Voting is Still Open for Our 2017 Book Club Books

[Mark]

1 I'll vote for Time Travel: A History (great to learn more)
19 The Long Earth (great reviews)
23 Time Enough for Love (read when I was 15, and can only remember that it was brilliant)
Read One Damned Thing After Another this year.

[Gertie]

Mark wrote: "Read One Damned Thing After Another this year..."

Didn't we all? Oh, wait...

Lol, couldn't resist.

[Cheryl]

I'd never heard of Just One Damned Thing After Another ,,, I assume this is the one you mean....

[Eve]

My votes:

1 Last Year
2 Flashforward
3 Version Control
4 Defining Moments
5 Man in the empty suit

I'd vote for Just one damned thing after another by Jodi Taylor if I hadn't already read it but I can certainly recommend it.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

After counting all the votes (including one set sent to me by email), our January and February 2017 Book Club Read will be the following:

Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell

(306 pages, 2013)

Awards Nominations: Anthony Award Nominee for Best Audio Book 2014

Say you're a time traveler and you've already toured the entirety of human history. After a while, the outside world might lose a little of its luster. That's why this time traveler celebrates his birthday partying with himself. Every year, he travels to an abandoned hotel in New York City in 2071, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and drinks twelve-year-old Scotch (lots of it) with all the other versions of who he has been and who he will be. Sure, the party is the same year after year, but at least it's one party where he can really, well, be himself.

The year he turns 39, though, the party takes a stressful turn for the worse. Before he even makes it into the grand ballroom for a drink he encounters the body of his forty-year-old self, dead of a gunshot wound to the head. As the older versions of himself at the party point out, the onus is on him to figure out what went wrong--he has one year to stop himself from being murdered, or they're all goners.

As he follows clues that he may or may not have willingly left for himself, he discovers rampant paranoia and suspicion among his younger selves, and a frightening conspiracy among the Elders. Most complicated of all is a haunting woman possibly named Lily who turns up at the party this year, the first person besides himself he's ever seen at the party. For the first time, he has something to lose. Here's hoping he can save some version of his own life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to leave this page up throughout the year for continued voting. If anyone wants to read a book together that's not likely to win the vote, you're always welcome to start a Buddy Read for the book together with others who voted for it.

Current Votes
Man in the Empty Suit - 16 (January and February 2017)
Last Year - 12
Spin - 12
Version Control - 10
Hyperion - 9
Long Earth - 9
Time Travel - 8
Flashforward - 7
A Christmas Carol - 7 (bonus December 2016 read)
Defining Moments - 6
Time Enough for Love - 6
Flight - 5
Passenger - 5
One Damned Thing - 5
Forever War - 5
Spring Heeled Jack - 3
Green Knowe - 3
Time Signature - 3
In Between Time - 3
Alexandrite - 2
Hitler - 2
Close to Destiny - 1
Trespass - 1
Out of the Past - 0

[Andy]

Hoping to be more active in 2017. Here's my vote:

1. Time Travel: History - (read this last year and reviewed it but would love to discuss it with like minded folk)
3. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
4. Flashforward (Read this ages ago when it first came out would love to revisit it)
7. Last Year (Love Robert Charles Wilson and can't wait to read his new book)
12. Version Control

I guess that's enough. Although a lot of the others sounded interesting.

[Gertie]

Cool, looks like Man in the Empty Suit is at the library. :-)

[Laura]

5. Flight
7. Last Year
10. Passenger
11. Defining Moments
13. Just One Damned Thing After Another

[Glynn]

Hopefully, banning unforseen circumstances, I will be reading these with the group:

1. Time Travel: A History
7. Last Year
9. Spin
15. The Forever War

[Suzi]

may be late to the vote, but here is mine:
The Children of Green Knowe
Passenger
Just 1 Damned Thing
In Between Time
Time Enough for Love

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Suzi wrote: "may be late to the vote, but here is mine:
The Children of Green Knowe
Passenger
Just 1 Damned Thing
In Between Time
Time Enough for Love"

There's no such thing as too late to vote this year. I'm keeping the vote running all year and calling a new winner every couple of months.

[Emily]

The Long Earth
Out of the post
Just One Damned Thing After Another
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack Burton Swinburne
The Alexandrite

[Amy, Queen of Time]

And our winner for the 2nd group read of the year is Last Year by one of my favorite authors, Robert Charles Wilson.

Current Votes
Last Year - 16
Spin - 13
Version Control - 12
Time Travel - 11
Long Earth - 11
Hyperion - 9
Flashforward - 9
Defining Moments - 8
One Damned Thing - 8
Time Enough For Love - 8
Passenger - 7
Flight - 6
Forever War - 6
Spring Heeled Jack - 5
In Between Time - 4
Green Knowe - 3
Alexandrite - 3
Time Signature - 3
Hitler - 2
Close to Destiny - 1
Out of the Past - 1
Trespass - 1

Voting is still open for future reads for the year.

[Glynn]

Here is a vote:

14. The Forever War

[Michael]

My votes:

4. Flashforward
7. Close to Destiny
8. Spin
11. Version Control
14. The Forever War

[Nancy]

Here is another nomination All Our Wrong Todays. It comes out in February.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Nancy, new nominations are closed until this fall, and those will be for 2018. But keep it in mind for us!

[Nancy]

Okie dokie! I hope I remember, LOL

[Dean]

I originally voted for Hyperion & Spin.

Am I allowed to add Version Control to my picks?

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Dean wrote: "I originally voted for Hyperion & Spin.

Am I allowed to add Version Control to my picks?"

Adding and subtracting are allowed all year (other types of math at your own risk).

[Glynn]

I see i've voted for a few but will add these because they look interesting:


6 Children of the Green Knowe
10 Defiining Moments
11 Version Control
16 Time Signature (time travel via music! cool. :) )
21 Time Enough for Love (I read this when I was young but don't remember anything about it.)

Might pop in for discussion if these get picked since I've read them before:

3 Spring Heeled Jack (I've read most of the series)
4 Flashforward (also saw the tv show)
12 Just one Damned Thing... (hated it.)
17 The Long Earth (thought this would be good but...)

[Fabien]

Version Control sounds interesting. I just ordered it and will give it a go. I couldn`t finish Man in Empty Suit.

[Nancy]

Is The Long Earth scheduled for this year?

I found it at Half Priced books today, hardcover, for only $8. I thought that was good deal for a brand new hardcover that listed for $25 on the jacket.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Nancy wrote: "Is The Long Earth scheduled for this year?

I found it at Half Priced books today, hardcover, for only $8. I thought that was good deal for a brand new hardcover that listed for $25..."

It's among the top 3 in votes for our next read, so I'd say yes. We'll probably end up reading it this summer.

[Nancy]

Yippy skippy!

[Jennifer]

Oh yes. I have a copy.

[Brian]

My votes:
1. Time Travel: A History
2. Time Signature
3. Spin
4. Flashforward
5. The Children of Green Knowe

[Dean]

I bought Spin today because I thought it was going to be the next read, but looking at the above, it might be close with Version Control by the looks of it.

Looking forward to reading both of these.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Dean wrote: "I bought Spin today because I thought it was going to be the next read, but looking at the above, it might be close with Version Control by the looks of it.

Looking forward to reading both of these."

I'll pull out my handy, dandy vote-counting notebook sometime in the next couple of days and let you know (can't now since I'm not at home). I've heard that Version Control is very good, and I can personally attest to the greatness of Spin. :-)

[Dean]

I'm just ordered Version Control on Amazon just in case we start that next month!

[Gertie]

It'll be really interesting to see what people think of both books - neither one are at all like what we (if you all are like me) think of as "typical" time travel stories.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Okay. It's Version Control next ... by 1 vote!

[Dean]

As my copy is having to come to me in the UK from the US, Amazon are saying it may not be here till mid May, but i'll join in as soon as I can.

[Amy, Queen of Time]

Dean wrote: "As my copy is having to come to me in the UK from the US, Amazon are saying it may not be here till mid May, but i'll join in as soon as I can."

No worries. We're not starting until May 15th anyway. Plus, lots of people end up late to the discussion party anyway. I'm still waiting on the current book club book to arrive from the library (#5 on 5 copies ... woo hoo!).

[Amy, Queen of Time]

By the way, the group Around the World in 80 Books is about to read The Children of Green Knowe. I don't think it's going to make the cut this year for us, but if any of you are interested, you can always read with them.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Gertie]

I'm nervous for Version Control... I just know it will be too slow and not time-travel-y enough for some, but I think for others it will probably strike a few chords. I'll have to refresh myself on the story before the discussion starts!

[Cheryl]

Thanks for the heads-up, Amy... tempting....

[Candace]

My vote is for:
Hyperion
Spring-Heeled Jack
Just One Damned Thing After Another

[Gertie]

It looks like the next book is tied between 3 books, assuming A Christmas Carol has been designated for another time.

[Nancy]

We ended up reading A Christmas Carol last December.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Nancy]

Which book are we reading after Version Control? It is getting close the July 15th.....

[Amy, Queen of Time]

It looks like it's Spin so far with 15 votes.

There were 26 votes for reading just 4 books per year with 20 votes for 6 books per year. We've already read 3. If we want to split the difference, we could read 5 instead: one in September and one in November. Otherwise, if we decide to just go with 4 books for the year, I'd suggest hold off on this one for 2 or 3 months (not August because of school starting and not December because everyone is usually busy).

I'm really starting to experience time travel burn out if anyone who is really active in the group would be interesting in taking over moderating for a while. Any takers?

[Jennifer]

So, is the group reading Spin ??

[Nancy]

Jennifer wrote: "So, is the group reading Spin ??"

I’m not sure. Mods haven’t been posting in the group for awhile. It might need to be one of us that opens a discussion for it.

I’ve been wanting to read this.

[Jennifer]

Nancy wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "So, is the group reading Spin ??"

I’m not sure. Mods haven’t been posting in the group for awhile. It might need to be one of us that opens a discussion for it.

I’v..."

I will see if my friend Larry has it. Yep they do. Do you want to read in like 2 weeks??

[Nancy]

Jennifer wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "So, is the group reading Spin ??"

I’m not sure. Mods haven’t been posting in the group for awhile. It might need to be one of us that opens a discussio..."

Sounds good to me. I should be able to get it by then. Larry says it’s being returned to shelf. So I should be able to check it out soon.

[Jennifer]

If other folks are checking in, come join us!

[Nancy]

We can set up a buddy read

??

[Amy, Queen of Time]

If anyone would like to be a mod--even temporarily--message me. I want to read it again but really don't have much free time for modding these days.