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The Quasi-Official August Book Reading Game

15K views 60 replies 10 participants last post by  MissStar 
#1 ·
It's not the morning of the 1st a I intended, but it's the 1st so I win. :) .... Here is the game thread as well as a refresher list of selectors and selectees for your viewing pleasure....

SelectorSelecteeGenresDealbreakers
AnnalogSongbirdVB Mystery, Suspense, Romance, Crime, ParanormalConspiracy, spy, political, erotica, zombies, horror.

Please keep the cost under $8 if possible... will pay more if the book is fabulous. Also, warn me if it's non-fiction! Helps me set my expectations. ;D
drenfrowTuttleFantasy, Science Fiction,autistic non-fictionLove triangle as primary plot point,
GeoffreyMissStarI've been doing lots of YA, paranormal romance lately. I'd really like something different. My Goodreads is fairly up to date: I usually say political, but I just read one that wasn't too bad. I'm going to go with no deal-breakers and see what that gets me.
imallbsAnnalogScience Fiction; Mystery; Fantasy, some non-fiction. I have an account on Goodreads that I have not been very good at maintaining. None. May check out from public library if the book is available there as I still need to watch expenses.
JeffNogDogScience Fiction, Fantasy and occasional Science fact (esp. physics and astronomy), Military history
Here is my Goodreads
Romance (some is okay, but as a secondary aspect of the story), pushing beliefs down my throat (political, religious, whatever), I'd prefer to avoid 1000-page door-stops. GoodReads list

Not necessarily a deal-breaker, but it better be good: Young Adult (I have not qualified as a young adult for a few decades now :) )
KingAlJeffNo PreferencesNo Deal Breakers
MissStarKingAlSci-fi/fantasy, Mystery/thrillers. Here's my Goodreads No Deal Breakers
NogDogimallbsMystery, U.S. and European history, historical fiction
This is supposed to be a link to my Goodreads list but I'm not promising anything.
Horror
SongbirdVB drenfrowMystery, Fantasy/Sci Fi, Science/History of Scienceextreme violence/gore, extreme sadness,
horror/scary stuff, You can check out my books
on Goodreads: Donna's Books
TuttleGeoffreyScience Fiction; Fantasy; Alternate History; gay fiction You can find me on goodreads here.No Non-Fiction
 
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#2 ·
Miss Star,

I have two choices for you. Both very different.

The first, you should just trust me and get. It's only $2.99 at Amazon I think until about the 4th of this month. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is the tale of a nuclear war set in the 50's when they were still considered very winnable. It's set in a small southern town and captures both the spirit of pulling together with people you've known all your life, the fear of the unknown and the unshakable faith that our government will come to the rescue. This book is fantastic and one of the classics of the apocalyptic fiction sub-genre.

Can I say trust me twice? Then you can trust me that this one is far outside your comfort zone and lots and lots of fun. it's not available at amazon currently, but you can get it at the publisher's site, Baen, for $6.99 and load it onto you kindle. Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker is a nice stand alone science fiction novel and the beginning of a fun series set on a planet made of of hexagonal regions each with their own dominant sentient species and technology level. It's a classic in the genre as well and required reading for geek boys as they enter those awkward adolescent years ... But still fun for those of us far on the other side of that period ... :)

 
#3 ·
Ok, KingAl. Here's my picks for you. Hope you like at least one, if not let me know and I'll find some more. :)





 
#4 ·
Geoffrey, I totally trust you.  I'm going to grab both of those.  They both sound pretty interesting.  I'm currently trying to go back and read classics (just finished 1984), so the first sounds awesome.  I'm starting to love science fiction, so I will definitely try the second, as well.  Thanks!
 
#5 ·
Geoffrey - I'm afraid of choosing for you because of so many of the books I'd normally recommend to people being books you've already read! But that might be a good thing.

So

After going through and eliminating all of the things I first thought of because they'd been already read. (But some were 5 star which was a plus)

One book out of normal genres, one book not.





(Also, I've just bought Alas, Babylon without anything more than the description you just gave there and knowing the price its at. )
 
#7 ·
Tuttle, I have two picks for you:

The first is one of my favorite reads of this year, although I actually listened to it as an audiobook.



The second is another one I really liked:

 
#9 ·
So I'm an idiot and it took me forever to remember how to make a link. But it's still Monday here in the Inland Northwest so I'll count this as not being delayed.

Annalog, I combined your mystery and crime preferences and came up with a police procedural. It is not hardboiled but not a cozy either. Blood in the Water is the 1st of the series but my favorite is No Sorrow to Die which is the 4th of the series. I know some people like to read in order so I went with the 1st one.



If you don't care for this, I can pick something else.

NogDog, I downloaded The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. I worked before just to go with the 1st book listed, so I'm going to stick with that strategy. I look forward to starting it.
 
#10 ·
imallbs, I bought your pick for me; it looks interesting. I think you may have confused the usual genres of SongbirdVB with mine (Science Fiction; Mystery; Fantasy, some non-fiction). My mom is also on my Amazon Kindle account and she will probably read this as well. Her preferences are more grounded in reality than mine. But  since one of the goals of this is books outside my comfort zone, your pick for me should be perfect.  :)

SongbirdVB, I hope to post my pick for you later today.
 
#11 ·
Annalog said:
imallbs, I bought your pick for me; it looks interesting. I think you may have confused the usual genres of SongbirdVB with mine (Science Fiction; Mystery; Fantasy, some non-fiction). My mom is also on my Amazon Kindle account and she will probably read this as well. Her preferences are more grounded in reality than mine. But since one of the goals of this is books outside my comfort zone, your pick for me should be perfect. :)

SongbirdVB, I hope to post my pick for you later today.
You are right. I was going off your mystery preference when I picked it because I find this type of police procedural and mystery sort of related. Now I get to chew my nails and hope you like it.
 
#12 ·
Geoffrey said:
:-[ *blush* :-[

Now I feel embarrassed because I've read both of those .... the CS Lewis back in high School and Pi back when it first came out about a decade ago ....
:p I'll find one you've not read that isn't non-fiction. After lunch I'll go through my kindle and my bookshelves and your goodreads again and see if I can find an idea.
 
#13 ·
Okay, Charles. Let me try to push you into unmentioned territory.



I'd never read anything by Elmore Leonard before this, but now I'm a fan.

Everything else I've read lately is either dry nonfiction or doorstops, but if you din't want to try Hombe, I'll look back at my older stuff.

ETA: I changed my mind and decided to give you another choice. Well 11 other choices, actually. This isn't the first book in the series, but it's the most popular. I read them all out of order because the library had a waiting list and you had to take what was available. They were still very good. I'd read them again in Kindle if they weren't so bloody expensive.

 
#14 ·
drenfrow said:
Tuttle, I have two picks for you:

The first is one of my favorite reads of this year, although I actually listened to it as an audiobook.

Way outside of what I normally read, but that's part of the point! If its a favorite I'll read it!
 
#15 ·
Geoffrey, you're a challenge to pick for, but here's two more suggestions to see if you've not read them because goodreads says you haven't.



 
#16 ·
Jeff:

This is the first book in a long alternate history series by Harry Turtledove, but you can read it on its own. The premise of this book is that the South won the Civil War.


My second pick is the first book (written, not chronologically) in the Mitch Rapp series by the late Vince Flynn. Terrorists have taken over the White House, and Rapp has to infiltrate the White House.



My third pick is a memoir of a young woman's memoir of her 3 years in the Auschwitz concentration camp.


If none of these work for you, let me know.
 
#18 ·
Tuttle said:
Geoffrey, you're a challenge to pick for, but here's two more suggestions to see if you've not read them because goodreads says you haven't.



I tried reading Flatland a couple times and I just couldn't do it - it never clicked with me. But the puppy book kinda scared me as something I would never read so I went and picked up a copy. Thanks. :)
 
#19 ·
So, looking good. It's Friday afternoon and most all of our Selectors have reported their selections. Here's what the list looks like so far:

ParticipantSelected ByBookAuthorLinkComments
AnnalogimallbsBlood in the Water
[td]Gillian Galbraith[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td]
[tr][td]drenfrow[/td][td]SongbirdVB[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Geoffrey[/td][td]Tuttle[/td][td]The Art of Racing in the Rain[/td][td]Garth Stein[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]imallbs[/td][td]NogDog[/td][td]Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul[/td][td]Douglas Adams[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]OR[/td][td]Death and the Penguin[/td][td]Audrey Kurkov[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Jeff[/td][td]KingAl[/td][td]Transfer of Power[/td][td]Vince Flynn[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]KingAl[/td][td]MissStar[/td][td]Memoirs of a Geisha[/td][td]Arthur Golden[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]OR[/td][td]A Thousand Splendid Suns [/td][td]Khaled Hosseini[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]OR[/td][td]'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy[/td][td]Leslie Langtry[/td][td]hyperlink [/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]MissStar[/td][td]Geoffrey[/td][td]Alas, Babylon[/td][td]Pat Frank[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]MissStar[/td][td]Geoffrey[/td][td]Midnight at the Well of Souls[/td][td]Jack L. Chalker[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]NogDog[/td][td]Jeff[/td][td]Hombre[/td][td]Elmore Leonard[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][td]OR[/td][td]Sharpe's Rifles[/td][td]Bernard Cornwell[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SongbirdVB[/td][td]Annalog[/td][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Tuttle[/td][td]drenfrow[/td][td]Beautiful Ruins[/td][td]Jess Walter[/td][td]hyperlink[/td][td] - [/td][/tr]
 
#20 ·
Jeff said:
Okay, Charles. Let me try to push you into unmentioned territory....
I'll sample Hombre first, since that's probably further outside of my comfort zone. If that just doesn't click at all for me at all, I'll likely be okay with Sharpe's Rifles, since I'm a bit of a military history buff and have read a fair amount of history on the Napoleonic wars, though not really any historical fiction about it other than the Hornblower novels.
 
#21 ·
MissStar said:
Ok, KingAl. Here's my picks for you. Hope you like at least one, if not let me know and I'll find some more. :)





I've been meaning to read "Memoirs of a Geisha" since the movie came out ;D , so now I will finally get to it! ("A Thousand Splendid Suns" looks really interesting as well, so I'm adding that to my TBR list.)
 
#22 ·
KingAl said:
I've been meaning to read "Memoirs of a Geisha" since the movie came out ;D , so now I will finally get to it! ("A Thousand Splendid Suns" looks really interesting as well, so I'm adding that to my TBR list.)
Yay! I really hope you like it (them). I read them both a long time ago, but I remember loving them.
 
#23 ·
Songbird, between unexpected events and summer monsoon storms, I have been away from Internet access. I am now posting from my mom's house from my old trusty K2. I hope to get to a more usable Internet connection tomorrow but I won't be back home until Sunday afternoon.
 
#24 ·
No worries, Anna! I'm running a tad late myself.

Donna, for you I have two selections. Both are paranormal, but not scary at all.

First:



Second:



If neither of these appeal to you let me know!
 
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