Vote for April read!

[babelbel]

Right………..here we go. These are the choices for our next read.


We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. Philip Gourevitch

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330371215/qid=1112382546/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_11_1/026-8883619-2178013#product-details

Cloud Atlas David Mitchell

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0340822783/reviews/026-8883619-2178013

Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0586008357/qid=1112382861/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-8883619-2178013#product-details

Crime & Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840224304/qid=1112382998/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-8883619-2178013

The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0753819317/qid=1112383159/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-8883619-2178013

The Triumph of the Sun Wilbur Smith

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/140500570X/qid=1112383250/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-8883619-2178013


I’ve based my selection on one title from each person nominating and I’ve picked the first 6. More than 6 and it will be too many. I’ll keep a note of who suggested what and that will influence my choices for next months vote.

Right ………… your turn now …………go and vote!

VOTE CLOSES 9TH APRIL 12.00 NOON!

NB. Poll will automatically close 2.34AM - sorry - didn't realise it did that. :eek:

[Bill]

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families - Philip Gourevitch
An account of a people's response to genocide and what it tells us about humanity. It chronicles what has happened in Rwanda since 1994, when the government called on the Hutu majority to murder the Tutsi minority. Some 800,000 people were exterminated in a hundred days. A Tutsi pastor, in a letter to his church president, a Hutu, used the chilling phrase that gives the book its title.

The author descibes the anguish of genocide's aftermath: mass displacements; revenge and the quest for justice; and impossibly crowded prisons and refugee camps. Through portraits of Rwandans in all walks of life, he focuses on the psychological and political challenges of survival.

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified ‘dinery server’ on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation – the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small. In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
Like most people left behind on an overpopulated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer.

The relationship between Lije and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot - and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!

Crime & Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Crime and Punishment", based on Dostoevsky's own experience of the justice and penal system of Tsarist Russia, is a dark tale set in the dingy streets of St Petersburg, concerning the actions of a murderer who decides to commit homicide as a matter of principle.

The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A stunning literary thriller in the tradition of Umberto Eco. The discovery of a forgotten book leads to a hunt for an elusive author who may or may not still be alive...

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.

The Triumph of the Sun - Wilbur Smith
1884 and in Khartoum, on the banks of the Nile, the Courtneys meet the Ballantynes in this epic adventure from one of the world's most celebrated novelists In the Sudan, decades of brutal misgovernment by the ruling Egyptian Khedive in Cairo precipitate a fierce and bloody rebellion and Holy War headed by a charismatic new religious leader, The Madhi or "Expected One". The British are forced to intervene to protect their national interests and to attempt to rescue the hundreds of British subjects stranded in the country. Along with hundreds of others, British trader and businessman, Ryder Courtney is trapped in the capital city of Khartoum. It is here that he meets Captain Penrod Ballantyne of the 10th Hussars, as well as the British Consul, David Benbrook and his three beautiful daughters. Against the vivid and bloody backdrop of the siege of Khartoum, in which British General Charles George Gordon is killed and the British retreat, these three powerful men fight to survive. Rich with vibrant historical detail and infused with his inimitable powers of storytelling, THE TRIUMPH OF THE SUN is Wilbur Smith at his masterful best.

[sebastian melmoth]

I'm plumping for The Shadow Of The Wind in the hope and expectation that the book itself is better than the title which sounds about as "authentic" as Peter Seller's apocryphal play Tomorrow's New Yesterday!

[Harriet]

Right. I'm going to take part in this one. I voted Crime and Punishment 'cos it's the only one I've heard of....:)

[megustaleer]

I hope you intend to read it, then, Harriet!

[ChrisG]

Be careful what you ask for, Harriet, you might get it! It is a weighty and very profound reading experience.

I voted for Caves of Steel. Mostly because it was on the poll because of me and I DO think it is a great book (I love Asimov).

I hadn't really meant it as a suggestion for the poll (there don't seem to be many real sci-fi fans here as far as I have found) but I was suggesting it for someone (chrisqqgx4) who had mentioned wanting to read something by Asimov or Phillip K. Dick and it got picked up (probably because it was the only sci-fi suggestion - which proves my point of not many sci-fi fans). :(

But, if you have never read Asimov, it is a good place to start because it is not hardcore sci-fi, but a good character study and detective story as well.

[babelbel]

Surely the one of the good things about being in a book group is that you get to read things that you otherwise wouldn't! It generates a discussion that makes you think more about what you have read.

The discussion around the Time Traveler's Wife showed that even though some people didn't particularly like the book - they were able to explore why they didn't like it and to look at aspects of it that they hadn't considered.

I haven't voted yet but I am very tempted to vote for the sort of book I wouldn't ordinarily pick up.

Having said all that, I have to agree with ChrisG about Crime & Punishment..........and to be fair to Abbynormal she did say I suspect this may be the only way I blaze thru this book when she suggested it!

[sebastian melmoth]

In response to chrisg's comments re the lack of sci-fi readers in this group, i think it's because the majority of members would consider themselves fans of the more "literary" approach and - in Kurt Vonnegut's words - the problem with most science fiction authors is that they come up with some great ideas but the majority of them can't write for toffee!

[donnae]

There are some very good Sci-fi writers out there. I like reading Sci-fi, but like most people that read books, would still be choosy about which authors I read. The Canadian author, Robert J Sawyer has written some very good stories.

My vote is split now because originally I had suggested Cloud Atlas but I do like the sound of the Isaac Asimov. I will have to think about this one!

[Everdene]

I've voted for The Shadow of the Wind, but would also like to read the Philip Gourevitch...............so many choices - so hard to make a decision..........

[lucyb]

I would probably go for 'Shadow of the Wind'.

[sebastian melmoth]

There are some very good Sci-fi writers out there. I like reading Sci-fi, but like most people that read books, would still be choosy about which authors I read. The Canadian author, Robert J Sawyer has written some very good stories.

My vote is split now because originally I had suggested Cloud Atlas but I do like the sound of the Isaac Asimov. I will have to think about this one!

of course not all sci-fi is bad...just the vast majority of it!!

[ChrisG]

Don't know which sci-fi writers you have read, Sebastian Melmoth, but it can't have been the ones I am most partial to such as Asimov and Julian May. Asimov is considered one of the best (and most prolific) writers in several genres (he wrote lots of non-fiction science books, also). His short story, 'Nightfall', is still considered a masterpiece. Although it has had a lot of copycats since it was first published.

I have copies of Cloud Atlas and Shadow of the Wind in my TBR pile so I am prepared to read those if either one wins. And I did make a New Year resolution to read more popular titles and not always my beloved classics, sci-fi and non-fiction journals and letters! However, as I have recently gone through two autobiographies, a biography, Life of Pi, DaVinci Code, TTW, Saturday and several of the newest by Dean Koontz (OK - he's a favourite so maybe shouldn't count), I feel that maybe I have earned a reprieve from my resolution for a while? :rolleyes:

[ChrisG]

In response to chrisg's comments re the lack of sci-fi readers in this group, i think it's because the majority of members would consider themselves fans of the more "literary" approach and - in Kurt Vonnegut's words - the problem with most science fiction authors is that they come up with some great ideas but the majority of them can't write for toffee!

Just had a horrible thought about this: it is exactly the prejudice that I formed against Stephen King! I read his very first novel when it came out and felt exactly like that Vonnegut quote: he had a great premise but was a lousy writer! Never read another thing by him. Now, I have admired some of the movies of his later work, like Delores Claiborne, etc., (the non-horror stuff) and have figured he MUST have improved. Oh no! NEW resolution: give Stephen King another look in. :o

[Seraphina]

I'm going for Cloud Atlas because I haven't read it but would quite like to. I'm hoping Shadow of the Wind isn't chosen.....I've already read it and I don't think there's really an awful lot to discuss about it - it's an enjoyable read, I liked it, but IMO there's not a lot of depth to it that is worth discussing. Any of the other choices seem to have more interesting points to focus on. :)

[donnae]

Well said ChrisG! Its a great idea to be open-minded about any author or genre. I hope that this is what the Book Group is about, opening up suggestions for books that we wouldn't normally read..

I voted for Cloud Atlas in the end, but I will be buying Caves of Steel to read, so thanks for the suggestion. :)

[Harriet]

Be careful what you ask for, Harriet, you might get it! It is a weighty and very profound reading experience.


Eeeek no I don't like heavy books. Oh good I'm still the only person who voted for it. Let's hope it stays that way.

[sebastian melmoth]

Heavy books?? Why not go for Lord Of The Rings or War And Peace or Remembrance Of Things Past? You need muscles like Arnie to lift those buggers!

[Harriet]

Lol. I agree. I have a hardback version of all three Lord of the Rings books and it's so incredibly heavy I bought the seperate books so I could actually read it.

[megustaleer]

Twenty-four people voted so far!
I hope we are all committed to reading the chosen book, and to posting our comments on it.
What a lively and interesting Book Club this will be!!

[babelbel]

We are into the last stretch and there are only a few hours left to cast your vote.

Cloud Atlas is out in front with Shadow of the Wind close behind and We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families a close 3rd.

So - don't miss your chance to have a say in what we read. If you haven't voted - do it NOW!

[ChrisG]

I am almost finished Cloud Atlas and have Shadow of the Wind on hand, BUT now face terrible temptation away from BG schedule. Partner has returned from travels with gift of 1845 edition of works of Longfellow AND (yes! yes!) set of Homer!!! The visceral pull to abandon all best seller titles and dive into re-reading The Odyssey and The Illiad is overwhelming! :o Will try to be strong and stay in line with BGO (but if I disappear, you'll know why). :rolleyes: