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Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 10:38 pm
by honorentheos
I'm remiss in getting a book nomination thread started but here it is. The plan is to collect book recommendations through Friday. Voting will begin this weekend and close a week from today. The book with the most votes is the winner, and hopefully the person who recommended it will also moderate the discussion. I'm happy to help if the person who nominated the winner asks so no one feels disinclined to nominate a book if they'd rather not moderate.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 10:42 pm
by honorentheos
I'd like to add a non-fiction book to the mix, if for diversity than nothing else:
The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984
Dorian Lynskey
An authoritative, wide-ranging, and incredibly timely history of 1984--its literary sources, its composition by Orwell, its deep and lasting effect on the Cold War, and its vast influence throughout world culture at every level, from high to pop.
1984 isn't just a novel; it's a key to understanding the modern world. George Orwell's final work is a treasure chest of ideas and memes--Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5--that gain potency with every year.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 7:53 pm
by honorentheos
Marcus noted they had a family obligation and couldn't moderate but it also seems the board members were most interested in their suggestions. So I'll nominate them and accept moderator duties if one is selected.
Ted Chiang’s Exhalation
(NYT selected this as one of top 10 fiction and non-fiction books of 2019)
Axiomatic, Greg Egan
Impossible Things or Fire Watch, Connie Willis
(Apropos of an ongoing discussion elsewhere in the board, a story from the first, “Even the Queen,” has this description from Wikipedia:
“Three generations of women discuss the decision of one of their daughters to join the "Cyclists", a group of traditionalist women who have chosen to menstruate even though scientific breakthroughs (in particular, a substance called "ammenerol") have made this unnecessary. The title refers to the fact that "even the Queen" (of the United Kingdom) menstruated.”
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 8:25 pm
by Res Ipsa
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 8:39 pm
by Morley
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:25 pm
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Hmm. Looks a little gabriel-garcía-marquezy. Tell us more.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 10:58 pm
by Res Ipsa
Morley wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:39 pm
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:25 pm
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Hmm. Looks a little gabriel-garcía-marquezy. Tell us more.
I haven't read the book, but I've read a couple others by the same author. One was
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and the other was
1Q84.I think the genre is described as magical realism. I find it more accessible than Garcia Marquez, but that might just be personal taste. I enjoy the author just for the wonderful storytelling.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 11:11 pm
by honorentheos
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:25 pm
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
I love this book. It was my intro to Murakami.
ETA: Murakami may be the best author writing when it comes to evoking the sense of the liminal where the stories occur in a space between the spaces we recognize as reality. While reading the few books of his I've read the sensation is physical/psychological. Like the text causes ones atoms to vibrate just slightly different so the peripheral gains tangibility and threatens to displace the focused. You don't finish his books completely satisfied. And that's in a good way, in my opinion. You're atoms regain their normal vibrations, the peripheral retreats back to where it belongs and you get left with a sense of coming out of a dream. Days later you still recall faces from them you can't forget yet can't recall in detail, threads tied to kites and let go to float away are glimpsed as they float past before lifting back up out of reach...it's a ride.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 12:01 am
by Res Ipsa
honorentheos wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 11:11 pm
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:25 pm
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
I love this book. It was my intro to Murakami.
ETA: Murakami may be the best author writing when it comes to evoking the sense of the liminal where the stories occur in a space between the spaces we recognize as reality. While reading the few books of his I've read the sensation is physical/psychological. Like the text causes ones atoms to vibrate just slightly different so the peripheral gains tangibility and threatens to displace the focused. You don't finish his books completely satisfied. And that's in a good way, in my opinion. You're atoms regain their normal vibrations, the peripheral retreats back to where it belongs and you get left with a sense of coming out of a dream. Days later you still recall faces from them you can't forget yet can't recall in detail, threads tied to kites and let go to float away are glimpsed as they float past before lifting back up out of reach...it's a ride.
Yeah. That.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 2:43 am
by Morley
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 12:01 am
honorentheos wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 11:11 pm
I love this book. It was my intro to Murakami.
ETA: Murakami may be the best author writing when it comes to evoking the sense of the liminal where the stories occur in a space between the spaces we recognize as reality. While reading the few books of his I've read the sensation is physical/psychological. Like the text causes ones atoms to vibrate just slightly different so the peripheral gains tangibility and threatens to displace the focused. You don't finish his books completely satisfied. And that's in a good way, in my opinion. You're atoms regain their normal vibrations, the peripheral retreats back to where it belongs and you get left with a sense of coming out of a dream. Days later you still recall faces from them you can't forget yet can't recall in detail, threads tied to kites and let go to float away are glimpsed as they float past before lifting back up out of reach...it's a ride.
Yeah. That.
Thank you both. I’ll try it out.
Re: Reading Group Nominations: 1st Read
Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 4:22 am
by honorentheos
Nomination period ended, please look for the voting thread. The poll closes on Tuesday evening.