MobileRead May 2016 Book Club Nominations

[JSWolf]

Let's give some love to The Atrocity Archives by giving it a second & third. I've read other books by Charles Stross and he's a really good writer.

[CRussel]

It's not high on my list, Jon, so I'm holding my last nomination/second in my hand for the moment. The reference to Lovecraft in the description didn't exactly thrill me. However, that being said, if we don't get any more that I need to spend my last token on, I'll give The Atrocity Archives a nod, at least to get it into the voting stage.

[issybird]

I'll third The End of Eternity.

[Dazrin]

I am in the same boat about the Atrocity Archives, I want to see if there is something I haven't read before first.

For anyone who is possibly interested in the Laundry Files, they are certainly Lovecraftian, but they have a lot of dark humor. Almost a James Bond meets Lovecraft with additional governmental red tape and office politics thrown in for good measure.

There are also some free novella's available that are set in the same world. These are all set after the events in The Atrocity Archives so there might be some spoilers, but I don't remember anything specific. It has been 5 years since I read TAA though.
Down on the Farm - 40 pages - This was my favorite of the three.
Overtime - 25 pages - Hugo Award nominated novellette, 2010
Equoid - 65 pages - Hugo Award winning novella, 2014

[Grey Ram]

I second Looking Through Lace, and I want to nominate The Giver by Lois Lowry.

I watched the film some time ago and not entirely disliked it, but I'm curious about the book since it seems to have received some acclaim. Here is the amazon link: The Giver, kindle edition

[treadlightly]

I'll second The Giver.

[JSWolf]

Before I will give a nod to a book, it needs to have a description so I can read if I am interested and there needs to be a link to an ePub edition. So for now, The Giver is a no go.

[Dazrin]

Description for The Giver from Amazon:

In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.

[Grey Ram]

Oh yeah, forgot to add links to epub versions, here they are:
The Giver at Kobo
The Giver at Google Play

On further reading about it on Goodreads, it seems that it's aimed at children and is also popular as school reading assignment; that explains the size

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'd like to nominate Heaven by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. But it seems to be one of those books that has fallen in the crack between new publications that automatically have ebooks, and older publications that have been reissued as ebooks.

I bought it from Fictionwise. Perhaps it's still available as an ebook in the US.

If was my first 10/10 read of 2010, an unexpected gem. "Wonderful aliens, an interesting scenario"

"Most readers won't be surprised by Cosmic Unity's bloody-minded missionary zeal, but Heaven offers some great surprises in its big ideas and its richly imagined alien races. Reminiscent of Hal Clement and Bruce Sterling, Heaven is a fun, thought-provoking, impressive example of classic sense-of-wonder science fiction." --Cynthia Ward

With my last token, I'll second this. I'm not happy about the price ($11.99 on Amazon US), but the premise sounds interesting and your recommendation is of significant value.

And here's the Kobo US link for those who will need/want an ePub version.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by issybird

Now those I'd read! Go for it. And hope no one notices that GWTW has already been a selection.

Agree, I've read War and Peace 3 times. Wonderful book. GWTW, once, could use another read on that one. About to start unabridged Les Miserables.

[drofgnal]

I didn't see it on the list of previous book club titles, so I'll nominate Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

http://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-Worl...rave+new+world

From Amazon:

Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

[JSWolf]

I've read Brave New World and it's a dull depressing book. But I will second The Giver.

[issybird]

I'll second Brave New World.

[fantasyfan]

I'll nominate A Door Into Summer by Robert A Heinlein.

A popular and enduring time travel tale by one of science fiction's all-time greats

When Dan Davis is crossed in love and stabbed in the back by his business associates, the immediate future doesn't look too bright for him and Pete, his independent-minded tomcat. Suddenly, the lure of suspended animation, the Long Sleep, becomes irresistible and Dan wakes up 30 years later in the 21st century, a time very much to his liking.
The discovery that the robot household appliances he invented have been mass produced is no surprise, but the realization that, far from having been stolen from him, they have, mysteriously, been patented in his name is. There's only one thing for it. Dan somehow has to travel back in time to investigate.
He may even find Pete ...