Nominations for our first group read

[Logophile]

Please nominate a 21st century book you'd like as our first group read. Just post your nomination here!

[Deborah]

The Cellist of Sarajevo Steven Galloway
I don't know a lot about it. I haven't read Galloway before, but it shows up in recommendations, it got great reviews and it seems quite timely.

[William]

Ok, figuring that others will have more normal suggestions for a book, I'll go on a limb to suggest the ones I'm pretty sure nobody else will (possibly because nobody should!):
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

and lastly a graphic novel acclaimed as a work of modern fiction:
Blankets by Craig Thompson

The first book won the Pulitzer in 2001, the 2nd author has 2 booker prizes and a nobel prize in lit, the 3rd book was mentioned today by the national editor of the NYT as his fav of the year, and the last has popped up on every list I see in which graphic novels are allowed, and made some time magazine list as well I think.

[Deborah]

I've read the Chabon, and I'm not a big graphic novel fan, but I'd be good with any of those others.

[Logophile]

Over in our predecessor group, Maggie offered a list of excellent choices, of which I'm going to propose

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

[Thom]

The Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren was published this year and is the first of a trilogy series

[Mikela]

I absolutely love The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (gave it 5*s). Slow Man is on my TBR list and I love Coetzee's writing but I've heard a lot of negatives about it too. Doesn't this book follow Elizabeth Costello? The Cellist is a good book (gave it 4*s). It is a fast easy read. Has the group already read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter?

[William]

As I understand it, the Elizabeth Costello character appears in Slow Man, but is generally unrelated.

I have not personally read the book you mentioned, so why don't we consider that a nomination for the list. A lot of groups have a large number of books to vote on for the next read, and we can certainly keep books on for more than one poll too, so if something were to come in 3rd one month, it might end up winning the next month.

[Deborah]

I have read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It's stunning and timeless.

I would read it again.

[Jenny]

I love Coetzee's writing, so reading Slow Man sounds great to me, also because it's already sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. To throw in a few more: Point Omega by DeLillo which I heard many great things about, Nemesis by Roth The Master by Tóibín and There but for the by Ali Smith

[Mikela]

Point Omega is only 117 pages or so. Is that enough for a group read?

[William]

There's certainly no rule that says we can't read more than one during a period, so let's add that to the list, and if it get's selected, the 2nd book will also go too. I'm assuming you mean Point Omega written by Don DeLillo

[Jenny]

True, it is a bit of a short one, maybe we can put the nomination on hold in case we ever feel like having a short-novel-theme-month :)

[Jenny]

Will wrote: "I'm assuming you mean Point Omega written by Don DeLillo"

Yes, that's the one!

[Mikela]

You might like to consider Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood or A Death in the Family by James Agee. While neither are on the Modern Library List I understand they are both outstanding.

[Mikela]

If you are looking for a good book a little off the beaten path then I would suggest Geek Love by Kathrine Dunn. This was very different in subject matter and an excellent read. I gave it 5*s.

[Mikela]

One more to consider then I'll stopUnder the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. So far I like all the books suggested with the possible exception of the graphic novel.

[William]

lol, that's all anybody says. Some of the best storytelling is happening in graphic novels, and many of them have no superheroes or tights or anything.

[Mikela]

Will wrote: "lol, that's all anybody says. Some of the best storytelling is happening in graphic novels, and many of them have no superheroes or tights or anything."

I don't mean to denigrate graphic novels, it's just that I find it really difficult to get out to the library or bookstore so go mostly by books I already have or have easy access to. Besides, the superhero in tights is the best thing about them (big huge grin).

[William]

oh, well that makes sense..I suggested blankets because it has such cross-media acclaim and awards, and should be very easy to get a hold of. I haven't read blankets yet, but it looks like a work that people who wouldn't usually read a graphic novel would be surprised by as a literary work, perhaps expand some horizons.

[Deborah]

I'm willing to consider it.

[Mikela]

Will wrote: "oh, well that makes sense..I suggested blankets because it has such cross-media acclaim and awards, and should be very easy to get a hold of. I haven't read blankets yet, but it looks like a work t..."

Well, that makes it a really good candidate. If chosen I'll just have to make the effort and perhaps broaden my horizons a little.

[Jenny]

Will wrote: "but it looks like a work that people who wouldn't usually read a graphic novel would be surprised by as a literary work"
...that would be me then :) If chosen, I'd absolutely be on board for it though, it actually sounds and looks really interesting (just flipped through an online-teaser version of it)

[Logophile]

What a great crop of books! I hadn't heard of a number of these, but I'm going to have to add some to my TBR list, and I'm going to have trouble deciding how to vote for our January read.

I was wondering how closely we want to adhere to our predecessor group's charter and stick only to 21st century books? I noticed that a couple of these are actually 20th century. We can always redefine our definition of "contemporary" if the general consensus is to broaden the field.

[Deborah]

I am willing to be flexible, but I like the idea of 21st Century. At least to start. For one thing, I think it's very hard to be an artist in this time, and I like the idea of buying things that profit living people producing quality work. If only to encourage them to keep it up.

[Mikela]

I apologize for I think I'm the guilty party here nominating books published prior to 2001. For some reason I thought you were going by the Modern Library Listing. At any rate, I agree with Deborah that we should support todays authors whenever possible, provided their work merits that support.

[Maggie]

I am really fixed on books published in the 21st century. That is what interests me about the group. I am not interested,here, in Modern Classics. I'm excited about what's new.

[Jenny]

I agree, I guess it's what makes the group special. There are a lot of other groups out there that cover the modern classics, of which there are a lot on my ever growing TBR pile, but here it would be nice to be focussing on the 21th century I think.

[William]

ooh, yes, I'm totally for the 21st century thing...And clearly I dropped the ball when some of these are not, I thought I had checked, but clearly I failed there, I'll check in a minute, but yes, I vote to stick to year 2000 and on. (we could get chippy about whether the century began in 2001 I guess!)

[William]

Ah, I found what I did wrong. I clearly need to learn to read, because I clearly noticed the published date, and ignored the FIRST published date, which is idiotic of me, so I saw 2000 and 2001 and not...1948! I'll fix it.

[Logophile]

I partied like it was 1999 in 1999, and then again in 2000, so I'm all for maximizing the century!

[Thom]

When can we expect a definite list of nominated books to choose from?

[Jenny]

I think the poll is up already!

[William]

yes, the poll is up until this coming Monday, scroll down either the front page of the group, or find 'polls' on the little group menu on the upper right. Let me know if there's any issues finding or voting. One of the books had issues due to librarian issues which seem to have cleared up.