MobileRead May 2010 Book Club Nominations

pilotbob · 04-20-2010, 01:27 PM

Help us select the next book that the Mobile Read book club will read for May 2010.

The nominations will run through Apr 27.
Voting (new poll thread) will run for 5 days starting Apr 27.

Book selection category for May per the "official" club opening thread is:

May 2010
Classic (a book in the public domain that is still published and sold today. For example, it can be found as a pbook at Amazon.)

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a pool at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations.

Official choices each with three nominations:

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
During the American civil war, five men escape from captivity in the Confederacy by hot air balloon. A storm blows up, and they are swept out to sea, eventually finishing up on a seemingly uninhabited island, with no resources other than a few odds and ends they have in their pockets. The book tells the story of how they manage to survive on the island using only their skills and knowledge.
The island, however, has a deeper mystery. The men are helped by a mysterious unseen agent from time to time, and the sub-plot of the novel is their attempt to discover the truth behind this mystery. The book has a real "sting in the tale" ending; I'd strongly recommend that you DON'T read any detailed summary of it prior to reading it, or it'll spoil the ending for you.

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother’s seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy’s father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens’s maturity.

The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe
The Baron was a real man in the british army who was posted in various places throughout the British empire in the 1700's. When he came home he apparently used to regale all his friends and neighbors with tall tales based on his travels. They seemed to become wilder and and wilder flights of fancy and lies until he becasme legend. ...

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Copyright ended on september 2008.
Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of futurism. Huxley answered this book with a reassessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final work, a novel titled Island (1962), both still in copyright.
In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
(from the art of manliness):
Robinson Crusoe deals with mastery and morality. It addresses the ability of mankind to master his surroundings through hard work, and patience and faith, which eventually enable him to survive on an unknown island and able to cope with the difficult terrain, less-than-friendly natives and basically every wicked trial that comes his way. The morality addressed in this book is the eponymous protagonist’s rejection of his father’s advice to accept the happiness of the middle class life from which he was born. Against the wishes of his family, he runs off to sea to find adventure. It is not until Crusoe literally recreates a primitive approximation of that middle class life for himself on his island that he is freed.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley:
Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.

The Odyssey by Homer
In a way or another every western literary work comes from it.

HarryT · 04-20-2010, 01:46 PM

I'd like to nominate an absolutely wonderful adventure story: Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island".

Summary:

During the American civil war, five men escape from captivity in the Confederacy by hot air balloon. A storm blows up, and they are swept out to sea, eventually finishing up on a seemingly uninhabited island, with no resources other than a few odds and ends they have in their pockets. The book tells the story of how they manage to survive on the island using only their skills and knowledge.

The island, however, has a deeper mystery. The men are helped by a mysterious unseen agent from time to time, and the sub-plot of the novel is their attempt to discover the truth behind this mystery. The book has a real "sting in the tale" ending; I'd strongly recommend that you DON'T read any detailed summary of it prior to reading it, or it'll spoil the ending for you.

This is my favourite of Jules Verne's novels by far. It was, you may be interested to know, the inspiration behind the TV series "Lost".

I thoroughly recommend this book! It's available for free download here at MR, and is in the public domain everywhere.

lilac_jive · 04-20-2010, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd like to nominate an absolutely wonderful adventure story: Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island".

Summary:

During the American civil war, five men escape from captivity in the Confederacy by hot air balloon. A storm blows up, and they are swept out to sea, eventually finishing up on a seemingly uninhabited island, with no resources other than a few odds and ends they have in their pockets. The book tells the story of how they manage to survive on the island using only their skills and knowledge.

The island, however, has a deeper mystery. The men are helped by a mysterious unseen agent from time to time, and the sub-plot of the novel is their attempt to discover the truth behind this mystery. The book has a real "sting in the tale" ending; I'd strongly recommend that you DON'T read any detailed summary of it prior to reading it, or it'll spoil the ending for you.

This is my favourite of Jules Verne's novels by far. It was, you may be interested to know, the inspiration behind the TV series "Lost".

I thoroughly recommend this book! It's available for free download here at MR, and is in the public domain everywhere.

I'll second this one.

pilotbob · 04-20-2010, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It was, you may be interested to know, the inspiration behind the TV series "Lost".

I was going to say... hey I wonder if "Lost" is loosely based on this.

I THIRD this one... sounds like fun.

BOb

Mike L · 04-20-2010, 04:01 PM

Harry, I've always been happy with your recommendations, so will download "The Mysterious Island" right now.

voodooblues · 04-20-2010, 06:12 PM

I think that "The Mysterious Island" would be a great choice.

lene1949 · 04-20-2010, 07:59 PM

I'd like to nominate Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

Amazon's product description:

Quote:

When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother’s seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy’s father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens’s maturity.

mrkarl · 04-20-2010, 08:21 PM

mysterious island....I read it a long time ago, I actually forget the ending but I remember that they were all quite smart...I'll read that one again

Xanthe · 04-20-2010, 09:16 PM

Let's make it a horse race. I'll second "Little Dorrit".

kimc1967 · 04-20-2010, 11:56 PM

I just finished a great book called Containment by Christian Cantrell. This book was quite riveting and had a great plot. I enjoyed the characters and could almost feel like I was there at times. I think any scifi reader would like it as well.

Here is the description by Amazon
Product Description
As the Earth's ability to support human life begins to diminish at an alarming rate, the Global Space Agency is formed with a single mandate: protect humanity from extinction by colonizing the solar system as quickly as possible. Venus, being almost the same mass as Earth, is chosen over Mars as humanity’s first permanent steppingstone into the universe.

Arik Ockley is part of the first generation to be born and raised off-Earth. After a puzzling accident, Arik wakes up to find that his wife is almost three months pregnant. Since the colony’s environmental systems cannot safely support any increases in population, Arik immediately resumes his work on AP, or artificial photosynthesis, in order to save the life of his unborn child. Arik’s new and frantic research uncovers startling truths about the planet, and about the distorted reality the founders of the colony have constructed for Arik’s entire generation. Everything Arik has ever known is called into question, and he must figure out the right path for himself, his wife, and his unborn daughter.

RedRoverJ · 04-20-2010, 11:56 PM

This looks like a good time to jump in.

I have not read "The Mysterious Island" and Verne has not let me down so far. Since this is my first foray into any book club, it looks like a great way to start.

pilotbob · 04-21-2010, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRoverJ

This looks like a good time to jump in.

I have not read "The Mysterious Island" and Verne has not let me down so far. Since this is my first foray into any book club, it looks like a great way to start.

Well, we are far from deciding on what book to read. That is just one possible selection.

BOb

lene1949 · 04-21-2010, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRoverJ

This looks like a good time to jump in.

I have not read "The Mysterious Island" and Verne has not let me down so far. Since this is my first foray into any book club, it looks like a great way to start.

Welcome to MR...

Please read the first post in this thread by Pilotbob... He explains how the nominations work... Books, which have been nominated 3 times, go in for voting... Then it gets exciting.

HarryT · 04-21-2010, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimc1967

I just finished a great book called Containment by Christian Cantrell. This book was quite riveting and had a great plot. I enjoyed the characters and could almost feel like I was there at times. I think any scifi reader would like it as well.

I honestly don't think that counts as a "classic". Was it published prior to 1923? Is it in the public domain? This is our "classics" month.

HarryT · 04-21-2010, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Let's make it a horse race. I'll second "Little Dorrit".

I'll third "Little Dorrit". I don't think it's one of Dickens' best novels, to be honest about it, but it's still a good read.

04-20-2010, 01:27 PM	#1
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	May 2010 Book Club Nominations Help us select the next book that the Mobile Read book club will read for May 2010. The nominations will run through Apr 27. Voting (new poll thread) will run for 5 days starting Apr 27. Book selection category for May per the "official" club opening thread is: May 2010 Classic (a book in the public domain that is still published and sold today. For example, it can be found as a pbook at Amazon.) In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third). How Does This Work? The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome. How Does a Book Get Selected? Each book that is nominated will be listed in a pool at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection. How Many Nominations Can I Make? Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person. How Do I Nominate a Book? Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest. How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated? Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP. When is the Poll? The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed. The floor is open to nominations. Official choices each with three nominations: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne During the American civil war, five men escape from captivity in the Confederacy by hot air balloon. A storm blows up, and they are swept out to sea, eventually finishing up on a seemingly uninhabited island, with no resources other than a few odds and ends they have in their pockets. The book tells the story of how they manage to survive on the island using only their skills and knowledge. The island, however, has a deeper mystery. The men are helped by a mysterious unseen agent from time to time, and the sub-plot of the novel is their attempt to discover the truth behind this mystery. The book has a real "sting in the tale" ending; I'd strongly recommend that you DON'T read any detailed summary of it prior to reading it, or it'll spoil the ending for you. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother’s seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy’s father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens’s maturity. The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe The Baron was a real man in the british army who was posted in various places throughout the British empire in the 1700's. When he came home he apparently used to regale all his friends and neighbors with tall tales based on his travels. They seemed to become wilder and and wilder flights of fancy and lies until he becasme legend. ... The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Kim by Rudyard Kipling Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Copyright ended on september 2008. Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of futurism. Huxley answered this book with a reassessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final work, a novel titled Island (1962), both still in copyright. In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (from the art of manliness): Robinson Crusoe deals with mastery and morality. It addresses the ability of mankind to master his surroundings through hard work, and patience and faith, which eventually enable him to survive on an unknown island and able to cope with the difficult terrain, less-than-friendly natives and basically every wicked trial that comes his way. The morality addressed in this book is the eponymous protagonist’s rejection of his father’s advice to accept the happiness of the middle class life from which he was born. Against the wishes of his family, he runs off to sea to find adventure. It is not until Crusoe literally recreates a primitive approximation of that middle class life for himself on his island that he is freed. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever. The Odyssey by Homer In a way or another every western literary work comes from it. Last edited by pilotbob; 04-24-2010 at 12:52 AM.

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04-20-2010, 01:46 PM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I'd like to nominate an absolutely wonderful adventure story: Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island". Summary: During the American civil war, five men escape from captivity in the Confederacy by hot air balloon. A storm blows up, and they are swept out to sea, eventually finishing up on a seemingly uninhabited island, with no resources other than a few odds and ends they have in their pockets. The book tells the story of how they manage to survive on the island using only their skills and knowledge. The island, however, has a deeper mystery. The men are helped by a mysterious unseen agent from time to time, and the sub-plot of the novel is their attempt to discover the truth behind this mystery. The book has a real "sting in the tale" ending; I'd strongly recommend that you DON'T read any detailed summary of it prior to reading it, or it'll spoil the ending for you. This is my favourite of Jules Verne's novels by far. It was, you may be interested to know, the inspiration behind the TV series "Lost". I thoroughly recommend this book! It's available for free download here at MR, and is in the public domain everywhere.

04-20-2010, 04:01 PM	#5
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	Harry, I've always been happy with your recommendations, so will download "The Mysterious Island" right now.

04-20-2010, 06:12 PM	#6
voodooblues Connoisseur Posts: 58 Karma: 6106 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Somewhere out there Device: iPad(3 or HD or whatever), iPad Mini, Kindle 7" hdx, Samsung 7 tab 3	I think that "The Mysterious Island" would be a great choice.

04-20-2010, 08:21 PM	#8
mrkarl Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 22 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: the great white north Device: aluratek libre pro	mysterious island....I read it a long time ago, I actually forget the ending but I remember that they were all quite smart...I'll read that one again

04-20-2010, 09:16 PM	#9
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Let's make it a horse race. I'll second "Little Dorrit".

04-20-2010, 11:56 PM	#10
kimc1967 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: kindle2	I just finished a great book called Containment by Christian Cantrell. This book was quite riveting and had a great plot. I enjoyed the characters and could almost feel like I was there at times. I think any scifi reader would like it as well. Here is the description by Amazon Product Description As the Earth's ability to support human life begins to diminish at an alarming rate, the Global Space Agency is formed with a single mandate: protect humanity from extinction by colonizing the solar system as quickly as possible. Venus, being almost the same mass as Earth, is chosen over Mars as humanity’s first permanent steppingstone into the universe. Arik Ockley is part of the first generation to be born and raised off-Earth. After a puzzling accident, Arik wakes up to find that his wife is almost three months pregnant. Since the colony’s environmental systems cannot safely support any increases in population, Arik immediately resumes his work on AP, or artificial photosynthesis, in order to save the life of his unborn child. Arik’s new and frantic research uncovers startling truths about the planet, and about the distorted reality the founders of the colony have constructed for Arik’s entire generation. Everything Arik has ever known is called into question, and he must figure out the right path for himself, his wife, and his unborn daughter.

04-20-2010, 11:56 PM	#11
RedRoverJ Zealot Posts: 125 Karma: 314 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada, Eh! Device: Kobo	This looks like a good time to jump in. I have not read "The Mysterious Island" and Verne has not let me down so far. Since this is my first foray into any book club, it looks like a great way to start.

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