Even though A Star is Bored by Byron Lane has been nominated as THE 2020 summer read multiple times, we decided to read it in September and let us tell you: this book is a joy even if it’s not summer!

A Star is Bored follows Charlie Besson who gets a job as personal assistant to one of Hollywood’s most beloved actresses: Kathi Kannon. He can’t believe his luck and throws himself into his new work head first. Between trips out of the country, parties, and lazy days in Kathi’s home, the two of them form a bond that goes beyond employer and employee. But Charlie also slowly loses himself in the process. He has to make a very difficult decision: what is he supposed to do?

We absolutely loved this book and especially adored the found family dynamics between Charlie and Kathi. A Star is Bored deals with some heavy topics while being humorous and fun. It was an absolute joy to go on this wild ride with Charlie and we can definitely say: While it is a fantastic summer read, it is a wonderful book for all year round.

Byron, who is actually the ex-personal assistant of the late Carrie Fisher, has created a novel with so many moments that will tug on your heart and will make you feel every emotion possible.

Sadly, the month of September was the last month in which The Nerd Daily Book Club has read a book together but we couldn’t have picked a more brilliant book to finish our adventure off.

From us readers to you: We heartily, heartily recommend this book!

Will you be picking up A Star Is Bored? Tell us in the comments below!

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For our August read, we had the joy of diving into This Train is Being Held by Ismée Williams. The novel follows teenagers Isa and Alex who meet (over and over again) on the subway in New York City and fall in love.

We all thought that this story was quite extraordinary because we didn’t just get a love story, but we got fully fleshed out characters with flaws, issues, and problems.

Major themes of the book include racism (both Isa and Alex are Latinx), passion and to work hard for what you want, difficult relationships with parents, money issues, mental health problems, and everything else you could possibly encounter and fret over as a teen.

We had a great time reading This Train is Being Held and admittedly most discussed the micro aggressions Alex faces because of his skin colour. Besides discussing the scenes and whether we had ever witnessed anything like that, some of us also began contemplating whether we have ever been guilty of doing any of the things people did to Alex (sometimes probably unknowingly). Our discussions were as much outrage as they were contemplative.

One extra special treat this month was that we were able to chat to Ismée directly in a live chat. We got to ask her everything that we wanted to know, including whether or not she went on the subway specifically to people watch for her novel. We got talking about musicians and artists on the subway, as well as baseball and ballet, and she even revealed that one of the scenes in the book has happened to her in real life.

She also told us about her involvement in the Latinx Kid Lit Book Festival, which is organised by Las Musas, a collective of female and non-binary Latinx authors. The festival is going live on the 4th and 5th of December, so you should all mark in your calendars! There are going to be Q&As and panels with all of your favourite Latinx authors and illustrators!

As for our September read, we are diving into the fantastic A Star is Bored by Byron Lane. Can’t wait to discuss!

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For that reason, we decided to join in the millions of people trying to educate themselves and opted for A Phoenix First Must Burn, a collection of short stories featuring Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. The short stories gave our fellow members a short reprieve from the mess that is the outside world yet simultaneously helped us to educate ourselves and diversify our reading.

As with any anthology, there were some in our group that adored every single short story, others who decided to stick to those stories from authors they’d read and loved in the past, while the rest went about it randomly and let fate (and in my case: a pair of dice) decide which story to read next. It’s the beauty of anthologies that you get to encounter new voices that you might not have picked up on your own, like an all-you-can-eat buffet. There are those who will only put that on their plate that they’re familiar with and those who think, hey, if I can try it all, I’m going to go for it!

From folktales to science fiction, magic and epic journeys, A Phoenix First Must Burn is an amazing anthology of stories full of love and strength, family, and friendships that hold strong in the face of adversity. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, these characters have a lot to face and fear but they emerge, though battered and bruised, victorious at the end.

It certainly gave us all a boost of motivation and encouraged us to go out there and make this world a better, more inclusive place, until all phoenixes are equal.

Sixteen tales from loved household names of fantasy like Dhonielle Clayton and Danielle Paige to acclaimed contemporary authors like Elizabeth Acevedo and Amerie, all the way to unforgettable and surprising tales from Somaiya Daud, Justina Ireland, Ibi Zoboi, and so many more, this anthology has something for everyone!

Thinking of joining the official The Nerd Daily Book Club? Head on over to our Goodreads page and come chat! Our August pick is Ismée Williams’ phenomenal novel This Train Is Being Held and we’ll even have a live show with the author herself at the end of the month!

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For our Pride Month Read, we picked Noah Can’t Even by the fantastic Simon James Green.

We were all convinced that we couldn’t either, if we were in Noah’s shoes. From questioning his sexuality because his best friend Harry kissed him out of the blue, to his mum putting on the most embarrassing Beyoncé cover act, to having to deal with his classmates and other irritating issues a 15-year old boy could have. Noah manages quite well in our eyes, considering all the drama that comes his way.

Mimi from the Book Club summed the book up quite well: “Never have I ever met characters who were this pure of heart but dumb of ass and that’s my favourite combo ever.”

We can’t help but agree. While we shared laughs and our favourite funny scenes, we also got talking about straight culture and how far that might play a role in why Noah acts how he acts and thinks how he thinks, e.g. that it’s high time for him to have a girlfriend, even though he hasn’t paused for a second to think about whether or not he actually wants one.

Besides reading this fabulous story together, we hosted an exciting giveaway this month, in which our members were asked to send in stories of their past in which they “couldn’t even”. We then had a vote and are excited to announce that our member Barry won a rare physical copy of the Noah short story “Noah goes Nuclear”, which was available at the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) in London one year. We hope Barry loves the story as much as we do and for everyone who wasn’t lucky this time, the short story can be found on Simon’s website.

But of course, we don’t want to keep the fantastic stories from you that we received! So have fun reading! If you’d like to join us, you can find us on Goodreads and our book for the month July is A Phoenix First Must Burn.

Hope to see you there!

#1 Ordering A Bear

Okay so I was in London and I was at a pub with some of my friends and the bartender was seriously cute so I decided to give it my all and flirt with him when I went to get a round of drinks. I was kind of nervous because he was so hot and my English isn’t perfect. So I walked up to him, smiled, and ordered in my most British sounding accent. It was all fun until I ordered a berry flavoured cider and for some reason my brain didn’t remember the correct word for berries and ordered ‘a cider with bear’. It took a while until he understood and when he did, he laughed so loudly half of the pub was looking at us and I was mortified. Obviously the flirting was put on ice, but even worse, the guy kept looking over and randomly starting to laugh the rest of the night and my friends thought it was equally funny. I was so embarrassed.

#2 Lunch In The Loos

Hi! What happened to me still haunts me today and I get random flashbacks to it. I was in high school at the time and I had this huge issue about eating in front of other people (I was slightly chubby back then and was bullied)… Sometimes I would eat my lunch in the bathroom, like sitting on a toilet getting my lunch out trying to be as quiet as possible so no-one heard what I was doing… This one day it was very busy in the toilets while I was eating my sandwich and all of a sudden the door to my cubicle opens and my classmate is standing there staring at me… That’ll teach me to never ever forget to lock a cubicle again. I was so embarrassed I didn’t talk to her for the rest of our time there.

#3 Drunken Shenanigans

A few years ago I was on a night out and I got drunk INCREDIBLY quickly to the point that I had to be supported down the street from friends so I didn’t fall over. We went in a new bar but it quickly became evident that I needed to go home. A taxi was called. As we waited, I fell asleep in the street and my friends later told me that a homeless person felt so sorry for me that he put his blanket over me to keep me warm while we waited. I got taken home (I don’t remember any of this…) And woke to find myself completely naked in the kitchen as my brother’s girlfriend walks in. Suffice it to say I couldn’t look her in the face for weeks.

#4 Can I try that?

I was at a barbecue with some friends and one of the girls invited had brought her boyfriend who was sitting next to me. He opted for a burger while I had a sausage. She had some grilled vegetables. So he leaned over and examined the sausage I was eating and asked “Can I try some of that?” a good reaction would have been to say “sure, so ahead” and let him have at it. Was that what I did? Nope. I honest to god said “sure” and cut him off a piece of my sausage which was then of course on my fork. I have no idea what I was thinking but between the awkwardly fumbling with my fork and his knife on his plate and feeding him, there literally are no other options. Awkward fumbling it was. Everyone was clearly taken aback and I felt so embarrassed. Since then, I avoid him at parties – and this was 2 years ago!

#5 My meet-and-kiss
I was incredibly lucky to have won a meet and greet with one of my favourite singers. I went there all giddy and excited and when he hugged me in greeting, we kind of went into the same direction with our heads? Which may or may not have ended with my lips brushing the corner of his mouth? As a VIP fan, I had the perk of staying in the venue right after the M&G so technically front row rights. Trust me that I was standing way way in the back with the reddest face I’ve ever had and can’t even recall most of the concert.

Have you read Noah Can’t Even? Tell us in the comments below!

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We had the pleasure of reading Felix Ever After this month and there were some lively discussions in our Goodreads group, all dedicated to the characters, the mean plot twists that made our hearts race and the swoonworthy romance that made us all go ‘awwwww’ whenever a certain someone (redacted for spoiler reasons) would grace the pages! Felix is filled with noteworthy topics like intersectionality, bullying and fears and trauma people on the LGBTQ+ spectrum deal with on a daily basis and reminds us all that we have to work harder to make the world a better, more inclusive place. Above all, though, this book is dedicated to love – in all its splendid forms. It’s also about becoming the best version of yourself and realising that the only one you’re in competition with is yourself. And that there’s always ways to improve as long as you are true to yourself! In short, Felix Ever After left the members of our book club with all of the emotions – from “my heart is so full now that I’ve read this” all the way to “I’ve bawled my eyes out during the Pride parade scene – but like, in a good way”. The book definitely left us all in tears.

Prior to our Book Club, we had the chance to ask Kacen what they would like us to discuss within the group and they said that they would love it if we all stated one thing that we love about ourselves. Felix Ever After is all about love – love for others but most importantly, loving yourself and knowing that you are worthy. We of course granted Callender’s wish, so scroll down if you’d like to know a few of our answers and to share the love, feel free to tell us in the comments what you love about yourself!

Clau: What I like about myself is that I am always open to new experiences and I try to live being as free as possible. I love that I am really independent and that this has helped me meet many people and visit many places that have made me grow into the person I am. I hate having a routine and I always feel the need to be changing aspects of my life. Sometimes it is hard because I can feel stuck when I can’t change my lifestyle as quick as I would like to. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything because thanks to this side of me, in 19 years I’ve done things I never thought I would. And I could also get rid of my extreme shyness that when I was a kid thought was impossible to overcome.

Nicole: I love my creativity. I feel like I’ve always been creative and sometimes I lose it but it always comes back to me and it’s something that I feel I’ve always had whilst other aspects of my personality have changed as I’ve gotten older. I also love my love of travel because I definitely got that from my dad and even though he’s not around anymore, it feels like he’s still a part of me. Discovering new favourite places will never get old.

Simone: For me, it’s definitely my veganism. As someone who has a lot of issues especially with themselves, having a belief of doing something 110% the right way is super empowering. That isn’t to say that I judge anyone who doesn’t have the same values, but for me, being so very sure of this one thing in my life makes so many things easier and it makes me feel calm and at home in times where i‘m unsure about literally everything else!

Mimi: One thing I love about myself is my ambition. I’ve had a lot of bad things happen in the past and there were definitely some moments (and still are!) where I just want to throw everything out of the window, chuck old projects and start everything anew. But every time I think about giving up, I get this very Slytherin-esque rush of ambition and determination. It’s like this little voice in my head that just says, “hey, I know this is exhausting and excruciating, but you got this.” It always reminds me that we have immeasurable strength if we only believe in ourselves!

Thinking of joining us for June? Head on over to our Goodreads group if you want to boost your reading challenge by reading Noah Can’t Even with us! The author Simon James Green is beyond excited that we chose his novel in honor of Pride Month. The more, the merrier!

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