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TheSite.org Book Club: Nominations for April's Book

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Reminder of the rules:

1. Anybody can nominate a book.
2. Books nominated have to be fiction (or biographical), but there are no other restrictions. You can go for whatever genre you like, whatever time period, whichever author.
3. Try not to pick anything too hefty. While some of us could probably get through War and Peace in a month, others aren't so fast.
4. Nominations in the below example format, please:

Book: Snuff by Terry Pratchett|Kindle Edition

Synopsis: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all...
From Amazon

Reason for Nomination: Any reason you like can go here. The above is an example, and was our book for March, so no nominating!

5. As I did above, if there is a Kindle/e-reader edition, put a separate link to that, please (On Amazon, there is a "Start reading [book] on your Kindle..." link under the image).

Commence nominations! Poll will be put up in one week with all nominations.

Franki
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re-nomination:
    Book: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami|Kindle Edition

    Synopsis: This is a beautiful book written in Murakami's usual lyrical style that brilliantly conveys the depths and complexities of the human consciousness. It is best described as a combination of genres, including fantasy, science-fiction and detective story, but really it is about one man's journey of self-discovery when he learns that the End of the World is near.
    Murakami easily combines two stories that are full of surprises and compliment each other perfectly as the book progresses. The alternating chapters make the book easy to read and they also prove Murakami to be a skilled storyteller, as he so cleverly narrates two parallel tales. His characters are a group of striking individuals that seem at once fantastical and very real. Murakami's descriptions of a man evaluating his life and musing on what he has lost are engrossing and interesting, as well as fresh and inspired.

    I loved this book and couldn't wait to start reading it again each time I put it down. I chose this book after having read another novel, Norweigan Wood, by the same author. Having read and truly loved both novels I would recommend Murakami as a brilliant and poetic storyteller with a fantastic imagination. This book is something different and definitely worth reading, even if it's not your normal type of thing!
    From Amazon

    Reason for Nomination: Because Haruki Murakami is amazing. 1Q84 was excellent and I like books with quirky names.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Poke.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ***Posting on behalf of piccolo***

    Book: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green|eBook/Kindle Edition

    Synopsis: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means) Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly, to her interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
    From Amazon

    Reason for Nomination: -
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ***Posting on behalf of piccolo***

    Book: Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway|Kindle Edition

    Synopsis: Joe Spork is trying to live a quiet life, not easy when your (deceased father) was an infamous mobster - Matthew `Tommy Gun' Spork. On the first page we learn of how his father hijacked a lorry load of Argyll socks destined for St Andrew's Golf Club, ridiculous, bizarre but hilarious to read. Joe spends his life mending clockwork and when a `friend' hears of a clockwork mechanism that needs repairing Joe is called in. Unfortunately this leads to him unknowingly triggering a doomsday device `The Apprehension Engine' and a bit like Richard Hannay in `The 39 Steps' he is on the run and caught between the Government and a sinister organization known as `The Ruskinites', taking their name from the 19th century art and literary critic John Ruskin. This weapon is unlike anything you have come across before.

    Joe comes into contact with another inspired creation in Edie Bannister, a former spy now in her 80's who has grown bored and craves excitement again. She spent years trying to kill her nemesis Shem Shem Tsien but he just refused to die. Joe and Edie join forces to save the world's population from a fate worse than death, with some help from his underworld contacts. Nick Harkaway has a slightly warped and subversive sense of humour which suffuses just about every page. In `The Angelmaker' he successfully combines action with tragedy he throws in a bit of philosophy, some romantic interest for our hero, memorable characters and of course, bees, the ending had me almost cheering out loud. It often happens that great story tellers are not particularly good writers, Nick Harkaway combines both skills to great effect.

    This is a thoroughly entertaining novel that I can't recommend highly enough for anyone who is looking for something a bit different. And if you don't know who his Dad is I am not going to tell you, but it definitely goes a long way to explain his story telling ability. I just hope that there is not such a long wait for his next novel!
    From Amazon review

    Reason for Nomination: -
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was going to close this today, but we could probably do with a few more nominations, so I'm going to leave it open for more until Monday :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nobody else :(?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Reasons for nomination: The Fault in our Stars is simply the funniest, most poignant book I've read for years, and Angelmaker is a really funny, fast-paced bit of steampunk gloriousness.

    So there.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't think of any right now, still working through Snuff and can't remember seeing people's reviews of the Rabbit book...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ok, found one

    This one is from the author of "Fight Club"...

    Book: "Choke" by Chuck Palahnuik

    According to Amazon:
    We can more or less deduce the following of the main protagonist in Choke; Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a medical school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzehimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.

    "Art never comes from happiness" says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case--in the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich.

    Reason for Nomination: Let's face it, Fight Club was fecking awesome and this is supposed to be Chuck's second best book
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    can't remember seeing people's reviews of the Rabbit book...

    There's a thread ;).

    Kate and I were going to speak to Helen about the discussions, actually. Watch this space.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There's a thread ;).

    I know, *some* of us have posted a review :p
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