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June Open Pick Nominations
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I defer to Ben, as I promised last month to support the book he had given up on nominating if he nominated it this month!
Ben wrote: "Thanks Linda! Okay, here we go again The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis"Ben, I've read Amis's Time's Arrow and thought it was amazing. I'd be up for reading more Amis.
That said I'd like to nominate Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish!
I've just finished Zone of Interest. I found it disappointing on the whole (nowhere near as good as Time's Arrow) though it would probably inspire a lively discussion.
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Ben wrote: "Thanks Linda! Okay, here we go again The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis"I am eager to read it - I've been wanting to read somthing by Amis since when reading Christopher Hitchens' memoir I learned Amis was his best friend.
The Raw Shark Texts. It is genre-volatile - it is shelved as fantasy, literature, literary fiction, science fiction, and mystery. If the mods decide to disqualify the nomination, I have other books in my mental stock :-)
Linda wrote: "Ben wrote: "Thanks Linda! Okay, here we go again The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis"I am eager to read it - I've been wanting to read somthing by Amis since when r..."
Oh, yes, Amis is a famous humanist and an atheist. I loved his Night Train and his London Fields even though they were met with mixed reviews.
Zulfiya wrote: "The Raw Shark Texts. It is genre-volatile - it is shelved as fantasy, literature, literary fiction, science fiction, and mystery. If the mods decide to disqualify the nomination, I h..."Thanks Zulfiya--straight to my TBR shelf! "Genre Volatile" is my favorite genre.
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No disqualifications from the mods. This one's on my TBR as well!
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Zulfiya wrote: "The Raw Shark Texts. It is genre-volatile - it is shelved as fantasy, literature, literary fiction, science fiction, and mystery. If the mods decide to disqualify the nomination, I h..."Yes, definitely difficult to choose a genre!. I'd say it's a science-fiction thriller, maybe.
I read it a few years ago, it's really something different!
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Thank you! Consider it nominated.
And thank you to Ben, Poingu, Kirsten, and Zulfiya for your nominations.
Marc wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I would like to nominate Some Luck by Jane Smiley. Heard and read great reviews."Thank you! Consider it nominated.
And thank you to Ben, Kirsten, a..."
Since I just finished reading Some Luck for a f2f discussion in May and will probably need to review it before that discussion, as fine as the other nominations are, you probably have brought me to voting for June, Maureen. A fine book from a region of our country about which we seldom read. I will also read the next, due out 4/28, in Smiley's planned trilogy. ( I happened to not like her Pulitzer winner and King Lear take-off, A Thousand Acres. Growing up in the Midwest myself, I found it had characters with whom I could not identify. I don't feel the same way about Some Luck. SL's characters are all "recognizable" to me. I am trying to find the time to reread ATA to see what my reactions would be today, especially since one member of my f2f club remembers liking it -- it was not one of our discussion books.)
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https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/118486
Voting will be open until the end of this month (1 week)!
Lily wrote: "Marc wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I would like to nominate Some Luck by Jane Smiley. Heard and read great reviews."Thank you! Consider it nominated.
And thank you to Be..."
Lily - I have not read it yet, but want to. I heard Diane Rehm's interview with her about the second book last week. That reminded me to get it in for a nomination.
I think A Thousand Acres, while based in Iowa, is not intended to have the same type of characters because the plot's intent, the Lear story, helped drive characterization. I am guessing that is why you had this reaction.
By the way, what is "f2f club"? I may just be dense this morning.
f2f = face-to-face, so a f2f club is book club that meets in person.
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Peter wrote: "f2f = face-to-face, so a f2f club is book club that meets in person."Thx, Peter! I've been away and hadn't got back to Maureen.
Peter wrote: "f2f = face-to-face, so a f2f club is book club that meets in person."Thanks - I have seen that before; I just was not remembering. I appreciate this, Peter!
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The Moderator Pick for June will be The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.
Marc wrote: "The poll has closed with Jane Smiley's Some Luck winning by two votes! Discussion will start June 1. Maureen, would you like to moderate the discussion (you are under no obligation ..."Marc and everyone else - I am so excited that we will be reading Some Luck by Jane Smiley for June. While I have really been looking forward to moderating a discussion, I am afraid I currently have some health problems that prevent me from taking this on at this time. I will have to wait for a future opportunity.
I hope someone is willing to step up and moderate for us. I know Lily @20 said she had just finished it for a f2f discussion. Lily, I don't know if you would like to moderate or if someone else would like to take it on.
Thanks.
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Maureen wrote: "Marc wrote: "The poll has closed with Jane Smiley's Some Luck winning by two votes! Discussion will start June 1. Maureen, would you like to moderate the discussion (you are under n..."Thanks for your kind' supportive comment, Marc.
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Dealing with some family health issues on my end, so I get it!
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Marc wrote: "No worries, Maureen--please take care of your health first! Lily, if you're eager to take this on, let us know; otherwise, the moderators will make sure it's covered. Thanks again for nominating it..."Marc -- a moderator type I consider myself not to be! Any chance Violet would take this on? Or someone else willing to help us explore the many aspects, from characterizations to plots to setting (originating in the U.S. Middle West -- as Marilynne Robinson calls Iowa and its surrounding states, does that not say something slightly different than "Midwest") to the formidable regional as well as national and international reputation of the author. Also, how this novel sits as the beginning of a trilogy -- are the characters and story lines likely to stand up to the expansions; why or why not. In a time when so many novels mix up time sequences, was Smiley's chapter by chapter progression of years a good choice -- why or what might the reader have preferred? The book has one particularly outstanding protagonist. In what ways is that a strength? What challenges and limitations, if any, does it place on the story telling? With so many characters, do we get multiple voices and points of view, and, if so, through what writerly techniques.
Anyway -- I ramble. The previous are a few of my current ruminations about what do I think about the book -- no "answers" yet in this head. In the meantime, I'll try to get A Thousand Acres reread so I can refresh why I disliked that book so much and see how I think it relates, if at all, to Some Luck. Maybe if eyes and time really cooperate, I'll take a look at Early Warning: A novel to derive some hints on where Smiley is taking her readers. Maybe by then I can frame some decent contributions to the conversations I hope we will have about the Langdons et al.
In the meantime, back to Gilead and The Pilgrim's Progress, this latter for another GR board.
I was hoping you would, Lily. I think you'd be a great moderator. But I'll do it if you don't have the voglia as they say here in Italy. And Maureen,all the best and hope you're fighting fit as soon as possible.
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The nominations and member spirit in this group continue to amaze me!
Violet wrote: "I was hoping you would, Lily. I think you'd be a great moderator. But I'll do it if you don't have the voglia as they say here in Italy. And Maureen,all the best and hope you're fighting fit as so..."
Thank you for your support, Violet.
Marc wrote: "... One of the group mods is eager to take this on--I just wanted to offer it to Maureen first since she nomin..."Great -- and hope Maureen is soon "fighting fit" again, as Violet suggests! (I like the word "voglia", Violet. May add to my vocabulary.)
Magari is my favourite Italian word, Lily. It means perhaps but with a pulse of hope beating inside. I suppose a bit like if only but more subtle.
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That's an awesome word, Violet--thanks for sharing! Have we done a favorite words thread?
Marc wrote: "The poll has closed with Jane Smiley's Some Luck winning by two votes! Discussion will start June 1. Maureen, would you like to moderate the discussion (you are under no obligation ..."I read Some Luck when it was nominated for the National Book Award for fiction and liked it a lot. I just got the second book in the trilogy - Early Warning.
Lily wrote: "Marc wrote: "... One of the group mods is eager to take this on--I just wanted to offer it to Maureen first since she nomin..."Great -- and hope Maureen is soon "fighting fit" again, as Violet su..."
Thanks, Lily!
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I do like family sagas and this is a good one!
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley will discuss her new book
Early Warning
on June 1 at the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Conn. (The successor to the one we will be discussing in June, Some Luck.)http://stamford.dailyvoice.com/neighb...
21st Century Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
Early Warning (other topics)Some Luck (other topics)
Some Luck (other topics)
Gilead (other topics)
The Pilgrim's Progress (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Smiley (other topics)Alan Hollinghurst (other topics)
Jane Smiley (other topics)
Jane Smiley (other topics)
Jane Smiley (other topics)
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Boilerplate: Books must be works of fiction published from 2000-2015. Selections that are overly genre or fail to meet the group standards of literary quality will not be permitted in the final poll. One nomination per customer, please, and if you nominate a book and it wins, you will participate in the discussion.
For a list of books we've already read & discussed, see here. And don't forget discussion of The Three-Body Problem started today, and we'll be discussing Gilead and Seiobo There Below in May.
Have at it :p