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[FearfulJesuit]

Earlier this year, I started (well, continued) the 2014 52 Books Challenge and...promptly forgot to enter any entries, mostly because I wasn't reading that much, for a couple reasons. (I'm lazy, for one thing, and secondly, when I get done with my college student workload I tend to want to relax with something mindless- I'm doing quite a bit of reading as it is).

This thread will have a similar vibe- let's all read together!- but with an eye towards reading and discussing the same books instead of just knocking off an arbitrary number. (Concrete goals are easier to deal with, in my experience. I'm going to read through the first half of this month's book is easier to do than I'm going to get around to knocking off one of those fifty-two books I promised to read this year, because it's much less abstract.)

So this thread is going to try something different. (Of course, you can still read books from the book club to count towards your 52 book challenge total). Every month, we're going to rotate two people to each suggest a book (this allows more than one choice). There will be a month time lapse to let people find or borrow copies from the library, so the first book selections will be for June, not May. Sign up below if you'd like to be placed on the book selection roster. I'm going to be choosing one of the June books, and I'm split between The Years of Rice and Salt (which I've read before, and liked a lot; it's almost 800 pages, but goes really really quickly) and The Crime of Father Amaro (which I'm reading now. I adore Eça de Queirós- The Maias is probably one of my top five favorite novels, and I'd choose it, except that it's 600 pages and doesn't go spectacularly quickly - but "priest in rural 1870s Portugal has affair with landlady's daughter" is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, even if amazingly well-written.)

There is no upper page limit, but try not to pick something that a relatively busy person can't knock out in a month. (For a "normal" novel- one that isn't Dickens on the one hand or pulp sci-fi on the other- that's probably about 600 pages.) Contrarily, we have a month to read it, so don't pick a 150-page lightweight I'll be over with in an afternoon. It doesn't necessarily have to be a novel. It also doesn't have to be something you've read before, so if you're reading something for class or picking something new up and want company for your misery, by all means, pick it out. Obscurity and variety are fine, but don't choose something that's impossible to acquire, and don't pick something deathly boring. Try to make a case for why you picked what you picked.

[FearfulJesuit]

May

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (suggested by FearfulJesuit)
While Angels Dance by Ralph Cotton (suggested by Yoink)
The Woven Path by Robin Jarvis (suggested by Yoink for people who want something less intense)

[Sappho]

This sounds fun! Sign me up. I've got a long to-read list. I also finally have a Kindle, so at long last I can easily obtain English-language books without bankrupting myself!

[Sheb]

Yeah, sign me up too.

[Yoink]

So, who's up for recommending something? I have a few favourites I could throw in, if no-one else is stepping forward.
Great idea, by the way! The 52 books challenge was a huge time investment for myself at least, this is a lot more palatable. I wish I was still in the habit of reading as much as I used to, but sadly that's not the case. I'm definitely up for this.

[Sappho]

FearfulJesuit says he plans to wait until June for the first book... But why not start the first one in May? Those who are able to get the book in time can start in May, and the rest can just wait for the next round. Rather than *everyone* having to wait a whole month to start.

[FearfulJesuit]

FearfulJesuit says he plans to wait until June for the first book... But why not start the first one in May? Those who are able to get the book in time can start in May, and the rest can just wait for the next round. Rather than *everyone* having to wait a whole month to start.

Good call.

I've picked The Years of Rice and Salt as my book, mainly because it's more accessible (it also goes faster, and I don't want to kill the club first month by picking something nobody will read), but also because there's a Kindle version. Don't let the lack of a Kindle version stop people in the future, though!

Meanwhile, Yoink has volunteered to proffer a few suggestions, while nobody else has, so I'll let him make a call for the second choice.

[Levi]

So, who's up for recommending something?

I really enjoyed the book Spin recently.

[Sappho]

Oh, snap, that's by the same author who wrote the Mars trilogy? Sounds good to me.

I'm also definitely happy to suggest titles for the future. I'll consider my top choices so as not to frighten everyone away with too long a list. : )

[Arx]

I'd be up for this if I can hunt down the books in my local library or bookshops. It should be good for my reading habits, as well.

[Vattic]

PTW to see what interesting books you folk will suggest. Not signing up because almost all my favourite books are short stories and wouldn't be long enough.

[mainiac]

Sounds fun.

[Vector]

Oh damn, I've been meaning to read Father Amaro. I probably won't usually participate, but this is a good incentive to finish that.

[Yoink]

Meanwhile, Yoink has volunteered to proffer a few suggestions, while nobody else has, so I'll let him make a call for the second choice.

Oh gosh, so much pressure!
I have to try and recommend something people will like, that isn't too long and clunky or too short and meaningless, that isn't ridiculously hard to acquire, and then I feel like my favourite books are all competing in my mind, jostling and shoving one another to be chosen...
An added problem is that most of my favourite books tend to contain somewhat noticeable amounts of sex and violence, and I'm not sure if that might be a turn-off for some people participating? They aren't tasteless about it or anything, but easily offended folks might not like it.

My suggestion, after a fair bit of deliberation, is While Angels Dance by Ralph Cotton.
Excellent book set during/after the American Civil War, with plenty of action whilst still being deeply thoughtful.

Since that book contains not a little of the aforementioned sex and violence, I figure I might as well offer a second choice for any who dislike that. One of my favourite books is actually rather tame in that regard, but I don't want to throw that out in the first month that we're doing this, in case no-one actually ends up reading it.

Second recommendation: The Woven Path by Robin Jarvis.
I actually haven't read this one since... well, quite a few years ago, and it actually took me a fair bit of Google-fu to track down the name. I remember it being pretty dang fascinating though, and while it lacks the explicit themes of my other book it isn't boring or overly tame by any means.

[FearfulJesuit]

It's going to be a week or two before I can get my hands on While Angels Dance. My uni library doesn't have it, and I'm leaving for home in a week.