MobileRead August 2009 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[pilotbob]

For for the Aug 2009 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club. The poll will be open for 7 days. We will start the discussion thread for this book on August 26th. Select from the following books.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
"The book tells the story of Julian West, a young American who, towards the end of the 19th century, falls into a deep, hypnosis-induced sleep and wakes up more than a century later. He finds himself on the same spot (Boston, Massachusetts) but in a totally changed world: It is the year 2000 and, while he was sleeping, the U.S.A. has been transformed into a socialist utopia."

The Road Home by Rose Tremain
"In the wake of factory closings and his beloved wife's death, Lev is on his way from Eastern Europe to London, seeking work to support his mother and his little daughter. After a spell of homelessness, he finds a job in the kitchen of a posh restaurant, and a room in the house of an appealing Irishman who has also lost his family. Never mind that Lev must sleep in a bunk bed surrounded by plastic toys--he has found a friend and shelter. However constricted his life in England remains he compensates by daydreaming of home, by having an affair with a younger restaurant worker (and dodging the attentions of other women), and by trading gossip and ambitions via cell phone with his hilarious old friend Rudi who, dreaming of the wealthy West, lives largely for his battered Chevrolet. Homesickness dogs Lev, not only for nostalgic reasons, but because he doesn't belong, body or soul, to his new country-but can he really go home again?"

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He’s lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World. Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the care of a network of volunteer “ad-hocs” who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches. Now, though, it seems the “ad-hocs” are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It’s only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it’s war: war for the soul of the Magic Kingdom, a war of ever-shifting reputations, technical wizardry, and entirely unpredictable outcomes.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft.
From user hudson on Feedbooks: "One of the best longer Lovecraft novels, a story of a doomed antarctic exploration party that uncovers the eldritch nightmares buried and sleeping under the snow." I've been reading a lot of Lovecraft recently, but haven't read this one yet.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to "help people with problems in their lives." Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency received two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.

[Moe The Cat]

Wow, 1984 has jumped into a big lead (based on one vote so far).

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

Wow, 1984 has jumped into a big lead (based on one vote so far).

[Moe The Cat]

If this was a political vote, the television networks would have already declared the winner, based on the exit polls ...

[Moe The Cat]

You haven't voted yourself, Bob?

[lilac_jive]

I'm in for Little Brother!

[JSWolf]

How did the Lovecraft book get in the voting? It's too old having been written in the 1930s.

And I voted for Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

You haven't voted yourself, Bob?

Haven't decided yet. I have read 3 of these already though.

BOb

[bmfrosty]

Read Down and Out when it was posted on boingboing all those years ago. Still need to read Little Brother. Vote cast.

[discourse]

Little Brother was the best book I read last year. I highly recommend it!

[pilotbob]

Ok, I have decided and voted. I have already read both Doctorow books and 1984. I loves me a good mystery, so No. 1 is my pick.

BOb

[junkyardwillie]

1984, I've been saying I was going to reread that and Fahrenheit 451 for a while now. This will provide some motivation

[Manichean]

Is it just me, or does "Looking Backwards" sound a helluva lot like H.G. Wells "When the Sleeper Wakes"? Okay, Wells used a capitalist dystopia instead of a socialist utopia, but still, sounds quite familiar.

[Donnageddon]

Even though I am not a member, I vote for anything but 1984. (too many bad recent memories)

Maybe I will become a member next month.

I actually voted for Little Brother, but Down and out sounds good. Have not read that yet.

[JSWolf]

If an entry in the poll is removed, can the people who voted for it be able to vote again? I'd like to see the wasted Lovecraft votes go to a book that actually fits the August topic.