Enter your book selections here:

[PaperbackPal]

Since it would be most practical to post our choices prior to the next meeting date let's post our book choices here along with some information about the books and then people can start thinking about which one they may choose and be ready to vote on the meeting date.

[PaperbackPal]

Here is one choice. It is in the non-fiction category. I would want 2 months to read and review this one at the least.


Product Description:

In the wake of the anthrax letters following the attacks on the World Trade Center, Americans have begun to grapple with two difficult truths: that there is no terrorist threat more horrifying -- and less understood -- than germ warfare, and that it would take very little to mount a devastating attack on American soil. In Germs, three veteran reporters draw on top sources inside and outside the U.S. government to lay bare Washington's secret strategies for combating this deadly threat.

Featuring an inside look at how germ warfare has been waged throughout history and what form its future might take (and in whose hands), Germs reads like a gripping detective story told by fascinating key figures: American and Soviet medical specialists who once made germ weapons but now fight their spread, FBI agents who track Islamic radicals, the Iraqis who built Saddam Hussein's secret arsenal, spies who travel the world collecting lethal microbes, and scientists who see ominous developments on the horizon. With clear scientific explanations and harrowing insights, Germs is a masterfully written -- and timely -- work of investigative journalism.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Three reporters from The New York Times survey the recent history of biological weapons and sound an alarm about the coming threat of the "poor man's hydrogen bomb." Germs begins ominously enough, recounting the chilling attack by the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1984 on the Dalles, Oregon--no one died, but nearly 1,000 were infected with a strain of salmonella that the cult had legally obtained, then cultured and distributed.

While the U.S. maintained an active "bugs and gas" program in the '50s and early '60s, bio-weapons were effectively pulled off this country's agenda in 1972 when countries around the world, led by the United States, forswore development of such weapons at the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The issue reemerged in the early '90s thanks to Saddam Hussein and revelations of the clandestine and massive buildup of bio-weapons in remote corners of the Soviet Union. The book's description of the Soviet program is horrific. At its peak the program employed thousands of scientists, developing bioengineered pathogens as well as producing hundreds of tons of plague, anthrax, and smallpox annually. The authors conclude that while a biological attack against the United States is not necessarily inevitable, the danger of bio-weapons is too real to be ignored. Well-researched and documented, this book will not disappoint readers looking for a reliable and sober resource on the topic. --Harry C. Edwards --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[PaperbackPal]

Biography

by Fern Schumer Chapman

Product Description:
In 1937, Edith Westerfeld's parents-before being killed by the Nazis-sent her from Germany to live with relatives in America. Fifty-four years later, Edith decided that it was time to, with her grown daughter Fern, revisit the town she had left so many years before. For Edith the trip was a chance to reconnect and reconcile with her past; for Fern it was a chance to learn what lay behind her mother's silent grief. On their journey, Fern and her mother shared many extraordinary encounters with the townspeople and-more importantly-with one another, closing the divide that had long stood between them.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
When asked to accompany her mother on a return visit to her native Germany, Chapman jumped at the opportunity. At stake was a chance to reclaim both her ancestors and her own mother, Edith, whose past as a Holocaust escapee had created an emotional barrier between the two of them. "She lost her childhood to the war," Chapman writes tenderly, "and, in a way, I lost my childhood to her." In 1938, at the age of 12, Edith's parents sent her from Stockstadt am Rhein to live in Chicago with relatives who treated her badly. Chapman, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, lovingly describes her scarred mother's decision to return to her hometown; the emotional catharsis and peace her return brings; and the various reactions her return engenders in the townspeople. (Some old classmates throw Edith a party, but others will not look at her.) Chapman's narrative is strongest when she writes as journalist rather than memoirist, letting the Germans speak for themselves. She introduces two gripping individuals: the town historian, Hans, who lives in remorse and humiliation because he failed to help Edith's mother; and Mina, Edith's family's maid and soul-sister, whose defiance and hatred of the Nazis raged in her until her death. Although at times Chapman's prose seems too sentimental, her report of a German town's reactions to a Holocaust survivor's return is moving and engrossing.

[DJgib]

I decided on my choices a few days ago, but I haven't had time to post a large introduction to them. As time is ticking on until the first poll date, I've given you the titles, and will add some extra blurb on Saturday.

In the meantime I'll give this forum a push in Book Talk on BX, see if we can't hike the number of members up a bit.

[beachmama]

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Founding Brothers, the Revolutionary Generation.
In this landmark work of history, the author explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals-Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison-confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.

[Lady Lazarus]

The Count of Monte Cristo: A.Dumas

Synopsis
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution.

Basically, a true classic, that's always in those "top ten best books ever" lists, and one which I've always wanted to read.

Colossus - the Rise and Fall of the American Empire: N. Ferguson
Amazon.co.uk Review
"The United States today is an empire--but a peculiar kind of empire", writes Niall Ferguson in Colossus: the Rise and Fall of the American Empire. Despite overwhelming military, economic and cultural dominance, the US has had a difficult time imposing its will on other nations, mostly because the country is uncomfortable with imperialism and thus unable to use this power most effectively and decisively. The origin of this attitude and its persistence is a principal theme of this thought-provoking book, including how domestic politics affects foreign policy, whether it is politicians worried about the next election or citizens who "like Social Security more than national security".
Ferguson, author of Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, has no objection to an American empire, as long as it is a liberal one actively underwriting the free exchange of goods, labour and capital. Further, he writes that "empire is more necessary in the 21st century than ever before" as a means to "contain epidemics, depose tyrants end local wars and eradicate terrorist organisations". The sooner America embraces this role and acts on it confidently, the better.

Ferguson contrasts this persistent anti-imperialistic urge with the attitude held by the British Empire and suggests that America has much to learn from that model if it is to achieve its stated foreign policy objectives of spreading social freedom, democracy, development and the free market to the world. He suggests that the US must be willing to send money, civilians and troops for a sustained period of time to troubled spots if there is to be real change, as in Japan and Germany after World War II--an idea that many American citizens and leaders now find repulsive. Rather than devoting limited resources and striving to get complex jobs done in a rush, Americans must be willing to integrate themselves into a foreign culture until a full Americanisation has occurred, he writes.

Overall, this is a trenchant examination of a uniquely American dilemma and its implications for the rest of the world. --Shawn Carkonen, Amazon.com

Book Description
Is the USA an empire? Their government claims not. Despite the conquest of two sovereign states in as many years, despite the presence of more than 750 military installations in two-thirds of the world's countries and despite his stated intentions to "extend the benefits of freedom... to every corner of the world", George W. Bush maintains that the US has never been an empire. "We don't seek empires", insists Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "We're not imperialistic."

Nonsense says Niall Ferguson. In Colossus (accompanied by the TV series of the same name), he argues that in both military and economic terms, the US is nothing less than the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. Just like the British empire a century agao the US aspires to globalise free markets, the rule of law, and representative governments. In theory it's a good project says Ferguson... yet the US shys away from the long-term commitments of man-power and money that are indispensable if rogue regimes and failed states are really to be changed for the better.

This is an empire with attention deficit disorder, imposing unrealistic timescales on its overseas interventions. Worse, it's an empire in denial - a hyperpower which simply refuses to admit the scale of its global responsibilities.

And this chronic myopia may also apply to domestic US politics... when overstretch comes, it may well come from within.

I read N. Ferguson's first book, "Empire" (about the British Empire) and enjoyed the style and content of that book. Thought itd be interesting (and topical) to read the second one about America here. Might make for a good discussion!

[DJgib]

Just thought I'd volounteer to put a poll together with all the suggestions, if y'all agree. As I'm voting on January 28th, that's when it'll be open (sometime in the late morning, Central European Time), so be sure to get your suggestions in before that.

[robertsp20]

Confederacy of Dunces--John Kennedy Toole

Toole never got this Pulitzer Prize-winning book published in his lifetime and I can't imagine why publishers didn't absolutely love it. His extremely aggressive (and strange) mother accomplished getting it published after Toole's untimely death by his own hand. I found him to be a very gifted writer--his first book was written at the age of 16 (Neon Bible).

[Abbynormal92243]

my fiance just read this and LOVED it.
This author also wrote Wonder Boys which was made into a movie starring Michael Douglas and Toby--um--whatshisface. Sorry.

here (from Amazon.com)



Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Like the comic books that animate and inspire it, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is both larger than life and of it too. Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapes and evil nemeses and even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues the most important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pages brimming with longing and hope.

Samuel Klayman--self-described little man, city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoves him aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, however unlikely, of a beautiful friendship.

In short order, Sam's talent for pulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and a comic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in dark blue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to be known) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age.

But Joe Kavalier is driven by motives far more complex than your average hack. In fact, his first act as a comic-book artist is to deal Hitler a very literal blow. (The cover of the first issue shows the Escapist delivering "an immortal haymaker" onto the Führer's realistically bloody jaw.)

In subsequent years, the Escapist and his superhero allies take on the evil Iron Chain and their leader Attila Haxoff--their battles drawn with an intensity that grows more disturbing as Joe's efforts to rescue his family fail.

He's fighting their war with brush and ink, Joe thinks, and the idea sustains him long enough to meet the beautiful Rosa Saks, a surrealist artist and surprisingly retrograde muse.
But when even that fiction fails him, Joe performs an escape of his own, leaving Rosa and Sammy to pick up the pieces in some increasingly wrong-headed ways.

More amazing adventures follow--but reader, why spoil the fun? Suffice to say, Michael Chabon writes novels like the Escapist busts locks. Previous books such as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys have prose of equal shimmer and wit, and yet here he seems to have finally found a canvas big enough for his gifts.

The whole enterprise seems animated by love: for his alternately deluded, damaged, and painfully sincere characters; for the quirks and curious innocence of tough-talking wartime New York; and, above all, for comics themselves, "the inspirations and lucubrations of five hundred aging boys dreaming as hard as they could."

Far from negating such pleasures, the Holocaust's presence in the novel only makes them more pressing. Art, if not capable of actually fighting evil, can at least offer a gesture of defiance and hope--a way out, in other words, of a world gone completely mad.

Comic-book critics, Joe notices, dwell on "the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life." Indeed. --Mary Park--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[PaperbackPal]

Sounds good to me. I don't think yluss has the time so go for it :) and thank you :)

[DJgib]

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Daisy Buchanan, a legendary young Louisville beauty, and Jay Gatsby, an impoverished officer, fall in love just before the beginning of World War I. But while Gatsby has to serve in europe, Daisy marries the brutal but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of Daisy. His millions made, Gatsby buys a superb Long Island mansion, throws lavish parties and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unroll with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama.

One of those classics it's about time I read.

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. the ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way nost of us have never seen it before.

I love Bill Bryson, so for me it's a must-read. Besides that, I love reading popular science books. But this one is different, as it's not written by a scientist. For me, that's intriguing, I'd like to see how he does it. For the non sciency-people out there, I have non-sciency friends who loved this book, so don't let the subject matter put you off.

[hatter]

I've heard a lot about this book and a few people have recommended it. The blurb on the back reads:
'It is 1945 and Barcelona is enduring the long aftermath of civil war when Daniel Sempere's bookseller father decides his son is old enough to visit the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. There Daniel must 'adopt' a single book, promising to care for it and keep it alive always. His choice falls on The Shadow of the Wind.

Bewitched, he embarks on an epic quest to find the truth about Julian Carax, the book's mysterious author. Soon Daniel is consumed by strange discoveries about love and obsession, art and life, and how they become entangled within the shadow world of books.

The Shadow of the Wind is a mesmerising love story and literary thriller, which twists and turns and enthralls with its cast of vengeful souls, threatening spectres and innocent hearts.'

A few other bookcrossers have enjoyed this book and journeled:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1603024/?title=The+Shadow+of+the+Wind&titleExact=1&author=&category=&isbn=&bcid=&status=0&screenname=/book_-The-Shadow-of-the-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2172157/?title=The+Shadow+of+the+Wind&titleExact=1&author=&category=&isbn=&bcid=&status=0&screenname=/book_-The-Shadow-of-the-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon

[ariffo]

"A stowaway that narrates the trip of Noah's Ark, simple animals tried for blasphemy in the 16th Century, an incredible stream of thought on language's three very famous words, and more from an extremely original and perspective bending Author. This book is easily one of the more original works I have read in quite some time."

[winterwren]

I came here looking for a group to discuss books with so I will happily contribute a couple of titles and vote in the upcoming selection.

The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt

Thanks for letting me play!

I look forward to discussing books with you.

Trudy (winterwren)

[PaperbackPal]

Thanks for posting suggestions. If you get the time add some info about them so others can see what they are about without looking in amazon to find out. Thank you :) Hope more newbies come too, tell your friends :)

[winterwren]

Fiction. Copyrighted in 1990. The paperback version is about 550 pages. The setting is London, and Yorkshire in England. The time is 1980's and in the 1800's. The book can be read on many levels. It is called an intellectual mystery, a love story, a literary thriller.

It's a book about writers and writing and scholars who love and study writer's and their works. It has poetry and fairy tales weaved into the text, they are part of the story. This book won England's Booker Prize.

[winterwren]

It's ALL about Charles Arrowby, who, after a career as one of England's leading playwrights and directors retires to a cottage by the sea. He wants to be alone but he isn't for long. People keep showing up and the fun begins.

It was released in 1978 and won England's Booker Prize. It's about 500 pages. Like all of Murdoch's work it is filled with humor and a bit of philosophy. The characters are delicious and the circumstances farcical. It's quite a romp when one muddles though it! Plenty to talk about, that's for sure!! The writing is extraordinary.

[winterwren]

I certainly will spread the word. This looks like fun and I am slowly getting the hang of it!

Trudy

[DJgib]

IThis looks like fun and I am slowly getting the hang of it!

As are we :) Good to have you on board!

[yllus]

Sorry all, I'm still getting into the "habit" of visiting here.

I would like to read The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy, but am open to whatever choices come to be.

Here is the synopsis:

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.

Product Description:
"IRRESISTIBLE!"
--The Boston Globe
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
"[A] WHIMSICAL ODYSSEY...Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy."
--Publishers Weekly

[PaperbackPal]

One of those classics it's about time I read.

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. the ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way nost of us have never seen it before.

I love Bill Bryson, so for me it's a must-read. Besides that, I love reading popular science books. But this one is different, as it's not written by a scientist. For me, that's intriguing, I'd like to see how he does it. For the non sciency-people out there, I have non-sciency friends who loved this book, so don't let the subject matter put you off.

This one sounds very interesting! Being a science dummy I really need to read this one to understand anything! LOL The fact that it's written in a humorous way interests me. I did some research on it and it's definately a must read. I am now seeking available copies at various resources. Library is out, I would be 46th on the list there, which shows how popular it is! I am now trying the bookstore, it's listed as on sale on the Chapters website which is my city, $13.80 instead of $23.00, so I am checking to see if I can get it at the online sale price. I can't shop online, no credit cards and then you have to pay shipping too which makes it more. So I will see what happens. If I can't get it at the store, price being too high, then I will see if any bookcrossers can get it to me fast. I still want to read it even if it isn't chosen :)

All the suggestions are great but this one would be most useful to me as it may increase my knowledge in an area where I am a dummy LOL

Update: scoured the second hand shops, can't get it there, they either wanted almost as much as new or didn't have it. Chapters doesn't have the online price in their store so couldn't get it there. But, bookcrossers once again to the rescue! Bookcrosser jaybeau in California is sending it to me as a RABCK, I asked him if he wanted postage and he said he would just send it. "Anything to advance scientific knowledge" he said. I told him how dumb I am and he is a physics and biology teacher, I think he feels sorry for me LOL I hope I don't disappoint him and at least learn something from it! LOL Aren't Bookcrossers the coolest people!?

[Colinj]

I now have twelve books in my bookcrossing library some are availible. Looking for Terence Dicks (Dr Who) Arthur C Clarke, Wilbur Smith or Richard Laymon. I am of course open to any other swaps. I will add to my bookcrossing bookshelf every day.
CJ