MobileRead April 2017 Book Club Nominations

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Ah, but really good books are always good for a re-read. And since I just finished a re-read, I can testify that this A Cold Day for Murder is definitely re-read worthy. Go for the Audible version this time around, to vary the experience.

I'd rather read a book on my TBR list that I've not already read.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think we should pick a book that's won the Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award.

Where's your nomination for that then?

Last year I considered nominating Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue by Hugh Howey*. It won the September 2009 "Most Eye Catching Cover" Covey Award**. It is the only book of his that I have seen with an award so I suspect that it is the reason he used to use the phrase "Award Winning Author" on some of his books. Given the acclaim of that particular award well...
"[T]echnically correct ... the best kind of correct."

Spoiler:

*He has been working on book 5 since late 2010 or so; if he had wrapped up the series I would nominate it but I hate to get into an abandoned series. I have enjoyed most of his books, including the first one in this series, and REALLY liked the Wool/Silo series.

**It looks like the "New Covey Awards" are now defunct, no updates since 2011.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Where's your nomination for that then?

Would you want to read the following bad sex award winner based on the description?

Just after World War II, a young orphan living in Naples comes under the protection of Don Gaetano, the superintendent of an apartment building. He is a generous man and is very attached to the boy, telling him about the war and the liberation of the city by the Neapolitans. He teaches him to play cards, shows him how to do odd jobs for the tenants, and even initiates him into the world of sex by sending him one evening to a widow who lives in the building. But Don Gaetano possesses another gift as well: he knows how to read people's thoughts and guesses correctly that his young friend is haunted by the image of a girl he noticed by chance behind a window during a soccer match. Years later, when the girl returns, the orphan will need Don Gaetano's help more than ever.

And speaking of Hugh Howey... Wool Omnibus won Kindle Book Review's 2012 Indie Book of the Year Award.

[issybird]

April will be the centennial of the United States' entrance into the Great War, aka World War One. In observance, I'm nominating a hilarious novel by a Canadian writer, Donald Jack, set during the war. Three Cheers for Me won the Stephen Leacock Award.

With his disturbingly horse-like face and a pious distaste for strong drink and bad language, young Bartholomew Bandy doesn’t seem cut out for life in the armed services, as we meet him at the start of the First World War.

Yet he not only survives the dangers and squalor of the infantry trenches, he positively thrives in the Royal Flying Corps, revealing a surprising aptitude for splitarsing Sopwith Camels and shooting down the Hun. He even manages to get the girl.

Through it all he never loses his greatest ability – to open his mouth and put his foot in it.

Donald Jack’s blackly humorous Bandy memoirs are classics of their kind. Against an unshrinkingly depicted backdrop of war and its horrors, his anti-hero’s adventures are both gripping and shockingly funny.

Kindle Kobo (couponable)

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you want to read the following bad sex award winner based on the description?
...
And speaking of Hugh Howey... Wool Omnibus won Kindle Book Review's 2012 Indie Book of the Year Award.

Not a chance, but there are probably some decent books in their lists that just have a flop of a sex scene. Just not that one.

And thanks for the HH info, that award is at least somewhat more ... useful? meaningful? valid? something ... than the one I mentioned. At least it is for the text not just the cover even if it is still a "pay to play" type award.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

April will be the centennial of the United States' entrance into the Great War, aka World War One. In observance, I'm nominating a hilarious novel by a Canadian writer, Donald Jack, set during the war. Three Cheers for Me won the Stephen Leacock Award.



Kindle Kobo (couponable)

I'll second that. Don't know it, but might be interesting.

[bfisher]

I'll third Three Cheers for Me

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Not a chance, but there are probably some decent books in their lists that just have a flop of a sex scene. Just not that one.

And thanks for the HH info, that award is at least somewhat more ... useful? meaningful? valid? something ... than the one I mentioned. At least it is for the text not just the cover even if it is still a "pay to play" type award.

The problem is that Wool Omnibus is no longer available to buy in the USA as a real eBook. Because Hugh Howey got into bed with Amazon, you cannot buy an ePub version and the Kindle version is this awful Kindle in Motion version at about 800k. The Kindle in motion version replaced the plain old eBook version.

[JSWolf]

We just need two more nods for My Real Children. Jo Walton is a very good author and this book will be enjoyable.

[WT Sharpe]

Okay, I'll give a nod to My Real Children, if only for the bad sex.

[BenG]

I'll third My Real Children.

I would also like to nominate The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1964 and was made into the movie Topkapi.

Basically it's a caper novel.

Spoiler:

When Arthur Abdel Simpson first spots Harper in the Athens airport, he recognizes him as a tourist unfamiliar with city and in need of a private driver. In other words, the perfect mark for Simpson’s brand of entrepreneurship. But Harper proves to be more the spider than the fly when he catches Simpson riffling his wallet for traveler’s checks. Soon Simpson finds himself blackmailed into driving a suspicious car across the Turkish border. Then, when he is caught again, this time by the police, he faces a choice: cooperate with the Turks and spy on his erstwhile colleagues or end up in one of Turkey’s notorious prisons. The authorities suspect an attempted coup, but Harper and his gang have planned something both less sinister and much, much more audacious.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Okay, I'll give a nod to My Real Children, if only for the bad sex.

It's not a book that won a bad sex award.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by BenG

I'll third My Real Children.

I would also like to nominate The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1964 and was made into the movie Topkapi.

Basically it's a caper novel.

Spoiler:

When Arthur Abdel Simpson first spots Harper in the Athens airport, he recognizes him as a tourist unfamiliar with city and in need of a private driver. In other words, the perfect mark for Simpson’s brand of entrepreneurship. But Harper proves to be more the spider than the fly when he catches Simpson riffling his wallet for traveler’s checks. Soon Simpson finds himself blackmailed into driving a suspicious car across the Turkish border. Then, when he is caught again, this time by the police, he faces a choice: cooperate with the Turks and spy on his erstwhile colleagues or end up in one of Turkey’s notorious prisons. The authorities suspect an attempted coup, but Harper and his gang have planned something both less sinister and much, much more audacious.

Sold. Any Eric Ambler will be fun. I'll second it.

[JSWolf]

I'll third The Light of Day.

[CRussel]

Well, that gives us four fully nominated choices, but I'd really like to see some more. And how about in different categories/genres, folks? I've used all my tickets, so I can't add any, but if you'd like some suggestions, just ask!