MobileRead November 2012 Run-Off Vote

[WT Sharpe]

November 2012 Mobile Read Book Club Run-Off Vote

Help us choose a book as the November 2012 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club by voting in this run-off poll. It will be open for 3 days, and all MobileRead members are invited to participate. The vote this month will be hidden.

We will start the discussion thread for this book on November 20th. Select from the following Five* Choices:

(1) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Amazon (UK) / Amazon (US) / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles of genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

“[David] Mitchell is, clearly, a genius. He writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel’s every page.”—The New York Times Book Review

“One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is—and should be—read by any student of contemporary literature.”—Dave Eggers

“Wildly entertaining . . . a head rush, both action-packed and chillingly ruminative.”—People

“The novel as series of nested dolls or Chinese boxes, a puzzle-book, and yet—not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and I’m grateful to have lived, for a while, in all its many worlds.”—Michael Chabon


From Publishers Weekly:

At once audacious, dazzling, pretentious and infuriating, Mitchell's third novel weaves history, science, suspense, humor and pathos through six separate but loosely related narratives. Like Mitchell's previous works, Ghostwritten and number9dream (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), this latest foray relies on a kaleidoscopic plot structure that showcases the author's stylistic virtuosity. Each of the narratives is set in a different time and place, each is written in a different prose style, each is broken off mid-action and brought to conclusion in the second half of the book. Among the volume's most engaging story lines is a witty 1930s-era chronicle, via letters, of a young musician's effort to become an amanuensis for a renowned, blind composer and a hilarious account of a modern-day vanity publisher who is institutionalized by a stroke and plans a madcap escape in order to return to his literary empire (such as it is). Mitchell's ability to throw his voice may remind some readers of David Foster Wallace, though the intermittent hollowness of his ventriloquism frustrates. Still, readers who enjoy the "novel as puzzle" will find much to savor in this original and occasionally very entertaining work.

(2) Ubik by Philip K. Dick
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Google / Kobo Books

Spoiler:

Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.

(3) Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress
Amazon / BooksOnBoard

Spoiler:

In a world where the slightest edge can mean the difference between success and failure, Leisha Camden is beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent...and one of an ever-growing number of human beings who have been genetically modified to never require sleep.

Once considered interesting anomalies, now Leisha and the other "Sleepless" are outcasts—victims of blind hatred, political repression, and shocking mob violence meant to drive them from human society...and, ultimately, from Earth itself.

But Leisha Camden has chosen to remain behind in a world that envies and fears her "gift"—a world marked for destruction in a devastating conspiracy of freedom...and revenge.

(4) The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Fictionwise / Google eBook

Spoiler:

eBook Description: "All the reality of a vividly realized nightmare," The Times of London wrote of John Wyndham's terrifying post-apocalyptic thriller Day of the Triffids, published in 1951. The novel is often labeled science fiction, but it might best be described as a completely unnerving fantasy, even at the distance of half a century- for nothing dates this story of a world rendered helpless by a frightening, unearthly phenomenon. Triffids are odd but interesting plants that seem to appear in everyone's garden. They are curiosities, but little more, until an event occurs that alters human life--what appears to be a meteor shower, spectacular at first, turns into a bizarre green inferno that has blinded virtually everyone and rendered humankind helpless. Even stranger, spores from the inferno have caused triffids to suddenly take on lives of their own--large, crawling vegetation that uproot themselves and roam about, attacking humans and inflicting agony. William Masen happened to escape being blinded in the green inferno--he was hospitalized with his eyes bandaged following surgery--and he is now one of the few humans left who can see, who can avoid being attacked by triffids, who might be able to save mankind from the chaos and possible extinction threatened by this cataclysm. Day of the Triffids is generally held to be John Wyndham's finest novel, and it was his first significant work. His style has been described aptly as "speculative fiction." The real power of Day of the Triffids is not in its pure invention but in its matter-of-fact depiction of bizarre phenomena occurring in the midst of day-to-day life. The narrative voice of William Masen is calm and reasoned throughout as he describes the ongoing nightmare and his attempt to prevail, recalling the struggle from an almost historical perspective. Wyndham tells a mesmerizing story in Day of the Triffids, one that has lost none of its quiet terror. (from Fictionwise)

(5) Armageddon 2419 AD by Philip Francis Nowlan
Feedbooks (Kindle) / Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / LRF

Spoiler:

The original Buck Rogers story.

* Since the first vote produced a 4-way tie for second , this poll has more than the normal two choices.

[colinsky]

Voted for Armageddon 2419 AD, just like in the initial vote. Go go free books!

[caleb72]

As much as I want to read Cloud Atlas, I think it might be a timing issue for me, so I've voted for The Day of the Triffids as I wanted to read that this year anyway.

But I'll happily read Armageddon 2419 AD if it wins. I didn't even realise Buck Rogers was based on a book, so it looks like something I would be interested in reading anyway.

[drofgnal]

I went with the 'Buck Rogers' book. Given how far out in front Cloud Atlas was in the initial vote though, mine may be a wasted vote.

[din155]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I went with the 'Buck Rogers' book. Given how far out in front Cloud Atlas was in the initial vote though, mine may be a wasted vote.

Maybe not

[John F]

I'm going with Triffids.

[WT Sharpe]

FWIW, I'm pulling for Triffids or Buck Rogers. Triffids has been in my to-be-read list too long, and it would be nice to have some folks to discuss it with. And the first Buck Rogers novel would be interesting as well. While it's probably a great book, I just don't know if I'm up for all 528 pages of Cloud Atlas. I hope everyone that votes for it reads all of it in time for the discussion.

[CharlieBird]

When WT opened the selection process for November and I saw the category I tuned-out, so I was surprised when I saw the choices for this month on the home page.

I finished Cloud Atlas in record time but that is because I pretty much 'scrolled' two lengthy chapters (two chapters per plot) cutting down considerably on the length. Now I realize why: they were science fiction. I must have misread the reviews because I would not have bought it had it been described as such. If I counted correctly it can be read as five independent sections, so you could skip a chapter—well, two—without losing continuity. I very much liked it...much better than Black Swan Green and can't imagine how it was made into a movie!

If it wins, I'll be curious to follow the discussion.

[caleb72]

Sounds like there's quite a bit of vote splitting between Buck Rogers and Triffids. Problem with a run-off vote with so many options is that it can suffer from the same issue as the first vote.

I'm like you. Not up to 528 pages at the moment and there's no way I'll get to it in time to discuss.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

While it's probably a great book, I just don't know if I'm up for all 528 pages of Cloud Atlas. I hope everyone that votes for it reads all of it in time for the discussion.

Can't I just go see the movie?

I put it on hold at the library last month and I'm near the top of the list now, so I voted for it.

Jeez, are the people who are shy of Cloud Atlas waiting for the Readers Digest condensed version to come out? I mean 528 pages is not by any means a lengthy tome. David Copperfield 974 pages. Ivanhoe (the June selection) 544 pages. It's a less than two average books lengths for my experience. Anyway as the only book that I would want to read anyway that's my choice still.

[GA Russell]

I too voted for Armageddon.

I nominated it, and was pleasantly surprised that it made the runoff because there was no vocal support for it in the first vote's thread.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Jeez, are the people who are shy of Cloud Atlas waiting for the Readers Digest condensed version to come out? I mean 528 pages is not by any means a lengthy tome. David Copperfield 974 pages. Ivanhoe (the June selection) 544 pages. It's a less than two average books lengths for my experience. Anyway as the only book that I would want to read anyway that's my choice still.

I guess that you're saying that length of the book shouldn't be a factor in the decision making process? It's a fair call for a book club I suppose. But I balance what I read for the book club with what I've already committed to read elsewhere (eg. indie books I'm reading/reviewing).

Hopefully me using these inappropriate measures to exclude a book from my vote doesn't somehow make me ineligible. I can probably cope with ridicule if that is deemed necessary.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I too voted for Armageddon.

I nominated it, and was pleasantly surprised that it made the runoff because there was no vocal support for it in the first vote's thread.

To be honest, I didn't even look at it until it got into the runoff vote and I'd already voted for Triffids.

Originally Posted by caleb72

I guess that you're saying that length of the book shouldn't be a factor in the decision making process? It's a fair call for a book club I suppose. But I balance what I read for the book club with what I've already committed to read elsewhere (eg. indie books I'm reading/reviewing).

Hopefully me using these inappropriate measures to exclude a book from my vote doesn't somehow make me ineligible. I can probably cope with ridicule if that is deemed necessary.

No if book length is what is important to a person I have no problem with that figuring into their vote. Anyone is free to base there decision on what ever factors they wish. I was just surprised that people were making that an issue for this book when it really is not an outlier in terms of length.