MobileRead Book Club
January 2014 Nominations
Help us select the next book that the
MobileRead Book Club will read for January, 2014.
Book selection category for January is:
Second Chance
There will be no nominations this month. The way Second Chance works is that the poll will be comprised of selections that either came in second place or tied for second place during the previous 11 months.
The poll will be open for 5 days.
There will be no runoff vote unless the voting results a tie, in which case there will be a 3 day run-off poll. This is a
visible poll: others can see how you voted. It is
You may cast a vote for each book that appeals to you. Here are the selections you will be considering:
From February:
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
From March:
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
From April:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
From May:
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
From June:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
From July:
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
From August:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
From September:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
From October:
Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory
From November:
All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
From December:
The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie
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• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble /
Sony
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble /
Sony
Spoiler:
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.
Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
No links provided.
• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Amazon (US)
Spoiler:
Josephine Tey re-creates one of history's most famous -- and vicious -- crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new introduction by Robert Barnard
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains -- a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England's throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.
The Daughter of Time is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written, and suspenseful tale, a supreme achievement from one of mystery writing's most gifted masters.
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble /
Kobo
• A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Amazon UK
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Amazon Canada /
Amazon UK /
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble US /
Bookworld Australia
Spoiler:
From Amazon:
Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck [Hamlet53, kennyc, fantasyfan]
Amazon Ca /
Amazon UK /
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble /
Kobo
Spoiler:
John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression follows the western movement of one family and a nation in search of work and human dignity. Perhaps the most American of American classics.
The novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of sharecroppers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial and agricultural industries. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they were trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity and a future. When preparing to write the novel, Steinbeck wrote: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects]." The book won Steinbeck a large following among the working class, perhaps due to the book's sympathy to the workers' movement and its accessible prose style.
• Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub /
Kindle
• All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Amazon UK /
Amazon US Amazon US
• The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie
Amazon Ca /
Amazon UK /
Amazon US /
Barnes & Noble /
Google Books
Spoiler:
From Amazon:
The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters—brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to William Morrow Paperbacks. The inimitable Christie intrigues, surprises, and delights once again with The Mysterious Mr. Quin—a riveting collection of short stories centered around the enigmatic Harley Quin, whose unpredictable comings and goings are usually a good indication that something is about to happen…and rarely for the best.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
...Each chapter or story involves a separate mystery that is solved through the interaction between the characters of Mr Satterthwaite, a socialite, and the eponymous Mr Quin who appears almost magically at the most opportune moments and disappears just as mysteriously. Satterthwaite is a small, observant man who is able to wrap up each mystery through the careful prodding and apposite questions of Quin, who serves as a catalyst every time the men meet.
In Agatha Christie's Autobiography, she claims that Quin and Satterthwaite became two of her favourite characters....