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-   -   MobileRead July 2017 Book Club Vote (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=288046)

WT Sharpe 06-27-2017 01:33 AM

July 2017 Book Club Vote
 
June 2017 MobileRead Book Club Vote

Help us choose a book as the June 2017 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://wtsharpe.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 July 20th. Select from the following Official Choices with three nominations each:

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translator)
Goodreads | Amazon US / Overdrive / WorldCat
Print Length: 607 pages
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.


Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
Goodreads | Overdrive
Print Length: 321 pages
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

A New York Times Bestseller

“Rich in dexterous innuendo, laugh-out-loud humor and illuminating fact. It’s compulsively readable.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

In Bonk, the best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and insight on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Why doesn't Viagra help women-or, for that matter, pandas? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Mary Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm-two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth-can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place.


Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Audible UK / Audible US / Kobo US
Print Length: 373 pages
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Golden Globe–winner Taraji P. Henson and Academy Award–winners Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner

Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program—and whose contributions have been unheralded, until now.

Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as “Human Computers,” calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these “colored computers,” as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America’s fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Drawing on the oral histories of scores of these “computers,” personal recollections, interviews with NASA executives and engineers, archival documents, correspondence, and reporting from the era, Hidden Figures recalls America’s greatest adventure and NASA’s groundbreaking successes through the experiences of five spunky, courageous, intelligent, determined, and patriotic women: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Christine Darden, and Gloria Champine.
Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women’s rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of scientific achievement and technological innovation with the intimate stories of five women whose work forever changed the world—and whose lives show how out of one of America’s most painful histories came one of its proudest moments.


Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe
Goodreads
Print Length: 336 pages
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Sara is a comedian who has talked and joked about female sexuality, psychology and the media's portrayal of women on stage and screen. While researching her most recent live show, Sara realised that she had a lot more to say.

In her first book Sara combines autobiography and evolutionary history to entertain and inform about the female body. Why we have boobs and how they have become so fetishised. How the kidnap of a 13-year old-chimney sweep's daughter created our present age of consent. The discovery and subsequent forgetting of the clitoris, the many eras of misunderstanding the female orgasm. Did you know that clitorectomys were once performed on British and American women to cure masturbation and hysteria? And that we learned so much about female sexuality from the behaviour of sperm?

ANIMAL: HOW A WOMAN IS MADE aims to be entertaining and informative and personal and universal and silly about lots of things and serious about some.


Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy by Christopher Phillips
Goodreads
Print Length: 246 pages
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Christopher Phillips is a man on a mission: to revive the love of questions that Socrates inspired long ago in ancient Athens. "Like a Johnny Appleseed with a master's degree, Phillips has gallivanted back and forth across America, to cafés and coffee shops, senior centers, assisted-living complexes, prisons, libraries, day-care centers, elementary and high schools, and churches, forming lasting communities of inquiry" (Utne Reader). Phillips not only presents the fundamentals of philosophical thought in this "charming, Philosophy for Dummies-type guide" (USA Today); he also recalls what led him to start his itinerant program and re-creates some of the most invigorating sessions, which come to reveal sometimes surprising, often profound reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and others among Life's Big Questions.

CRussel 06-27-2017 11:30 AM

The current votes are quite interesting. If this keeps up we'll have as many books in the runoff as the original vote!

JSWolf 06-27-2017 11:56 PM

Please vote for Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. It is the most enjoyable book in the list. Last time I said the book I wanted to win was the better book, I was very much correct. The book we had was not all that good. It was more about politics than science and the topic was supposed to be science. When we had mystery month, we got a rather tame/dull book on Africa.

issybird 06-28-2017 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3544781)
Please vote for Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. It is the most enjoyable book in the list. Last time I said the book I wanted to win was the better book, I was very much correct. The book we had was not all that good. It was more about politics than science and the topic was supposed to be science. When we had mystery month, we got a rather tame/dull book on Africa.

None of the choices this month is really ringing my bell, but I'll read any of them except Murakami.

I think you were wrong last month, Jon. Heck, I could say my choice was the best each month, also, but I'd only be right for my interests and not necessarily even in terms of a good discussion and certainly not for others.

The club's already read books by Roach and Murakami and I don't see the point in revisiting either when there are different authors to choose from. Frankly, I think Murakami in particular would be disastrous. Although the most literary of the choices, which speaks to me, at 600 pages no one will end up reading it. The last time Murakami was chosen it resulted in the worst discussion ever; there were only two posts about the book. I figure the prurient will at least give Bonk a try, but I hope it's not the selection, also.

Luffy 06-28-2017 09:36 AM

I voted for all books except Murakami's. I don't want his book to win. I don't like absurd and obscure books that are cached in a literary genre.

CRussel 06-28-2017 09:38 PM

For me, the Murakami book is both too expensive and too long, especially when it doesn't grab me. I haven't decided which of the other books will get my vote, but almost certainly not the Mary Roach. One was enough.

JSWolf 06-28-2017 09:41 PM

If The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle wins, I expect everyone who voted for it to read it and participate in the discussion thread.

Alohamora 06-28-2017 09:59 PM

Hidden Figures sounds best to me. Well, Socrates Cafe sounds good too, but I can get Hidden Figures audiobook through Overdrive. I just placed a hold.

issybird 06-28-2017 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohamora (Post 3545281)
Hidden Figures sounds best to me. Well, Socrates Cafe sounds good too, but I can get Hidden Figures audiobook through Overdrive. I just placed a hold.

Those are the two that sound best to me, too. It's touch and go whether the Hidden Figures audiobook at OverDrive will be available in time (no hope on the ebook), but there's a copy available at the Engineering and Math Library at the campus in town, so I could pick that up. Socrates Cafe would have to be ILL.

JSWolf 06-28-2017 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohamora (Post 3545281)
Hidden Figures sounds best to me. Well, Socrates Cafe sounds good too, but I can get Hidden Figures audiobook through Overdrive. I just placed a hold.

Should have voted for Bonk. You can get that at Overdrive.

issybird 06-28-2017 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3545296)
Should have voted for Bonk. You can get that at Overdrive.

You can't say that definitively, Jon. Not all OverDrive libraries have it and those that do might have long waitlists.

However, as I tried to indicate, those who are willing to read DTBs (the horror! the horror!) might have a few more options.

CRussel 06-29-2017 01:19 AM

True, DTBs can give you additional options. Also, for those keeping track, the UK price of Hidden Figures is significantly less than the US price. While the UK WhisperSync price is way better.

John F 06-29-2017 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird (Post 3544899)
...

Although the most literary of the choices, which speaks to me, at 600 pages ...

Works for me. :)

Alohamora 06-29-2017 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3545296)
Should have voted for Bonk. You can get that at Overdrive.

It's not at my library. Not particularly interested in reading it anyhow.

JSWolf 06-29-2017 10:37 AM

There is no way I have time to read a 600 page book. So is everyone who votes for this going to be reading all 600 pages?

WT Sharpe 06-29-2017 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3545274)
For me, the Murakami book is both too expensive and too long, especially when it doesn't grab me. I haven't decided which of the other books will get my vote, but almost certainly not the Mary Roach. One was enough.

There's a reason for the book's length, and it's to be found on this Goodreads page:

Quote:

Three books in one volume: The Thieving Magpie, Bird as Prophet, The Birdcatcher. This translation by Jay Rubin is in collaboration with the author.
I'm sure it would be interesting, as he's a great author, but it will be a challenge if it wins.

John F 06-29-2017 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3545524)
There is no way I have time to read a 600 page book. So is everyone who votes for this going to be reading all 600 pages?

No. I usually skip copyright pages, acknowledgements, ... , so that should bring the length down.

JSWolf 06-29-2017 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3545541)
There's a reason for the book's length, and it's to be found on this Goodreads page:

Hen we have a major issue and this vote needs to be scrapped and started over. The problem is that this book was not said to be three books in one. That should never have been nominated that way. This book should have been nominated as JUST THE FIRST BOOK. We don't read multiple books in one month.

Because of the size, this did affect my voting. I may or may not have voted for just the first book. So I want all our votes back so we can do this correctly.

This was misrepresented and thus, even the nomination portion was botched. We should redo this from the start if we want to do it correctly. We didn't have all the correct information to nominate and vote. So I'll give in and just redo the vote as long as this book is pushed as JUST the first book and the description reflects that.

issybird 06-29-2017 12:26 PM

Hope springs eternal, eh, Jon? We have never yet scrapped a nomination process or vote because of defects that have been determined by you.

The reality is that Wind-Up Bird is published as a single volume and it is a book. Those who have nominated and voted for it are fully entitled. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing them all engage in a rousing discussion, because isn't that the point of a book club? Surely it's not just a popularity contest?

Dazrin 06-29-2017 12:30 PM

It was nominated as a single book and is presented as a single book by the publisher in the English language versions, even if it was published as 3 volumes elsewhere. When the nominator provided the extra detail that someone requested they copied that section from GR as well, so this certainly isn't a misrepresentation or a major issue.

This book is 1/2 the size of the November 2013 selection so it is certainly not without precedent for length too.

And October 2009 and March 2010 would like to have a word with you about reading only one book in a month. March 2010 happens to be the first time Mary Roach was selected ....

Just because you are sore that your preference isn't winning right now doesn't mean the Earth is ending.

JSWolf 06-29-2017 12:35 PM

It means I wasn't given the correct information to make an informed choice. I won't be reading a 600 page book, but I might have chosen it if it interested me and it was just the first book.

I'm annoyed that I wasn't given the correct information to me an informed vote.

We have never read an omnibus and we have never done more than one book in a month. If that's going to be allowed, then it needs to be allowed before it's in the nomination/vote so we know what's what.

CRussel 06-29-2017 01:42 PM

Jon -- I was able to figure out that it was three books. As such, I didn't feel cheated or mis-represented. And if it were to win, I could certainly see those who wanted to participate only doing so on the first book if that was all they had time for. Personally, I'm not particularly interested even at 1/3rd of its length.

I do object to anyone motivating or voting for a book and then not participating in the discussion. We see that too often and it distorts the book selection. (And yes, I get it that sometimes life intrudes. But at least an acknowledgement of the same in the discussion would seem to be called for, IMNSHO.)

As for the voting this time: I've decided to vote for Hidden Figures. I've seen the movie and I really want to read the book to get even more details. (And I strongly motivate folks to at least see the movie if you haven't!) I grew up during the "space race" and followed it avidly, along with all that was going on NASA, and this was totally new to me. Hidden figures indeed. (And I love the double meaning there!)

CRussel 06-29-2017 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird (Post 3545573)
Hope springs eternal, eh, Jon? We have never yet scrapped a nomination process or vote because of defects that have been determined by you.

Oh, but hope springs eternal, issybird, certainly? Or was that internal?

Quote:

The reality is that Wind-Up Bird is published as a single volume and it is a book. Those who have nominated and voted for it are fully entitled. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing them all engage in a rousing discussion, because isn't that the point of a book club? Surely it's not just a popularity contest?
I would hope so. I nominate and motivate for books that I think others will find worth their reading time, and find worthy of a discussion. Or simply because they're favourites of mine that I want to share with my 'friends' here. But in all cases, I hope and expect to participate in the discussion that follows from my votes and nominations.

In the case of Wind-Up Bird, I admit to thirding it without checking the price. That was a mistake, since I can't get it from my local library in a format I will read. (Sorry, DTB is not a choice for me any more. )

JSWolf 06-29-2017 10:53 PM

I agree that it is a problem where some vote for the winning book and then don't participate. Sometimes if those that do not participate did not vote then a different book would have won.

So please do not vote if you do not plan on participating. Even if you put it on hold at Overdrive and may or may not get it in time, don't vote unless you 100% ae going to participate.

I voted for what I will definitely will read. That doesn't mean I won't read any of the others, but I don't have to because I didn't vote.

CRussel 07-02-2017 02:29 AM

Well, it looks like I'd better hurry up and finish this Peter Grant novella I'm in the middle of and get started on Hidden Figures. Thank goodness the UK price is a bit more reasonable, since the backlog at the library is ridiculous. Not as bad as the backlog was for Chris Hadfield's book (that was >120 in front of me, and only 4 copies!:eek:)

bfisher 07-02-2017 01:15 PM

Well, it worked out OK from my perspective this month; either of the leading contenders would have been 1 rock tumbling off Mt TBR, and I suspect Hidden Figures will be a much quicker read (although Animal has its charms) :)

WT Sharpe 07-02-2017 04:02 PM

I have a hold on both the audiobook and the ebook at my local library. I'll take whichever comes in first.

Alohamora 07-02-2017 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3547063)
I have a hold on both the audiobook and the ebook at my local library. I'll take whichever comes in first.

I'm #44 waiting on 5 copies on Overdrive. Looks like I'll be giving Hoopla a try, no wait there.

CRussel 07-02-2017 07:14 PM

No hope for me in Overdrive. 164 people ahead of me for 12 copies of the eBook, no audio book available. I've just taken a quick trip to the UK and bought the eBook and it's WhisperSync Audible version. Started now.

issybird 07-03-2017 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohamora (Post 3547095)
I'm #44 waiting on 5 copies on Overdrive. Looks like I'll be giving Hoopla a try, no wait there.

Thank you! I never thought of Hoopla. If my OD audiobook doesn't show up in time, Hoopla can be my fallback. Otherwise, I was going to read the DTB. :eek:

Bookworm_Girl 07-03-2017 03:43 PM

The audiobook is also available on Scribd for anyone with a subscription.

WT Sharpe 07-04-2017 05:51 PM

Because posting one immediately following the vote seemed to be the will of the people (see the Book Club discussion), I have started a discussion thread for Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.

CRussel 07-04-2017 06:26 PM

Thanks, Tom. I'm already well into the book and will be glad of a place to start to put my thoughts down.

WT Sharpe 07-13-2017 10:50 AM

Jon ~ you may find this morning's email link from Delancey Place to be interesting. Just this one segment put this book on my must read list.

https://delanceyplace.com/view-archi...kN490.facebook

JSWolf 07-13-2017 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3551919)
Jon ~ you may find this morning's email link from Delancey Place to be interesting. Just this one segment put this book on my must read list.

https://delanceyplace.com/view-archi...kN490.facebook

When is the next month that Bonk can be nominated? I'm all for it.

Dazrin 07-13-2017 03:24 PM

If we keep the same categories, next June would be the next time Bonk fits a category and can be nominated. If we change categories, then February would be the earliest, assuming it fits whatever category is selected. Gulp will be in the runner's up vote for January too.

JSWolf 07-13-2017 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazrin (Post 3552041)
If we keep the same categories, next June would be the next time Bonk fits a category and can be nominated. If we change categories, then February would be the earliest, assuming it fits whatever category is selected. Gulp will be in the runner's up vote for January too.

I just had a look at the categories for 2017 and Bonk would be suitable for September, October, & November.

It's a classic in science books about sex so that's September.
Mary Roach writes with a humorous slant, so that's October.
It also deals with some history, so that's November.

So I can nominate Bonk up to three times this year.

Dazrin 07-13-2017 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3552045)
I just had a look at the categories for 2017 and Bonk would be suitable for September, October, & November.

It's a classic in science books about sex so that's September.
Mary Roach writes with a humorous slant, so that's October.
It also deals with some history, so that's November.

So I can nominate Bonk up to three times this year.

No, it can't be nominated for 6 months since it was fully nominated for July. So, technically, the earliest it could be re-nominated is January but based on previous conversations January will remain "second chance"/"runners-up" even if we do change categories next year, so that is why I said February.

I guess, if you lobby to get rid of the 6 month rule, maybe it could be nominated this year but I am fairly certain that won't get much support. This is exactly the type of thing that the rule was made for...

Spoiler:
Aside: A book that is less than 10 years old is a "classic"? That's stretching the definition more than you usually do. It is (likely) an excellent book but a classic? Just because a book is good doesn't make it a classic. Maybe in a couple more decades.

JSWolf 07-13-2017 03:53 PM

I can still nominate other Mary Roach books.

WT Sharpe 07-13-2017 04:16 PM

I will still read it. Roach is a good writer who knows how to make cutting edge research accessible and interesting for the average reader.


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