KnowTheToe
First Post
JoeBlank said:
Good Idea!
[EN World Book Club] Suggestions & Selectors
- Thread starter Sam
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Good Idea!
Mean Eyed Cat
Explorer
I like Cthulhu's Librarian's suggestion of The Scar. This book has piqued my curiosity.
Cthulhu's Librarian
First Post
I've got a few more suggestions to add to the list.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
from Amazon.com
"I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped. I already knew something was going to happen; the Factory told me."
Those lines begin one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels. The narrator, Frank Cauldhame, is a weird teenager who lives on a tiny island connected to mainland Scotland by a bridge. He maintains grisly Sacrifice Poles to serve as his early warning system and deterrent against anyone who might invade his territory.
Few novelists have ever burst onto the literary scene with as much controversy as Iain Banks in 1984. The Wasp Factory was reviled by many reviewers on account of its violence and sadism, but applauded by others as a new and Scottish voice--that is, a departure from the English literary tradition. The controversy is a bit puzzling in retrospect, because there is little to object to in this novel, if you're familiar with genre horror.
The Wasp Factory is distinguished by an authentically felt and deftly written first-person style, delicious dark humor, a sense of the surreal, and a serious examination of the psyche of a childhood psychopath. Most readers will find that they sympathize with and even like Frank, despite his three murders (each of which is hilarious in an Edward Gorey fashion). It's a classic of contemporary horror. --Fiona Webster
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
from Amazon.com
Author Tim Powers evokes 17th-century England with a combination of meticulously researched historic detail and imaginative flights in this sci-fi tale of time travel. Winner of the 1984 Philip K. Dick Award for best original science fiction paperback, this 1989 edition of the book that took the fantasy world by storm is the first hardcover version to be published in the United States. In his brief introduction, Ramsey Campbell sets The Anubis Gates in an adventure context, citing Powers's achievement of "extraordinary scenes of underground horror, of comedy both high and grotesque, of bizarre menace, of poetic fantasy."
The colonization of Egypt by western European powers is the launch point for power plays and machinations. Steeping together in this time-warp stew are such characters as an unassuming Coleridge scholar, ancient gods, wizards, the Knights Templar, werewolves, and other quasi-mortals, all wrapped in the organizing fabric of Egyptian mythology. In the best of fantasy traditions, the reluctant heroes fight for survival against an evil that lurks beneath the surface of their everyday lives. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
from Amazon.com
"I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped. I already knew something was going to happen; the Factory told me."
Those lines begin one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels. The narrator, Frank Cauldhame, is a weird teenager who lives on a tiny island connected to mainland Scotland by a bridge. He maintains grisly Sacrifice Poles to serve as his early warning system and deterrent against anyone who might invade his territory.
Few novelists have ever burst onto the literary scene with as much controversy as Iain Banks in 1984. The Wasp Factory was reviled by many reviewers on account of its violence and sadism, but applauded by others as a new and Scottish voice--that is, a departure from the English literary tradition. The controversy is a bit puzzling in retrospect, because there is little to object to in this novel, if you're familiar with genre horror.
The Wasp Factory is distinguished by an authentically felt and deftly written first-person style, delicious dark humor, a sense of the surreal, and a serious examination of the psyche of a childhood psychopath. Most readers will find that they sympathize with and even like Frank, despite his three murders (each of which is hilarious in an Edward Gorey fashion). It's a classic of contemporary horror. --Fiona Webster
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
from Amazon.com
Author Tim Powers evokes 17th-century England with a combination of meticulously researched historic detail and imaginative flights in this sci-fi tale of time travel. Winner of the 1984 Philip K. Dick Award for best original science fiction paperback, this 1989 edition of the book that took the fantasy world by storm is the first hardcover version to be published in the United States. In his brief introduction, Ramsey Campbell sets The Anubis Gates in an adventure context, citing Powers's achievement of "extraordinary scenes of underground horror, of comedy both high and grotesque, of bizarre menace, of poetic fantasy."
The colonization of Egypt by western European powers is the launch point for power plays and machinations. Steeping together in this time-warp stew are such characters as an unassuming Coleridge scholar, ancient gods, wizards, the Knights Templar, werewolves, and other quasi-mortals, all wrapped in the organizing fabric of Egyptian mythology. In the best of fantasy traditions, the reluctant heroes fight for survival against an evil that lurks beneath the surface of their everyday lives. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Kesh
First Post
The Moreau Omnibus by S. Andrew Swann
Haven't read it myself, but this is actually three books in one. The Moreaus in this book were the inspiration for the Genetech setting for d20 Modern.
Plus it's only $8, so it's pretty cheap.
Haven't read it myself, but this is actually three books in one. The Moreaus in this book were the inspiration for the Genetech setting for d20 Modern.
Plus it's only $8, so it's pretty cheap.
Sam
First Post
Status Update
I've been editing the first post of the thread as suggestions are made and people express interest in being an "editorial member". The suggestion list is growing nicely and we have 5 people so far on the "editorial member" list. If you want to participate in that fashion, please express your interest here.
For the first month I'll randomly select one person from the list, and then develop a schedule going out a few months of the next to go. August 14th will be the selection date for the first month. Hopefully by the 15th or 16th the person selected will have made his/her decision.
Keep the suggestions coming!
I've been editing the first post of the thread as suggestions are made and people express interest in being an "editorial member". The suggestion list is growing nicely and we have 5 people so far on the "editorial member" list. If you want to participate in that fashion, please express your interest here.
For the first month I'll randomly select one person from the list, and then develop a schedule going out a few months of the next to go. August 14th will be the selection date for the first month. Hopefully by the 15th or 16th the person selected will have made his/her decision.
Keep the suggestions coming!
kingpaul
First Post
Another book that I absolutely loved reading in grade school was Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. It was written in 1891, and its an historical novel set in the 1400s of England. My copy's old, as it belonged to my mother, then her father before her and his father before him. Its been several years since I've read it. I just might re-read it again just for fun...this book was an old friend that I always went back to...I'm curious to see if its just as good as I remember.
kkoie
First Post
I'd like to nominate the following:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri
All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Beowulf (a very good translation has been done by Seamus Heaney for $14 retail)
Shogun by James Clavell
Thats all I could think of at the moment.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri
All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Beowulf (a very good translation has been done by Seamus Heaney for $14 retail)
Shogun by James Clavell
Thats all I could think of at the moment.
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