December Open Pick

[Caroline]

It's time to submit your nominations for our last open pick book of the year! Nominations will stay open for a week-ish, then the poll will go up.

General rules: one nomination per person, a work of fiction published in the 21st century, books that are overly genre or fail to meet the group standards of literary quality may be disqualified. Please see the Welcome discussion folder for more information. The books we've previously discussed can be found in the group's bookshelf, as well as in this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We are currently discussing A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and will be starting our Wild Card discussion for the The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North soon.

[LindaJ^]

I nominate Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg. It was longlisted for both the 2015 Mann Booker and National Book award for fiction.

[Hugh]

The topical choice would be A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, so I'll nominate that.

[Suzy]

I just finished What I Loved and would like to nominate it for December. (Hugh beat me to the punch for A Brief History of Seven Killings.)

[Hugh]

Siri Hustvedt's "What I loved" would also be a very good choice - I read and enjoyed it a few months ago (also read her "The summer without men" last week, which was interesting too).
I've just been away for a long weekend - picked up a copy of the Marlon James on the way, with this group in mind, but then ran out of anything else to read and had to start it, which might put me out of step with the December schedule, but I should still be able to remember it by then...

[Portia]

Hugh wrote: "The topical choice would be A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, so I'll nominate that."

Second A Brief History of Seven Killings

[Caroline]

Last call for nominations before the poll goes up!

[Zulfiya]

Speak by Louisa Hall

[Caroline]

Thanks for the nominations, everyone! Nominations are now closed and the poll is up. The poll will remain up until the end of the month.

[Maureen]

Caroline wrote: "Thanks for the nominations, everyone! Nominations are now closed and the poll is up. The poll will remain up until the end of the month."

Usually we have been given a link to the poll on this page. Could you provide the link or tell me where to find the poll for voting? Thanks.

[Caroline]

Maureen wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Thanks for the nominations, everyone! Nominations are now closed and the poll is up. The poll will remain up until the end of the month."

Usually we have been given a link to the ..."

Apologies about that. Here's a link to the poll page, with the December pick at the top: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/5...

[LindaJ^]

Zulfiya wrote: "Speak by Louisa Hall"

You snuck this one in at the wire! It looks like something I will like, although sort of on the sci fi side. I'm intrigued by the Alan Turning part. Have you read the book?

[Zulfiya]

So vote for it :-)

[Maureen]

Caroline wrote: "Maureen wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Thanks for the nominations, everyone! Nominations are now closed and the poll is up. The poll will remain up until the end of the month."

Usually we have been give..."

Thanks, Caroline! I appreciate the link!

[LindaJ^]

Zulfiya wrote: "So vote for it :-)"

Maybe I'll change my vote if my nomination falls behind, as I'm not eager to A Brief History at this time .... .

[Whitney]

The Mod pick for December is Orfeo by Richard Powers .

[Kirsten]

Ooooo - Good pick! I've been wanting to read that!

[LindaJ^]

Whitney wrote: "The Mod pick for December is Orfeo by Richard Powers ."

Excellent choice. During my read of last year's National Book Award longlist for fiction, I listened to the audio and loved it (I have found it necessary to use all media (e-book, print, and audio) to get through the list before the winner is announced). I may have to indulge in a paper copy and reread.

[Caroline]

Poll closes tonight so be sure to get those last minute votes or vote changes in!

[Caroline]

We have a tie between What I Loved and A Brief History of Seven Killings so here is a link to the runoff poll: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/5...

Poll will up be through Wednesday.

[LindaJ^]

Don't forget to VOTE on the tiebreaker, perhaps, for the US members of the group, after you return from the polling place (or before you go if you live on the West Coast!).

[Whitney]

2/3 of us left coasters are vote by mail states :-)

[LindaJ^]

Whitney wrote: "2/3 of us left coasters are vote by mail states :-)"

Vote by mail is a very foreign concept on the East Coast!

[Caroline]

Linda wrote: "Don't forget to VOTE on the tiebreaker, perhaps, for the US members of the group, after you return from the polling place (or before you go if you live on the West Coast!)."

Hehe, you've still got another day left for some last campaigning! Since I set up the poll, I believe the end time will be in PST.

[Hugh]

If I'd voted for my own nomination there would have been no contest...

[Whitney]

Speaking of your own nomination, the winner is "A Brief History of Seven Killings" after a close vote. Hugh, as the nominator, are you interested in moderating the discussion?

[Hugh]

I can give it a go, but I may need some guidance

[Whitney]

Great! It's pretty free-form. Just take a look at some of the other discussions and decide how breaking the book up might work for you. I have a PM I've sent to new mods in the past, I'll try and dig it up and pass it along. And at least one mod will be reading the book as well.

Thanks!

[Hugh]

OK I'm happy to do that, so it could now be helpful that I have already read the book. The book is broken into 5 sections, so that would be one obvious way to break it up (or if that is too many it could be done chronologically - 1976, 1979 and 1985-1991 would work too).

[Portia]

Whitney wrote: "Speaking of your own nomination, the winner is "A Brief History of Seven Killings" after a close vote. Hugh, as the nominator, are you interested in moderating the discussion?"

Hooo-Ray! Another group I belong to didn't vote for this book, so I am looking forward to joining in here.