MobileRead February Book Club Vote

[WT Sharpe]

February 2015 MobileRead Book Club Vote



Help us choose a book as the February 2015 eBook for the MobileRead Book Club. 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.



We will start the discussion thread for this book on February 20th. Select from the following Official Choices with three nominations each:



• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Goodreads | Amazon US / Barnes & Noble US / Google Play US / Kobo US / Overdrive UK / Overdrive US

Spoiler:

A medical miracle may have bought Hazel a few years, but she’s still a terminal time bomb, suffering from stage IV cancer. At a support group for her illness, she meets fellow cancer survivor Augustus Waters, a boy who pretends to smoke cigarettes and has a prosthetic leg. With a shared obsession for the novel An Imperial Affliction and a similar sense of sarcasm, the two fall in love, despite their inevitable fate. John Green’s story is honest and hilarious, exposing the fear, anger, and sadness that accompanies a terminal illness.

• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / ePub (Complete Works) / Kindle | Feedbooks / Google Play / ManyBooks / Project Gutenberg

Spoiler:

The Age of Innocence (1920) is a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story occurs among New York City's upper class in the 1870s, before electricity, telephone, and automobiles; when there was a small cluster of old, "aristocratic" Revolutionary War-stock families who ruled New York's social life; when being was better than doing; when occupation and abilities were secondary to blood connections (heredity and family); when reputation and appearances excluded every thing and every one not of one's caste; and when Fifth Avenue was so deserted by nightfall that it was possible to follow Society's comings and goings, by spying who went to what house.

• Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said

Goodreads

Spoiler:

First published in Vienna in 1937, this classic story of romance and adventure has been compared to Dr. Zhivago and Romeo and Juliet. Its mysterious author was recently the subject of a feature article in the New Yorker, which has inspired a forthcoming biography. Out of print for nearly three decades until the hardcover re-release last year, Ali and Nino is Kurban Said's masterpiece. It is a captivating novel as evocative of the exotic desert landscape as it is of the passion between two people pulled apart by culture, religion, and war.

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Amazon Australia

Spoiler:

As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.



And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed – even comforted – by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.

• Latakia by JF Smith

Amazon Australia / SmashWords

Spoiler:

Matthew likes his life in Richmond. He has his friends and his softball and his volunteer work. And he has a very good-looking boyfriend, Brian, who he’s been happily dating for over a year now. So what if his friends tend to question just how good his boyfriend is, and so what if Brian tends to have inexplicable mood swings. And so what if Brian seems to invite Matt’s suspicions on occasion. If he just shows a little faith and trust, he’ll appreciate what he has with Brian the way he should. Right?



But suddenly, Matt finds himself in a desperate life-or-death situation on a trip overseas, and he realizes just how much he misses home, and Brian. He’s luckily rescued by a team of US Spec-Ops Forces, only to find out they’re a bunch of bigoted jerks. Worse, a quirk of his situation forces him to spend time with them that he’d rather not. And that’s when he finds out that first impressions can be misleading. When called upon, he steps up when every fiber of his being tells him not to, and discovers something deep inside himself that he didn’t realize was even there. And his life will never be the same. He finds that he can, after all, make some very overdue changes in his own life.



What Matt doesn’t realize is that the bond of brotherhood runs both ways. And he winds up changing the lives of several of the men on that Spec-Ops team as much as they changed his.



All it takes is faith and trust.

• Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy

Amazon Australia

Spoiler:

The most important things in Simon Murray’s life are football, friends, and film—in that order. His friends despair of him ever meeting someone, but despite his loneliness, Simon is cautious about looking for more. Then his best friends drag him to a party, where he barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler—unaware that the athlete is present. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever.



Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are treated like gods—until they do something to fall out of public favour. This year, the public is taking Declan to task for suffering injuries outside his control, so Simon's support is a bright spot.



But as Simon and Declan fumble toward a relationship, keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret from well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media becomes difficult. Nothing can stay hidden forever. Soon Declan will have to choose between the career he loves and the man he wants, and Simon has never been known to make things easy—for himself or for others.

• Echoes by Maeve Binchy

Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble UK / Barnes & Noble US / Kobo

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:



"It was sometimes called the echo cave, and if you shouted your question loud enough in the right direction, you got an answer instead of an echo..."

Clare and David--divided as children by a rigid social code that branded her as shanty Irish and him as gentry...brought together as adults by a desire that knew no class, no barriers, only the urgent hunger of two people destined to love--and ready to defy a world determined to keep them apart.



Even at fifteen, David Power knew the echo would answer eleven-year-old Clare O'Brien's dearest wish, to win a school prize. But it was years before Dr. Power's cherished only son saw in the huckster's daughter the answer to his own heart's desire.



Here in Castlebay, perched precariously on the seaside cliffs, the lines between them were clearly drawn. Clare's only hope is to leave the town where time stopped, propelled by scholarships to Dublin, fueled by her own drive and brilliance, far from the insular, gossipy world of Castlebay and those in its thrall... Angela O'Hara, beautiful, isolated, a teacher trapped in the convent school, who risks everything to help Clare escape... Gerry Doyle, the town charmer who finds in Clare the woman he vows to have at any price... Caroline Nolan, the beautiful, rich outsider who comes to plunder...



For Clare, that was before the wild freedom of Dublin, and love. And David. Before fate drove them back to Castlebay, and the past...

• Fighting Redemption by Kate McCarthy

Goodreads

Spoiler:

Ryan Kendall is broken. He understands pain. He knows the hand of violence and the ache of loss. He knows what it means to fail those who need you. Being broken doesn’t stop him wanting the one thing he can’t have; Finlay Tanner. Her smile is sweet and her future bright. She’s the girl he grew up with, the girl he loves, the girl he protects from the world, and from himself.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Patricia Clark Memorial Library: Kindle | Kobo

Spoiler:

No synopsis provided.

The nominations are now closed.

[din155]

Not my preferred genre but I would read if any of the books that I voted for wins.

[WT Sharpe]

All of these look so good it was hard to decide. I voted for 66% of them.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

All of these look so good it was hard to decide. I voted for 66% of them.

It seems I'm willing to vote for 7 or 8 out of the 9. I may have to think on this for a little bit.

[sun surfer]

I'd like to try a Maeve Binchy book but it's looking...a little behind at the moment.

Two books I've already seen the films of in the lead - I'd love to read another Ishiguro book in Never Let Me Go even knowing basically the entire story from the film, but I'm also interested in The Age of Innocence - saw the film when it first came out, and that was long enough ago that I've forgotten enough of it to make reading it now a new experience, even though I do remember the gist of what happens.

Also interested in Ali and Nino - sounds interesting and unique.

I've already read The Fault in Our Stars very recently, and thought it was a great quirky YA cancer romance/drama - if it wins I think many of you will like it, and it's based on a real girl.

Also already read Jane Eyre; really great classic that would deserve a win but I'm not up for re-reading it at the moment.

Would've liked to vote for the gay romances, but with such good competition this month I had to leave off.

[JSWolf]

For thioe who voted for Never Let Me Go, I think you will find it a an odd read. Plus, the romance part is secondary at best.

[crich70]

Jane Eyre is probably a bit old fashioned but aught to be a good read. I started it some yrs back but got sidetracked by something (can't remember what) and never got back to it.

[Lin2412]

@sun surfer: I did not know The Fault in Our Stars was based on a real girl. I like that book, and I would like to reread it but my vote goes for my top three nominations. I've read quotes about Jane Eyre and I really want to read the book (read the first chapter only days ago.. and I liked it)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by crich70

Jane Eyre is probably a bit old fashioned but aught to be a good read. I started it some yrs back but got sidetracked by something (can't remember what) and never got back to it.

Probably a good book.

[Lin2412]

Hahahahaha! JSWolf, if you don't mind me asking, you really don't want to read Jane Eyre, do you? Hahaha

So I got curious about The Age of Innocence (currently having a winning streak here) and while my best friend says it's boring, I wanted to read it myself and find out why it won the Pulitzer Price in 1921.

[Dazrin]

JSWolf thinks just about anything written before color TV (except for H.G. Wells) is old and musty and shouldn't be read. Take his comments with a spoonful of salt. Or maybe with an entire salt lick.

[ccowie]

I'm always game to read something new and I will read whatever is chosen for this month, but it's not a genre I'm really interested in. I'm still recovering from having to read Outlander last year - boy, I really didn't like that one!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Not much fear in losing one of my country reads to a bookclub read at this point.

Come on bookclub, let's pick an author we haven't read previously!

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by ccowie

I'm always game to read something new and I will read whatever is chosen for this month, but it's not a genre I'm really interested in. I'm still recovering from having to read Outlander last year - boy, I really didn't like that one!

This is my first time to vote for the MR Book Club so I wasn't there when Outlander was the pick. It's been completely pending in my library though! I purchased it last year because a lot of people recommended it to me. Guess I have to see it for myself soon if it's my cup of tea. Haha.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Not much fear in losing one of my country reads to a bookclub read at this point.

Come on bookclub, let's pick an author we haven't read previously!

John Green is an excellent choice for an author never before read or even nominated by the MR Book Club.