Book Selection Thoughts

[Kenneth]

Hello Digital Discoursers! Don't forget to submit books, topics, genres, or general ideas for next year's discussion. A reminder of the general genres we discuss:

Graphic Novels
Contemporary Nonfiction (usually featuring interesting studies)
Contemporary Fiction (typically sci-fi tinged, or featuring an interesting use of technology)
Classic Science Fiction (featuring greats in the business)
Current popular novels (to try to rope in new people)

I will have a banned book for September's banned book month, and science fiction for Sci-Fi July. I'm always on the lookout for books and authors with perspectives from all genders, colors, or nationalities. We've been having bad luck getting authors to Skype with us recently, so if we can line somebody up for that, it would be great.

More or less officially, I have Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance on the calendar for February 2017. We're probably also going to read Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, because I just love that book.

Let me know what you want to read!

[Anne]

Yay! Excited about those two choices so far--I have Modern Romance but haven't read it yet.

And looking forward to planning better for myself for SciFi July. Full disclosure: two of my other library friends had an FB group and a bingo card for SciFi July this year. I'm happy to share that stuff too when we get there...in 11 months.

Other suggestions...

The Three-Body Problem (Hugo winner 2015)

Something by China Mieville?

Other Hugo winners?

On Immunity: An Inoculation

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

[Teresa]

I actually have a couple of suggestions. I am not sure which category some fit into.
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Carlo Rovelli
Caped Crusade- Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, Glen Weldo
The Association of Small Bombs, Karan Mahajan
or maybe
The Fireman, Joe Hill

[Kenneth]

Good feedback so far! This is the second suggestion for Seven Brief Lessons on Physics - Lucy put in a request a few months back. It sounds interesting and might help with more weighty SF reads like The Three-Body Problem. That shows promise and hits a multicultural note, though it looks pretty dense.

China Mieville is a good suggestion. We haven't looked much at "weird fiction", and I wouldn't want to throw Lovecraft at you. The City and the City is one I have my eye on.

Other books currently on a shortlist for consideration:

The Book of Lost Things (Connolly)
Daytripper (Ba and Moon)

I'm looking for a good single-volume manga for one of the Graphic Novel slots. More female authors are needed, and a trans perspective too.

[Lucy]

I agree about something by China Mieville, and I like Teresa's and Anne's suggestions too. A few more, some with some female authors: Red Rising, by Pierce Brown (daughter devoured whole trilogy and loved it); something by Naomi Novik; Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel; and Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood (too soon for another by her?). Also, Being a Beast, by Charles Foster, for a very glowingly-reviewed 'true-science' choice.

[Gulliver]

Has the group already done The Stars My Destination in previous years?

[Lucy]

Great write-up for Stars My Destination on Wikipedia, if you're a sci-fi newbie like me and never heard if it

[Kenneth]

I actually had I Hate the Internet on a list to examine because I happened to notice you were reading it, Kimberly. It certainly sounds appropriate.

[Anne]

The NPR book concierge is an amazing rabbit hole to fall down...here's the comic/graphic novel filter from 2015. Thing Explainer maybe? Have fun playing!


http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2015/#...

[Kenneth]

Thing Explainer is the best. I got it when I went to Chicago to meet the author at a book signing. (My favorite is that the word nine is not on the list of the ten-hundred most common words in English, which led to some hilarious evasions.)

I probably won't declare it as a book club book. It doesn't quite have the aesthetic I'm looking for, and reading every detail of inherently boring things does wear on you a bit if you try to read it like a novel. Also, more practically, they won't buy it for me, since it's only in hardback.

Never heard of The Stars My Destination. Onto the list of potential formative SF it goes.

[Anne]

Hahaha. Points taken. Listen to the Surprisingly Awesome podcast if you want to hear seemingly boring things made interesting.

[Kenneth]

Anybody want to borrow my copy of Thing Explainer? :)

[Kimberley]

How about Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra? I liked it a lot and would love to discuss it with you all. Fairly quick read, but lots of subtleties; fits the contemporary fiction and International perspective categories.