MobileRead May 2009 Book Club Nomination Thread

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by acprinter

I would like to nominate “The House on the Borderland” by William Hope Hodgson.

Hmm... do you have some type of abstract or summary you can add to your nomination?

BOb

[acprinter]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Hmm... do you have some type of abstract or summary you can add to your nomination?

BOb

All I can say is this is a book on my to read list because of the reviews on Manybooks. Below are the reviews from Manybooks. I hope it is OK to post them here.

2009.04.07
Jim Stevenson

I discovered this book 35 years ago. My copy is falling apart with age, but I keep it safe in a glass book case with my rarest of book treasures. House on the Borderland was the scariest book, the most engrossing sci fi I have ever read.

I am not a re-reader of books generally speaking, but I just finished reading it again for the 8th or 9th time. I read it aloud to my son when he was a kid. He was creeped out just as much as I had been and still enjoys the book as well. What a book!

Wouldn't this make a great, great movie if it followed the book? I have often thought how it would appear on film....but even if it would be filmed, it would never have the same effect as the printed word on the imagination.

Sadly, I have tried reading other books by Hodgeson, but they pale by comparison. I believe there is a mystique in it by its being a touted as coming from a discovered "ms" and at no time does this book suggest that it is fiction.

And finally, has anyone seen a cover that does the book justice?

JS
2009.01.24
Imran

a Horror Masterpiece!
2006.11.20
sujen

This is one of the creepiest, moodiest books I've ever read. I couldn't put it down! I finished reading it at about 3am, and then I was too spooked to sleep!

EXCELLENT!
2006.10.17
Toni T.

This is one of my favorite books. Especially the trip forward in time is, in my opinion, an awesome piece of science fiction. It’s pretty sad that this novella has not reached the eyes of many readers and that W.H.Hodgson is very much forgotten at present times. Well, this is your chance to read it. A brilliant masterpiece.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by acprinter

All I can say is this is a book on my to read list because of the reviews on Manybooks. Below are the reviews from Manybooks. I hope it is OK to post them here.

I found this abstract on Amazon:

In the ruins of an ancient stone house in Ireland is found the diary of an elderly man who lived alone with his sister and their pets, and who longed for his lost love. The diary tells of how the man explores a cyclopean cavern beneath the house and fights off swarms of white pig-like monsters pouring up from below. Then, in a visionary sequence, he breaks through to an alternate space-time dimension and sees a doppelganger of his house on a vast desolate plain. The prose is hokey at times, but the strange mood evoked by the other-dimensional setting is powerful indeed. As acclaimed horror writer T. E. D. Klein says, "Never has a book so hauntingly conveyed a sense of terrible loneliness and isolation."

---

Sounds good, I will second this book!

BOb

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

I will second Cherie Priest's Four And Twenty Blackbirds.

And I'll nominate a couple of freebies:

• The Lair Of The White Worm by Bram Stoker
  The Lair Of The White Worm (also known as The Garden Of Evil) is a horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, who also wrote Dracula. It is partly based on the legend of the Lambton Worm. The book was published in 1911, the year before Stoker's death.

I've not read The Lair of the White Worm, but I have seen the rather cheesy movie. And if this is the story the movie was based on, then this should go into the comedy section.

[Moe The Cat]

Jon, you said in post #10 that you wanted more nominations, so I gave you two.

I have neither read the Bram Stoker novel nor seen the Ken Russell movie, but IMDB.com says "Ken Russel uses only the title and basic plot outline of Bram Stoker's underrated novel and goes over the top with everything." So perhaps the novel is okay after all? Only a reading will tell.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

"Ken Russel uses only the title and basic plot outline of Bram Stoker's underrated novel and goes over the top with everything."

Does it feature Ann Margaret rolling around in baked beans?If not, I wouldn't call it over the top.(At least as far as Ken Russell movies are concerned.)

[Laine]

Originally Posted by Mrgauth

Ted Dekker's new book The Boneman's Daughter. Sounds like a creepy serial killer kind of thing.

I started reading this yesterday and am already taking a break and reading a regency romance to lighten my mood.

I'm not sure I want to finish The Boneman's Daughter.

Laine

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by Laine

... I'm not sure I want to finish The Boneman's Daughter ...

It is horror month. Maybe that's the reason for the poor turnout: everyone's afraid!!!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

It is horror month. Maybe that's the reason for the poor turnout: everyone's afraid!!!

Actually, "Afraid" by Jack Kilborn is another book I was going to nominate. I saw it as I was looking at Horror books. It sounded pretty good.

Do we not have any with three nominations yet? Where is everyone?

BOb

[Fledchen]

I'll second Frankenstein, Dracula, and Duma Key

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Actually, "Afraid" by Jack Kilborn is another book I was going to nominate. I saw it as I was looking at Horror books. It sounded pretty good.

Do we not have any with three nominations yet? Where is everyone?

BOb

I'll second "Afraid."

[daffy4u]

Dean Koontz "Frankenstein: Prodigal Son"". First of a 3 book series (so far).

Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas". First of a 4 books series (so far).

Joe Hill "Heart-Shaped Box". Stand alone.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fledchen

I'll second Frankenstein, Dracula, and Duma Key

That would be a third for Dracula.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That would be a third for Dracula.

Are you thirding it?

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Are you thirding it?

MoeJoe nominated Dracula in post #3 and JSWolf seconded it in post #4. Fledchen said he was seconding it in post #25, but his nod was actually a third. So, Dracula should be our first novel through to the voting round.