October Book Club Lobbying Period

GWC Community GWC Book Club
#1

All,

As discussed, this month our process will be a little different. Based on your feedback we will be following a new process. For the first half of the month all nominated books will have a lobbying period instead of jumping right into voting. This will allow people to discuss the nominations prior to voting.

The five lowest rated books were removed and six books were added. The list is as follows:

Adams, Douglas - “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Asimov, Isaac - “Foundation”
Brooks, Max - “World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War”
Dick, Philip - “A Scanner Darkly”
Doctorow, Cory - “Little Brother”
Gibson, William - “Neuromancer”
Heinlein, Robert A. - “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”
Lem, Stanislaw - “Solaris”
Martin , George R. R. - “A Game of Thrones”
Moore, Christopher - “A Dirty Job”
Murphy, Amy - “The City Not Long After”
Niffenegger, Audrey - “The Time Traveler’s Wife”
Robinson, Kim Stanley - “The Years of Rice and Salt”
Shelley, Mary - “Frankenstein”
Simmons, Dan - “Hyperion”
Steakley, John - “Armor”
Stephenson, Neal - “Snow Crash”
Wilson, Robert Charles - “Spin”
Zahn, Timothy - “Dark Force Rising” (Thrawn Trilogy #2)

Feel free to discuss any of the books here or in their respective threads.

Vote here to vote on whether voting should be private or public.

Enjoy!

#2

I haven’t touched A Game Of Thrones in so long… I’m not even sure where my copy is. I’d be game for that, though. Dark Force Rising as well.

A Scanner, Darkly could be interesting as well…

EDIT: And I’ve never read Snow Crash, but I’d love to pick it up some time. Hrrrm. Choices.

#3

The whole trilogy or just the first book? Brilliant, just brilliant. It’s definitely sci-fi, but it’s mostly humor. Absolute classic. Anyone here who hasn’t read it absolutely must, no matter how the poll turns out!

Asimov, Isaac - “Foundation”

An epic SF classic. Another must-read.

Brooks, Max - “World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War”

I love zombies. I’ve only “read” the audiobook, which is abridged. I also recommend The Zombie Survival Guide, by the same author.

Dick, Philip - “A Scanner Darkly”

Twisted reality and designer drugs. What more can you ask?

Lem, Stanislaw - “Solaris”

HIGHLY recommended. If you’ve seen either movie, they didn’t do it justice.

Shelley, Mary - “Frankenstein”

A classic. THE classic. Where it all began…

Steakley, John - “Armor”

I’ve heard good things. Can anyone recommend?

Zahn, Timothy - “Dark Force Rising” (Thrawn Trilogy #2)

I’m still rereading TT#1, due to getting a late start, so this is a logical continuation for a group read. If not for the extreme awesomeness that is Watchmen, this would already be our go-to book for this month.

#4

So if we’re lobbying here, is this The Lobby, then? Do I get to put my feet on the table?

Anyway, I’m gonna repeat myself here, call me the prayer mill, but we need to make more people familiar with Lem and this would be an awesome opportunity.

Forget what you know about the two movies, go vote “Solaris” and here is why:

This is basically a copy of what I wrote in the Solaris thread:

I stumbled over my copy of The Invincible this morning and once again, I just have to make a case for Lem and beg everyone who hasn’t done so yet to go out and read at least one book by Lem. The best bet is “Solaris”, but it doesn’t really matter, it could also be “Fiasco” or “Eden” or “The Invincible”, his central theme stays mostly the same, he merely explores different facets in those books.

So, honestly, please, go and read one of those books TODAY, it will broaden your horizon SO DAMN MUCH and here’s why:

Lem has a totally unique way of thinking about science fiction, about the human mind and possible contacts with alien life-forms. It’s very unlike anything Western SciFi has produced and it’s so totally worth it to go out and listen to what Lem has to say about human-alien interaction, because his basic idea is - there is no interaction, the chances that humans could ever, EVER, communicate with alien life are absolutely zero and his ways of explaining this, of twisting our minds around the thought processes behind this thinking are so damn enlightening, it will make you look at scifi and actually our world, in different terms.

So mark my words, go out and read one Lem book, I don’t care if it’s the only one by him that you ever read, but you need to have read one. And I’m damn serious about this.

#5

Go to a bookstore, find a copy, and read the first chapter. I defy you to not buy it.

#6

Agreed. I took a fantasy and science fiction literature class in college, and out of maybe 300 students, I was the only one to have ever read it before. That was criminal, since it sparked probably the most lively discussion in the class. Unlike ET and Star Trek’s humanoid-with-facial-differences aliens, Solaris had life that was “alien” in the truest sense of the word. Communication is virtually impossible, especially where it’s difficult to even recognize that an attempt is even being made. I need to check out Lem’s other stuff, but I can’t recommend Solaris enough.

I saw this mentioned in another thread. What’s it about?

EDIT: And I’ve never read Snow Crash, but I’d love to pick it up some time. Hrrrm. Choices.

I’ve always meant to check this out, but you know…

#7

I’m all for A Game of Thrones. George R. R. Martin is a fantastic writer and his A Song of Ice and Fire series is by far my favorite series ever.

#8

A Game of Thrones is the first book in George R. R. Martin’s brilliant A Song of Ice and Fire series. It’s low magic fantasy that is dark, has lots of killing, a fair amount of sex, politics, intrigue and plot lines that span across every book. Personally I think it’s far better than Lord of the Rings (mostly because it’s not as slow paced as LOTR is and is a more realistic fantasy), GRRM is not afraid to kill characters, the characters feel real, there is no one who is completely good and the bad guys are very bad. The dialogue is fantastic thanks to GRRM’s years in Hollywood as a writer for a few tv shows. It’s got the same gritty feeling that I got the first time I watched BSG.

#9

OMG, I’m too ambivalent to play this game.

Asimov would be nice, though.

#10

As the lobbying period is an experiment, please feel free to include feedback in this thread.

I for one enjoy finding out more about books I have never heard of. I wonder if the ‘lobbying’ shouldn’t occur in the threads about the books. They may get lost here.

Thots?

#11

The conversation the GWC Trinity had about the Architect’s choice of two females to one male got me thinking about The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin.

I kept thinking of the neuter society and Sean’s argument that it’s a machine thinking logically. I thot if so, why not just grow some “new” humans with no gender and still capable of reproducing?

#12

From an organizational standpoint, that makes sense. But as a means of lobbying for a book that people wouldn’t necessarily be interested in otherwise, not so much. If there was a thread about a book that I never heard of and didn’t think that I would be interested in, I probably just would never read that thread. The “lobbying” would be lost on those who already cared about the book in the first place. Inna final analysis. :slight_smile:

#13

How about “Old Man’s War?” Even if it doesn’t make the list, I give this series the highest recommendation possible.

#14

This thread is for lobbying for the books among the finalists.

I’m almost sure that came up in previous votes, but I can’t find the thread. You might as well start a new one.

#15

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I just couldn’t get past the fact that it was about a crotchety old man - after a few chapters I was just sick of seeing him in my mind…I had to stop reading Orion by Ben Bova because I couldn’t stop seeing Orion as Stephen Colbert and couldn’t take him seriously…obviously my issue - and I’m a dork.

#16

Oops, my bad also. Ugh I am so sick of my bad. Can someone scratch that anyone please come up with a new phrase? Hmmm. Big boob. Nah. My erroneous. Yeah ok. Sorries. That might work.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I’m trying to figure out how to approach this lobby thing. There are books on the list I’ve read and many I haven’t. Do I just rah-rah the ones I know or research the ones I don’t? For instance, I haven’t read ‘Snow Crash’ but I want to. Should I post that or ask around people’s opinions? I like how Poofy handled it by giving a little blurb to each book.

With the choice of ‘Watchmen’ this month I’m enjoying new territory. Since it’s important for any upstanding geek to read the staples of ‘Dune’ and ‘Ender’s Game’ I think it’s also important to venture into the unknown. I was thinking of adding more complexity to this and sectioning off newbies and old-timers but that’s just crazy talk. I guess what I’m trying to say is I hope this month’s book is something I haven’t read and should.

The ones I’ve read are in Yellow.

Adams, Douglas - “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Asimov, Isaac - “Foundation”
Brooks, Max - “World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War”
Dick, Philip - “A Scanner Darkly”
Doctorow, Cory - “Little Brother”
Gibson, William - “Neuromancer”
Heinlein, Robert A. - “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”
Lem, Stanislaw - “Solaris”
Martin , George R. R. - “A Game of Thrones”
Moore, Christopher - “A Dirty Job”
Murphy, Amy - “The City Not Long After”
Niffenegger, Audrey - “The Time Traveler’s Wife”
Robinson, Kim Stanley - “The Years of Rice and Salt”
Shelley, Mary - “Frankenstein”
Simmons, Dan - “Hyperion”
Steakley, John - “Armor”
Stephenson, Neal - “Snow Crash”
Wilson, Robert Charles - “Spin”
Zahn, Timothy - “Dark Force Rising” (Thrawn Trilogy #2)

#17

Just for your information: Watchmen comes out again as an Absolute edition in November.

#18

Why use a new phrase when an old one will do?

“Mea Culpa.” Latin. It’s classic. Erudite. Just the right mix of religion and history to really give it some staying power. If need be, it can be extended further for really huge blunders: “Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa!” Using an overly dramatic Italian(ish) accent while saying it lends it gravitas. :slight_smile:

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I’m trying to figure out how to approach this lobby thing. There are books on the list I’ve read and many I haven’t. Do I just rah-rah the ones I know or research the ones I don’t? For instance, I haven’t read ‘Snow Crash’ but I want to. Should I post that or ask around people’s opinions? I like how Poofy handled it by giving a little blurb to each book.

Just the ones I knew. I skipped any about which I had nothing to say.

With the choice of ‘Watchmen’ this month I’m enjoying new territory. Since it’s important for any upstanding geek to read the staples of ‘Dune’ and ‘Ender’s Game’ I think it’s also important to venture into the unknown. I was thinking of adding more complexity to this and sectioning off newbies and old-timers but that’s just crazy talk. I guess what I’m trying to say is I hope this month’s book is something I haven’t read and should.

In that spirit, I’ll echo GR in Lem-love. Solaris is almost unknown in America and shouldn’t be. If you want to read something great that you never have, I highly recommend it. :cool:

#19

Absolute edition? What’s that?

#20

DC’s way of making more money.

Which is a little unfair, I guess, because if you’re really into comics and love the art and it’s your hobby, then I guess you’re willing to spend that kind of money for really beautiful books.