Voting: October 2005 Book of the Month

[Ice]

Here are the October nominees:

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.
www.amazon.co.uk

Palindrome Hannah - Michael Bailey

Five dark tales set around the rain-soaked city of Seattle. A series of clever and horrifying narratives intertwine in this blend of art and pop, horror and dramatic intrigue. Mysterious palindromes haunt the text and question the nature of coincidence.

A segmented story of a mother and daughter intertwines the others. This hidden sixth story, told in reverse and assembled from the five separate narratives, uncovers the sad life of a child who carries a palindrome name, and her struggling teenage mother. With five stories heading one direction, and Hannah traveling the opposite, the story unfolds like the meaning hidden in a palindrome.
www.amazon.com

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. In those few quiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover is her birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the Dracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, and evading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable.
www.amazon.co.uk

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
www.amazon.com

The Twelfth Card - Jeffery Deaver

The stunning new Lincoln Rhyme thriller - by the number one bestselling author of THE VANISHED MAN and GARDEN OF BEASTS. Geneva Settle is a bright young high school student from Harlem writing a paper about one of her ancestors, a former slave called Charles Singleton. Geneva is also the target of a ruthless professional killer. Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his policewoman partner Amelia Sachs are called into the case, working frantically to anticipate where the hired gun will strike next and how to stop him, all the while trying to get to the truth of Charles Singleton, and the reason that Geneva has been targeted. For Charles Singleton had a secret - a secret that may strike at the very heart of the United States constitution, and have disastrous consequences for human rights today. And Sachs is going to have to search a crime scene that's 140 years old before she can stop the killer.
www.amazon.co.uk

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel--unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
www.amazon.com

The Stand (The Complete and Uncut Edition) - Stephen King

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
www.amazon.com

 

[ions]

Palindrome Hannah - Michael Bailey

Assuming my copy arrives by then.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

Palindrome Hannah

I'm all up for supporting a budding author, and it fits in with October, the month of spooks, which is a bonus

 

[magemanda]

I've voted for The Eyre Affair, but being as I won't get my way, I'll happily discuss The Shadow of the Wind, being as I read it recently.

 

[lilbiteb]

I voted for Catch 22, I've been meaning to read it for years now.

I couldn't get into The Shadow of the Wind.

 

[lindaj07]

I voted for Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
It's spooky for October, in a (hmmm) intelligent way but a great read too.

 

[Mafalda]

A little question: Was The Shadow of the Wind originally written in english or in spain? If it wasn't english I probably will buy the german version.

 

[Ronny]

A little question: Was The Shadow of the Wind originally written in english or in spain? If it wasn't english I probably will buy the german version.

I think it was originally written in spainish.

 

[lindaj07]

Yes, it was written in Spanish then translated (or was it Catalan?) anyway the English version is a translation for sure.

A little question: Was The Shadow of the Wind originally written in english or in spain? If it wasn't english I probably will buy the german version.

 

[Mafalda]

Thanks! I'll buy the German translation.

 

[lindaj07]

WooHoo! Shadow.... holds the lead!! I believe this could be one of the rare times I am in the winning team?? lol (Do I speak too soon?) Although I have been reading some stuff on both Palindrome Hannah and Historian. Luckily I voted before, or I would never have been able to decide!

 

[ions]

My copy of Palindrome Hannah arrived earlier this week. I can't speak for the story within but it's a beautiful looking book.

Catch 22 is on my TBR list and will be read one day but it's not an October spooky Halloween type read. The Stand is certainly on my list but I don't own it yet. The Historian reeks of a publisher cashing in on the DaVinci Code except there are vampires. I haven't read it but that's what I smell anyway. The rest I'm kinda ambivalent about.

 

[lindaj07]

I believe Shadow of the Wind is creeping even further into the lead?

I think I will get Pallindrome Hannah too, I can't resist a good looking book!

I read Catch 22 hmmm too long ago to admit to, maybe I should read it again, though maybe it's a bit dated now? Has it been re-released? Too many questions?

You could be right about Historian ions, but I thought Da Vinci Code was a pale rip off of Foucault's Pendulum and still quite liked it, though quite often found it irritating so I think I may enjoy Historian despite the hype.

 

[Ice]

October poll closed

The winner is:

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon