The Reading Rainbow Coalition discussion

Suggestions needed please! Let's get some more kick ass books! :)

I suggest The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, because it gives a really different point of view about nerd and geek culture from a Dominican racial perspective. Learning about different cultures is good especially if tied in with nerd history like the origins of anime distribution (it involved Hawaii) and role playing games other than Dungeons and Dragons.

I suggest Air by Geoff Ryman. It tells the story of the introduction of "Air" - a sort of telepathic internet - into a fictional Central Asian country in the near future. We see events through the eyes of Chung Mae, a clever if illiterate peasant woman, and witness what happens when this technological tsunami comes to one of the most isolated places in the world.

Winner of several awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award.

Extract here.

Found a few interesting ones on my library's website...
Darwin's Radio: The cause of an epidemic among pregnant women is found to be a retrovirus buried in human DNA. The worldwide outbreak signals not a deadly disease, but a startling instance of evolutionary subspeciation. (Nebula Award: 2000)

Camouflage: The discovery of an alien artifact at the bottom of a Pacific trench attracts the intense interest of a pair non-humans, who have lived on Earth for tens of thousands of years. (Nebula Award: 2005)

I suggest The Lies of Locke Lamora. Supreme badassery and illegal shenanigans committed by Twist-like orphans grown UP! Highly recommended while you wait for the new Song of Ice & Fire installment to be published.

I'd also be down with Perfume The Story of a Murderer, which has been a favorite of mine (and Nathan Fillion's) for years now. Forget the weirdly crappy movie and read the book :)