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BYOB: Bring Your Own Book Club

We gather to talk about books we read, we like, dislike, or are puzzled by. We share our thoughts and recommendations, munch on cookies and just enjoy the time spent together conversing about books and ideas.

We love to read

"The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library."
Albert Einstein 

 

Trinity College Library Dublin

THE 2010S WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING THE EBOOK REVOLUTION. iT NEVER QUITE CAME by Constance Grady. 

At the beginning of the 2010s, the world seemed to be poised for an ebook revolution. The Amazon Kindle, which was introduced in 2007, effectively mainstreamed ebooks. By 2010, it was clear that ebooks weren’t just a passing fad, but were here to stay. They appeared poised to disrupt the publishing industry on a fundamental level. Analysts confidently predicted that millennials would embrace ebooks with open arms and abandon print books, that ebook sales would keep rising to take up more and more market share, that the price of ebooks would continue to fall, and that publishing would be forever changed. Instead, at the other end of the decade,... The 2010s were supposed to bring the ebook revolution. It never quite came. Publishing spent the 2010s fighting tooth and nail against ebooks. There were unintended consequences.

BOOKS WE TALKED ABOUT

Alchemist / Coelho, Paulo
Brave new world / Huxley, Aldous
Color of Law / Rothstein, Richard
Dutch House / Patchett, Ann [audiobook read by Tom Hanks]
Guest list / Foley, Lucy
Irreversible damage / Shrier, Abigail
Me and White Supremacy / Saad, Layla
Night Circus / Morgenstern, Erin [audiobook read by Jim Dale]
Neon Wilderness / Algren, Nelson
Sigh, Gone / Tran, Phuc
Switched on Pop / Sloan, Nate and Charlie Harding
Toscanini: musician of conscience / Sachs, Harvey

In the Library

Casta Diva aria from NORMA by Bellini

Arthuro Toscanini conducted NORMA only once, as a very young conductor. He never conducted it again saying that there were no sopranos that can sing this opera. Casta Diva is the most famous aria of Norma, and listed here are the most famous contemporary (or so) singers performing it. What would Toscanini say?