(Oct 26) Nominations - Wildcard > Likes and Comments
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I am going to nominate Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, a novel that feels prescient (even though it is from 2003) in an uncanny manner, with a lot of humour.
I'm surprised, I found it more challenging to pick a nomination without a theme to narrow it down. I resorted to comparing our 'want to read' bookshelves and came up with...Tremor by Teju Cole (2023) - 229 pages
I see a few GR reviews describe it as 'Sebald-esque'. I haven't yet read Sebald, but I love Rachel Cusk's Outline Trilogy which also gets that comparison.
I'm also intrigued by the themes below, which google A.I. tells me is from the Kirkus review:
"The starred review (October 2023) describes the book as a "master class in the morality of art" and a "novel of ideas" focusing on who determines the value of art, who profits from it, and the perspective of the viewer within a system of white privilege and plunder"
I just re-read Oryx & Crake with my IRL book group and need to get to book 2 soon.Beige, I'm equally paralyzed about what to nominate!
I'll second Tremor. It's one I have meant to read for years but never got around to.
Rose wrote: "Beige, I'm equally paralyzed about what to nominate!!"Haha, it's not just me! Honestly, anything on your lit tbr would be cool to see :D
And we will return to themes, we have a bunch of future ideas and we're open to ideas from members too. Our November theme will be inspired by Movember.
Ok, I'll throw A Separation into the ring - I picked up a copy and keep meaning to get to it. It took me two tries to get Audition but once I did I loved it and it made me want to read Katie Kitamura's backlist.
Rose wrote: "Ok, I'll throw A Separation into the ring - I picked up a copy and keep meaning to get to it. It took me two tries to get Audition but once I did I loved it and it ..."Added, thanks!
I was fascinated by how this came to get a lower avg. rating on GR, as explained in this GR review:
"I think the problem here is really bad marketing. People seem to be under the impression that this is for readers who liked Gone Girl and its legions of knock-offs. I’m not really where people are getting this idea from—the marketing copy on the book flap doesn’t draw the connection, though the headline of the review at NYTimes.com does and it was explicitly described that way on The Millions’ Most Anticipated List, but I’m not sure if that’s because Riverhead’s media kit described it that way or because the editors drew their own parallels."
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I really liked this book and was so confused after I finished and saw it had a 2.98 Goodreads rating (pleased to see it's made it above 3.0 now!). When I looked into it, I saw what Beige shared and that it had been compared to Gone Girl--which it most certainly is not, it's a very slow book with little plot, so the low rating made more sense after that.
It's the last day to nominate a book you want to read with us in October :D
You guys have somehow managed to nominate three of my favourite books :) 'Onyx and Crake' is still so vivid in my mind even though I read it 10 years ago... Like Rose, I somehow never managed to get to parts 2 and 3. If it wins, we could do a series.
'A Separation' is a clear example of what happens when you wrongly bill a book...
But I wanted to nominate: Slanting Towards the Sea - it just sounds like a very beautiful novel and I have been wanting to get to it for a while, but it never really makes it to the top of the pile.
Wellness by Nathan Hill https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...An Oprah book, more mainstream than I usually go for, but the excerpt seems interesting.
Great nominations so far but wildcards demand something out of the comfort zone so I nominateV13: Chronicle of a Trial by Emmanuel Carrère 2022 320pp
@Ruben, @S, & @Sam - thank you all for the noms!@S & @Sam - Just a note to say that I assume both of your noms are maybe less aligned with 21CL's goals outlined in the group description - however, since I didn't clearly state that requirement in my intro, I think it's only fair to welcome them :D
Ruben wrote: "You guys have somehow managed to nominate three of my favourite books :) 'Onyx and Crake' is still so vivid in my mind even though I read it 10 years ago... Like Rose, I somehow never managed to ..."
I actually have read the whole trilogy, and really like the first two and kind of hate the third one. I'm reading it with my IRL group and we're about to start Book 2. I'm going to give Book 3 another chance. If we end up picking it here and deciding to read the series, I'd definitely participate. I feel like another group has read or is reading the series recently? I may be hallucinating.
Beige wrote: "@Ruben, @S, & @Sam - thank you all for the noms!@S & @Sam - Just a note to say that I assume both of your noms are maybe less aligned with 21CL's goals outlined in the group description - however..."
This issue was brought up with the last moderators and would be a good subject for further discussion in a different topic. Would you care to start one? When you posted the 21C goals previously, I figured you were just reiterating the goals from what was mandated from the previous effort, which I felt was limiting and discouraged membership. Participation on Goodreads is at an all time low. Basically, the revival here has been pretty much at the expense of New Literary Fiction, because members are the same and the subject is similar. My support fo the group has been based on it opening to a wider membership.
@Sam - Ooh! There is a lot to unpack in your comment and I'm more than willing to discuss further. Can it wait until September?
Beige wrote: "@Sam - Ooh! There is a lot to unpack in your comment and I'm more than willing to discuss further. Can it wait until September?"Open up a topic whenever you wish.
I nominate Indian Country by Shobha Rao (pub Aug 2025, 432 pp.)Publisher blurb: "In this fearless novel from the award-winning author of Girls Burn Brighter, a couple from India—so different from generations of white colonialists who came before them—move to Montana, only to discover how brutal and unforgiving hubris can be."
@Sam - thanks for understanding. I'm pretty verbose when it comes to group planning and I already committed to an extra project this month at the other group I co-moderate.@Luke - Thanks! I'm in love with that cover
Thanks to everyone for your nominations and seconds :DThe poll is now open! If you'd like to read with us in October, cast your vote by the end of Saturday, August 15th
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
We all voted for our noms and we had a six-way tie! Haha, but thankfully we just received another vote and Indian Country has taken the lead.We have until tomorrow evening to vote (or change our votes):
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
After eight months of themes, Henk and I thought it was time for a 'wildcard', meaning no specific theme. Have a look at your TBRs and let us know if there's a 21CL book you'd like to read with us in October :D
◾️ Accepting nominations for books published between Jan 2000 and Sept 2025
◾️ Nominations are open until the end of Friday, August 7
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NOMINATIONS:
previous group read 2013 & 2017