October Open Pick

[Whitney]

Time does fly. Nominations for the October Open Pick are now open, and shall be for about a week. Usual rules - one nomination only, not overly genre, published this century.

Also, October is our most sacred and traditional month for a Wild Card pick. Nominations for the Wild Card will open at the beginning of September. For newer members, the wild card lets us stretch our wings a little on things we might not ordinarily consider. Our general group guidelines are found in the welcome thread, which also contains a link to more information about the Wild Card. "How Things Work", found here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

Okay, let's get this nomination thing rolling. What would you like to see us read in October?

[Anita]

I don't have a suggestion at this time, but thought it the perfect time and place to say the books selected here are so much better than those in two of my IRL clubs! Please keep the suggestions coming.

[LindaJ^]

I nominate The Cove by Ron Rash. This 2012 novel is placed in Appalachia during WWI. Janet Maslin's review in the NY Times provides and overview -- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/boo....

[Whitney]

Since the mods all have assorted craziness in their lives, and because October is also a Wild Card month, we've decided that there will be no moderator pick for October. So, let's see some more nominations, people, or you just won't know what to do with yourselves! (Except for reading The Cove, which looks really good. )

[Peter]

I'd like to nominate Duplex by Kathryn Davis. It superficially resembles something that ought to be a Wildcard Pick, but despite containing SF and fantastic elements it really is more like Magical Realism or maybe Surrealism. Or something even weirder.

[Caroline]

My nomination is Did You Ever Have a Family.

[Hugh]

I am still new to this group so probably won't nominate anything yet (though I am a little surprised that Siri Hustvedt hasn't been selected yet). I still don't own an ereader and tend to read mostly in paperback - so far the Bill Clegg looks the most interesting but to vote for/commit to reading that I'd have to buy a hardback or an ereader.

[Teanka]

I want to nominate A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It was already nominated 2 months ago and caught my interest then so I want to give it a second chance :)

[Caroline]

Hugh wrote: "I am still new to this group so probably won't nominate anything yet (though I am a little surprised that Siri Hustvedt hasn't been selected yet). I still don't own an ereader and tend to read most..."

Ah whoops - my bad for nominating this book! I was going through my 'to-read' books last night and thought this one was in the range of books that were published at least a year ago.

I'm going to withdraw this nomination for now and perhaps try it again in a few months (when it's actually been released!).

Hugh, I haven't read any Siri Hustvedt. Is there a particular book of hers you'd recommend starting with? I'd be interested to see what book you'd nominate. We generally ask the person whose book wins the poll to moderate that discussion but there's no obligation to say yes.

[Hugh]

Caroline wrote: "Hugh wrote: "I am still new to this group so probably won't nominate anything yet (though I am a little surprised that Siri Hustvedt hasn't been selected yet). I still don't own an ereader and tend..."

The obvious ones would be either the best known What I Loved or the latest one The Blazing World. But I'm not sure I want to nominate before I have even taken part in one of the discussions.

[Casceil]

Hugh, you have a book-shelf called "little known gems" that has all sorts of intriguing titles on it. I was thinking of nominating one of them, The Still Point by Amy Sackville. Would that be a good choice?

[Hugh]

Casceil wrote: "Hugh, you have a book-shelf called "little known gems" that has all sorts of intriguing titles on it. I was thinking of nominating one of them, The Still Point by [author:Amy Sackvi..."

Yes, I think that would be an interesting choice.

[LindaJ^]

Teanka wrote: "I want to nominate A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It was already nominated 2 months ago and caught my interest then so I want to give it a second chance :)"

Good month, without the moderator pick, to read it, as it is very long, although hard to put down. And it is certainly horrific enough for October!

[Casceil]

Okay, then I am nominating The Still Point.

[Lark]

I'm also very new but would like to nominate a book anyway...
Submission by Michel Houellebecq. It would be great to have company for this one.

[Casceil]

Poingu, your link takes me to an edition that appears to be in French. An edition in English will be coming out in mid-September, but a book that new may have availability problems, particularly for those who depend on libraries. Here is the link I found: Submission.

[Lark]

Hmm, I click and it goes to English, so let me try again:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Right, it may be too new for reliable library copies.

[Whitney]

Poingu, your link shows that the English language edition won't be published until September 10th. We changed to nomination dates to give people 30 days to get and obtain the selected books, so this would be better for a future nomination.

The other problem with this writer is that I get Gwen Stefani stuck in my head whenever I see his name :-)

[Whitney]

Also - poll join up soon. Get those final nominations in now. Poingu, did you want to nominate something else?

[Lark]

Thanks Whitney. I'm thinking edge of genre...how about Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer?

[Lily]

Poingu wrote: "Thanks Whitney. I'm thinking edge of genre...how about Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer?"

The description and your review was fascinating enough that I've passed this title along to a friend who is a sci-fiction aficionado (especially given this was a 2015 Nebula winner). Since we had a similar discussion on a couple of other recent nominations, perhaps we should get into a habit of mentioning when a book is part of a series -- at least one of the reviews suggests this is first of a trilogy? I like the length of this one, only 195 pp. But don't know when I'm seen any more diverse reader reviews!

[Teanka]

I liked Annihilation a lot and am happy that it won the Nebula Award. But I've read the entire trilogy back to back, couldn't stop myself! That said, I know some people think the first book stands best on its own and even regret reading the sequels. To each their own.

[LindaJ^]

Poingu wrote: "Thanks Whitney. I'm thinking edge of genre...how about Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer?"

Sounds like it might be an even better nomination for the October Wild Card!

[Lark]

Right...I'll wait and nominate iAnnihilation for the Wild Card pick. I do think it's a love/hate sort of novel that will lead to good discussion.

[Whitney]

We would have allowed it, but it does make a fine Wild Card pick. I also read the entire trilogy and loved it, but I think the first book works fine on its own as well.

The nominations are closed, and the poll will be up until the end of the month. From the homepage or here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

[Whitney]

Poll is closing soon, get those last minute votes in. And Wild Card nominations are starting momentarily.

[Whitney]

We currently have a tie. There will be a brief run-off poll if there's still a tie when the poll ends, so be sure to check in.

[Whitney]

And we have another tie for Open Pick. It's between A Little Life and Did You Ever Have a Family. Tie breaker poll is up here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1... and from the homepage, and will be open for 4 days. May the best book win.

[Whitney]

The winner is A Little Life! Teanka, would you like to moderate since it was your nomination?

And don't forget about the Wildcard this month, nominations will be open for 2 more days.

[Teanka]

Whitney, I'd prefer not to moderate even though of course I will take an active part in the discussion. I hope this is not a problem?

[Whitney]

Not at all. We always offer the nominator the chance to moderate, but only if they want to.