Poll

Okay Melanie, here goes:

Autonomous - This one caught my eye because three of my friends read it and all three gave it five stars. Two of those friends tend to have taste that aligns with the majority opinion in this group. I tend to keep an eye on what they're enjoying because of that.

The Dream of Perpetual Motion - After I read Version Control I wanted to read absolutely every book Dexter Palmer had written. That was this book... I was not a fan and ended up giving it two stars but I think that a lot of people would enjoy it. It's a very unusual book so I feel that it adds something to the poll that is really unique and people are probably not familiar with it.

An Excess Male - I heard about this one shortly before it came out. I like that it takes place in China and is written by a Chinese woman. These are two things that are rare on our shelves. It was also $1.99 not too long ago on Kindle so the timing was good.

River of Gods - McDonald really impressed me with his writing and world-building in Luna: New Moon. I had his name down as someone to work into polls every now and then. I actually own this audiobook and I would love to read it. It was recently mentioned in Allison's Inclusive Book Bingo as a possibility for the Hindi lore/characters square.

The Power - This was a weird one because I saw it come up in new release announcements twice. Once for Sept '16 and once for Sept '17. I have no idea what the deal was with that but it made me look at it twice, literally and figuratively. This has also been pretty popular lately. This one sounds like it could be disturbing - maybe heavy on triggers. Still, it's been popular enough that I figured it should get a chance to make it to our bookshelf.

It looks like An Excess Male still is $1.99 on Kindle.

FWIW The Power was on Obama’s favorite books of 2017.

Sarah Anne wrote: "Okay Melanie, here goes:

Autonomous - This one caught my eye because three of my friends read it and all three gave it five stars. Two of those friends tend to have taste that aligns with the majo..."

Thanks!

You're welcome :)

Argh this is also gonna be tough. I am feeling mentally fortified, so I feel like I should do one of the ones that will make me reach for my tin hat. OTOH...River of Gods.

I may end up switching my vote back and forth, so many good options. I've already read Autonomous, it's definitely worth a read. I'm currently reading An Excess Male, I really like it, but I'm not sure it's everyone's cup of tea. So for now I've voted for The Power, just to give me a good reason to read it. I was originally going to vote for Excess Male, but since I'm already almost done with it, I don't need extra motivation.

All of these sound good. I voted An Excess Male because I already have it, but I’ve also been interested in The Power, River of Gods, and Autonomous. I’ll have to check out The Dream of Perpetual Motion.

I was hoping you would include some Ursula Le Guin in because of her passing but River of God looks good. I've been looking for something with Indian mythology in it.

Tom wrote: "I was hoping you would include some Ursula Le Guin in because of her passing but River of God looks good. I've been looking for something with Indian mythology in it."

Maybe we could have an honorary buddy read for those looking to remember Ursula Le Guin?

I think River of Gods looks very interesting. I really like the idea of exploring India in a Sci Fi setting. At first I voted for Autonomous, but I changed my mind when I read a little more in depth about River of Gods. The last sentence of the blurb really pulled me in.

Allison wrote: "Maybe we could have an honorary buddy read for those looking to remember Ursula Le Guin? .."

Or a thread dedicated to her where anyone who reads her books or stories can share their thoughts about them, or about her in general.

Tom wrote: "Allison wrote: "Maybe we could have an honorary buddy read for those looking to remember Ursula Le Guin? .."

Or a thread dedicated to her where anyone who reads her books or stories can share thei..."

We have a thread honoring her. Hard to do a mixed book discussion though as many people haven't read all of her works. It'd be a shame to ruin the joy for someone who can still meet her through her work.

Here's a place to talk about her, though please use spoilers if you're discussing anything specific about a book. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Of all these I heard about The Power. Where can you suggest books for future readings?

Leticia wrote: "Of all these I heard about The Power. Where can you suggest books for future readings?"

We have monthly nominations for one genre and a random selection on another. If you have books that you've found really interesting, tell us about them in What Else Are You Reading or other pertinent threads. And nominate things! I think the next noms go up in a week or two.

Such a great list!

Allison wrote: "Tom wrote: "Allison wrote: "Maybe we could have an honorary buddy read for those looking to remember Ursula Le Guin? .."

Or a thread dedicated to her where anyone who reads her books or stories ca..."

You could add the book threads for her books that are already on our bookshelf to the Group Reading Calendar.

Melanie wrote: "Allison wrote: "Tom wrote: "Allison wrote: "Maybe we could have an honorary buddy read for those looking to remember Ursula Le Guin? .."

Or a thread dedicated to her where anyone who reads her boo..."

I imagine many will be inclined to add more books of hers to our Re-read. The Dispossessed is currently there now. I think that's a good thought Melanie...I'll try to link all of her books in our shelf in the thread we started for her so that people can chime in with their own re-reads and buddy groups.

I'm also happy to move any discussion threads to the re-read folder for anyone who organizes a buddy read for a book!

Thanks Allison. I really enjoyed reading the posts in the Le Guin thread and hope to add links to other articles and essays by and about her.

Ah man, I want to read four of these! And it is for March :(

Silvana wrote: "Ah man, I want to read four of these! And it is for March :("

Is March bad? That sounds like good timing!

Allison wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Ah man, I want to read four of these! And it is for March :("

Is March bad? That sounds like good timing!"

I already have three books scheduled and I joined a challenge to read all my owned books first...well let's see if there's a sudden discount on the winner and a spare time in between those three books. Everything is still possible. 🙄