WF Monthly Book: December

Things are starting to wind down (in some ways at least), so it might be a good time to bring back the book club.

Please post your suggestions below and when we get a decent response we'll put it to a vote as per usual.

A couple of suggestions offered already:
Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway, a true Modernist classic, and a must read for fans of Bret Easton Ellis, Haruki Murakami, and many other contemporary/postmodern authors....

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie, the world's best-selling mystery.

 

Here are my recommendations:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (what a surprise, huh? )
- 384 pages, and a really quick read because the story is tense & engrossing
- A quintessential futuristic gladiator book described as part They Shoot Horses Don't They?, part Battle Royale, and The Game meets Spartacus meets Survivor all rolled up in one.
- 4.5 out of 5 stars w/650 reviews on Amazon.com
- Placed third in the YALSA 2009 Teens Top Ten


Looking for Alaska by John Green
- 256 pages
- Excellent YA literature; often compared to Catcher in the Rye--only better
- 4.5 out of 5 stars w/122 reviews on Amazon.com
- Winner of the Printz Award (for excellence in YA lit)
- Placed first in the YALSA 2009 Teens Top Ten

 

Considering that it's December we should do something Christmassy like A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) or Hogfather (Terry Pratchett).

Continuing on with Maria’s YA theme. I’d suggest Tomorrow, When the War Began (John Marsden). If your Australian the book and the series need no introduction. But for everyone else it was pretty much the equivalent of Harry Potter or twilight (only much better written) for Australian teens during the nineties, and still has a very strong following today, quite possibly because it is a required English text at most high schools. You can check it out on Amazon here.

Arron I really like the Agatha Christie suggestion. Good call.

 

Oh those suggestions weren't mine, although I do like both of them....Cog suggested Hemingway (a suggestion I whole-heartedly second; it easily ranks among my favourite books of all time) and Marcelo suggested Agatha Christie.

 

If enough of us are able to get our hands on it, how about Terry's book, Flank Hawk?

 

Seconded. I should be getting my copy in the next few days. I'm not sure about people outside the US, though. But if everyone who wants to participate can get a copy before early December, that would be awesome.

 

I'm in Canada, and my copy came fairly quickly. I picked mine up today.

 

I second The Hunger Games, and I would also like to nominate The Lovely Bones.

 

Now that is one awesome idea!

thirded )

Though maybe it'd be better early in the new year *shrugs*

 

yeah, you're probably right, Speedy. It'll give us time to get our copies.

 

How about some classic science-fiction.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

 

I'd like one of the following if others are interested:

Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Death Of Bunny Monroe - Nick Cave
(And although it's been suggested before) The Road - Cormac McCarthy

 

Yep, that one, because I already ordered it

Flank Hawk

 

So how does this work? Do we vote on a title?

 

Arron should be making a poll after enough suggestions are given. After that, everyone who wants to participate votes on which book they want to read.

 

I agree with the idea of Flank Hawk as well.

 

I like this, for either December or January, and have my copy.

 

I am honored you're considering my novel as a selection for the book club. If anyone runs into any problems attempting to obtain it, let me know.

It's available via ebook through smashwords.com in multiple formats and thus any potential reader could obtain it (and read it on an ebook reader or as a PDF or RTF or even a text file on their computer).

Flank Hawk is also available I know everywhere in the USA and Canadian readers have obtained it as well. I know that Amazon.com in the UK and Germany carry it. I don't know about Australian readers or elsewhere in the world (Central/South America, Africa, and parts of Asia, etc.)

I would of course participate in any discussions if the book club readers desired.

I should probably add that I do have a page on my website with discussion questions for reading clubs: Flank Hawk Reading Club Questions

It would be best if the questions were not examined too closely until the novel has been read as there are some questions that could be spoilers.

Terry

 

Well it seems pretty unanimous, Flank Hawk will probably be the book for December. I'll carry over the other suggestions to January. So yeah, if you're in, think about grabbing a copy.

 

Why don't we put the poll up to ensure that enough people who want to participate in the book club have their copy of Flank Hawk? If not, it can be on the list of suggestions again for the next month.

 

So, is everyone in agreement about Flank Hawk? December is almost here, and I'm eager to get this book of the month thing started.

 

Yep that was the plan...so on Dec 1 the new thread will go live! Excitingggggg!!