Book selection for October 2021

[Sheri]

Hi all, here's the thread for picking the next book club read.

Same rules as usual:

1) Please don't just list books you're planning to read. Give a sentence or two on why you think we should read a book as a book club.

2) If you made a suggestion before, please re-submit it for this time to be included. I won't be going to past suggestion threads, this is a new round.

3) If someone already listed something you like/what you would suggest, you can "vote " for it by adding support. You can add your own reasoning why you think we should read it.

After that, we'll gather up the books that have the most support and put them into a proper poll for the final selection.

[Shel]

With Halloween approaching I'm in the mood for something creepy. I browsed the selections Goodreads is highlighting for Horror week and White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi caught my eye, so I'll propose that one!

[Jen W.]

I'm torn between suggesting something creepy for Halloween, especially since I don't read a lot of horror, or something more cheerful, looking forward to the upcoming holiday season.

On the creepy side, I'd suggest The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. I haven't read it yet, but I've enjoyed her other books, and the reviews I've read say this is more atmospheric than outright scary.

[Susan]

I looked through the fiction entries of NPR's National Book Award and read the summaries. I have not read any of them. Of those, I would propose Matrix.

[Susan]

Another different book I'd recommend is The Thursday Murder Club. I have not read it and don't often read mysteries but someone I respect and think very highly of on GR rated it (and #2) 5 stars.

[Susan]

Yet another suggestion I just added to my TBR list that is different than what we've done lately is Stanley Tucci's Taste: My Life Through Food. I have loved his "In Search of Italy" series last year.

[Shel]

Sheri, you may want to send out another broadcast message to the group about nominations -- Goodreads messed with some settings a few weeks back so that messages from mods would only be received if recipients were GR friends with the mods. There was a big outcry and they've now fixed it so that messages from groups that you belong to will go through whether you're GR friends or not.

(I mod another group that had drastically reduced participation last month and we couldn't figure out why until my co-moderator discovered that most of our members weren't getting our broadcast messages)

[Sheri]

Ohh, that could be, I made sure to change MY settings so people here could message me. I didn't even consider that my message wouldn't have gotten through because of that. I'll send out another!

[Kassia]

So I would like to suggest “A Spindle Splintered” by Alix E. Harrow. Although it is a shorter story, it packs quite a punch. I just finished it and it is a snarky blend of humor, fairy tales, and the eternal struggle of women who wish to be treated as human beings. Sleeping Beauty meets the Multi-Verse, as two women from different worlds struggle to break free from their fates. Once again Alice E. Harrow has woven modernity with tradition in a way that brings the fairy tales of our childhood to life, while also shining a light on the struggles of those often relegated to the shadows. This story begs the question: What would you do to live one more day?