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[Yoink]

I'm going to see if I can pick up Years of Rice and Grain when I'm in town tomorrow.
Seems like a good excuse to wander around visiting bookstores, even if I'll be spending a lot of the day at my usual Comic store for Free Comic Book Day.

[FearfulJesuit]

In the meantime, do two people want to submit June proposals? I know Sappho briefly mentioned she could be called up.

[Sappho]

I'll definitely suggest a book for June. I just need to decide if I want to suggest one I've already read and want to share, or one I haven't read but am interested in...

I've started reading The Years of Rice and Salt. It's definitely good and well-written, interesting style, but I'm finding it a bit too graphic for my tastes. I've only read the first 10% though (hooray Kindle for not listing page numbers) so I'll see how it goes.

[FearfulJesuit]

I'll definitely suggest a book for June. I just need to decide if I want to suggest one I've already read and want to share, or one I haven't read but am interested in...

I've started reading The Years of Rice and Salt. It's definitely good and well-written, interesting style, but I'm finding it a bit too graphic for my tastes. I've only read the first 10% though (hooray Kindle for not listing page numbers) so I'll see how it goes.

Yeah, I'd kind of forgotten that. It's actually been almost a year since I've read it, I found it in a book stall last summer and had heard good things about it. IIRC it's not that bad and worst early on.

[Yoink]

Wow, I just realized that I called it Years of Rice and Grain by mistake.
Turns out there's actually another book by that name, so Google didn't exactly notice my error. >.>

Edit: Wait, nope, not even that excuse. I just plain derped.

[Sappho]

Can I make 2 suggestions for July? I can't decide between these two. Or someone can pick for me.

1. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (Nancy Farmer)
2. The Lemurian Stone (Stephen F. Hickman)

I've finally reached a part in The Years of Rice and Salt that I really enjoy. When we finish reading a book, are we encouraged/permitted to share reviews/thoughts about it in spoilers? It certainly won't take me more than another few days to finish it, and I don't want to forget my thoughts before the month is up.

[FearfulJesuit]

Can I make 2 suggestions for July? I can't decide between these two. Or someone can pick for me.

1. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (Nancy Farmer)
2. The Lemurian Stone (Stephen F. Hickman)

I've finally reached a part in The Years of Rice and Salt that I really enjoy. When we finish reading a book, are we encouraged/permitted to share reviews/thoughts about it in spoilers? It certainly won't take me more than another few days to finish it, and I don't want to forget my thoughts before the month is up.

Yes, of course! What else would we be having a book club for?

[Vector]

Oh man, Ear, Eye, and Arm is one of my favorite novels.

Can I add a recommendation, too? I'm recommending The Mists of Avalon.

[Yoink]

Years of Rice and Salt is proving elusive.
It's out of print, so I went to the gigantic antique bookstore in the city (which is an amazing place, by the way- in a beautiful old brick building) but sadly, despite having over a million books they didn't have it. Had a couple of other books by Robinson but not the one I was looking for.

Going to walk to a 2ndhand bookstore a suburb away once I've finished my lunch.

[FearfulJesuit]

Years of Rice and Salt is proving elusive.
It's out of print, so I went to the gigantic antique bookstore in the city (which is an amazing place, by the way- in a beautiful old brick building) but sadly, despite having over a million books they didn't have it. Had a couple of other books by Robinson but not the one I was looking for.

Going to walk to a 2ndhand bookstore a suburb away once I've finished my lunch.

It's perfectly in print on Amazon according to my browser.

[Yoink]

Yeah, at this rate I might have to order it online.
That bookstore I checked yesterday didn't have it either... apparently they'd only recently sold their copy of the book. >.>
I blame Tack. It must have been Tack who bought it out from under my nose.

I guess I'll buy it online next time I get paid, or something.

[JoshuaFH]

Hello fellow literate people. I was thinking of maybe picking up a book again to read in my off time.

Maybe I'll look into this thread.

Question: Off the top of anyone's head, is there a book that has the kind of traditional Tolkien races (Orcs, elves, etc) but the setting is a modern-day world with cars, mobile devices, etc?  maybe with more emphasis on domestic life and hardship than any divine quest? I just got an urge to read something like that.

[FearfulJesuit]

So...I didn't get to read While Angels Dance. I did re-read Years of Rice and Salt, though.

Spoiler: Thoughts (click to show/hide)

Excellent premise- pretty good execution. My biggest gripe is that Robinson felt the need to tie the stories together and introduced the reincarnation. It feels forced, and the gooey mysticism jars badly with the excellent research that fills in the main story- and while the insistence on recycling the characters from chapter to chapter doesn't really feel like it holds together well as a continuity mechanism, it DOES restrict him character-wise. There's nothing wrong with writing the novel as a series of vignettes taking place at one point in a continuous timeline- indeed, it fits the premise very well. But then, write the novel as a series of vignettes. There's nothing wrong with that; history itself provides enough continuity. As far as the vignettes go, I don't think it's realistic for a World War One expy to go on for generations. No society could handle that, there'd be pacifist revolutions.

I also think it could have gone on longer...but maybe that's just one's normal feeling with a good book. Reminds me that I was going to work on my own alternate history novel; this one breaks off at 1000 AD, and its premise is that the Norse colony in Newfoundland survives and grows slowly over the next few centuries.

Who has a June book to nominate? I can nominate another book if need be.

[Sappho]

I made a couple of suggestions a few posts back.

I also need to post my thoughts about Years of Rice and Salt before I forget everything. Burnt out at the moment, haven't been able to write anything for fun. Should have something by the end of the week.

[Sappho]

So are there any other book suggestions? Or should I start re-reading one of the ones I suggested?

Is anyone else still doing this?