This was my first time participating in Camp NetGalley, and I will definitely be participating again in the future. This was a great way to get involved and make reading books into a "game."

Calling all Swifties! I was so excited to be approved to listen the the newest unofficial biography of Taylor Swift on Netgalley!! Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the opportunity, and what a great way to start off June’s Audiobook Month!

Taylor is two years older than me, so I’ve grown up with her music and her story. I wasn’t a huge fan when she first came out, but I loved “Our Song” and “Picture to Burn” off of her self-titled debut. “Love Story” off of her sophomore album “Fearless” was everywhere on the radio while I was in high school, and, like many teen girls, “You Belong With Me” was screamed very loudly on many a car trip with friends. I remember watching the famous incident at the VMA’s live in my college freshman dorm room with my best friend. Her third album, “Speak Now”, came while I was immersed in other artists, but then 2012’s “RED” arrived, and I went “NOW WAIT A SECOND”. It helped, of course, that I turned 22 in May of 2013, and all of us around that age were screaming along to “22”‘s “we’re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time” while we were graduating college and trying to enter the workforce. But I loved the title track “RED”, and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” both matched my love life at the time to a T. “1989” blew Taylor up to a higher sphere of celebrity, however that was possible, with “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space”, which I enjoyed, but didn’t hit me the way “RED” did.

And then Taylor disappeared. I was barely cognizant of what was happening because I’ve never been a Twitter girl, but between some foot-in-mouth moments of intersectionality and another incident with Kanye and, this time, Kim Kardashian, she disappeared from the spotlight. She came back with the single “Look What You Made Me Do” and the album “Reputation”. Again, I wasn’t an avid listener at the time, so I missed the hype on it. Follow that up with “Lover”, and the misstep with using “ME!” as the lead single for that album (“Cruel Summer”? “Death by a Thousand Cuts”? Taylor, please), and Taylor was in the background for me. That is, until, the pandemic hit. While we were all stuck inside, so was Taylor, and that gave us a huge gift in the form of two albums – “Folklore” and “Evermore”.

I can thank my students for introducing me to these albums. I was one year post divorce, living alone with my sweet Labrador in a condo right outside the city, and, because I was teaching hybridly, I was no longer seeing anyone outside of students and immediate coworkers due to fears of spreading the virus. That gave me a lot of time to nap, read, watch TV, finally unpack, and start my walking/jogging routine. I was the healthiest and happiest I had been in… years. When I was with people, it was mostly my students. I grew really close with those students, particularly the juniors and seniors, and they were constantly recommending things for me to watch/listen to/read. They turned me on to “Folklore” and “Evermore”, and I dove deep into the sounds and lyrics and stories Taylor wove.

The thing that turned me into a “Swiftie” beyond just an avid fan, was when Taylor decided to re-record her first six albums so that she could regain control of her masters. It was such a boss move – a middle finger to the establishment by “pop’s all American princess” – totally punk rock. It made me look at her as more than just a singer songwriter. I supported “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” when it came out, and the vault songs made me really excited for what was to come. When she announced that the second rerecord would be “RED (Taylor’s Version)”, I became rabid.

My students were just as excited as me, and we had a countdown on the whiteboard until “RED (TV)”‘s release. It coincided with a Saturday costume work day for our musical, so we all got the special “Taylor’s Version” Starbucks drinks (grande nonfat caramel latte) and binged the album while I taught them how to cut and measure pattern pieces (we were doing “Singin’ in the Rain” at the time). The vault tracks were everything I could’ve dreamed of. I went to list a couple here, and I ended up listing all but two of them, so just trust me – they’re all good.

When I was finally alone in my car, I allowed myself to experience “All Too Well (10 Minute)” – the final, ultimate, unedited track that “Swifties” and critics alike have dubbed Taylor Swift’s best work. I sobbed. Ugly. Loudly. Wordless. Breathless. It was every heartbreak I’d ever experience. It was the beginning of trying to pick up the pieces every time I felt betrayed. It was the bitterness of looking back with aged eyes and seeing the patterns continue. It was, and is, a song that understood my life at the soul.

So, a new Swiftie was born. I started following the fan accounts on Instagram. I started to learn all of the lore and the traditions. I listened to “Midnights” at midnight, and then stayed awake the rest of the night when the “Midnights: 3am Edition” bonus tracks launched. My friends were becoming Swifties as well, and we (and my students) shared theories on easter eggs and what could be coming next. We went to The Era’s Tour live when it came to my city, and it was one of the best concert experiences of my life. We continued (I should say continue, lol) to watch the livestreams from all of her other tour stops to see what she would do for the surprise song section or for new costumes. We threw a “Speak Now TV” release party at my friend’s house, and I created word searches to doodle on while we listened, reminisced, and ate as many strange purple foods as we could find. We got a big group together to go to see The Eras Tour Film, and my friends made us bracelets with our favorite songs or lines. I had “1989 TV” on repeat in one earbud at work the whole day that it came out, hoping no one would pass by my doorway and catch me dancing and lip syncing. I lost my crap when the marketing for “The Tortured Poet’s Department” came out – the gothic typewriter asylum documentation aesthetic had me losing my mind, AND we were getting collabs with Florence Welch and Post Malone?? I had to turn “TTPD” off and put it aside for a week because, oof, it was so sad! And now the question remains – when are we getting “Reputation TV” so I can appreciate the hype I missed? Will her self-titled debut be the last to get re-recorded, as I’m predicting? When that is over, is that when we’ll get TS12? I didn’t have TS10 or TS11 on my bingo sheet, so who knows?!

That’s a lot of backstory, so, TL;DR: Though this has evolved over my lifetime, I really love Taylor Swift’s music, and I appreciate her as an artist. Now back to the audiobook!

“Taylor: Era by Era” tells the story of Taylor Swift’s career from her very first ideas as a child all the way to the release of “The Tortured Poet’s Department”. I knew a lot of the events that happened throughout the book, but the beginning was really interesting to me because I had no idea that Taylor wrote most of the songs on her debut between the ages of 12-15! I was writing bad fanfiction at the time, not writing songs for a seven time certified platinum album! After the release of her debut, each chapter is titled after one of her eleven albums with each sharing what was happening around the creation of each album all the way through reception and touring. I enjoyed learning more about the business side of Taylor – she clearly is a smart businesswoman, and it sounds like she has been since she got her start. The end of the book touches on the release of “TTPD” and Taylor’s romance with NFL tight end, Travis Kelce, so this must’ve just wrapped up for publication in the last few weeks.

Something I enjoyed about the book is that her various boyfriends across the years were barely mentioned. Mostly, they were brought up in connection to other things such as meeting John Mayer when he tweeted at her to work on a duet with him, or writing music under a pseudonym like she did with Calvin Harris and Joe Alwyn. In fact, even though we briefly mention the all important red scarf of “All Too Well”, Jake Gyllenhaal’s name isn’t even mentioned. These men are part of Taylor’s story, but it is Taylor’s story. By not focusing on the hype or the speculation about which songs are about which people, we get to focus on Taylor’s songwriting, evolution, and business acumen.

It is easy to tell that the author, Caroline Sullivan, also likes Taylor Swift. She writes about her accomplishments with praise, and, there were even some times where I felt she let Taylor off the hook about some of her missteps. However, because Sullivan is also a fan, it made listening to this book feel just like a conversation with a friend about Taylor, her songs, and her story. Even the bits with quotes from the industry, good and bad, or facts and figures were easy to digest and connect narratively.

The audiobook is narrated by Katelyn Levering, and she had a tone that sounded like a combination of a girl you’d meet in line at the bathroom before The Era’s Tour meets Ms. Mojo (and I mean that as a compliment!) She was very engaging, and she helped keep the pace swift (pun intended). Just a note to future listeners – Levering reads this book with an American accent, but the dates (and some verbiage) were clearly written in a British vernacular. It threw me the first few times, but I did get used to it.

Overall, this is a great book for those that are interested in learning more about the history of Taylor’s Swift’s career through the lens of her musical eras. Whether you’re a full fledged, friendship bracelet trading Swiftie or just a casual fan, you’ll find something to like with this audiobook.

“Taylor: Era by Era” comes out on June 6th (while Taylor herself is performing The Eras Tour in Milan!), and you can get your copy in print or audio wherever books are sold!

I do enjoy a Netgalley community activity! I find the PDF format means I often forget about this, but I liked the variety of activities included in here.

This was a neat idea. I had some trouble printing things out, but overall it was fun. I wonder if they will be bringing this back during the holidays or will it just be the summer only. Either way it is something new and pretty cool.
My favorite book so far is the following : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6721586966

A really fun challenge to do and be part of - a great motivator to pick some Netgalley books to read.

This was the first time I've participated in Camp NetGalley and this little book made the experience more fun.

So devastated that I got distracted with work and missed the badge deadline!!! I think this event was a really cool idea though. If possible, it would be fun to make it more interactive in the future, like maybe with weekly challenges on social media or something.

Thank you for this! Very helpful! It definitely introduced me to NetGalley and how I can use this platform to read amazing books and help them get more readers out there!!

This was a neat idea. Thank you, Netgalley, for offering this little challenge. Very informative. I'm sad that I missed the deadline for the badge but that’s alright. Maybe next time!

Thanks for giving us a way to participate in a summer reading "camp." I always love a BINGO challenge!

Maybe you should make 2 bingos - one with book challenges (eg LGBTQA+ main character) and one with things to do (read outside/follow on social media)

One of my reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6670933468

Very informative on what camp netgalley is. Would have liked to see more information on other platforms.

Missed the deadline for this badge but it was a fun idea for NetGalley to do and I wish it was more interactive!

I loved this activity!

This is an odd thing to review due to it being more of an activity than a book but it was fun! I wish I had participated a bit more. Hopefully it grows even more next year!

Thank you for the Camp NetGalley Welcome Pack!
Not sure that this requires a review, but wanted to share that it was appreciated.

Bravo! What a clever idea to encourage community engagement. I so enjoyed following along with member posts on Instagram. It brought back fond memories of summer reading. I think we’re never too old to enjoy book camp! I’ve already added the new stickers! I hope there will more opportunities like this to interact with fellow NetGalley book nerds.

I absolutely love this idea and I hope with some updates that Netgalley continues to do things like this in the future! My main feedback is that it was so easy to forget about it without reminders. I almost wish it could be it's own tab at the top when going on or get reminders about it.

Love the creativity and ideas to engage the community!

I really liked the idea of this, but I wish I hadn't forgotten about it until two days post talent show submission. I hope this is done again next year, and I will try and remember to participate!

found this whole thing super confusing - I’m newish to NetGalley, so it may be my own inexperience to blame.

This was a fun idea for summer reading! It kind of reminded me of when I would be a part of the summer reading programs at the library when I was a kid, and I loved being able to be a part of the book community and seeing what everyone was reading for this challenge! I hope that NetGalley continues to do events like this in the future.

This was such a fun summer activity! I loved seeing other bookstagrammers post their summer reads and their netgalley camp bingo cards.