MobileRead July 2013 Book Club Nominations

[Stephjk]

I'll third Escape From Camp 14

[WT Sharpe]

For my second nomination, I nominate What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England by Daniel Pool (print length: 416 pages).

Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Sony Reader Store

Spoiler:

Amazon Book Description:
Publication Date: October 2, 2012

For every frustrated reader of the great nineteenth-century English novels of Austen, Trollope, Dickens, or the Brontës who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell "Tally Ho!" at a fox hunt, or how one landed in "debtor's prison," here is a "delightful reader's companion that lights up the literary dark" (The New York Times).

This fascinating, lively guide clarifies the sometimes bizarre maze of rules, regulations, and customs that governed everyday life in Victorian England. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the "plums" in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life -- both "upstairs" and "downstairs."

An illuminating glossary gives at a glance the meaning and significance of terms ranging from "ague" to "wainscoting," the specifics of the currency system, and a lively host of other details and curiosities of the day.

[Synamon]

I'll nominate The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. You can find it at the library (Overdrive) and all the usual bookstores.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about faith, science, journalism, and grace. It is also a tale of medical wonders and medical arrogance, racism, poverty and the bond that grows, sometimes painfully, between two very different women—Skloot and Deborah Lacks—sharing an obsession to learn about Deborah's mother, Henrietta, and her magical, immortal cells. Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old black mother of five in Baltimore when she died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, doctors treating her at Johns Hopkins took tissue samples from her cervix for research. They spawned the first viable, indeed miraculously productive, cell line—known as HeLa. These cells have aided in medical discoveries from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments. What Skloot so poignantly portrays is the devastating impact Henrietta's death and the eventual importance of her cells had on her husband and children. Skloot's portraits of Deborah, her father and brothers are so vibrant and immediate they recall Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family. Writing in plain, clear prose, Skloot avoids melodrama and makes no judgments. Letting people and events speak for themselves, Skloot tells a rich, resonant tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society's most vulnerable people.

[obs20]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

This might sound like one for the Politics and Religion section, but the author is not talking about the validity of anyone's religious or political views, but rather he examines the motivations behind people who display a fanatical devotion to a particular point of view, regardless of what that point of view may be. It has helped me immensely, as I by nature am a true believer myself. 196 pages in print.

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer.

Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Sony Reader Store

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

“[Eric Hoffer] is a student of extraordinary perception and insight. The range of his reading and research is vast, amazing. [The True Believer is] one of the most provocative books of our immediate day.”—Christian Science Monitor

The famous bestseller with “concise insight into what drives the mind of the fanatic and the dynamics of a mass movement” (Wall St. Journal) by Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Eric Hoffer, The True Believer is a landmark in the field of social psychology, and even more relevant today than ever before in history. Called a “brilliant and original inquiry” and “a genuine contribution to our social thought” by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The True Believer is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the machinations by which an individual becomes a fanatic.

I'll second True Believer.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by obs20

I'll second True Believer.

It has already been 2nded...this is a "3rd" and it is now fully nominated.

[tlaine]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I'll nominate The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. You can find it at the library (Overdrive) and all the usual bookstores.

I'll second, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm not sure what is going on with overdrive. Doing a search at overdrive, no libraries show up (for an ebook). But doing a search at FLP, I get a hit:

http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com...1-6F71F17270AF

You'll need to use the classic Overdrive search for that one. I thought it worked when I used the non-classic search. Sorry for the mistake.

[JSWolf]

Overdrive links updated.

[Stephjk]

Originally Posted by tlaine

I'll second, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

I'll third this one.

[SamReading]

I'd like to nominate "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda.

Blurb from GoodReads:

This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda narrates the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounters with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West.

It is available on Amazon and Gutenberg.

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I think I'll nominate:

Escape From Camp 14.

Available pretty much everywhere as an ebook, except North Korea.

From Amazon...

he, that's a coincidence; I just finished reading the Orphan Master's son by Adam Johnson which talks about North Korea as well, and will be interested to to read Escape from Camp 14.

And have to hurry to read on with The Swerve......

[fantasyfan]

I'll second What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England by Daniel Pool (print length: 416 pages).

Sounds fascinating!

[John F]

Originally Posted by kailaash

How good it is to but an accounting e-books online?

I'll second this nomination.


This is a joke, it is not an actual second.

[Stephjk]

Originally Posted by John F

I'll second this nomination.


This is a joke, it is not an actual second.

Lol

[Bookpossum]

I second the Philip Gourevitch: I remember reading about it when it was published and always meant to read it.