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!

We will have two catagories this month:
Cat1- Regular Fiction/Non-Fiction
Cat2- War Theme


Only ONE nomination per person.
If you nominate a book for catagory 1, you CANNOT nominate a book for catagory 2, and visa versa.

Please be sure to post the title, author, and the catagory it belongs to.

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

Are you ready?

I will accept nominations through Wednesday evening. 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!

Category 2
Title: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
Author: Karl Marlantes

Description:
The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the mountains of the remote north-western corner of Quang-Tri Province. The protagonist, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant, wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. Two people stand in his way. The first is a well-loved, combat-weary lieutenant of his own age, who desperately wants out of the bush, but who does not want to leave his Marines with an inexperienced and overly ambitious officer. The second is an angry young leader of the company s radical blacks, who has all the political skill, savvy, and ambition of the protagonist. As the protagonist experiences the costs of combat, he sees the terrible results of his ambition and starts to change, learning that compassion and heart are more important than ambition and skill.

Cat1-'Handling The Undead' John Ajvide Lindqvist
(he wrote 'Let The Right One In')

Category 1 - The Collector by John Fowles

Cat2 - Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Cat2. The Guns of August-Barbara W. Tuchman

Cat 1 - Deliverance by James Dickey

Cat 2 - Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Cat 1: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

Emily wrote: "Cat 1: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt"

That is a monster of a book. I liked it.

Cat 2: The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Cat 2: Company K by William March

I changed my mind...I actually want,

Cat 2: Castle Keep by William Eastlake

the first one I had was good but this is better:

Cat 1: The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

Cat 1: The Birth House by Ami McKay

Cat 2: Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks or
his books about WO I

The Lotus Eaters
It's a book about an American photographer during the Vietnam War.

Water for Elephantsby Sara Gruen

Kristi, this was already a group read. Please nominate something else.

Category 1:
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Category 2: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kahled Hosseini.

Everyone I know who has read this book loves it. Right now I am reading The Kite Runner (which he also wrote), and it is fabulous. Supposedly A Thousand Splendid Suns is even better.

Description: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years, from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding, that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, are inextricable from the history playing out around them.
Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love. A stunning accomplishment.

Category 2
Color of the Sea by John Hamamura

category 1
Fury by Rushdie

Such a powerful book.

category 1
One day by David Nicholls

Kitty wrote: That is a monster of a book. I liked it."

It's been on my To-Read for awhile now. It sounds amazing.

Cat 2 - Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

Category 2 ~ The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

cat 2 - Tree of Smoke by Dennis Johnson

This one could actually fit either category, at least in my book, but I'm going to list it as category 2. If it's not acceptable enough as a war book, please place it in category 1?

Starship: Mutiny (Starship, Book 1) by Mike Resnick

Jesi, I think I will place it into the Cat 1 - since it's the sci fi kinda war.

Sounds good. :)

Catie, Blindness was already a group read here at TNBBC. Please choose another novel.

No prob! I can't fault you for your choice though, that is an excellent novel!!!!

Oh Crap! I ran out of time and never closed the nominations or posted the polls. Shoot! My next day off is Saturday... Keep the noms coming till then and I promise to get them up on time then :)

Lori - You may be Super Mod but you are still only human. ;)

Category 2 - The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway

I know! I am taking on too much at the moment, methinks! I am falling behind on events I had lined up for my blog too! Ekkk!

Somebody Knows my Name - Lawrence Hill
Category 1

Can I change my nomination from Cat 1 Deliverance by James Dickey to Cat 1 The Color Purple by Alice Walker?

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway for Cat 2

Sure thing Lahni.

I'm going to tally these suckers up and attempt to get started on the polls..... Phew!


Cat 1
Handling The Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Collector - John Fowles
The Children's Book - A.S. Byatt
The Cookbook Collector - Allegra Goodman
The Birth House - Ami McKay
The Weight of Silence - Heather Gudenkauf
Fury - Salman Rushdie
One Day - David Nicholls
Starship: Mutiny (Starship, Book 1) - Mike Resnick
Someone Knows my Name - Lawrence Hill
The Color Purple - Alice Walker


Cat2
Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
The Guns of August - Barbara W. Tuchman
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay
Company K - William March
Castle Keep - William Eastlake
Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulk
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Kahled Hosseini
Color of the Sea - John Hamamura
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
Tree of Smoke - Dennis Johnson
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway

I am going to try to get these polls up tonite so voting can start... as it's getting late into the month already.

Just so you know, the Lawrence Hill book in Category 1 is actually called "Someone Knows My Name".
Someone Knows My Name

Amanda wrote: "Just so you know, the Lawrence Hill book in Category 1 is actually called "Someone Knows My Name".
Someone Knows My Name"

Which was a good book by the way.

See where cutting and pasting gets me??
Thanks so much Amanda!

No problem, I was just getting a head start on looking up some of the books and didn't find it as "Somebody", so figured it be better to fix it before the poll was made.

Ok, nominations are closed. POLLS are open!

Go vote!

they will close on the 26th at midnight so get em in early!

Lori, there was some sort of code weirdness with the second poll. "Tree of Smoke" and "The Cellist of Sarajevo" share one button/vote option.

Fixed it. I must have somehow plugged both into one slot...??? Thanks for catching it!

The winner for reg fiction is

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK


There is a tie for the War theme. So today we will have a tie breaker vote! I am opening a poll that will end tonight to see who will be the winner

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
or
CATCH 22

Good luck and may be the best book win!