The Next Best Book Club discussion

Please read the rules for nominating BEFORE you create your post!! And check our bookshelves to be sure you are not nominating something we have already read as a group!


The categories for January and February are:

January - Bizarro - Absurd, grotesque, odd, entertaining non-mainstream fiction.

February - Love Themed - unrequited or otherwise (no erotica or Harlequin romance please)


If you nominate the book, and the book is chosen as a group read, you agree to lead the discussion for that month! Don't worry, it's not hard, and we'll love you all the more for it!

Please do not nominate a book more than once. A book can only be voted on once, so multiple nominations within this thread are not counted.

Only ONE nomination per month per person.


Please be sure to post the title, author, and the month you are nominating it for.

Ideally, you can type it as follows -
August - Room - Emma Donoghue

If your post does not have those three things, it will not be counted.

Are you ready?

I'll accept nominations through the 10th. If we get tons of nominations, I may pull the plug on it a little early, so get them in as soon as you can!

Once I close nominations I will create the polls and let you know when it is time to vote!

Hit us with your best noms!

**Important note: At no time is it acceptable for an author to nominate one of his/her own books for the monthly group read. Likewise, it is not acceptable to "push" nominations or votes within this group. "A nomination for a nomination" is also not acceptable. If I suspect a push, or inappropriate actions have taken place within the group read nominations or votes, I reserve the right to deem those nominations or votes as ineligible.

can you elaborate on Bizzarro fiction?

For January I nominate The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub

For February I nominate Princess in Love by Meg Cabot

January- Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Dee wrote: "can you elaborate on Bizzarro fiction?"

Sure Dee.

Bizarro fiction often uses elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism, in order to create subversive, weird, and entertaining works.

Some good gateway titles can be found here: http://flavorwire.com/320604/a-beginn...

Goodreads has a bunch of lists with Bizarro titles too:
https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...

And some amazon titles that you can check out and pick up on the cheap(ish):
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...

January- Nutshell by
Ian McEwan

January- Zeroville by Steve Erickson

January - The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières (auth of Captain Corelli's Mandolin)

February - The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa

January -- Quicksand House by Carlton Mellick III

February -- Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

February -- This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

February -

February--The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

January--Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters by Mallory Ortberg

Sam, how is that book considered Bizarro? This book is not a fit for that category and so will not be included.

Also, it appears that you are posting similar comments multiple other groups with the same comment about reading this book, which also goes against the goodreads policy. Tread lightly with that.

Sorry for the slight delay in getting the polls up.


Nice job trying to find books that fall into the bizarro category. I know this is a new one for us; I wanted to shake things up a bit and see what you came up with. While some of them are not a true, traditional bizarro, most are slightly strange and left of norm ; )

Go vote in the book you most want to read together in each category!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

Polls close on December 18th.

Can one nominate their own books?

Jeffrey wrote: "Can one nominate their own books?"

Jeffrey, we are very clear about that rule. It is outlined in the first post, which explains everything you need to know about nominating books...

**Important note: At no time is it acceptable for an author to nominate one of his/her own books for the monthly group read. Likewise, it is not acceptable to "push" nominations or votes within this group. "A nomination for a nomination" is also not acceptable. If I suspect a push, or inappropriate actions have taken place within the group read nominations or votes, I reserve the right to deem those nominations or votes as ineligible.

Wheeeee! The polls are closed and the group reads have been chosen!

In January we will be reading Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, with a discussion led by Kelli

And in February, we'll be reading Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors, with a discussion led by Tina


Not gonna lie, I'm excited to see Geek Love! I've been meaning and meaning to pick it up and now I have no reason not to.

I just put a hold on Geek Love and hope I like it. This isn't really my genre, but it could be a lovely surprise and I'd read about it before.

Hello everyone, this is my first time taking part in your book club. I have Geek Love on the way - when do we need to read the book by?

Also, is there anything else I need to know about this group?

Thank you!

Toni - the Geek Love group discussion is going on here. There's also Newbies Corner, where you can introduce yourself, and here's Lori's welcome post that has a link to the group guidelines. :)

Dawn, I couldn't have said it better myself! Thank you!!!

Toni, So glad you are jumping right in with the group read!

Thank you Dawn & Lori :)

Nathan, our group reads are a discussion that take place with the members of this group who all agree to read a book together. That book was nominated and voted on by members and the discussion is led by the person who nominated the winning book.

You can see all of the information regarding how and when and what it is in the first post of this thread.

This month, we are reading GEEK LOVE. The discussion is being held over in the discussion thread here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

If you are reading the book, hop over to the discussion and engage the other members with questions, thoughts, and comments about the book.

You're welcome Lori and Toni :)

Hello everyone. I am just tentatively watching and seeing how the group works. I am a big reader, but at the moment I am swamped by commitments and in the middle of two or three books. so I will look on for a while if that is all right with you people. I am Thomas from Ireland.

Hello all!

Just became part of this group. This sounds exciting! :) Has the Feb book been chosen already or the recommendations are open? :)
TIA

Welcome Romil,

February has already been picked. Message 19 will show you which titles we are reading.