MobileRead October 2014 Book Club Nominations

[WT Sharpe]

MobileRead Book Club
October 2014 Nominations

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for October, 2014.

The nominations will run through midnight EST September 30 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

Book selection category for October is:

Books from The Patricia Clark Memorial Library (AKA The MobileRead Library).

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.


Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) Raffles Omnibus by E. W. Hornung
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

No synopsis given.

(2) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling...

(3) Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctow
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.

Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....

(4) The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: EPub | Kindle

Spoiler:

No synopsis given.

(5) The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: Epub | Kindle

Spoiler:

The Robe is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list in October 1942, and four weeks later rose to No. 1. It held the position for nearly a year. The Robe remained on the list for another two years, returning several other times over the next several years including when the movie version was released in 1953.

(6) The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be brother to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritable King and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom— army, law-courts, revenue and policy all complete. But, to-day, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go and hunt it for myself.

(7) The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub

Spoiler:

The eastern plains of Colorado hold many secrets, including the origin of an orphaned four-year-old girl found near her dead mother by five weary travelers. One of the five, financier Jefferson Worth, decides to adopt the girl, who calls herself "Barba," and his life will never be the same. The fates of Barbara and the plains are inextricably linked, and in turn, they profoundly alter the destinies of all the men, especially that of Jefferson Worth. The once cold and calculating businessman sees himself through the eyes of his adopted daughter--and has an epiphany in which he realizes his position and obligations in life. Originally published in 1911, with a first printing of 175,000 copies, this moral fable of the ministry of capital remains extremely relevant.

(8) Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Omnibus) | Kindle (Omnibus)

Spoiler:

... First published in Weird Tales, August 1928, alternatively titled "Solomon Kane". This was the first Solomon Kane story ever published. In France, Kane finds a girl attacked by a gang of brigands led by a villain known as Le Loup. As she dies in his arms, Kane determines to avenge her death, and the trail leads from France to Africa, ending with Kane's first meeting with N'Longa. ...

(9) Lilith by George MacDonald
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

Amazon.com Review:
"Lilith is equal if not superior to the best of Poe," the great 20th-century poet W.H. Auden said of this novel, but the comparison only begins to touch on the richness, density, and wonder of this late 19th-century adult fantasy novel. First published in 1895 (inhabiting a universe with the early Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde--not to mention Thomas Hardy), this is the story of the aptly named Mr. Vane, his magical house, and the journeys into another world into which it leads him

Meeting up with one mystery after another, including Adam and Eve themselves, he slowly but surely explores the mystery of the human fall from grace, and of our redemption. Instructed into the ways of seeing the deeper realities of this world--seeing, in a sense, by the light of the spirit--the reader and Mr. Vane both sense that MacDonald writes from his own deep experience of radiance, from a bliss so profound that death's darkness itself is utterly eclipsed in its light. --Doug Thorpe --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author (also from Amazon):
George MacDonald(1824-1905) The great nineteenth-century innovator of modern fantasy, whose works influenced C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. "I do not write for children," MacDonald once said, "but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five."

(10) The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

PREFATORY REMARKS

The necessity of a work on Snobs, demonstrated from History, and proved by felicitous illustrations:—I am the individual destined to write that work—My vocation is announced in terms of great eloquence—I show that the world has been gradually preparing itself for the WORK and the MAN—Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science, and are a part of the Beautiful (with a large B). They pervade all classes….

The nominations are now closed.

[WT Sharpe]

Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list.

Spoiler:

Australian
Angus Robertson
Booktopia
Borders
Dymocks
Fishpond
Google

Canada
Amazon. Make sure you are logged out. Then go to the Kindle Store. Search for a book. After the search results come up, in the upper right corner of the screen, change the country to Canada and search away.
Google
Sony eBookstore (Upper right corner switch to/from US/CA)

UK
BooksOnBoard (In the upper right corner is a way to switch to the UK store)
Amazon
Foyle's
Google
Penguin
Random House
Waterstones
WH Smith

*** The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright [John F, fantasyfan, ccowie]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub

Spoiler:

The eastern plains of Colorado hold many secrets, including the origin of an orphaned four-year-old girl found near her dead mother by five weary travelers. One of the five, financier Jefferson Worth, decides to adopt the girl, who calls herself "Barba," and his life will never be the same. The fates of Barbara and the plains are inextricably linked, and in turn, they profoundly alter the destinies of all the men, especially that of Jefferson Worth. The once cold and calculating businessman sees himself through the eyes of his adopted daughter--and has an epiphany in which he realizes his position and obligations in life. Originally published in 1911, with a first printing of 175,000 copies, this moral fable of the ministry of capital remains extremely relevant.

* Breckenridge Elkins Tales by Robert E. Howard [Ralph Sir Edward]
No links provided.

Spoiler:

No synopsis given.

*** Raffles Omnibus by E. W. Hornung [Ralph Sir Edward, GA Russell, bfisher]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

No synopsis given.

*** The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells [GA Russell, WT Sharpe, bfisher]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling...

*** The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling [GA Russell, obs20, sun surfer]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be brother to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritable King and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom— army, law-courts, revenue and policy all complete. But, to-day, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go and hunt it for myself.

** The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen [caleb72, sun surfer]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: BBeB/LRF

Spoiler:

The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen's story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism.

*** Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard [John F, Dazrin, crich70]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Omnibus) | Kindle (Solomon Kane Omnibus)

Spoiler:

... First published in Weird Tales, August 1928, alternatively titled "Solomon Kane". This was the first Solomon Kane story ever published. In France, Kane finds a girl attacked by a gang of brigands led by a villain known as Le Loup. As she dies in his arms, Kane determines to avenge her death, and the trail leads from France to Africa, ending with Kane's first meeting with N'Longa. ...

*** The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas [crich70, ccowie, caleb72]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: Epub | Kindle

Spoiler:

The Robe is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list in October 1942, and four weeks later rose to No. 1. It held the position for nearly a year. The Robe remained on the list for another two years, returning several other times over the next several years including when the movie version was released in 1953.

*** Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctow [ccowie, Dazrin, fantasyfan]
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.

Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....

*** The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells [JSWolf, fantasyfan, Luffy]
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: EPub | Kindle

Spoiler:

No synopsis given.

*** Lilith by George MacDonald [WT Sharpe, John F, sun surfer]
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

Amazon.com Review:
"Lilith is equal if not superior to the best of Poe," the great 20th-century poet W.H. Auden said of this novel, but the comparison only begins to touch on the richness, density, and wonder of this late 19th-century adult fantasy novel. First published in 1895 (inhabiting a universe with the early Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde--not to mention Thomas Hardy), this is the story of the aptly named Mr. Vane, his magical house, and the journeys into another world into which it leads him

Meeting up with one mystery after another, including Adam and Eve themselves, he slowly but surely explores the mystery of the human fall from grace, and of our redemption. Instructed into the ways of seeing the deeper realities of this world--seeing, in a sense, by the light of the spirit--the reader and Mr. Vane both sense that MacDonald writes from his own deep experience of radiance, from a bliss so profound that death's darkness itself is utterly eclipsed in its light. --Doug Thorpe --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author (also from Amazon):
George MacDonald(1824-1905) The great nineteenth-century innovator of modern fantasy, whose works influenced C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. "I do not write for children," MacDonald once said, "but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five."

*** The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray [WT Sharpe, Billi, issybird]
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

PREFATORY REMARKS

The necessity of a work on Snobs, demonstrated from History, and proved by felicitous illustrations:—I am the individual destined to write that work—My vocation is announced in terms of great eloquence—I show that the world has been gradually preparing itself for the WORK and the MAN—Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science, and are a part of the Beautiful (with a large B). They pervade all classes….

** The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling [Dazrin, Billi]
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub | Illustrated ePub | Kindle

Spoiler:

The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–94. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six years of his childhood there. After about ten years in England, he went back to India and worked there for about six-and-a-half years. These stories were written when Kipling lived in Vermont.[1] There is evidence that it was written for his daughter Josephine, who died in 1899 aged six, after a rare first edition of the book with a poignant handwritten note by the author to his young daughter was discovered at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire in 2010.[2]

The tales in the book (and also those in The Second Jungle Book which followed in 1895, and which includes five further stories about Mowgli) are fables, using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The verses of The Law of the Jungle, for example, lay down rules for the safety of individuals, families and communities. Kipling put in them nearly everything he knew or "heard or dreamed about the Indian jungle."[3] Other readers have interpreted the work as allegories of the politics and society of the time.[4] The best-known of them are the three stories revolving around the adventures of an abandoned "man cub" Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The most famous of the other stories are probably "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", the story of a heroic mongoose, and "Toomai of the Elephants", the tale of a young elephant-handler. As with much of Kipling's work, each of the stories is preceded by a piece of verse, and succeeded by another.

The nominations are now closed.

[John F]

I'll nominate* The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright.

Spoiler:

The eastern plains of Colorado hold many secrets, including the origin of an orphaned four-year-old girl found near her dead mother by five weary travelers. One of the five, financier Jefferson Worth, decides to adopt the girl, who calls herself "Barba," and his life will never be the same. The fates of Barbara and the plains are inextricably linked, and in turn, they profoundly alter the destinies of all the men, especially that of Jefferson Worth. The once cold and calculating businessman sees himself through the eyes of his adopted daughter--and has an epiphany in which he realizes his position and obligations in life. Originally published in 1911, with a first printing of 175,000 copies, this moral fable of the ministry of capital remains extremely relevant.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=Winning


* Nominated since it was mentioned in The Grapes of Wrath.

[Greg Anos]

I'll make a couple of nominations.

Here's to good ol' pulp fiction....

Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins Tales

E. W, Hornung - Raffles Omnibus

[John F]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

...

Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins Tales

...

I don't think this is available in the MR library?

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I'll make a couple of nominations.

Here's to good ol' pulp fiction....

Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins Tales

E. W, Hornung - Raffles Omnibus

I second Raffles. I assume we are talking about the first book, The Amateur Cracksman.

Kindle:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=Raffles

ePub:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=Raffles

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by John F

I don't think this is available in the MR library?

It is in the Epub section

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I second Raffles. I assume we are talking about the first book, The Amateur Cracksman.

Kindle:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=Raffles

ePub:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=Raffles

That'll do fine...

[John F]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

It is in the Epub section

Could you provide a link? The link I found, https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=169129, just has link to an html saying stuff about copyright.

[bfisher]

I third Raffles.

[mmat1]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins Tales
It is in the Epub section

You should be more specific. The stories are in both available Howard omnibusses and there is an Elkins-collection from crutledge (which points to an other site...).

[GA Russell]

I nominate The Invisible Man by HG Wells.

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin – the new guest at The Coach and Horses – is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling...

Kindle:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57426

ePub:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57427

[WT Sharpe]

Second The Invisible Man.

[bfisher]

Third The Invisible Man.

[GA Russell]

For my last vote, I nominate The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling.

The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be brother to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritable King and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom— army, law-courts, revenue and policy all complete. But, to-day, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go and hunt it for myself.

Kindle:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=195218

ePub:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=195217