Voting: August 2005 Book of the Month

[Ell]

Thought I'd try something a bit different this month by adding some information about the nominated books. Poll will close July 1.

So here are the August nominees:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J K Rowling
The sixth book in the Harry Potter series.


253 - Geoff Ryman
Amazon.uk:

A Bakerloo tube train with no-one standing and no empty seats can carry 252 passengers. The driver makes 253. Each one has a page devoted to them, divided into three sections - what they look like, what they are thinking and inside information - and some of them are going to die.

The Memory of Running - Ron McLarty
From Chapters.ca:

About the Book
McLarty tells the story of Smithson Ide, a 43-year-old, 279-pound supervisor at a GI Joe factory who begins a cross-country journey on his old Raleigh bicycle to retrieve the body of his beautiful, mentally disturbed sister.

London - Edward Rutherfurd
From Amazon.uk:

Synopsis
A story that follows the River Thames as it flows through the heart of London, from the days of the Romans, through 16 centuries to the Victorian engineers who gave the city so many of its famous bridges, to the Dockland development of today.

Rosslyn: Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail -Marilyn Hopkins
From Chapters.ca

From Our Editors
This engrossing book explores the myth of a pilgrimage initiation route. The route supposedly combined seven pre-Christian sites used by Druids, Knights Templar and Christian mystics. Starting in Compstela, Spain, the pilgrimage passes through Toulouse, Orleans, Chartres, Paris and Amiens. The last site is that of Rosslyn, Scotland. Rosslyn by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins uncovers revelations from stone carvings, walls and ceilings, making it an alluring adventure into our mystical past.

Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
From Amazon.uk:

Synopsis
In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears.

Laments - George Hagen

From the Publisher
Meet the Laments—the affably dysfunctional globetrotting family at the center of George Hagen’s exuberant debut novel.
Howard is an engineer who dreams of irrigating the Sahara and lives by the motto “Laments move!” His wife Julia is a fiery spirit who must balance her husband’s oddly peripatetic nature with unexpected aspirations of her own. And Will is the “waif with a paper-thin heart” who is given to Howard and Julia in return for their own child who has been lost in a bizarre maternity ward mishap. As Will makes his way from infancy to manhood in a family that careens from continent to continent, one wonders where the Laments will ever belong.

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
From Amazon.co.uk:

Synopsis
Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were pupils at Hailsham - an idyllic establishment situated deep in the English countryside. The children there were tenderly sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe they were special, and that their personal welfare was crucial. But for what reason were they really there? It is only years later that Kathy, now aged 31, finally allows herself to yield to the pull of memory. What unfolds is the haunting story of how Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, slowly come to face the truth about their seemingly happy childhoods - and about their futures. Never Let Me Go is a uniquely moving novel, charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of our lives.

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
Part of review from Amazon.co.uk:

We can more or less deduce the following of the main protagonist in Choke; Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a medical school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzehimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ.

Black - Ted Dekker

From the Publisher
Fleeing assailants through alleyways in Denver late one night, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of an industrial building.

Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head and his world goes black. Now Thomas wakes from a deep sleep, remembering the vivid dream he just had of being chased. Incredibly real. His head is even bleeding - but he's fallen on a rock. He's in a green forest, waiting to meet Rachelle, the woman he's falling madly in love with.

That night, Thomas tumbles into bed and falls into a fitful sleep. He dreams. But here comes the real mind bender. Every time Thomas falls asleep in one reality, he awakes in the other. He truly no longer knows which reality is real. Each reality has dramatic impact on the other, each proves to be real, each presents huge stakes, and the fate of each will depend on one man: Thomas Hunter.

[sirmyk]

I couldn't vote Harry Potter VI... we all know it's going to be good though...

[Erica]

Originally Posted by Ell

Thought I'd try something a bit different this month by adding some informatio about the nominated books. Poll will close July 1.

Great idea...

[ions]

I voted for Potter. Probably going to be one of the rare times what I'm reading coincides with the chosen book of the month.

[Shai]

I voted for Choke. I read it last year, but wouldn't mind reading it once more. Whilst not as good as Fight Club, its still a great book in its own right.

Besides all that, I prefer joining a discussion on Choke than on the next Harry Potter novel.

[Kookamoor]

I *love* the synopses of the books, Ell! And what's with having ALL these good books on this month? Just too many to choose!!!

[Delta_doh!]

Originally Posted by Kookamoor

I *love* the synopses of the books, Ell! And what's with having ALL these good books on this month? Just too many to choose!!!

Agree!
I don't mind which one we read, soooooooooo many good ones.
tis exciting this month

Also *LOVE* the synopses of the books Nice one, Thanks Ell

[Kookamoor]

I voted for 253, because Harry Potter will be read by so many anyway, and there will be a dozen threads about it in the HP section of the forum. I will be reading it too, but likely not as soon as everyone else, so I don't want it to be ruined. Having said that, 5 of the books on this month's list made my TBR list (2 should already have been on there).

Keep up the good recommendations, guys!

[Prolific]

I am a fan of Harry Potter and will read it regardless, so my vote is to HP.

[wilderness]

so i read about 253...went to the book store and baught it...im so excited to read it! it sounds great!
lani