Books and Writing - September Book Club Nominations

TheAngel · 08-24-2009, 01:58 PM

Hey everyone,
It's that time of the month again, but we're doing something a little special this time around. Because of our previous record of having young adult or fantasy as our books of the month, which the past five months can all be categorized under, we will not be allowing either fantasy or young adult books into the nomination pool this month. This book club isn't just about sharing our favorite books with others, but also about expanding our own horizons as readers. So, if you'd find your book in the young adult section of a bookstore, or in the fantasy section, please don't nominate it this month (though exceptions will be made to young adult for classics, like The Lord of the Flies or The Catcher in the Rye and other books of that type since they're more classics than traditional young adult books)
I will accept the first four nominations for books and then we'll start voting for September. So get your nominations in.

Rukia · 08-24-2009, 04:10 PM

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Description: (from Cormac McCarthy's official site)

Quote:

Cormac McCarthy’s tenth novel, The Road, is his most harrowing yet deeply personal work. Some unnamed catastrophe has scourged the world to a burnt-out cinder, inhabited by the last remnants of mankind and a very few surviving dogs and fungi. The sky is perpetually shrouded by dust and toxic particulates; the seasons are merely varied intensities of cold and dampness. Bands of cannibals roam the roads and inhabit what few dwellings remain intact in the woods.

Through this nightmarish residue of America a haggard father and his young son attempt to flee the oncoming Appalachian winter and head towards the southern coast along carefully chosen back roads. Mummified corpses are their only benign companions, sitting in doorways and automobiles, variously impaled or displayed on pikes and tables and in cake bells, or they rise in frozen poses of horror and agony out of congealed asphalt. The boy and his father hope to avoid the marauders, reach a milder climate, and perhaps locate some remnants of civilization still worthy of that name. They possess only what they can scavenge to eat, and the rags they wear and the heat of their own bodies are all the shelter they have. A pistol with only a few bullets is their only defense besides flight. Before them the father pushes a shopping cart filled with blankets, cans of food and a few other assets, like jars of lamp oil or gasoline siphoned from the tanks of abandoned vehicles—the cart is equipped with a bicycle mirror so that they will not be surprised from behind.

Through encounters with other survivors brutal, desperate or pathetic, the father and son are both hardened and sustained by their will, their hard-won survivalist savvy, and most of all by their love for each other. They struggle over mountains, navigate perilous roads and forests reduced to ash and cinders, endure killing cold and freezing rainfall. Passing through charred ghost towns and ransacking abandoned markets for meager provisions, the pair battle to remain hopeful. They seek the most rudimentary sort of salvation. However, in The Road, such redemption as might be permitted by their circumstances depends on the boy’s ability to sustain his own instincts for compassion and empathy in opposition to his father’s insistence upon their mutual self-interest and survival at all physical and moral costs.

I read this recently, and I was quite moved by it. It's a great book, and one of my favorites at the moment. I'd love to discuss it with everyone.

TheAngel · 08-25-2009, 09:39 AM

Alright, I'm going to go on ahead and make a nomination. I nominate The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Quote:

From master storyteller Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind, comes The Angel’s Game--a dazzling new page-turner about the perilous nature of obsession, in literature and in love.

“The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that, when I opened those windows, its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets I could capture on paper and narrate to whomever cared to listen...”

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Mart�*n, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed--a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

Once again, Zafón takes us into a dark, gothic universe first seen in The Shadow of the Wind and creates a breathtaking adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy. Through a dizzingly constructed labyrinth of secrets, the magic of books, passion, and friendship blend into a masterful story.

Gabriela · 08-25-2009, 11:00 AM

thanks for starting this

And I agree it'll be good to broaden our reading horizons a bit beyond YA and fantasy

TheAngel · 08-25-2009, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabriela (View Post)

thanks for starting this

And I agree it'll be good to broaden our reading horizons a bit beyond YA and fantasy

Yeah, I was just worried that some people might feel left out, especially since that was the indication a few people made during the last nominations/voting, and it's true, most of our threads are about either young adult books or fantasy books, so it's a good idea to get some fresh ideas and maybe some new blood into the mix.

Two more nominations to go, so get your favorites in everyone.

Rukia · 08-25-2009, 04:35 PM

Thanks for trying to start something new!

Don't worry about us feeling left out. After all, there's more to life than this forum.

I'm all for the fantasy bandwagon, but I'm pretty versatile, and I'm interested in a lot of other things, so I like to read anything that catches my interest.

I try to spread the word about the good books that I've read, but if nobody's interested here, what can I do?

Hopefully, we'll get some more nominations. The book that you nominated sounds really good, but wowzers, it's like over 500 pages!

It's not too much of a hefty read, is it?

TheAngel · 08-25-2009, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rukia (View Post)

Thanks for trying to start something new!

Don't worry about us feeling left out. After all, there's more to life than this forum.

I'm all for the fantasy bandwagon, but I'm pretty versatile, and I'm interested in a lot of other things, so I like to read anything that catches my interest.

I try to spread the word about the good books that I've read, but if nobody's interested here, what can I do?

Hopefully, we'll get some more nominations. The book that you nominated sounds really good, but wowzers, it's like over 500 pages!

It's not too much of a hefty read, is it?

It's really not that bad. I thought it went pretty quickly. I finished in in about three days because it's a really fast paced story and quite interesting, everything flows really well. But that's just me and I'm a big fan of the author so maybe I'm biased.

hilary clinton · 08-25-2009, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAngel (View Post)

It's really not that bad. I thought it went pretty quickly. I finished in in about three days because it's a really fast paced story and quite interesting, everything flows really well. But that's just me and I'm a big fan of the author so maybe I'm biased.

Thanks for your idea

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TheAngel · 08-26-2009, 06:23 AM

Alright, we still need two more nominations. Come on guys, someone has to have a favorite book that isn't fantasy or young adult

Tomorrow's skies · 08-26-2009, 09:03 AM

It's only fantasy for me

Stay to the Lights · 08-26-2009, 09:11 AM

I do have one.

I found this book when i was in London in 2005, and quite liked it, so i ended up getting the whole set.

A Woman of Substance - Barbara Taylor Bradford

Quote:

On the brooding moors above a humble Yorkshire village stood Fairley Hall. There, Emma Harte, its oppressed but resourceful servant girl, acquired a shrewd determination. There, she honed her skills, discovered the meaning of treachery, learned to survive, to become a woman, and vowed to make her mark on the world.

In the wake of tragedy she rose from poverty to magnificent wealth as the iron-willed force behind a thriving international enterprise. As one of the richest women in the world Emma Harte has almost everything she fought so hard to achieve—save for the dream of love, and for the passion of the one man she could never have.

Through two marriages, two devastating wars, and generations of secrets, Emma’s unparalleled success has come with a price. As greed, envy, and revenge consume those closest to her, the brilliant matriarch now finds herself poised to outwit her enemies, and to face the betrayals of the past with the same ingenious resolve that forged her empire.

Gabriela · 08-26-2009, 11:03 AM

^ Ooh, that does sound good!

Rukia · 08-26-2009, 11:31 AM

That sounds good, too!

Holy crap, it's a whopping 900-something pages though!

Hopefully, it doesn't read like Crime and Punishment or War and Peace.

I know those are great classic books, but I couldn't bring myself to read it all in its entirety.

Stay to the Lights · 08-26-2009, 03:45 PM

Yeah, its really good.

Gabriela · 08-26-2009, 08:20 PM

Still one more nomination spot left!

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