MobileRead January 2010 Book Club Nominations

[pilotbob]

Help us select the next book that the Mobile Read book club will read for January 2010.

The nominations will run through Dec 28.
Voting (new poll thread) will run for 5 days starting Dec 28.

Book selection category for January per the "official" club opening thread is:

January 2010
Science Fiction (rivets/science)


In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a pool at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations.


Official choices each with three nominations:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world.

Under the Dome by Stephen King
"The town of Chesters Mill (pop. approximately 2000) is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible barrier, preventing anything other than a small amount of air from passing through. What follows is mostly told from the perspective of Dale "Barbie" Barbara, a former Army lieutenant. After "Dome Day" as it comes to be called, the town quickly collapses into anarchy, as a small war breaks out between the power-hungry second selectman James "Big Jim" Rennie, and a portion of the townsfolk. Resources quickly begin to dwindle, and many begin to resort to monstrous acts of violence to survive."

[kennyc]

Ohhh, ohhh. Science Fiction. This should be fun.

[JSWolf]

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.

Right now, I'm too lazy to find the description. But the book in in the eBooks section so it's there someplace.

[desertgrandma]

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=13653&page=2

Outstanding reading.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=13653&page=2

Outstanding reading.

Is that a Second?

[HarryT]

If nobody can be bothered to tell us what it's about, or why it's worth reading, it's not going to stand much of a chance of winning .

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.

Right now, I'm too lazy to find the description. But the book in in the eBooks section so it's there someplace.

Have you read this book already? I see that you have nominated it several times and also uploaded the ebook too.

Perhaps nominate something that you have wanted to read for a while by a new to you author which the book club may give you the push you need to actually read it.

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

H....
Perhaps nominate something that you have wanted to read for a while by a new to you author which the book club may give you the push you need to actually read it.

BOb

I'd think that would be a rule or at least guideline of the book club. The point is to read something new, not something you've already read.

[mores]

How about this book I recently put on my to-read list because it was suggested here on MR.

Ken Grimwood - Replay

In this intriguing fantasy adventure, Jeff Winston, a failing 43-year-old radio journalist, dies and wakes up in his 18-year-old body in 1963 with his memories of the next 25 years intact. He views the future from the perspective of naive 1963: "null-eyed punks in leather and chains . . . death-beams in orbit around the polluted, choking earth . . . his world sounded like the most nightmarish of science fiction." But Grimwood has transcended genre with this carefully observed, literate and original story. Jeff's knowledge soon becomes as much a curse as a blessing. After recovering from the shock (is the future a dream, or is it real life?), he plays out missed choices. In one life, for example, he falls in love with Pamela, a housewife who died nine minutes after Jeff; they try to warn the world of the disasters it faces, coming in conflict with the government and history. A third replayer turns out to be a serial killer, murdering the same people over and over. Jeff and Pamela are still searching for some missing part of their lives when they notice they are returning closer and closer to the time of their deaths, and realize that the replays and their times together may be coming to an end.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Replay-Ken-Grimwood/dp/068816112X

At least it sounds like SciFi, please correct me if I'm wrong.

[JSWolf]

I have not yet read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Been saving it for when it's a MR Bookclub book.

The description is as follows....

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies…and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World. Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the longago twentieth century. Now in the care of a network of volunteer "adhocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest hightech touches. Now, though, it seems the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive directtobrain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war: war for the soul of the Magic Kingdom, a war of evershifting reputations, technical wizardry, and entirely unpredictable outcomes. Bursting with cutting-edge speculation and human insight, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom reads like Neal Stephenson meets Nick Hornby: a comingofage romantic comedy and a kickbutt cybernetic tour de force.

[Latinandgreek]

I've had "Lord of Light" (Roger Zelazny), Anathem (Neal Stephenson) and Hyperion (Dan Simmons) on my reading list for a while, so I'd like to nominate those. I'm not allowed to cut and paste descriptions from another site (Amazon), or am I?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I've had "Lord of Light" (Roger Zelazny), Anathem (Neal Stephenson) and Hyperion (Dan Simmons) on my reading list for a while, so I'd like to nominate those. I'm not allowed to cut and paste descriptions from another site (Amazon), or am I?

Sounds like fair use to me...


I'll second Anathem because it's on my to be read list and I have both paper and ebook,

I might be interesting in reading Lord of Light again in ebook form, so just because it's Zelazny I'll second that one as well

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I'm not allowed to cut and paste descriptions from another site (Amazon), or am I?

Yes within reason.... usually the publishers summary is ok, because they want you to buy the book.

BOb

[Latinandgreek]

O.K. here goes:

Anathem (Neal Stephenson):
Stephenson conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world.

Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny):
a science fantasy in which the intricate, colorful mechanisms of Hindu religion, capricious gods, and repeated reincarnations are wittily underpinned by technology. "For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static kept him from being heard On High." The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world; developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies; and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison, and dies horribly but won't stay dead. It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading.

Hyperion (Dan Simmons):
On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

If there are any problems, I can take out the descriptions

[Dr. Drib]

Under the Dome, by Stephen King.

From the Wiki:

"The town of Chesters Mill (pop. approximately 2000) is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible barrier, preventing anything other than a small amount of air from passing through. What follows is mostly told from the perspective of Dale "Barbie" Barbara, a former Army lieutenant. After "Dome Day" as it comes to be called, the town quickly collapses into anarchy, as a small war breaks out between the power-hungry second selectman James "Big Jim" Rennie, and a portion of the townsfolk. Resources quickly begin to dwindle, and many begin to resort to monstrous acts of violence to survive."

The book was released last month. The Kindle edition will be available in about 3 days.


Don