you save a book to read later, you can add a note on why youāre saving it or who recommended it. This has become invaluable to me, as Iām quickly able to filter through what to read next based on what Iām in the mood for or want to learn.
Verse will also create some recommendations to share with the community, and weāre starting with books of the month. This will be 3-5 books we have recently read and feel passionately about, across a range of genres. I love to have a variety as I like to read a few books in parallel, fiction and non-fiction, so that whatever Iām in the mood for I can turn to easily.
So here we go, introducing our first book for Januaryā¦
Our first book of the month:
Playground by Richard Powers (Booker Prize 2024 Longlist)
Wow, this book. Itās beautiful, creative, expansive and also punches you in the gut. This is nothing like what I was expecting, which was a book about the joys of the ocean and maybe a bit of history of the invention of the aqua lung and diving equipment.
This book is part ocean, part humanity, part board games, and part tech-bro AI world domination. If you like Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow then I think youāll love this. The writing is beautiful and Powers has such a skill in conjuring up the atmosphere and environment of the (very different) main characters.
The book has made me want to learn to play Go, had me adding books to my reading list, and pine for a trip to Polynesia (a dream first set in motion by the beautiful Sea People during lockdown).
As world events continue to focus us on the impact of climate change and AI, this is a very powerful book to read and consider in parallel. Itās also super clever and needs to be discussed - it would be an excellent book club or group read.
Explore our reading lists š
You can find all our readings lists in our shop. If you like the look of any of these books, then perhaps you might like to support Verse? If you buy through our links (you can browse our lists or search for any book you like!) then we get a small affiliate fee which helps to power our development efforts.
How does it work? Once you click any of the links in this post our affiliate code is applied to your browser. This means any purchases you then make will earn us commission at no extra cost to you! The affiliate code will last for 30 days so donāt worry if you just want to browse and return to the bookshop later.
Thank you if you choose to do this! š
Say goodbye to bad recommendations and hello to a better reading experience š