Books - November Book Club Nominations

**TheAngel** · 10-25-2009, 07:33 AM

Hello everyone,
It's that time of the month again (a little late actually but with Halloween and work it's been a little hectic

) when we pick another book to read for the book club. So, I'll take the first three nominations this time, since we have a little less time. The only rule is that we don't do series, so for example, if we've read one book in a series, you can't nominate any other books in the series. Otherwise we'd be stuck reading all the Harry Potter and Twilight books and we'd never get to read anything else. So, let the nominating begin.

**Guinevere** · 10-25-2009, 10:02 AM

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Quote:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.

**TheAngel** · 10-25-2009, 05:08 PM

Alright, great. We have one nomination. Two more to go.

Rukia · 10-27-2009, 02:58 PM

I actually haven't read this one, but I'm going ahead and nominating it, if that's okay. I'm actually going to read it next. It sounds intriguing!

Cracks by Sheila Kohler

Quote:

From Publishers Weekly
A group of South African women who were all members of a boarding-school swimming team revisit a shared and haunted past in Kohler's polished, compact and chilling third novel. Summoned by their old headmistress after developers threaten the school's grounds, 12 middle-aged women return to the rural South African terrain of their childhoods. They were the last to see the team's star, Fiamma, just before she disappeared forever into the barren Transvaal veldt around the school. Kohler's short chapters alternate scenes from the reunion with flashbacks to their youthful companionshipAand rivalry. The group includes Di Radfield, the team captain; the bookish Ann Lindt; Sheila Kohler, an American (who shares the author's name and her vocation); pretty Meg Donovan; and others only briefly seen. Their swimming coach, Miss G, guides the students closely and manipulatively, showing an interest that borders on the sexual. When Fiamma Coronna, an Italian girl who claims royal lineage, joins the team, Miss G exalts her over the rest of the swimmers, creating at first competition, then resentment, along with sexual jealousy. Kohler (The House on R Street) narrates the story in the first-person plural: "We always had cramps in our toes. Our hair was always wet. Our hands were always damp and cold and our fingers crinkled." The curt "we" and Kohler's clipped, effective descriptions generate an abiding sense of myth, collective experience and collective guilt. At the same time, these tactics prevent readers from growing attached to any one individual, asking us to focus instead on the novel's rich mood. The result is a narrative at once powerful and hollow, an extremely well-made technical experiment. Finding at last how and why Fiamma vanished, some readers will feel the experiment justified; others may feel she was never really there. (Sept.) Cahners Business Information.

**TheAngel** · 10-27-2009, 07:22 PM

Alright, now we have two. Come on, someone has to have a favorite book they want to nominate this time around.

lynaem · 10-28-2009, 03:45 AM

Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta

Josephine Alibrandi is a second generation Italian Australian completing her last year of high school. She is the School Vice-Captain of St Martha's in Sydney. Josie learns to overcome the narrow minded social and racial bigotry of people like Ivy Lloyd (Poison Ivy) and Carly Bishop. Josie reacts angrily to derogatory terms like wog and ethnic. She ultimately learns to have pride in her heritage and by the end of the novel is proud to say I'm Australian with Italian blood flowing rapidly through my veins.

The absence of her father for Josie's first sixteen years means she has been heavily influenced by two powerful and strong women: her mother Christina and her grandmother Katia (Nonna). Josie unravels Nonna's deepest secret, which is the adultery she committed with her Australian lover, Marcus. Josephine's father, Michael Andretti, visits and despite Josie's initial anger at his presence, he becomes extremely close to her and her to him.

Friends such as Sera, Anna and Lee influence Josie's choices throughout her last year. A greater influence comes from her boyfriend Jacob Coote, and her crush, John Barton, whose suicide has a great emotional impact on her.

The story is Josephine's reflection in her final year at high school and the narrative style is first person.

I studied this at school years ago and i loved it so much that i read it cover to cover in about 3 days which is fast for me, it normally takes me week/months to finish book.

**TheAngel** · 10-28-2009, 09:39 AM

Excellent. We have our three books so everyone needs to come in and vote for their favorite. Our choices are:
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Cracks by Sheila Kohler
Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta

DiagonalZipper · 10-28-2009, 11:49 AM

The Hunger Games. Hopefully my copy will be in from the library...

**Guinevere** · 10-28-2009, 12:28 PM

The Hunger Games

Rukia · 10-28-2009, 06:32 PM

Cracks

kfrancis08 · 10-28-2009, 07:27 PM

The hunger games sounds inviting

**TheAngel** · 10-28-2009, 08:05 PM

Alright, The Hunger Games is in the lead with three votes, followed by Cracks with one vote. But there's still lots of time to vote. I'm going to go ahead and leave the voting open until Monday, November 2nd, since we started the nomination and voting process so late this month.

lynaem · 10-29-2009, 04:55 AM

Looking for Alibrandi

**- Tina -** · 10-29-2009, 10:22 AM

The Hunger Games.

**TheAngel** · 10-29-2009, 08:51 PM

The Hunger Games -- 4
Cracks -- 1
Looking for Alibrandi -- 1