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Suggestions: March 2005

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Ell

Ell

Well-Known Member
A maximum of ten books will be put to the vote.

If more than 10 books are suggested, then books which have more than one nomination will take priority (books with three nominations get priority over books with two etc.).

The remainder will be put forward in the order they are suggested until the 10 voting slots are filled.
 
How about The Secret History by Donna Tartt? I just started this one and can already tell it's going to be an interesting book. I've read many good reviews about this one, and I'd love to be able to discuss it with others here.

:)
 
I nominate The Book of Ultimate Truths - by Robert Rankin

I posted the thread Hilarious Reads asking for very ‘hilarious’ reads. While I was given many I want to read, this book looks fantastic. SillyWabbit recomended this author and said, "Anything by Robert Rankin! He has a very surreal sense of humour!...His writing style is also very original. Give him ago. The most funny things EVER!" Also, seven(7!!) people on amazon.com have rated this book perfect 5 stars. Here are some of their statements:

“First of all, I don't understand why this guy isn't that popular (at least in the USA)! His sense of humour is unlike anything you would have ever read in your life.”​

“I read this book once and laughed out loud. I read this book twice and had a giggly fit. I lent it to my Grandma and she didn't give it back.”​


“ It's one of the few books I've ever read that's been able to make me laugh out loud so often.”​

aimages.amazon.com_images_P_055213922X.01._PE25_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg​
 
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn​

atrashotron.com_agony_images_2003_03_columns_10_22_03_dunn_geek_love.jpg​

A wild, often horrifying, novel about freaks, geeks and other aberrancies of the human condition who travel together (a whole family of them) as a circus. It's a solipsistic funhouse world that makes "normal" people seem bland and pitiful. Arturo the Aqua-Boy, who has flippers and an enormous need to be loved. A museum of sacred monsters that didn't make it. An endearing "little beetle" of a heroine. Sort of like Tod Browning's Freaks crossed with David Lynch and John Irving and perhaps George Eliot -- the latter for the power of the emotions evoked. Amazon.com

_
 
One of my favorite (and certainly one of the brightest) humans on the planet simply loved this book. She has gone on to the Great Library in the Sky, but I'm willing to try to read it again in her honor. (I tried a couple of times way back when, but had trouble getting into it.)
 
The Corrections...

Ell said:
Just started, but liking it so far. Have you read it?
Click to expand...


Twice. I have read it twice, and I'll cheerfully read it again, if it is chosen for the book of the month. The man's a genius, and there was plenty in there for me to miss the first two times around.

All that falderol about Franzen and Oprah and her own book club was unworthy of either one of them. A misunderstanding perpetuated by people who don't understand or care about what either one of of them has accomplished, I'll wager.
 
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is hereby nominated, er, suggested.

I picked it the day after New Year's mostly because it was marked half off and the title sort of jumped out at me. I didn't even bother with the usual blurb, thinking it to be some sort of Stevenson spin off.

I was, most pleasantly, quite wrong.

Ms. Clarke has taken English history and re-written it to have had all the magic and more since Merlin's time. The profession of magician is a highly lauded scholarly position in her world- a world she then mixes up with the arrival of the first practical magician in centuries: Mr. Norrell. He sets cathedral statues to talking and then takes to plying his craft in England's war with a rampaging Napoleon.

Add in the arrival of a younger more dashing apprentice magician, Jonathan Strange, who longs to seek out the same power and ability as the fabled Raven King, and suddenly this at times humorous and other times macabre story gains a whole new level.

Now that I've finished with my own personal hand at blurbage, I have to advise that Ms. Clarke's novel tends to be somewhat trying for those who dislike tangents. As she has re-written history and incorporates it in the form of foot notes and the like, readers may be annoyed with how often this, er, interfers with the main plot line.

Also, let me say that this novel is not some sort of Harry Potter for grown-ups. It has magic and it has England but that's where the similarities end. Even if it's not up for next month, I still highly recommend it.
 
I have it!

I paid about a zillion dollars for it, and it's on my to-be-read shelf, so this one works for me, too!

:)
 
Two questions:

1. Am I too new here to dive into nominating a book? (hope not, this is something I'd really love to participate in)
2. Does it have to be available in paperback for reasons of cost, etc?

Assuming the answer to both is no, I'd nominate Murakami's newest - "Kafka On The Shore". It's getting great reviews and his work is consistently, well, blindingly good - and I'd imagine would lend itself well to generating a good discussion.

I've read the first couple of chapters, and so far, so good.

L2
 
Feel cheeky making a suggestion as I haven't posted on here much since I joined last January - but I have enjoyed lurking and reading your posts....

*dips toe tentatively in water*

I'd like to suggest "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I am reading it at the moment and would love to discuss it once I'm done. I am really really enjoying it and it threatens to be a bit of a word of mouth classic
 
Hmmm, I join in with the clamour for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - loved it and would really enjoy discussing it!

Also, failing that one, I'll second the Time Travellers' Wife, since it's in my to-read pile and might get me to crack on with it...

Lastly, I'd like to nominate Legend by David Gemmell, for a cracking example of heroic fantasy.
 
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