New Leaf Nominations for July 2019 • Naturally Gifted: Prodigies

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

You just beat me to it! This book sounds fascinating.

It does sound interesting, but the wait at one of my libraries is about 8 weeks, and it isn't available at all at the other. OTOH, it's not hugely expensive, though I'm really trying to avoid buying any books right now. However, their estimates aren't always accurate, so I might well get it in time.

[Dazrin]

I will second The Speed of Dark, I have really enjoyed most of the books by Elizabeth Moon that I have read (and the one I didn't was still ok) so more than willing to try this one.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I will second The Speed of Dark, I have really enjoyed most of the books by Elizabeth Moon that I have read (and the one I didn't was still ok) so more than willing to try this one.

I will third The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

This is an author I've been wanting to try, and a book club selection would be a good excuse to push her up the list. (Actually, I purchased the Deed of Paksenarrion omnibus on special a while ago, but still haven't gotten to it.)

[CRussel]

I absolutely loved The Speed of Dark, and I'm overdue for a re-read of it. I rather hope it wins to give me an excuse. However, that being said, it's only fair to point out that this is not a typical Elizabeth Moon book. (The Paks books are much more typical.) I've read pretty much all of her oeuvre, and enjoyed most of them. But SofD is very much a standalone.

One thing that surprises me is that no one has nominated a book by Temple Grandin yet. I was rather expecting one. I've still got a ticket left, but I'd rather save it to support someone else's nomination.

[drofgnal]

I'm not going to nominate it, but I'll throw it out for someone else to consider. I'm already reading it. A Bend in the Stars. It's a debut novel from Rachel Barenbaum that was just released on 5/14. So unfortunately it's full priced 14.99 from Amazon. But I'm really enjoying it.

https://www.amazon.com/Bend-Stars-Ra...s%2C143&sr=8-2

Spoiler:

A BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER

In Russia, in the summer of 1914, as war with Germany looms and the Czar's army tightens its grip on the local Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brilliant physicist brother, Vanya, are facing an impossible decision. Since their parents drowned fleeing to America, Miri and Vanya have been raised by their babushka, a famous matchmaker who has taught them to protect themselves at all costs: to fight, to kill if necessary, and always to have an escape plan. But now, with fierce, headstrong Miri on the verge of becoming one of Russia's only female surgeons, and Vanya hoping to solve the final puzzles of Einstein's elusive theory of relativity, can they bear to leave the homeland that has given them so much?

Before they have time to make their choice, war is declared and Vanya goes missing, along with Miri's fiancé. Miri braves the firing squad to go looking for them both. As the eclipse that will change history darkens skies across Russia, not only the safety of Miri's own family but the future of science itself hangs in the balance.

Grounded in real history -- and inspired by the solar eclipse of 1914 -- A Bend in the Stars offers a heartstopping account of modern science's greatest race amidst the chaos of World War I, and a love story as epic as the railways crossing Russia.

Surely fits the category of prodigy as one of the primary characters is in a race to beat Einstein in proving General Relativity. His sister is also one of the few Russian Female Surgeons.

[issybird]

I'm going to nominate The Natural by Bernard Malamud.

Not to get too spoilery, this is the story of someone seemingly destined to be great who ends up having only one shot at his legacy.

The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first—and some would say still the best—novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era—and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which—now that he has done it!—looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."

Kobo: US$9.99 | CA$10.99 | AU$14.99 | UK£4.99 | Overdrive: ebook & audiobook

249 pp.

[Catlady]

I'll second The Natural.

[Catlady]

I nominate Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (2000, 288 pp.)

Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must order the chaos.

Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and deeply felt.

Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller, Bee Season marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented new writer.

I accidentally deleted all the links I looked up, but it's available in all relevant countries and Overdrive.

Amazon US, $10.99

[Dazrin]

I nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
324 pages
Amazon US ($5), CA ($9), UK (£6)

Most of the blurbs I found are somewhat spoilerish so this isn't as detailed as I would like but it avoids several of the issues I had with others. Not that this book really needs a blurb. There is a lot to discuss in the book even without tearing into the author.

Once again, Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a final assault. The survival of humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But who?

Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child.

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1985/86.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by CRussel

One thing that surprises me is that no one has nominated a book by Temple Grandin yet. I was rather expecting one. I've still got a ticket left, but I'd rather save it to support someone else's nomination.

funny you should say that! I almost nominated her “Thinking in Pictures” - which I read years ago and enjoyed.

I third The Natural. Very seasonal. I haven’t seen the movie yet, and always prefer to read the book first.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
There is a lot to discuss in the book even without tearing into the author.

Oh, but that's _so_ where we'd go with it. Or at least I likely would. But I'll save my last ticket for something I haven't already read.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I accidentally deleted all the links I looked up, but it's available in all relevant countries and Overdrive.

The point of the links is to check availability and make sure the price isn't astronomical (although there can be offsetting factors). After that, we're all on our own anyway. I'm happy to put 'em up, but I don't think we need to make a fetish of it, especially as for someone posting from a phone, say, it can get pretty fiddly.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Most of the blurbs I found are somewhat spoilerish so this isn't as detailed as I would like but it avoids several of the issues I had with others.

That was my issue with The Natural, too. It shouldn't be that hard to give the flavor of a story without giving away major plot points.

Originally Posted by Victoria

I haven’t seen the movie yet, and always prefer to read the book first.

You must read the book first, always. It's an unalterable rule of the universe.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

The point of the links is to check availability and make sure the price isn't astronomical (although there can be offsetting factors). After that, we're all on our own anyway. I'm happy to put 'em up, but I don't think we need to make a fetish of it, especially as for someone posting from a phone, say, it can get pretty fiddly.

Usually these days when I check availability, I use Kobo and copy and paste the link/price for each country into a notepad file as I go. This time, I somehow overwrote the notepad file. I've given up on trying to check Amazon links for non-U.S. countries as Amazon makes it too time-consuming. Anyhow, I didn't feel like redoing it.

You must read the book first, always. It's an unalterable rule of the universe.

Yes, and I did, but ... Robert Redford! Great movie. And, heresy of heresies, I may have liked the movie better, perhaps because ... Robert Redford!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Yes, and I did, but ... Robert Redford! Great movie. And, heresy of heresies, I may have liked the movie better, perhaps because ... Robert Redford!

Some movies are better (Princess Bride) and you know that because you read the book first.

Redford was so staggeringly gorgeous that I think he was underrated as an actor.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I will second Bee Season.