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JULY BOOK CHOICES - YOU DECIDE!

Which books would you like to be read in July? All you have to do is vote for one of the books below. Read the blurbs and see if there is anything that looks interesting and the book with the most votes by 21st June will be chosen to be read from 1st July.

There is also another poll running so please take a look at that one too as there may be something on that list. There will be two books chosen but you don't have to read both if you don't want to.

The polls end midnight 23rd June!

1.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney - £3.99 466 pages

As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally murdered and a seventeen-year-old boy disappears. Tracks leaving the dead man's cabin head north towards the forest and the tundra beyond. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the township – journalists, Hudson's Bay Company men, trappers, traders – but do they want to solve the crime or exploit it?

2.

Unless by Carol Shields - £5.99 336 pages

For all of her life, 44 year old Reta Winters has enjoyed the useful monotony of happiness: a loving family, good friends, growing success as a writer of light 'summertime' fiction. But this placid existence is cracked wide open when her beloved eldest daughter, Norah, drops out to sit on a gritty street corner, silent but for the sign around her neck that reads 'GOODNESS.' Reta's search for what drove her daughter to such a desperate statement turns into an unflinching and surprisingly funny meditation on where we find meaning and hope.

3.

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson - £3.99 400 pages

The son of a minister, Gideon grew up in a joyless house under his fathers repressive thumb until a fateful clash over an episode of Batman sets him freeor so he thinks. Decades later, Gideons life is upended when he discovers an enormous stone in the local woods whose mysteriousand possibly supernatural appearance begins to unravel his understanding of truth, faith, and how much we can trust our own perceptions.

4.

The Famished Road by Ben Okri - £5.99 592 pages

The narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute. The tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story.

5.

The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde - £3.99 304 pages

Elisabeth Hyde has taken a powerful moral predicament and constructed around it a richly layered, compulsively readable novel about a murder in a small Colorado town, about the choices we make and the way their unintended consequences ripple through our lives.
Two weeks before Christmas, Diana Duprey, an outspoken abortion doctor, is found floating in her pool, a bruise the size of a golf ball visible through her dark curls. A national figure, Diana inspired passion and ignited tempers, never more so than on the day of her death.

6.

The Birth House by Ami McKay - £5.58 352 pages

Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, this is an unforgettable novel of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

Tigerlily · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

For more info on The Birth House (which we are giving away in this month's prize draw), please visit: http://onlinebookclub.myfreeforum.org/about1232.html

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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Ruth · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject:

I went for The Abortionist's Daughter, although I have about three of those on my tbr. Just finished The Tenderness Of Wolves, and it is a brilliant read.
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Mazzystar · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject:

I voted for 'Unless' but am also wanting to read 'The Abortionist's Daughter' x
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Currently reading: Other people's children - Joanna Trollope
Challenge books read: 5

mummymelly · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:54 pm Post subject:

Gone for The Abortionist's Daughter....have heard so many good things about this book
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Swap List: http://tinyurl.com/33pg6r
Currently Reading "Switchcraft" by Lowri Turner

nicnic · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:25 pm Post subject:

I've gone for Famished Road since I nominated it and its been on Mt TBR for too long

Have read and did really like Gideon Mack. Not sure about the others tho.
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Currently reading: Man in the Dark by Paul Auster

lovely treez · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject:

Went for the Birth House - I'm so hopeful that this month we'll read one I haven't read before!!

Tenderness of Wolves was a great read as was The Famished Road and Unless. Have Gideon Mack on TBR.
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Currently reading - The Italian Boy - Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London - Sarah Wise

Tigerlily · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:55 pm Post subject:

Totally lost track of the polls

I must have the closing dates subconsciously programmed into my brain as popped on to check them (after suddenly remembering) and see they end in 5 mins

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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

mummymelly · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:45 pm Post subject:

Need to get hold of The Testament Of Gideon Mack now. Not my usual kind of book so should be interesting...I guess that's what the site is all about.
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Swap List: http://tinyurl.com/33pg6r
Currently Reading "Switchcraft" by Lowri Turner

blueflower · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:39 pm Post subject:

I read The Testament Of Gideon Mack a while ago and it will be interesting to see what everyone else makes of it.

dingsy · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:12 am Post subject:

I've recently finished it Gwen-thought it was very original, and is one I would defintely recommend. Hope those who choose to read it like it as much.

blueflower · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:28 am Post subject:

I wouldn't say I loved the book but I did enjoy it. I think I could identify with Giddon childhood as I was brought in in a strict religious home, not quite on the scale of Giddon but I there were things about his younger life that I recognized.

I did think that the part of the book that dealt with his early years was a bit long winded but I suppose it was necessary so that you understood what happened to him later in life.

mummymelly · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:43 am Post subject:

I'm intrigued now!
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Swap List: http://tinyurl.com/33pg6r
Currently Reading "Switchcraft" by Lowri Turner

Tigerlily · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:03 pm Post subject:

You can buy The Testament of Gideon Mack from The Book People at £2.99. In fact, think you can buy all of the 2007 Richard & Judy titles from them at £9.99.

I want to buy them all

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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

clairabella · Enjoys Books Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 52

Ooh good I won this from this site and have been meaning to read it.

I will take take it on my holidays with me!

dingsy · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:41 pm Post subject:

It's an unusual and thought provoking book-can't wait till we can discuss it.!One of my favourite reads so far this year...

ratfly · Babblers First Words Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

I have JUST finished it and loved it. Will be watching for when the discussions begin!

sirg1006 · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:40 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the site Ratfly!

You can begin the discussion now in the Current Book Choice area: http://onlinebookclub.myfreeforum.org/forum5.php

D

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

Mazzystar · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject:

Welcome Ratfly! x

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My Swap List
Currently reading: Other people's children - Joanna Trollope
Challenge books read: 5

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