MobileRead December 2015 Book Club Nominations

[WT Sharpe]

With my last vote, I nominate The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: THE BOOK edited by Michael Amadio.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a British television show, which includes two series of 13 fifty-minute episodes aired in 1971, the first, and 1973, the second.

The program presented adaptations of short mystery, suspense or crime stories featuring, as the title indicates, detectives who were literary rivals, and contemporaries, of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes took its inspiration–and title–from a number of published anthologies edited by Hugh Greene, elder brother of author Graham Greene. Hugh Greene, a former director-general of the BBC, is credited as a program creative consultant.

All the stories adapted to the show are included in this ebook, with the exception of “The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Hoist” (Episode 6) and “Anonymous Letters” (Episode 8) of the second series, a Danish and Austrian detective story non readily available in English.

However, this ebook includes, as a bonus, the complete book Hagar of the Pawn Shop by Fergus Humes, from which the story for Episode 12 of Series 2 (“The Mystery of the Amber Beads”) was taken.

The stories are presented here in the order in which they appeared in the TV series.

It's only $2.99 in this country, but the downside is that this particular edition (there are several similar editions with different stories edited by Hugh Greene at a higher price) appears to be only available at Amazon stores.

Amazon Canada
Amazon United Kingdom
Amazon United States

[GA Russell]

In case some folks wish to read Christmas short stories, I nominate...

The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (Otto Penzler, ed.)

(The print edition is 672 pages. It's a lot of short stories!)

“Anyone who cares about the best mystery writing of the past century and beyond would be lucky to receive this thick volume during the holidays. . . . One of the joys of the collection is how many are delightfully funny. . . . Note that many of these stories turn on simple theft, of diamonds or candlesticks or a lottery ticket; they hark back to simpler days before the modern thriller began to provide endless serial killers and ax murderers for our edification. To read today’s talented crime writers can be a pleasure, but it’s good to be reminded that they build on the work of others whose talents remain undimmed."
—The Washington Post

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Myst...dp/B00CK8CJLS/

Kobo
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...tmas-mysteries

Barnes & Noble Nook
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...ler/1114257203

[bfisher]

I'll second The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (Otto Penzler, ed.)

[issybird]

Third The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries .

[CRussel]

I'll second WTSharpe's The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: THE BOOK edited by Michael Amadio. Sounds like it might be interesting, though I never knew the series.

[CRussel]

I can't not nominate a Canadian treasure (and Nobel Prize winner) here. If we're doing short stories, how can we not consider Alice Munro, one of the great short story writers of all time. There are lots of possible books to choose from, but I'll nominate: Alice Munro's Best: Selected Stories. This will be a great introduction to her work, and will be enjoyable even for those who have read some of the stories before.

The blurb for this on Amazon is:

In her lengthy and fascinating introduction Margaret Atwood says “Alice Munro is among the major writers of English fiction of our time. . . . Among writers themselves, her name is spoken in hushed tones.”

This splendid gift edition is sure to delight Alice Munro’s growing body of admirers, what Atwood calls her “devoted international readership.” Long-time fans of her stories will enjoy meeting old favourites, where their new setting in this book may reveal new sides to what once seemed a familiar story; devoted followers may even dispute the exclusion of a specially-beloved story. Readers lucky enough to have found her recently will be delighted, as one masterpiece succeeds another.

The 17 stories are carefully arranged in the order in which she wrote them, which allows us to follow the development of her range. “A Wilderness Station,” for example, breaks “short story rules” by taking us right back to the 1830s then jumping forward more than 100 years. “The Albanian Virgin” destroys the idea that her stories are set in B.C. or in Ontario’s “Alice Munro Country.” And “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” the story behind the film Away From Her, takes us far from the world of young girls learning about sex into unflinching old age.

This is a book to read slowly, savouring each story. It deserves a place in every Canadian book-lover’s library.

This book is available for free from the Amazon Prime Lending Library, or Kindle Unlimited, or for a quite reasonable price to buy.

Amazon US
Amazon CA
Amazon UK
Kobo

Note: I've included the Kobo location for completeness, but you'd have to have more money than sense to buy it from them. The Amazon version is 1/3rd or less the cost even if you buy it rather than getting it via Amazon Prime Lending Library or Kindle Unlimited, and has no DRM, so conversion is trivial.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I can't not nominate a Canadian treasure (and Nobel Prize winner) here. If we're doing short stories, how can we not consider Alice Munro, one of the great short story writers of all time. There are lots of possible books to choose from, but I'll nominate: Alice Munro's Best: Selected Stories....[/SIZE][/I]

Sounds like a great selection. Too bad I'm out of votes or I'd second it.

[fantasyfan]

I'll third The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes.

[GA Russell]

I will second Alice Munro.

[sun surfer]

I second the collection edited by Sedaris. I've read two of his books and thought they were very funny and so would be interested to see what he's chosen.

I third the Munro; I've been close but haven't read anything by her yet and this would be a great place to begin.

Finally, I nominate-

Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx. I've wanted to read this for a long time now. She's won the Pulitzer and other prizes for her writing and this collection includes the short story Brokeback Mountain from which the film was adapted.

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes comes one of the most celebrated short-story collections of our time.

Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in these breathtaking tales of loneliness, quick violence, and the wrong kinds of love. Each of the stunning portraits in Close Range reveals characters fiercely wrought with precision and grace.

These are stories of desperation and unlikely elation, set in a landscape both stark and magnificent -- by an author writing at the peak of her craft.


Sometimes known as "Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories"

Goodreads
Amazon- Australia / Canada / U.K. / U.S.
Kobo

[BenG]

I'll second Close Range.

[bfisher]

I'll third Close Range.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Sounds like a great selection. Too bad I'm out of votes or I'd second it.

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I will second Alice Munro.

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I third the Munro; I've been close but haven't read anything by her yet and this would be a great place to begin.

Looks like we're covered on that front, Tom, but thanks for the thought. And now you can vote for it.

[WT Sharpe]

Okay!

[WT Sharpe]

I thought "Short Stories" would be a killer category, but the nominations close at midnight tonight, and it looks as if we're only going to have five nominations.

Oh, well. At least they're good ones.