MobileRead August 2013 Book Club Nominations

[Gabriel Morcan]

As a third nomination I say Lem Stanislaw - Solaris. It has been on my list for a long time.

Here is an excerpt from wiki:

The book is about the ultimate inadequacy of communication between human and non-human species.
In probing and examining the oceanic surface of the planet Solaris from a hovering research station the human scientists are, in turn, being studied by the sentient planet itself, which probes for and examines the thoughts of the human beings who are analyzing it. Solaris has the ability to manifest their secret, guilty concerns in human form, for each scientist to personally confront.
Solaris is one of Lem’s philosophic explorations of man’s anthropomorphic limitations.

Here is a the link for Amazon US / Amazon UK

[issybird]

With my last nomination, an obvious choice and a goodie: Bradbury's Farenheit 451. The truncated blurb from Amazon, in case anyone needs it:

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Kindle Kobo (couponable & cheapest of the epub options)

[Dazrin]

I will third Great North Road and Roadside Picnic.

[sun surfer]

I nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. A controversial film version is being released soon so it could be interesting to read and discuss the book now.


From Amazon:

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.


Availability:
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Barnes & Noble US
Bookworld Australia

[Bookpossum]

I second Fahrenheit 451.

[WT Sharpe]

Will somebody please tell me what Steve Jobs had against scroll bars? Editing the first two posts of this thread on an iPad is murder!

[Synamon]

Third Farenheit 451.


ETA: None of the links for Great North Road are working for me. Expired searches?

Yikes, some of these nominations are 800+ pages (Great North Road, Existence).

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Third Farenheit 451.


ETA: None of the links for Great North Road are working for me. Expired searches?

Yikes, some of these nominations are 800+ pages (Great North Road, Existence).

I'll add your vote to the list. As for the links; they work fine on this end. Geographical restrictions on your end, perhaps?

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'll add your vote to the list. As for the links; they work fine on this end. Geographical restrictions on your end, perhaps?

Hmmm, I don't usually get a 404 error when things are geo restricted. I'm glad the links are working for others.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I nominate Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton.
Amazon (US) / B&N (US) / Sony / Kobo / Overdrive
A murder mystery set on Earth and the distant, tropical planet of St Libra
In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst attends a brutal murder scene. The victim is one of the wealthy North family clones–but none have been reported missing. And the crime’s most disturbing aspect is how the victim was killed. Twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were horrifically murdered in exactly the same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. But if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? Tough and confident, she never waivered under interrogation–claiming she alone survived an alien attack. But there is no animal life on St Libra. Investigating this alien threat becomes the Human Defence Agency’s top priority. The bio-fuel flowing from St Libra is the lifeblood of Earth’s economy and must be secured. So a vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and teams of engineers, support personnel and xenobiologists are dispatched to the planet. Along with their technical advisor, grudgingly released from prison, Angela Tramelo. But the expedition is cut off, deep within St Libra’s rainforests. Then the murders begin. Someone or something is picking off the team one by one. Angela insists it’s the alien, but her new colleagues aren’t so sure. Maybe she did see an alien, or maybe she has other reasons for being on St Libra...

Is this an OK nomination? It was fully nominated for voting in May.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Third Farenheit 451.


ETA: None of the links for Great North Road are working for me. Expired searches?....

Opps! I was looking at the links for Fahrenheit 451. You're right about the Great North Links. I'll see if I can fix them.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Is this an OK nomination? It was fully nominated for voting in May.

Good catch! As far as I know, the six-month rule is still in effect.

[caleb72]

I'll give Solaris a second. Just throwing in a few more links.

For B&N (US): LINK
For Google Play (AUS): LINK
Diesel: LINK

It's $3.99 or less most places I've looked so it's not an uncomfortable price.

[caleb72]

I don't think Starship Troopers is available outside of US in ebook form, but I've collected a few links to add to the nomination. This isn't a second.

Amazon (US): LINK
B&N (US): LINK
Diesel (US only): LINK

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Hmmm, I don't usually get a 404 error when things are geo restricted. I'm glad the links are working for others.

I fixed the links (a major undertaking on an iPad), but...

Originally Posted by caleb72

Is this an OK nomination? It was fully nominated for voting in May.

Originally Posted by issybird

Good catch! As far as I know, the six-month rule is still in effect.

Damn 6 month rule. Off to remove the nomination. On the plus side, odiakkoh, Dazrin, and I now have those votes back.