December Nominations

[Kell]

Time to start thinking about our next choice which will be read during December.

The nominations thread will remain open till the evening of Friday 16 November, after which a selection will be chosen for the poll.

Let the nominations begin!

~~*~~
- Please only make nominations and seconds here, rather than discussing the books nominated or going off-topic.

- Bear in mind that having hundreds of nominations makes it more difficult, so please limit yourself to a maximum of two nominations per person, although you can second as many as you like.

- Please also remember to post a synopsis of the books you nominate as it helps people to know what they're seconding!

- Please make sure the books you nominate are available in paperback (as we don't want to make it prohibitively expensive for members to take part in the reading circle).

- If the book you're nominating is part of a series, please make sure it is either the first one or a stand-alone (or the sequel to one already read by the reading circle).

[Kell]

The two books I'd like to nominate for December are:

Orlando by Virginia Woolf:
Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" - 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth's England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Costantinople, awakes to find that he is a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.

Ben Hur by Lew Wallace:
A tale of the time of the Christ. An immediate best-seller on publication, "Ben Hur" remains a dazzling achievement by any standards. A thoroughly exhilarating tale of betrayal, revenge and salvation, it is the only novel that ranks with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as a genuine American folk possession. Wallace writes with a freshness and immediacy that brings every action-packed scene to life and illuminates the geography, ethnology and customs of the ancient world.

[Adam]

Pigs In Heaven - Barbara Kingsolver

Six-year-old Turtle Greer witnesses a freak accident at the Hoover Dam, leading to a man's dramatic rescue. But Turtle's moment of celebrity draws her into a crisis of historical proportions that will envelop not only her and her mother, Taylor, but everyone else who touched their lives in a complex web connecting their future with their past. With this wise, compelling novel, the acclaimed "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees," and "Animal Dreams" vividly renders a world of heartbreak and redeeming love as she defines and defies the boundaries of family, and illuminates the many separate truths about the ties that bind us and tear us apart.

[Echo]

I'll second Orlando. It's on my TBR list, and I enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway.

[lovesreading06]

Its just started November and we allready doing next months reading circle

I would like to nomatie these two books.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham


Imagine a year without the chaos and frenzy that has become part of our holiday tradition - this is just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they plan to skip Christmas and embark on a Caribbean cruise instead. But as this weary couple is about to discover - it's not as easy as that.



The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

Tom Langdon, a weary and cash-strapped journalist, was banned from flying in the U. S. when an overly probing search wand caused him to blow his top at LaGuardia Airport. Now, the train is his only option to get to Los Angeles for Christmas to be with his girlfriend. To finance the trip, he pitches a story about a train ride taken during Christmas season to his ex-flame editor, Eleanor. Thereupon begins one of the most hilarious - and heartwarming - train rides ever. Along the way Tom encounters mechanical failures, derailments, and eccentric characters like Agnes Joe, who rides trains all the time, though no one knows why. There's also a mysterious passenger whom Tom suspects may be a fugitive, an avalanche that changes everyone's Christmas plans, unexpected romance, and a rekindling of holiday spirits. As the mighty Southwest Chief chugs along, Tom Langdon and his wonderful train adventure will have you laughing as you turn the pages. It will also reacquaint you with what makes Christmas truly special.

[Gyre]

I think 'Orlando' sounds great x

[Inver]

'The Mermaid Chair' by Sue Monk Kidd ( I have read it, but just wanted to suggest it)
'Cold Granite' by Stuart MacBride (or has this been done already, just since we have had him here as a featured author, again another I have read)
THE MERMAID CHAIR BY SUE MONK KIDD:
Jessie Sullivan has been married half her life, and has become accustomed to her role. But when she returns to the isolated island she grew up on to establish why her mother has been behaving oddly, she is to find a lot more than she came looking for. A loving, exuberant character, who believes herself to be happy, she has forgotten a hidden part of her spirit - the part represented by the beautiful, vibrant and legendary mermaid carved on a chair in the island's monastery. When Jessie falls passionately in love with a childhood friend, now a monk, she discovers a place in herself that she had never previously imagined could exist. THE MERMAID CHAIR is the story of a woman trying to save her outgrown life - the roles, identities, securities and illusions she had created for herself - before finally emerging as something far more alive and powerful.

COLD GRANITE BY STUART MACBRIDE:
The debut thriller from a bright new Scottish talent set to rival Ian Rankin. It's DS Logan McRae's first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn't get much worse. Four-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch, strangled, mutilated and a long time dead. There's a killer stalking the Granite City and the local media are baying for blood. If that wasn't enough, Logan also has to contend with a new boss, DI Insch, who doesn't suffer fools gladly and thinks everyone's a fool, and his own ex-girlfriend, the beautiful but chilly Isobel MacAlister, who also happens to be the chief pathologist. The only good news is WPC 'Ball Breaker' Watson, Logan's new guardian angel. The dead are piling up in the morgue almost as fast as the snow on the streets, and Logan knows time is running out. More children are going missing. More are going to die. If Logan isn't careful, he's going to end up joining them. Set in Aberdeen, where the rainy season lasts all year, criminal gangs vie for supremacy on the streets and the oil industry brings an influx of wealth and vice, this is a gritty, powerful and page-turning debut thriller by a writer with a wonderfully observant eye and a characteristically Scottish sense of gallows humour.

[Louiseog]

Its just started November and we allready doing next months reading circle

I would like to nomatie these two books.

Skipping Christmas


Imagine a year without the chaos and frenzy that has become part of our holiday tradition - this is just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they plan to skip Christmas and embark on a Caribbean cruise instead. But as this weary couple is about to discover - it's not as easy as that.
.
Can I second this, as it should be read BEFORE Christmas

[JudyB]

I'll second The Christmas Train - sounds really good - I haven't heard of it before.

[Inver]

Oops sorry....meant to put a summary of the books in after I put the titles up and then was distracted.:blush:

[jenmck]

Can I third "Skipping Christmas"?

And I second "The Christmas Train"

[angerball]

Once again, I'd like to nominate:

Out by Natsuo Kirino:
Four women who work the night shift in a Tokyo factory that produces boxed lunches find their lives twisted beyond repair in this grimly compelling crime novel, which won Japan's top mystery award, the Grand Prix, for its already heralded author, now making her first appearance in English. Despite the female bonding, this dark, violent novel is more evocative of Gogol or Dostoyevsky than Thelma and Louise. When Yayoi, the youngest and prettiest of the women, strangles her philandering gambler husband with his own belt in an explosion of rage, she turns instinctively for help to her co-worker Masako, an older and wiser woman whose own family life has fallen apart in less dramatic fashion. To help her cut up and get rid of the dead body, Masako recruits Yoshie and Kuniko, two fellow factory workers caught up in other kinds of domestic traps. In Snyder's smoothly unobtrusive translation, all of Kirino's characters are touching and believable. And even when the action stretches to include a slick loan shark from Masako's previous life and a pathetically lost and lonely man of mixed Japanese and Brazilian parentage, the gritty realism of everyday existence in the underbelly of Japan's consumer society comes across with pungent force.

[Kell]

I'll second OUT - I have it on my shelf and almost nominated it myself!

[Icecream]

Can I third Orlando?

[happyanddandy]

May I second 'Pigs in Heaven'? Picked up recently second hand and have not read yet :smile2:

[supergran71]

I would like to second The Christmas Train and third Pigs in Heaven.

[Renniemist]

I would like to second 'Pigs in Heaven' and 'Cold Granite.'

[jenmck]

Can I third "Cold Granite"?

[haniirani]

I'll second Out once again and also Orlando. :)

[Kell]

Just a few days left to nominate and second nominations, folks! This thread will close on Friday evening...

[Kell]

This thread is now closed - please go to the December Poll and cast your vote!

ETA:: No it's not! It's only Thursday! One day left to second your favourite choice from those listed...

[FishAndChips]

You know what that's called don't you? Wishful thinking :lol:

I wish it was Friday too ;)

[Icecream]

So do I. I was all geared up for voting then too!

[Purple Poppy]

I will second Orlando, and third one of the christmas ones...the train one (sorry...you know which one I mean!).
Pp

[Kylie]

ETA:: No it's not! It's only Thursday! One day left to second your favourite choice from those listed...

:lol: You're not having a good week are you Kell?

[Kell]

OK, now it's closed! Time to cast your votes for the December read in the poll!