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WT Sharpe 03-19-2015 11:26 PM
April 2015 Book Club Nominations
 
MobileRead Book Club
April 2015 Nominations

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for April, 2015.

The nominations will run through midnight EST March 31 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

Book selection category for April is:

Classics

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 poll 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 initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.


Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Amazon US / Kobo US
Spoiler:
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.


(2) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle
Spoiler:
From Amazon:

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible, and is locked in a struggle to discover the antidote. Forced from the village, and driven to murder, he seeks the aid of an old friend, Kemp. The horror of his fate has affected his mind, however – and when Kemp refuse to help, he resolves to wreak his revenge.


(3) Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amacon UK / Amazon US / Kobo /
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love.

Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.

First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is—both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive—creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles—human warmth, camaraderie, and love.


(4) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Goodreads | The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Illustrated) / Kindle | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!

The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.


(5) Shōgun by James Clavell
Goodreads | Amazon US / Google Play / Kobo Ca / Overdrive
Spoiler:
A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power.


(6) Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Welcome to Guards! Guards!, the eighth book in Terry Pratchett’s legendary Discworld series.

Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?

Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more?

Review
"'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended'" The Times "'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him...A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language'" Time Out "'The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse'" --Sunday Telegraph

Review
"Discworld takes the classic fantasy universe through its logical, and comic evolution".--Cleveland Plain Dealer


(7) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle | Project Gutenberg
Spoiler:
From Amazon:

Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.


(8) Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Kindle US / Kobo US / Overdrive
Spoiler:
From Wikipedia:

Manhattan Transfer is a novel by John Dos Passos published in 1925. It focuses on the development of urban life in New York City from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age as told through a series of overlapping individual stories.

It is considered to be one of Dos Passos' most important works. The book attacks the consumerism and social indifference of contemporary urban life, portraying a Manhattan that is merciless yet teeming with energy and restlessness. The book shows some of Dos Passos' experimental writing techniques and narrative collages that would become more pronounced in his U.S.A. trilogy and other later works.
<snip>
Sinclair Lewis described it as "a novel of the very first importance ... The dawn of a whole new school of writing." D.H. Lawrence called it "the best modern book about New York" he had ever read, describing it as "a very complete film ... of the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York." In a blurb for a European edition, Ernest Hemingway wrote that, alone among American writers, Dos Passos has "been able to show to Europeans the America they really find when they come here."


(9) Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. Here the consul's debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. Under the Volcano is set during the most fateful day of the consul's life--the Day of the Dead, 1938. His wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac to rescue him and their failing marriage, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. Yvonne's mission to save the consul is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half-brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one day unfold against a backdrop unforgettable for its evocation of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.

Under the Volcano remains one of the most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition and one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.


(10) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle
Spoiler:
From Wikipedia (edited & condensed):

Oliver Twist is about an orphan who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naïvely unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin. The book is notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and its exposé of the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Dickensian era.


The nominations are now closed.

WT Sharpe 03-19-2015 11:28 PM
Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains * The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett [JSWolf] 43
No links provided.
Spoiler:
Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant idiot.

Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. It plays by different rules. Certainly it refuses to succumb to the quaint notion that universes are ruled by pure logic and the harmony of numbers.

But just because the Disc is different doesn't mean that some things don't stay the same. Its very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the arrival of the first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. But if the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death is a spectacularly inept wizard, a little logic might turn out to be a very good idea...

a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list.

Spoiler:
Australian
Angus Robertson
Booktopia
Borders
Dymocks
Fishpond
Google

Canada
Amazon. Make sure you are logged out. Then go to the Kindle Store. Search for a book. After the search results come up, in the upper right corner of the screen, change the country to Canada and search away.
Google
Sony eBookstore (Upper right corner switch to/from US/CA)

UK
BooksOnBoard (In the upper right corner is a way to switch to the UK store)
Amazon
Foyle's
Google
Penguin
Random House
Waterstones
WH Smith


* Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman [JSWolf]
Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / Kobo / Overdrive / Waterstones
Spoiler:
There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan.

Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . . .

First published in 1990, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's brilliantly dark and screamingly funny take on humankind's final judgment is back—and just in time—in a new hardcover edition (which includes an introduction by the authors, comments by each about the other, and answers to some still-burning questions about their wildly popular collaborative effort) that the devout and the damned alike will surely cherish until the end of all things.


*** Shōgun by James Clavell [treadlightly, obs20, CRussel]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Google Play / Kobo Ca / Overdrive
Spoiler:
A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power.


*** For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway [issybird, caleb72, Moe The Cat]
Amazon US / Kobo US
Spoiler:
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.


*** The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells [WT Sharpe, Moe The Cat, GA Russell]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle
Spoiler:
From Amazon:

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible, and is locked in a struggle to discover the antidote. Forced from the village, and driven to murder, he seeks the aid of an old friend, Kemp. The horror of his fate has affected his mind, however – and when Kemp refuse to help, he resolves to wreak his revenge.


*** Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens [crich70, WT Sharpe, jemc]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle
Spoiler:
From Wikipedia (edited & condensed):

Oliver Twist is about an orphan who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naïvely unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin. The book is notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and its exposé of the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Dickensian era.


*** Cannery Row by John Steinbeck [sun surfer, kennyc, caleb72]
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amacon UK / Amazon US / Kobo /
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love.

Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.

First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is—both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive—creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles—human warmth, camaraderie, and love.


*** Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson [sun surfer, caleb72, WT Sharpe]
Goodreads | The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Illustrated) / Kindle | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!

The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.


*** Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry [sun surfer, issybird, Synamon]
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. Here the consul's debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. Under the Volcano is set during the most fateful day of the consul's life--the Day of the Dead, 1938. His wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac to rescue him and their failing marriage, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. Yvonne's mission to save the consul is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half-brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one day unfold against a backdrop unforgettable for its evocation of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.

Under the Volcano remains one of the most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition and one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.


* Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut [obs 20]
No links provided.
Spoiler:
Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.


*** Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos [issybird, HomeInMyShoes, Synamon]
Kindle US / Kobo US / Overdrive
Spoiler:
From Wikipedia:

Manhattan Transfer is a novel by John Dos Passos published in 1925. It focuses on the development of urban life in New York City from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age as told through a series of overlapping individual stories.

It is considered to be one of Dos Passos' most important works. The book attacks the consumerism and social indifference of contemporary urban life, portraying a Manhattan that is merciless yet teeming with energy and restlessness. The book shows some of Dos Passos' experimental writing techniques and narrative collages that would become more pronounced in his U.S.A. trilogy and other later works.
<snip>
Sinclair Lewis described it as "a novel of the very first importance ... The dawn of a whole new school of writing." D.H. Lawrence called it "the best modern book about New York" he had ever read, describing it as "a very complete film ... of the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York." In a blurb for a European edition, Ernest Hemingway wrote that, alone among American writers, Dos Passos has "been able to show to Europeans the America they really find when they come here."


*** The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde [GA Russell, CRussel, Synamon]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle | Project Gutenberg
Spoiler:
From Amazon:

Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.


*** Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett [CRussel, treadlightly, Dazrin]
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Welcome to Guards! Guards!, the eighth book in Terry Pratchett’s legendary Discworld series.

Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?

Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more?

Review
"'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended'" The Times "'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him...A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language'" Time Out "'The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse'" --Sunday Telegraph

Review
"Discworld takes the classic fantasy universe through its logical, and comic evolution".--Cleveland Plain Dealer


** The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett [JSWolf, treadlightly]
Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / Kobo US / Waterstones / Overdrive UK / Overdrive US
Spoiler:
Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant idiot.

Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. It plays by different rules. Certainly it refuses to succumb to the quaint notion that universes are ruled by pure logic and the harmony of numbers.

But just because the Disc is different doesn't mean that some things don't stay the same. Its very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the arrival of the first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. But if the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death is a spectacularly inept wizard, a little logic might turn out to be a very good idea...


The nominations are now closed.

WT Sharpe 03-20-2015 01:13 AM
Let's see; if I recall correctly, if a book has been nominated and lost, we can nominate it again in six months. Is that what we agreed on?

Dazrin 03-20-2015 01:26 AM
That's what I remember.

JSWolf 03-20-2015 03:42 AM
In honor of Terry Pratchett, I am going to nominate Good Omens By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Quote:

There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan.

Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . . .

First published in 1990, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's brilliantly dark and screamingly funny take on humankind's final judgment is back—and just in time—in a new hardcover edition (which includes an introduction by the authors, comments by each about the other, and answers to some still-burning questions about their wildly popular collaborative effort) that the devout and the damned alike will surely cherish until the end of all things.
Overdrive: https://www.overdrive.com/media/590489/good-omens
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Omens-Nei...rds=good+omens
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/good...sri=good+omens
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=5UvBtJRvMm4C
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/good-omens
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/ebook/go.../9781448110230

JSWolf 03-20-2015 04:20 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3067509)
Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list.

Spoiler:
Australian
Angus Robertson
Booktopia
Borders
Dymocks
Fishpond
Google

Canada
Amazon. Make sure you are logged out. Then go to the Kindle Store. Search for a book. After the search results come up, in the upper right corner of the screen, change the country to Canada and search away.
Google
Sony eBookstore (Upper right corner switch to/from US/CA)

UK
BooksOnBoard (In the upper right corner is a way to switch to the UK store)
Amazon
Foyle's
Google
Penguin
Random House
Waterstones
WH Smith


Placeholder for nominations.
You should check all of the sites in this list of shops. I know at least one is no longer in business. I cannot say if there re any others no longer in business.

treadlightly 03-20-2015 09:19 AM
I will nominate Shōgun by James Clavell.

Quote:
A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power.
Goodreads - rated 4.34/5, 10th on the Best Historical Fiction listopia

Amazon.com
Kobo CA
Google Play
Overdrive

issybird 03-20-2015 09:42 AM
I'd like to nominate Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. The blurb
from Amazon:

Quote:
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.
Amazon US

Kobo US

caleb72 03-20-2015 10:38 AM
Oooooh - definitely seconding For Whom the Bell Tolls.

WT Sharpe 03-20-2015 10:39 AM
I nominate The Invisible Man by HG Wells.

I stayed reading this as an audiobook on my daily walks, and am enjoying it so much I just had to nominate it. It was nominated six months ago by GA Russell, and put in a respectable showing that time, so maybe it can win this time.

Description from Amazon:

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible, and is locked in a struggle to discover the antidote. Forced from the village, and driven to murder, he seeks the aid of an old friend, Kemp. The horror of his fate has affected his mind, however – and when Kemp refuse to help, he resolves to wreak his revenge.

And it's right here in our own Patricia Clark Memorial Library. The version is by HarryT, so you know it will have been thoroughly proofread.

Kindle:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57426

ePub:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57427

Moe The Cat 03-20-2015 12:34 PM
I will third For Whom The Bell Tolls and second The Invisible Man. True classics, both of them.

JSWolf 03-20-2015 01:45 PM
I can see a trend here. The trend here is to once again go for older books and not more modern books. This is why a lot of people do not participate because they prefer more recent books with more recent subjects.

issybird 03-20-2015 02:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3067808)
I can see a trend here. The trend here is to once again go for older books and not more modern books. This is why a lot of people do not participate because they prefer more recent books with more recent subjects.
Early days, yet. As a great ballplayer once said, "It ain't over till it's over."

However, if "a lot of people" prefer more recent books, where are they? This is their chance to put up the books they'd like to read. Surely they can't expect others to nominate for them.

In fairness, though, you have to accept that classics is likely to skew to the older end of the spectrum. No reason not to nominate a more recent work, though, as you have. It's not the kind of thing I'd choose myself, but I'd read it If it wins.

WT Sharpe 03-20-2015 04:46 PM
Did I mention that I'm back home, but my PC is in the shop again?

crich70 03-20-2015 04:56 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3067808)
I can see a trend here. The trend here is to once again go for older books and not more modern books. This is why a lot of people do not participate because they prefer more recent books with more recent subjects.
To a lot of people "classic" translates as old and PD.

crich70 03-20-2015 04:57 PM
I nominate Oliver Twist.

GA Russell 03-20-2015 05:10 PM
I third The Invisible Man.

It's one that I've been planning to read soon.

GA Russell 03-20-2015 05:49 PM
In addition to our Patricia Clark Library, I see that The Invisible Man is free today at...

Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Google
Indiebound
Kobo

JSWolf 03-21-2015 08:07 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70 (Post 3067920)
To a lot of people "classic" translates as old and PD.
That's why this category needs to go away and never see the light of day.

kennyc 03-21-2015 09:59 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by caleb72 (Post 3067707)
Oooooh - definitely seconding For Whom the Bell Tolls.
:thumbsup:

sun surfer 03-21-2015 01:26 PM
I’ll throw three nominations into the ring for a few more options. Each is a different type of classic, none have ever been nominated before and all are under 400 pages (one is under 200).


Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love.

Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.

First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is—both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive—creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles—human warmth, camaraderie, and love.
Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amacon UK / Amazon AU / Kobo


Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!

The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.
Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon UK / Amazon AU / Kobo
Partial Selection from the MR PCM Library - Illustrated epub version by SBT / Kindle version by pdurrant


Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. Here the consul's debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. Under the Volcano is set during the most fateful day of the consul's life--the Day of the Dead, 1938. His wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac to rescue him and their failing marriage, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. Yvonne's mission to save the consul is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half-brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one day unfold against a backdrop unforgettable for its evocation of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.

Under the Volcano remains one of the most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition and one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.
Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon UK / Amazon AU / Kobo

kennyc 03-21-2015 01:33 PM
Ooooh! Oooooh! Cannery Row! Everyone must read Cannery Row!


Seconded or whatever....

obs20 03-21-2015 03:54 PM
I second Shogun.

obs20 03-21-2015 03:55 PM
I nominate Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut.
Spoiler:
Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.

issybird 03-21-2015 07:19 PM
I've had Under the Volcano on my mp3 player for a while, meaning to revisit it. Seconded.

caleb72 03-22-2015 12:51 AM
I third Cannery Row without hesitation and I'll also second Treasure Island, a story from my childhood that I promised myself I would re-read as an adult.

WT Sharpe 03-22-2015 12:00 PM
I'll third Treasure Island. I've never read it as a child or an adult. I feel deprived.

WT Sharpe 03-22-2015 12:41 PM
With my last nomination I'll second Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and provide a synopsis and links to the ILLUSTRATED HarryT (yay!) versions in our library.

The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle
Quote:
From Wikipedia (edited & condensed):

Oliver Twist is about an orphan who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naïvely unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin. The book is notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and its exposé of the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Dickensian era.

issybird 03-22-2015 01:54 PM
With my last nomination, I'll nominate Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos. From Wikipedia:

Quote:
Manhattan Transfer is a novel by John Dos Passos published in 1925. It focuses on the development of urban life in New York City from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age as told through a series of overlapping individual stories.

It is considered to be one of Dos Passos' most important works. The book attacks the consumerism and social indifference of contemporary urban life, portraying a Manhattan that is merciless yet teeming with energy and restlessness. The book shows some of Dos Passos' experimental writing techniques and narrative collages that would become more pronounced in his U.S.A. trilogy and other later works.
<snip>
Sinclair Lewis described it as "a novel of the very first importance ... The dawn of a whole new school of writing." D.H. Lawrence called it "the best modern book about New York" he had ever read, describing it as "a very complete film ... of the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York." In a blurb for a European edition, Ernest Hemingway wrote that, alone among American writers, Dos Passos has "been able to show to Europeans the America they really find when they come here."
It's free for Kindle Unlimited.

Kobo US

Overdrive

kennyc 03-22-2015 02:16 PM
It's also a sf novel by a buddy of mine. ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Stith

GA Russell 03-22-2015 05:24 PM
I nominate a play - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

Contributed to our Patricia Clark Library by Patricia herself!

Kindle/mobi
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13582

ePub
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=178301
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844


Amazon says: "Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation."

CRussel 03-22-2015 05:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3068156)
That's why this category needs to go away and never see the light of day.
No, it doesn't need to. You're free to nominate modern classics, and we're all free to vote on the ones we want to read. I see at least three in the list already that I'd happily read and discuss. I could wish you'd chosen a different Terry Pratchett, this would have been a perfect time for him but I really don't want to read anything as dark as Good Omens, no matter how well written.

On the other hand, how about Guards! Guards!, also by Terry Pratchett and a good entry point to his whole Discworld universe.
Amazon
WhisperSync Audible
Kobo (at a ridiculous price compared to Amazon)



Quote:
Welcome to Guards! Guards!, the eighth book in Terry Pratchett’s legendary Discworld series.
Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?

Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more?

Review
"'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended'" The Times "'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him...A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language'" Time Out "'The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse'" --Sunday Telegraph

Review
"Discworld takes the classic fantasy universe through its logical, and comic evolution".-- Cleveland Plain Dealer




CRussel 03-22-2015 05:43 PM
And for my other two, I'll second The Importance of Being Earnest, a delightfully witty and irreverent work, and third Shōgun by James Clavell, a very well written and enjoyable book I haven't read since forever.

treadlightly 03-22-2015 05:55 PM
I'll second Guards! Guards!

JSWolf 03-22-2015 05:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3068767)
On the other hand, how about Guards! Guards!, also by Terry Pratchett and a good entry point to his whole Discworld universe.
It's a not a good entry point into Discworld. It's the 8th book and you miss out so very much that a lot of it won't make sense. The best entry point is The Colour of Magic.

I am surprised that nobody has seconded Good Omens. Even BBC has done a radio drama of it.

CRussel 03-22-2015 06:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3068780)
It's a not a good entry point into Discworld. It's the 8th book and you miss out so very much that a lot of it won't make sense. The best entry point is The Colour of Magic.

I am surprised that nobody has seconded Good Omens. Even BBC has done a radio drama of it.
Others have posted differing views on entry points, and it is the start of a new arc. That being said, I'd be much happier with The Colour of Magic than Good Omens. If I want to read Pratchett, and I do, I want to start in his main, core, universe. I'll happily fill in other stuff later, once I've decided I like him. (I did read some of the very first Discworld book many, many, many years ago. I no longer remember anything except the premise.)

WT Sharpe 03-22-2015 11:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc (Post 3068653)
It's also a sf novel by a buddy of mine. ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Stith
Brainiac once did a Metropolis transfer, but Superman saved the day.

http://livingbetweenwednesdays.com/w...20brainiac.jpg

Dazrin 03-23-2015 02:09 AM
I will third Guards! Guards!

I didn't care much for Good Omens.

CRussel 03-23-2015 07:42 AM
A comment about Shogun, which I thirded. I do think it is both appropriate to this category, and that I would like to re-read it. If you think we're going to choose it, I recommend you start reading NOW. This is a long book, over 1,000 pages if I remember correctly.

HomeInMyShoes 03-23-2015 10:54 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc (Post 3068256)
Ooooh! Oooooh! Cannery Row! Everyone must read Cannery Row!


Seconded or whatever....
You could have at least quoted me on that. :rofl:


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