21st Century Literature discussion

Nominations are now open until September 8th for the October 2020 Wild Card.

The purpose of the Wild Card is to choose books that fall outside our usual rules by being more on the ‘genre’ side of things (e.g., sci-fi, fantasy, YA, romances, westerns, graphic novels, etc.) but still of literary interest. More about the Wild Card can be found here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Nominating guidelines:
- Fiction (original & translation, if applicable) first published between January 1, 2000 and October 15, 2019. For translations the latter date must be an English edition.
- One nomination per person (please do not nominate or vote for a book unless you are certain you can read and discuss if it wins)
- A book this group has not yet read (see group bookshelf or the Index of all Group Reads)
- A book that does not qualify for the Open Pick category

If you are nominating, please begin your post by stating "I nominate [name with hyperlink to book]"

The discussion will start on October 15th

I'd like to nominate Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu. Funny sci-fi short stories sounds like a fun combination.

Thanks Bretnie

Bretnie wrote: "I'd like to nominate Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu. Funny sci-fi short stories sounds like a fun combination."

I loved this book :)

Nadine wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "I'd like to nominate Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu. Funny sci-fi short stories sounds like a fun combination."

I loved this book :)"

Nadine, I think you were the reason I added to it my list. :)

I nominate Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell.

It's short too :)

Bretnie wrote: "Nadine, I think you were the reason I added to it my list. :)"

Glad it worked out ;) Winter's Bone is one of my all time favorite books (and the movie was almost as good). I'm going to have a hard time with this poll...

This is the read for October, which means Halloween, ghosts, and suspense. I nominate what sounds like a good read for the season -- Three Mean Streets by Frank Tuttle.

It is the first book in Markhat Files series. It contains 3 novellas that were originally published individually (all in the 21st century) and then combined as the first book in the series. It seems to be available only in Kindle ($1.99) and Audible ($13.97).

Nominations are now closed. I will create the poll later today.

The poll is up here, and will run until September 16th:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Tough decision!

Sorry - I forgot about this but the poll is over and Sorry Please Thank You won it. Bretnie, are you happy to lead the discussion?

Interesting that Charles Yu's newest book - Interior Chinatown - is on the 2020 National Book Award Fiction longlist!

Oh great, yes!

Have you all ever done short stories before? Thinking about the best way to set it up so we don't have 15 threads! It's grouped into four "categories" so I suppose I could go that route.

Linda, I have Interior Chinatown on hold at the library and hadn't even realized it's the same author!

We have done a few, most recently Aetherial Worlds early this year - I also moderated the discussion of Daisy Johnson's Fen which seemed less successful - in that one I tried to spread the individual stories across the month but failed to find enough time to reread at the right times.

A few other approaches have been tried. I haven't seen a copy of this book so I don't know how long the individual stories are - if some are very short individual story discussions won't work as well.

Hugh wrote: "We have done a few, most recently Aetherial Worlds early this year - I also moderated the discussion of Daisy Johnson's Fen which seemed less successful - in that one I tried to spread the individu..."

Thanks Hugh, I'll keep this in mind as I'm reading to think about the best way to discuss. But definitely open to ideas from others!

Bretnie, I started his How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe many years ago but never finished it. Surprisingly though I remember how it started. I did not dislike, just got diverted to some other book and never made my way back. I may try this one, if I like Interior Chinatown, which I will start today.

Hugh wrote: " I also moderated the discussion of Daisy Johnson's Fen which seemed less successful .."

I have to disagree here - I participated in the Fen discussion and I thought it was great - I started the discussion thinking the book was just okay, and left with a much more thoughtful appreciation of it :)

Nadine wrote: "Hugh wrote: " I also moderated the discussion of Daisy Johnson's Fen which seemed less successful .."

I have to disagree here - I participated in the Fen discussion and I thought it was great - I ..."
I am glad somebody enjoyed it! One former member of the group rather spoiled it for me.

I liked the Fen discussion, but it only takes one bad apple and we did have a grumpy goose amidst the flock...

(Note to self: Let this be the first and last time I either type or utter the phrase "grumpy goose.")

Ha, I'll take a look at both how Fen and Aetherial Worlds to see how you structured it.

I agree that the Fen discussion was excellent. I'm not sure how different it would have been as separate story threads versus the read-along style that Hugh did. Also, the grumpy goose's comments are no longer visible, but the heroically polite responses to them remain. You can find the links to the discussion here, since it's been archived:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Whitney wrote: "I agree that the Fen discussion was excellent. I'm not sure how different it would have been as separate story threads versus the read-along style that Hugh did. Also, the grumpy goose's comments a..."

Thanks Whitney, it sounds like Hugh's method might be worth another shot, so I'll plan on following a similar path. I like it. :)

The g.g. deleted all of his own comments from the discussion.

Hugh wrote: "The g.g. deleted all of his own comments from the discussion."

Ah. Took his ball and went home. Poor, misunderstood genius.