MobileRead April 2010 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[pilotbob]

Help up choose a book as the April 2010 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. We will start the discussion thread for this book on April 18th. Select from the following books.

The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald.
The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travails as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed in trying to acclimate and operate a small chicken farm with her first husband Robert Heskett[1] from 1927 to 1931 near Chimacum, Washington. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's sisters strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences. The Egg and I was MacDonald's first attempt at writing a book.

Topper by Thorne Smith
It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners—the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab "summer of suburban Sundays" that is his life—and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Via www.fantasticfiction.co.uk A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, and suspicious of anything modern - this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, crusader against dunces. In revolt against the 20th century, Ignatius propels his bulk among the flesh-pots of a fallen city, documenting life on his Big Chief tablets as he goes, until his mother decrees that Ignatius must work.

My man Jeeves by P G Wodehouse
Containing drafts of stories later rewritten for other collections (including "Carry On, Jeeves"), "My Man Jeeves" offers a fascinating insight into the genesis of comic literature's most celebrated double-act. All the stories are set in New York, four of them featuring Jeeves and Wooster themselves; the rest concerning Reggie Pepper, an earlier version of Bertie. Plots involve the usual cast of amiable young clots, choleric millionaires, chorus-girls and vulpine aunts, but towering over them all is the inscrutable figure of Jeeves, manipulating the action from behind the scenes. Early or not, these stories are masterly examples of Wodehouse's art, turning the most ordinary incidents into golden farce.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Wikipedia says "The novel explains the tale of Hank Morgan, a 19th-century resident of Hartford, Connecticut who awakens to find himself inexplicably transported back in time to early medieval Britain at the time of the legendary King Arthur".

Fool by Christopher Moore
This is from Publisher's Weekly (as cited on Amazon):
Starred Review. Here's the Cliff Notes you wished you'd had for King Lear—the mad royal, his devious daughters, rhyming ghosts and a castle full of hot intrigue—in a cheeky and ribald romp that both channels and chides the Bard and all Fate's bastards. It's 1288, and the king's fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune—only to discover the truth about their own heritage. There's more murder, mayhem, mistaken identities and scene changes than you can remember, but bestselling Moore (You Suck) turns things on their head with an edgy 21st-century perspective that makes the story line as sharp, surly and slick as a game of Grand Theft Auto. Moore confesses he borrows from at least a dozen of the Bard's plays for this buffet of tragedy, comedy and medieval porn action. It's a manic, masterly mix—winning, wild and something today's groundlings will applaud. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Augustus Carp, Esq. - Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Bashford
From amazon.com: 'Bashford's comic 1924 volume offers the mock autobiography of Augustus Carp, a self-aggrandizing, stuffy, puritanical oaf, who indulges in numerous vices in the name of Christianity, rationalizing his own weaknesses while condemning others for the same acts. Great fun.'

A Damon Runyon Omnibus
She quotes Wikipedia: [Runyon] was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." Runyon wrote these stories in a distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff.Ever since the day when he came upon six-year-old Joshua of Nazareth resurrecting lizards in the village square, Levi bar Alphaeus, called "Biff,"had the distinction of being the Messiah's best bud. That's why the angel Raziel has resurrected Biff from the dust of Jerusalem and brought him to America to write a new gospel, one that tells the real, untold story. Meanwhile, Raziel will order pizza, watch the WWF on TV, and aspire to become Spider-Man.Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung-fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes -- whose considerable charms fall to Biff to sample, since Josh is forbidden the pleasures of the flesh...

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
"The first in a series of outlandishly clever adventures featuring the resourceful, fearless literary detective Thursday Next-a New York Times bestseller!In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Bront?'s novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel-unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix."

Candide by Voltaire
Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone and its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel that parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact.
As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté.Today, Candide is recognised as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is likely taught more than any other work of French literature.

[pilotbob]

In the event of a tie I will open the poll for 24 more hours.

If we still have a tie after that I will create a new poll with the ties for 3 days.

Is that acceptable to everyone? (no one better say no.)

BOb

[LoganK]

I don't participate in the book club (at least not yet), but if the competition above is normal it must be a difficult pick every month! Having read much of the list, there are a lot of great titles up for the vote.

I wanted to chip in and say, though, that Fool is an absolute gem. I'm not a huge Christopher Moore fan, but he completely surpasses his typical writing with this one. Book club members should do themselves a favor and vote for it. (Or maybe people aren't voting for it because they've already read the book...)

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

In the event of a tie I will open the poll for 24 more hours.

If we still have a tie after that I will create a new poll with the ties for 3 days.

Is that acceptable to everyone? (no one better say no.)

BOb

Sounds good to me...

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by lene1949

Sounds good to me...

And me - thank you PB.

[kennyc]

Go F-F-Fforde!!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

In the event of a tie I will open the poll for 24 more hours.

If we still have a tie after that I will create a new poll with the ties for 3 days.

Is that acceptable to everyone? (no one better say no.)

BOb

Yes, Sir! As you say, Sir!

[ficbot]

Fool, or Lamb? Both sound good to me. Anybody want to campaign a little to help me choose?

[Sparrow]

They both cost money .

Vote Freebie!! Vote CARP!!!!

[Tattncat]

I'm for Topper. I Have been wanting to read it for ages.
BTW it's a freebie.

[Vector]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

In the event of a tie I will open the poll for 24 more hours.

If we still have a tie after that I will create a new poll with the ties for 3 days.

Is that acceptable to everyone? (no one better say no.)

BOb

That sounds good, but what if the tiebreaker poll ends in a tie?

[Zipr]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Fool, or Lamb? Both sound good to me. Anybody want to campaign a little to help me choose?

I don't know anything about Fool but I can vouch for Lamb. Same author so they are probably both good.

[seabadger]

I've read The Eyre Affair a while back, and was absolutely hooked.
It's a very unusual book, aimed at people that love books and literature.
Fforde is very creative and original, his writing rather tongue-in-cheek. He managed to come up with a book that does not fit any single genre. I can't really compare him to any other author (though his originality somewhat reminds me of Douglas Adams, the style and subject matter are very different, making this an apples-to-oranges comparison

Also, unusually enough, the second book in the series is even BETTER than the first. The rest (there are 5 total with the 6th supposedly in the works) are pretty good as well, though the novelty wears off a bit and the effect isn't as strong as in the beginning.

[WT Sharpe]

Even if Topper by Thorne Smith doesn't win, I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend that everyone who loves madcap, irreverent, sexy humor should put this one on their "to be read" list. It's hilarious!

Since I've already read it, I doubt that I'll vote for it, as I prefer to vote for something I haven't read. But seriously; if you love laugh-out-loud humor, make it a point to read this one soon! Although published in 1926, the humor holds up incredibly well. That can't be said of many humorous books.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

In the event of a tie I will open the poll for 24 more hours.

If we still have a tie after that I will create a new poll with the ties for 3 days.

Is that acceptable to everyone? (no one better say no.)

BOb

I love you, BOb!