Tildes Book Club - Second nominations thread
Edit nominations are now closed
If you think you might be interested to read with us, please name between one and five books you find intriguing and think others might enjoy. We will later have a voting thread so that each nomination gets an equal shot to win votes with no early nomination advantage.
Please feel free to nominate both fiction and nonfiction and consider nominating a diverse selection of books and authors. Books should be 600 pages or shorter. The first books in series are fair game for nominations if they tell a complete story.
If anyone is curious about the timing, we still have two books to read from the original nominations, but I will be traveling a lot this summer and may not be in a position to manage a nomination and voting thread then, so I want to get this sorted earlier.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - I read this back in elementary school, and remember really enjoying it, but it's been so long that I remember absolutely nothing else about it now. It's pretty short though (185 pages) which might be a bit too short for book club... although it might also be nice to slot in after a longer read too.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel - I've seen the movie and loved it, but never actually read the book. So I'm curious to see how it compares.
p.s. How would people feel about House of Leaves as a nomination? I would absolutely love to read it, and it's been on my "to read" list forever now. However, it's 710 pages, and there are also no ebook versions available, supposedly due to the typography and formatting being an integral part of how the mystery is told. So I don't know how well it would work for book club.
House of Leaves is one of my favorites! I'll note that of those 710 pages, some are relatively empty or sparse due to that typography and formatting. Not surprised there are no ebook options, since I was physically turning the book around for some parts. I'm checking my copy right now, and there's one section I remember breezing through something like 50 pages in about 5-10 minutes. Found at least one earlier one that was about 20 pages and similarly fast.
There's also about ~150 pages (starting page 529 on my copy) that are appendices with extra bits and pieces that add to the overall story without being directly required to read. It includes some photos and art, and one page just listing chapter titles, to give you an idea. Then pages 663-706 (at least on my copy) are just an index.
So, while the page count is technically 710, a good chunk of those pages don't really require reading or only need a brief glance. Still, since it has no ebook options and still pretty lengthy, it may be best to have a special one-time book club for it? So people can have time to get a copy, and read and digest it at their own pace.
Side-note, I got a used copy on Amazon that turned out to be marked up with notes in some part. That actually added to the experience for me given the overall meta nature of the book.
A physical book won't work well for me this summer or fall but might in future. We have some audiobook readers here too I think. Can we hold this one back for now?
Yeah, I have no problem with holding it back. I wasn't necessarily nominating it for this round anyways, just throwing it out there to discuss if it's even feasible to do it for book club at all... especially one like this where lots of people are listening to audiobook versions (which there isn't one for HoL), and relying on libraries. At some point I would still like to give it a try, but it might be better to do in the winter when people generally have more free time, and with more warning ahead of time so people can actually try to get hold of physical copies.
I'm not exclusively audiobook but I definitely prefer audiobook
House of Leaves is quite possibly my favourite book. I'm certain someone has made an eBook out of scanned PDFs of the pages, but this is a book that cannot have the usual eBook experenice (let alone an audiobook). It'd also be nice for laziness b/c I wouldn't have to read it for the first time. That takes a lot of work compared to pretty much all other books.
I was going to purposefully suggest only short books/novellas for length variety, so at least personally dont see an issue with a shorter suggestion being inappropriate for a book club
Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson is the first book that comes to mind.
I would love to discuss Annihilation by Jeff Vamdermeer with someone, no one around me has read it and it can be a tough sell from a casual reading perspective.
Both of those are excellent books
Kindred by Octavia Butler - it's been on my tbr for ages and I don't think I'll ever get around to it unless it's for a book club
I'd rather not prolong the post by going over what each book is about. Goodreads links give a good description and I'm sure some of the books, if not all, will be familiar to most. These are all accomplished writers but for my first participation in the nomination process, I didn't want to put forward books that are too "underground" and might be hard to acquire a copy of.
Fiction:
And I'll throw in a non-fiction for good measure:
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
Another book on the shorter side. It won the Nebula, Locus, and Hugo award for Best Novella in 2019/2020 and it's a unique interesting read. The format is two Time Agents on different sides of the Time war writing letters back and forth to each other. In real life, it was written by a husband/wife duo, and other than having a general outline of the plot beforehand, they each wrote letters from one agent's perspective so they were genuinely reacting to the other character's letters which is a really neat way to writing a book.
(Also, after writing this, I looked at the previous nomination thread and saw it there as well, but nominating it again here anyway since I never got to discuss it with anyone when I read it back in 2020)
If it doesn’t get picked, I will happily talk to you about it. I adored that book!
Count me in
Cosign
There is no reason not to renominate.
Since we’re open to nonfiction this time, I’ll re-nominate the two I put up for the last round:
Harry Nicholas - A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar
Judith Grisel - Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
Thanks.
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I'd like to nominate the Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - a historical fiction a fisher woman who lives and works on Jeju Island off the coast of Korea.
The Future by Naomi Alderman - just finished this recently. It us probably the most interesting book I have read in a year.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson - pretty different from his other SF work, IMO one of his best.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - SF technically, but more about how we deal with inevitable grief and loss
The Curse of Chalion by Lois Mcmaster Bujold – a rich and compelling fantasy story
I am nominating The City We Became by N K Jemison
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen,
The Bonobo and the Atheist in Search of Humanism Amongst the Primates by Frans de Waal
Because Internet Understanding the New Rules of language by Gretchen McCulloch
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead (This one reminds me a little bit of Breaking Bad)
This would be an especially apt time to read The Sympathizer, since a miniseries based on the book (with Park Chan-Wook of Oldboy fame serving as a showrunner) has just starting airing.
I'd like to nominate Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It's possibly my all-time favorite novel, and while the first of a series, it absolutely stands on its own. (I have yet to read any other books from the series, actually, for a variety of reasons including a fear that
the others won't stand up to how much I love Unwind.) It's one of those books that really makes you think, to the point I realized one day I was still thinking about it six months later, and that realization has helped shape some of my own writing philosophy. I got my mom's book club to read it years ago, and it was a big hit with them.
The one iffy side is that while it was written in 2007, its major themes are unfortunately quite relevant to current political scene in the United States (namely the abortion debate). So it may hit a bit close to home for some people.
Since I saw House of Leaves floated as a suggestion, may I suggest The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall?
It's 425 pages long but…
…50 of those pages are a flipbook of a shark swimming in to attack.It's all about words, erased memories, and climbing through adult-size book forts with multiple cavernous chambers in hidden backrooms. Places the shark can't find you.
Is this a book that works as an ebook? I am limited to ebooks for the next few months.
I read it as an ebook and didn’t feel that it loses anything in that format (unlike House of Leaves which really only works as a physical book).
Great.
It’s available on the Kindle store, among other places. I don’t know how faithful it is in the special bits. However, those parts are nowhere as pervasive and central as in the House.
@Deimos and @cfabbro, we have 35 nominations to vote on. May we please have an exception to the comments limit or other technical assistance to enable a voting thread?
Novella: Elder Race by Tchaikovsky
On a medieval tech world, a princess goes to seek the aid of a mighty sorcerer to defend her kingdom against magical threats.
Wait, no. Let me try again. The last researcher from his interstellar mission is depressed and alone, and being bothered by one of the planetary locals and he's rather just.... Sleep.
Also in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett Day, I'd nominate either Guards!Guards!, Small Gods, or Equal Rites from Discworld
Acknowledged, four nominations.
As another Pratchett fan, I would have chosen Going Postal or The Truth or Small Gods, but pretty much all choices are good.
I went with the earlier starting points, and I'm quite fond of the witches who I think get overlooked. We could just pick a Pratchett book to start I'm not a set on a particular starting point.
It's your nomination lol. I was chatting but I already picked my books this round.
Having worked in journalism, I love the Truth. Pratchett wrote from knowledge there.
My last one was mostly a nebulous "nominate Pratchett" with several suggestions rather then 3 separate nominations is I guess what I'm saying
I see.
This census taker - china mieville
I'm going to recommend something on the shorter side for variety. The story is simple enough on the surface, but feels like a lot goes unsaid. I ended the novella witha lot of questions and feeling like it could benefit from a reread and discussion.
There's alao a lot of play with language and at least one...
hidden message, which i only found out about after looking up discussions online after finishing.
Full disclosure, the main story revolves around some heavy topics, but if I recall, no events are directly described.
heavy topics
Spousal/Family abuse, murderI mostly read nonfiction these days. DMT the Spirit Molecule, by Rick Strassman is one I love to recommend to people because it's just so fun to talk about. It's definitely an intersection of science and spirituality.
On my list of books I haven't read yet:
How to Tame a Fox by Lee Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut. Some russian scientists attempt to create a breed of fox that is like a dog.
An Immense World by Ed Yong. Cool animal facts.
Sabriel by Garth Nix. This is fiction, dark and lush young adult fantasy. Very magical.
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@slothywaffle @DefinitelyNotAFae @0d_billie @Bifrost51 @skybrian @Sodliddesu @kfwyre @azaadi @fraughtGYRE @Nsutdwa @PnkNBlck71817 @chocobean @lackofaname @RheingoldRiver @OnlyGhosts @csos95 @Wes @CannibalisticApple @cfabbro, @georgeboff @Everdoor @PnkNBlck71817 @Palimpsest @CrazyProfessor02 @maevens @cdb @OceanBreezy @joshs @public @carsonc @Schnupfenheld @Captain_calico @hexagonsun @CharlieBeans @pu1pfriction @Lonan @DialecticCake @kej @LazarWolf @eyechoirs @Thales @syllo @Idalium @chundissimo @RudismReplying here instead of as a top-level since it's not an actual book recommendation: is nonfiction welcome in this batch, or is this to solicit fiction only and nonfiction may be considered in a future book club suggestion thread.
Nonfiction is welcome and encouraged.
If we don't get nonfiction successful nominations, I may experiment with a nonfiction only thread in future that would be different from this group.
It’s available on the Kindle store, among other places. I don’t know how faithful it is in the special bits. However, those parts are nowhere as pervasive and central as in the House.
Why did this post here instead of your other comment? Surfboard must’ve acted up (or I didn’t notice which reply I clicked)
Ok. Let's count it as a nomination