The FastDay Forum

Hello all you faster/ readers!

I thought we'd better get going on choosing October's book - as time is moving on so quickly!

So I'm opening this new thread with Moogie's help - and inviting you to nominate a book for possible consideration for the October read. You will be able to nominate by posting here until Sunday 18th August; then dhana, Minsmum and I will come up with a 'shortlist' from the books nominated, and you will then be invited to vote for your favourite before the end of the month. Moogie is going to fix it so a poll will be visible: once you've voted you will be able to see which book is in the lead. The book with the most votes on Sunday 1st September will then become our October read.

Also on Sunday 1st September, a separate 'review' thread will be opened for our September book, which is 'Big Brother' by Lionel Shriver - suggested by dhana and sarahg in the recent 'book' thread. You can buy it or borrow it, in hardcopy or as an e-book, at a bookshop or through your library service. The 'review' thread will be open throughout September for your comments, and we are looking forward to hearing what you think! Doesn't have to be a long review, or an essay, or a resume of the book - just let us know what you think, as if you were sitting next to a friend and having a conversation with them.

That's it for now. Looking forward to seeing what books you nominate, and even more to hearing what you think of 'Big Brother' ...



PS if you buy the book through Amazon, don't forget to buy through the links from the forum - then the forum will get the benefit!

Can I nominate for October "Light between the Oceans" by ML Steadman, it is on Amazon for £3.85 in paperback or kindle version £3.36

"Review
"An extraordinary and heart-rending book about good people, tragic decisions, and the beauty found in each of them" -- Markus Zusak, Author Of "The Book Thief" "A love story that is both persuasive and tender" The Sunday Times "A description of the extraordinary, sustaining power of a marriage to bind two people together in love, through the most emotionally harrowing circumstances" Daily Mail "A spectacularly sure storyteller ... Reading The Light Between Oceans is a total-immersion experience, extraordinarily moving." -- Monica Ali, Author Of Brick Lane "What an extraordinary book... as inevitable as Hardy at his most doom-laden. And as unforgettable" Guardian
Book Description
Recently longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013, a stunning debut novel and international bestseller about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who face a life-changing moral dilemma."

Ballerina x

I have two from the same author I would like to nominate.

The first is. Gibbon's Decline and Fall By Sherri S. Tepper.
Product Description
The year is 2000. America is swept up in the tide of fundamentalism that is overwhelming the world. Suicide cults and paranoid militias are on the rise and mobs of hooded men drive young women from the streets, as the right-wing American Alliance marshals it forces to close an iron grip on the United States. Yet even as a power-hungry Alliance candidate makes his first move in a game that will land him the presidency, one woman prepares to stand against him. At Carolyn Crespin's side are five women friends, the oddly present spirit of another friend who had been reported dead, and an even more surprising ally, mysterious and powerful - one who hands Carolyn the key to the future of humanity, for good or ill

The main problem with this one is that it seems to be unavailable as a book. Only on UK Amazon as a Kindle download.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Or.

The Gate to Women's Country By Sherri S. Tepper.

Book Description
Publication Date: 26 Oct 1990
Classic fantasy from the amazing Sheri S. Tepper.

Women rule in Women’s Country. Women live apart from men, sheltering the remains of civilization They have cut themselves off with walls and by ordinance from marauding males. Waging war is all men are good for. Men are allowed to fight their barbaric battles… amongst themselves, garrison against garrison. For the sake of his pride, each boy child ritualistically rejects his mother when he comes of age to be a warrior. But all the secrets of civilization are strictly the possession of women.

Naturally, there are men who want to know what the women know… And when Stavia meets Chernon, the battle of the sexes begins all over again. Foolishly, she provides books for Chernon to read. Before long, Chernon is hatching a plan of revenge against women…

The reviews are
Review
‘Poignant and profound… I’m deeply moved’
Stephen Donaldson

‘Lively, thought-provoking… the plot is ingenious, packing a wallop of a surprise’
Ursula K. LeGuin

‘Shocking and entertaining… a wonderful fantasy which explores the role of the sexes’
Fear

‘It’s grand… one of the most involving, serious and deeply felt studies of the relations between the sexes that I have ever read’
Marion Zimmer Bradley

‘Tepper not only keeps us reading, she provokes a new look at the old issues’
Washington Post

‘Remember reading? Really reading, I mean – for knowledge, transformation, survival – that’s how I found myself reading Sheri S. Tepper’
Village Voice

This one is still available as a book and is available as a download.

I find Sherri S Tepper to be an amzingly strong writer. She takes a concept with strong female content and sets it in a scenario, maybe other worldly that really makes you sit back and think.

The last Chapter of Gibbons Decline and fall still has me wondering what choice would 'I' have made?

Just bumping this thread up again to remind people and get a few more suggestions!
Come on now, you know you want to

Two books I have just read and enjoyed a lot
The road between us by Nigel farndale
The river of no return by ridgeway about time travel

I would recommend Cross Stitch (UK)/Outlander (US) by Diana Gabaldon. Historical romance with touch of SciFi. It is a bit of a bodice ripper but quite enjoyable non the less and well researched and written.

How great, just seen the ´Book Club´ I run a book club in the mountains where I live in Spain, we´re just a small group but it´s great, would love to read your titles too .

1Q84 by Murakami Haruki
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell.

If not for October, maybe another month?

How great, just seen the ´Book Club´ I run a book club in the mountains where I live in Spain, we´re just a small group but it´s great, would love to read your titles too .

Hey Lynz - is there anything your group have read that you think we might like to read? If so, nominate it here, and it could end up our 'October book'

I've just read Pure by Andrew Miller. Set in Paris in 1780s. Story of a young engineer who is given the task of excavating the city's cemeteries and removing the bones to the catacombs - where they still are. Costa book of the year 2011 but don't let that put you off.

Just bumping this one up again for the rest of you - you've got till Sunday to nominate something folks!

Many years ago I told my son that everyone should read Schindler 's Ark by Thomas Keneally
I know it has been made into a film since then but it is still a remarkable book about a remarkable man.

I don't have a recommendation at the moment, but I am enjoying Big Brother. I will wait until Sept to say anything about it, but it is so good to read something that I would not have tried if it hadn't been recommended

[carorees]

Oooh, a book club! What a great idea! What are the books for August and September??

While I was away on hols and you were setting up the book club, I read The Cuckoo's Calling by "Robert Galbraith". I enjoyed it but would be very interested what others think.

What are the books for August and September??

'Big brother' by Lionel Shriver