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WT Sharpe 10-27-2015 04:29 AM

November 2015 Book Club Vote
 
November 2015 MobileRead Book Club Vote

Help us choose a book as the November 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 http://wtsharpe3.com/Pictures/Multiple-Choice_C3.gif You may cast a vote for each book that appeals to you.

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

We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
NPR:
Quote:

Life in a small seaside town in Denmark becomes the basis for high drama in Carsten Jensen's international bestseller, We, the Drowned, just now hitting U.S. shelves. This is a book for lovers of seafaring tales, adventure myths and whimsical coming-of-age stories.
Goodreads:
Quote:

It is an epic drama of adventure, courage, ruthlessness and passion by one of Scandinavia’s most acclaimed storytellers.
In 1848 a motley crew of Danish sailors sets sail from the small island town of Marstal to fight the Germans. Not all of them return – and those who do will never be the same. Among them is the daredevil Laurids Madsen, who promptly escapes again into the anonymity of the high seas.
As soon as he is old enough, his son Albert sets off in search of his missing father on a voyage that will take him to the furthest reaches of the globe and into the clutches of the most nefarious company.
...
From the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania, to the frozen coasts of northern Russia, We, The Drowned spans four generations, two world wars and a hundred years. Carsten Jensen conjures a wise, humorous, thrilling story of fathers and sons, of the women they love and leave behind, and of the sea’s murderous promise. This is a novel destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature


The Train by Georges Simenon
Amazon US / Kobo/ OverDrive
Spoiler:
Amazon and Goodreads have the same blurb:

Quote:

Against all expectations Marcel Féron has made a “normal” life in a bucolic French suburb in the Ardennes. But on May 10, 1940, as Nazi tanks approach, this timid, happy man must abandon his home and confront the “Fate” that he has secretly awaited. Separated from his pregnant wife and young daughter in the chaos of flight, he joins a freight car of refugees hurtling southward ahead of the pursuing invaders. There, he meets Anna, a sad-looking, dark- haired girl, whose accent is “neither Belgian nor German,” and who “seemed foreign to everything around her.” As the mystery of Anna’s identity is gradually revealed, Marcel leaps from the heights of an exhilarating freedom to the depths of a terrifying responsibility—one that will lead him to a blood-chilling choice.
A quote from the NY Times:

Quote:

There is no false note, not one word or sigh or smile which strikes me as anything but unavoidable. This is not a writer’s romancing story of a little man caught in the war; it is the unknown history of many little men in that vast war.


Skylark by Deszö Kosztolányi
Amazon US / Kobo / OverDrive
Spoiler:
From a New York Review of Books review:

Quote:

This short, perfect novel seems to encapsulate all the world’s pain in a soap bubble. Its surface is as smooth as a fable, its setting and characters are unremarkable, its tone is blithe, and its effect is shattering.

Any story about people is implicitly concerned with fate: How has it come about that this thing rather than that thing has happened to this person rather than that person? Much fiction employs one sort of crude causation or another to strongarm events into a clumsily trumped-up case asserting that A has led inexorably to Z, or, at the other pole, drops in front of us a heap of arbitrary incident and demands that we marvel at the inscrutability of life’s course—which in fact is something we can do perfectly well on our own.

And as we’re well aware that one thing rather than another happens to each person, why should we be interested in what happens to someone who was made up in the first place? We look to fiction writers to divine the true relationships—or true lack of them—between the elements that constitute a human life. In Skylark, we encounter lives that contain no hidden exits or negotiable margins, and we come away from the book feeling that we have experienced the inalterable workings of destiny.

Dezso Kosztolányi ingeniously poises his leading characters to expose, over the course of a week—not only to us but also to themselves—the tangle of intractable emotions that has taken years to develop and binds them hand and foot. The current of satire that runs through Skylark—sometimes faint and melancholy, sometimes rollickingly gleeful—as well as the book’s brevity, might suggest a slight work; on the contrary, the book is essential, a distillation of the heart’s properties.


How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišić
Goodreads
Spoiler:
For young Aleksandar - the best magician in the non-aligned states and painter of unfinished things - life is endowed with a mythic quality in the Bosnian town of Višegrad, a rich playground for his imagination. When his grandfather dies, Aleks channels his storytelling talent to help with his grief.

It is a gift he calls on again when the shadow of war spreads to Višegrad, and the world as he knows it stops. Though Aleks and his family flee to Germany, he is haunted by his past - and by Asija, the mysterious girl he tried to save. Desperate to learn of her fate, Aleks returns to his hometown on the anniversary of his grandfather's death to discover what became of her and the life he left behind.


Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seicho Matsumoto
Amazon US / Kobo
Spoiler:
Goodreads:
Quote:

The corpse of an unknown provincial is discovered under the rails of a train in a Tokyo station, and Detective Imanishi is assigned to the case.

In a police procedural by Japan's foremost master of mystery, Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a typically Japanese detective fond of gardening and haiku, must follow a killer's trail across the social strata of Japan.


Memoirs of Hadrian by Margeurite Yourcenar
Goodreads
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Both an exploration of character and a reflection on the meaning of history, Memoirs of Hadrian has received international acclaim since its first publication in France in 1951. In it, Marguerite Yourcenar reimagines the Emperor Hadrian's arduous boyhood, his triumphs and reversals, and finally, as emperor, his gradual reordering of a war-torn world, writing with the imaginative insight of a great writer of the twentieth century while crafting a prose style as elegant and precise as those of the Latin stylists of Hadrian's own era.


Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Goodreads
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle - yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.


Resurrection by Wolf Haas
Goodreads
Spoiler:
THE FIRST INSPECTOR BRENNER NOVEL

The darkly comic book that launched the bestselling series . . .

Wolf Haas is firmly established as one of the world’s bestselling crime novelists. And now the novel that introduced Simon Brenner, Haas’s inimitable protagonist—a detective who always gets where he’s going, but never the way anyone else would—is available for the first time 
in English.

When the corpses of two Americans turn up on a ski lift in the idyllic Swiss town of Zell, former police inspector Brenner, who needs a new job, not to mention more migraine medication, agrees to investigate the deaths for an insurance company.

But as Brenner gets acquainted with the finer points of curling, community theater, and certain sexy local schoolteachers, he notices one thing starkly missing: any semblance of a clue.

Until he stumbles across a buried secret that might have explosive consequences.

HomeInMyShoes 10-27-2015 11:04 AM

Choices, choices, choices. I'm going to let this one sit for a couple of days. There's a couple I'm not sure about yet.

Dazrin 10-27-2015 12:38 PM

Only two of these titles are available at my library so I am going to put a couple more requests in and wait a bit to see if I can get any others.

HomeInMyShoes 10-27-2015 01:15 PM

^Are you talking as eBook or as any format? My library is only missing The Train which is actually one of the ones I am deciding if I am going to vote for.

Dazrin 10-27-2015 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes (Post 3195270)
^Are you talking as eBook or as any format? My library is only missing The Train which is actually one of the ones I am deciding if I am going to vote for.

Just ebooks. I have basically given up paper books because of the convenience of ebooks and getting to the library is not easy to fit into my schedule. I have even gotten rid of almost all of my (fiction) paper books and am down to only 1 shelf these days.

I did go and check paper availability to see how that helps and it only added 2 options for me.

We, The Drowned - Electronic and Paper available
The Train - Not available
Skylark - Not available
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone - Not available
Inspector Imanishi Investigates - Paper only
Memoirs of Hadrian - Paper only
Kafka on the Shore - Electronic and Paper available
Resurrection - Not available

HomeInMyShoes 10-27-2015 03:21 PM

My library failed miserably for electronic availability:

We, the Drowned - paper
The Train - not available
Skylark - paper
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone - paper
Inspector Imanishi Investigates - paper
Memoirs of Hadrian - paper
Kafka on the Shore - electronic and paper
Resurrection - paper

Only one electronic offering, but overall good availability with only one not in the system. I trust my library to be able to get me the one not in the system as well.

issybird 10-27-2015 08:37 PM

I know Murakami is both highly regarded and hugely popular, but I was underwhelmed by his weirdly Western After the Quake when it was a choice in the other club. I'm hoping for pretty much anything else.

Dazrin 10-27-2015 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird (Post 3195567)
I know Murakami is both highly regarded and hugely popular, but I was underwhelmed by his weirdly Western After the Quake when it was a choice in the other club. I'm hoping for pretty much anything else.

I am enjoying 1Q84 right now so on one hand I wouldn't mind trying this one at some point. On the other hand, 1Q84 is about 1,200 pages and I am not sure I want to tack on another 500 pages* of Murakami directly after reading this.

*Goodreads says 430-700+ pages depending on version.

issybird 10-27-2015 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazrin (Post 3195603)
I am enjoying 1Q84 right now so on one hand I wouldn't mind trying this one at some point. On the other hand, 1Q84 is about 1,200 pages and I am not sure I want to tack on another 500 pages* of Murakami directly after reading this.

*Goodreads says 430-700+ pages depending on version.

Oy, I didn't realize it was so long. I'm not sure I've got the time for such a lengthy tome.

ETA: Simenon's only 144 pages, folks!

HomeInMyShoes 10-28-2015 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird (Post 3195567)
I know Murakami is both highly regarded and hugely popular, but I was underwhelmed by his weirdly Western After the Quake when it was a choice in the other club. I'm hoping for pretty much anything else.

He's one of my favourite authors, but he is weird and wouldn't normally be my pick for a general bookclub.

My support lies elsewhere this month.

HomeInMyShoes 10-28-2015 10:44 AM

I'd like to see Skylark make it. I'd like to read more works from Russia.

WT Sharpe 10-28-2015 10:45 AM

I'd like to see one of the mysteries win.

HomeInMyShoes 10-28-2015 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3195902)
I'd like to see one of the mysteries win.

I'd like to see one of my nominations win. :rofl:

CRussel 10-28-2015 11:57 AM

I'm holding back for a couple of days while I check on availability and cost, as well as length. But I definitely would prefer one of the mysteries to win.

CRussel 10-29-2015 02:36 PM

I'm definitely not liking the current leader. I truly have zero desire to read it. So I've gone ahead and voted for The Train, and Inspector Imanishi. I can see reading either one, and even enjoying it. But no matter how worthy, I'm not interested in anything Kafka.

Dazrin 10-29-2015 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3196807)
I'm definitely not liking the current leader. I truly have zero desire to read it. So I've gone ahead and voted for The Train, and Inspector Imanishi. I can see reading either one, and even enjoying it. But no matter how worthy, I'm not interested in anything Kafka.

Do you mean you aren't interested in anything by Murakami? The Kafka of the title has nothing to do with the author Franz Kafka.

CRussel 10-29-2015 07:50 PM

Sure it does. Even though it's not written by Franz Kafka, I hardly think the choice of title was an accident. But beyond that, I looked at the description and it's definitely not something I'm in a place I want to be reading right now. Maybe at some other point in my life, but not right now.

Dazrin 10-29-2015 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3196932)
Sure it does. Even though it's not written by Franz Kafka, I hardly think the choice of title was an accident. But beyond that, I looked at the description and it's definitely not something I'm in a place I want to be reading right now. Maybe at some other point in my life, but not right now.

Thanks I was just curious since I didn't find anything about a link to Franz Kafka in the (brief) searches I did. I thought that at first too and spent a little time looking. There may be one but it isn't clear to me that there is. One of the things I read made me think this was a translation issue, a name being anglicized in translation.

Maybe someone who has read it can chime in (or wait if it ends up being selected for the club.)

Also, I can certainly see Murakami not being for everyone too so wasn't sure if that was the reason.

peterwardgd 10-30-2015 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3196932)
Sure it does. Even though it's not written by Franz Kafka, I hardly think the choice of title was an accident. But beyond that, I looked at the description and it's definitely not something I'm in a place I want to be reading right now. Maybe at some other point in my life, but not right now.

I think if you have any preconceptions about the book based on its title you might want to stay clear for a while as you will be forever looking for Kafka themes/references in the book.

I'm trying to think how to put across the without spoiling even 1% of the book but i cant so i wont. I will just say if you haven't read The Wind up Bird Chronicle its worth a read and it might wet your appetite enough to follow on to this book. That book itself isn't related to Kafka on the Shore at all (unless you count the cat references) but i got the same satisfaction (i was going to put vibe but that doesn't do it justice) from reading that book as i did from this one.

Probably doesn't help much sorry but i'd hate to think someone was missing out on an interesting read because of the title and a brief description and what it might (or might not;) imply.

WT Sharpe 11-01-2015 09:31 AM

The surrealistic tome Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is our winner. Happy reading, everyone!

CRussel 11-01-2015 10:47 AM

I'll pass this month. But see you again next month. :)

WT Sharpe 11-01-2015 12:43 PM

November 2015 Book Club Vote
 
The cheapest audiobook route I've found in the States, assuming your local library doesn't have it, is Kindle plus narration. And that's not cheap. $11.99 for the ebook (price fixed by publisher) and add Audible narration ($9.99) and the grand total is $21.98—might as well say $22.00.

peterwardgd 11-01-2015 04:25 PM

Hooray! some Murakami. I get to read it again even though i had Norwegian wood queued up to read (finally) but hey ho.

HomeInMyShoes 11-02-2015 10:42 PM

So far I'm really enjoying it.

WT Sharpe 11-02-2015 10:44 PM

Me, too. Just finished the first 9 chapters.

taosaur 11-05-2015 03:24 AM

Kafka on the Shore was my first and probably least favorite Murakami, but it still had a lot of redeeming qualities. It had a bit of an "everything and the kitchen sink" vibe akin to what little Tom Robbins I've read, but I never found much redeeming in Tom Robbins.

HomeInMyShoes 11-05-2015 10:35 AM

^Another Roadside Attraction is my favorite.

This will be Murakami number seven for me. I've read (in order of reading):

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Sputnick Sweetheart
South of the Border, West of the Sun
After the Quake
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

I've enjoyed all of them, especially Tazaki and Wonderland.

taosaur 11-05-2015 03:29 PM

The only Robbins I read to the end was Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. I'd already read a few John Barth novels, and Robbins struck me as a somewhat forced (but apparently successful) attempt at a more accessible John Barth. Friends prevailed upon me to try something else by Robbins, so I started Another Roadside Attraction, but it seemed like more of the same: forced exoticness, try-hard absurdism, and next to zero sympathy for his characters. That last point is the clincher for me, and what I think distinguishes Murakami at his most absurd (Kafka on the Shore) from Robbins. To me it didn't seem like Robbins liked or had much faith in his characters or his readers.

sun surfer 11-05-2015 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes (Post 3199179)
So far I'm really enjoying it.

I had initially thought I wouldn't vote for it because the blurb didn't entice me and I'd already read another book by him which I liked but didn't think was great. I changed my mind though once I read the (long) preview; I hope the rest of the book is as good.

HomeInMyShoes 11-06-2015 10:21 AM

It's started, as Murakami novels do, to get weird. I like Murakami a lot. Probably for that weirdness.

WT Sharpe 11-06-2015 11:07 AM

17 chapters under my belt now, some Kindle, most Audible, and there's a lot less weirdness than I anticipated, especially from the opening chapters. Of course, there is the whole thing about the guy who talks to cats, but that was expected from the book's advertising blurb. Not that there isn't a lot of weird, just nothing unbelievable except for the cat thing. Of course, that may change.

WT Sharpe 11-07-2015 01:00 AM

I'm giving everyone fair warning: If you read the first seventeen chapters and walk away, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You read the eighteenth chapter and beyond, you stay in wonderland, and Murakami shows you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Yes, it has now officially become very weird. And thoroughly enjoyable. Great selection this month.

HomeInMyShoes 11-09-2015 09:45 AM

^I was going to say something when you said "a lot less weirdness than I anticipated" comment because I was two chapters ahead. :P

BenG 11-13-2015 12:55 PM

Cats are in almost all of his books. If a cat does something strange, its often the least strange thing in the novel. They kind of ease your way into more strangeness. :)

din155 11-15-2015 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3201616)
I'm giving everyone fair warning: If you read the first seventeen chapters and walk away, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You read the eighteenth chapter and beyond, you stay in wonderland, and Murakami shows you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Yes, it has now officially become very weird. And thoroughly enjoyable. Great selection this month.

Damn!! I am on chapter 17 and can't wait for 18th chapter and i have office tomorrow :o


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