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| Which would you like to read? |
| The Accidental by Ali Smith |
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35% |
[ 7 ] |
| The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice |
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10% |
[ 2 ] |
| I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb |
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10% |
[ 2 ] |
| The Optimists by Andrew Miller |
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5% |
[ 1 ] |
| The Island by Victoria Hislop |
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20% |
[ 4 ] |
| The Penelopiad: The Myth Of Penelope And Odysseus by Margaret Atwood |
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20% |
[ 4 ] |
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| Total Votes : 20 |
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sirg1006
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 Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:47 am Post subject: **NOV/DEC BOOK CHOICES - THE ACCIDENTAL - Ali Smith ** |
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER BOOK CHOICES - YOU DECIDE!
Which books would you like to be read from in November - December? 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 16th November will be chosen to be read from 22nd November.
There is also a second 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 16th November!
1. 
The Accidental by Ali Smith 320 pages, £3.99
The Smart family's lacklustre holiday in Norwich is turned upside down when a beguiling stranger called Amber appears, bringing with her love, joy, pain and upheaval. The Smarts try to make sense of their bewildering emotions as Amber tramples over family boundaries and forces them to think about their world and themselves in an entirely new way. "The Accidental" is at once a mysterious web of secret identities and a ruthlessly honest look at the silent cracks that can develop unnoticed in relationships over time.
2. 
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice 352 pages, £5.59
With mannered prose dripping in the charm of 1950s London, TheLost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide-eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who is unable to move beyond the loss of her charmed husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral homeand the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomedwhile postwar London spins toward the next decades cultural revolution. Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love.
3. 
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb 912 pages, £7.19
Huge American bestselling novel that tells of identical twins: a paranoid schizophrenic and his brother whose life is dominated by his resentment of and love for his damaged twin Dominick Birdsey's whole existence is coloured by the knowledge that his twin brother can never be fully responsible for his frightening behaviour, while he himself has beaten the biochemical odds to remain sane. But at what cost? This powerful, heartwrenching drama draws on the deepest human emotions: the need to know oneself, responsibility to family, the influence of hidden history. The result is a highly acclaimed novel of survival, written with great sensitivity.
4. 
The Optimists by Andrew Miller 320 pages, £6.39
Clem Glass was a successful photojournalist, firm in the belief that photographs could capture truth and beauty. Until he went to Africa and witnessed the aftermath of a genocidal massacre. Clem returns to London with his faith in human nature shattered and his life derailed. Nothing-work, love, sex- can rouse his interest and no other outlook can restore his faith. The one person Clem is able to connect with is his sister, who has made her own sudden retreat from reality into the shadows of mental illness, and he finds some peace nursing her back to health in rural Somerset. Then news arrives that offers him the chance to confront the source of his nightmares.
5. 
The Island - Victoria Hislop 480 pages, £3.99
On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga - Greece's former leper colony. Then she finds Fortini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip...
6. 
The Penelopiad: The Myth Of Penelope And Odysseus by Margaret Atwood 224 pages, £3.99
In Homer's "Odyssey", Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy - is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumours, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and - curiously - twelve of her maids. In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: 'What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?' In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the storytelling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality - and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.
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Last edited by sirg1006 on Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:13 am; edited 1 time in total |
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sparkymarky
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| Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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| voted the accidental because its set in my home city of norwich...!! |
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mistymoo
Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
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Location: London
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| Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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I voted for The Penelopiad, I just received it as a swap, after wanting it for awhile, thought it sounded a bit different to what I normally read.
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miranda
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| Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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Quite a tough choice; I like the look of 'The Penelopiad' as I enjoyed 'The Handmaid's Tale' and The Odyssey, but The Accidental also looks good. 
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'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.' |
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lovely treez
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| Good choices - I wouldn't mind any of them but there's not much to say about the Lost Art of Keeping Secrets - very light and frothy indeed - not a bad read but not very thought provoking either. Having said that, it might be nice to have something light after Kevin - see I'm a Libran, I can't make up my mind. |
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katey
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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I voted for The Accidental, purely cos it has been on my TBR for ages!
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welshy
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I voted for The Accidental as it sounds good |
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angelicfi
Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 01 Oct 2006
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Location: N.Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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I went for Lost Art as I have it but dont mind if The Island gets picked as I have read it
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nicnic
Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 22 Aug 2006
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Location: Upper Largo, Fife
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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The Optimists is soooo awful - no that I want to influence you guys in anyway. I just found this book disturbing.
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ambercorns
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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Hello - have jumped over from the other site! I'm finding this quite strange, as The Accidental arrived as a swap just the other day - fate, eh??
And the main character is Amber!! |
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sirg1006
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sirg1006
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Born 30/12/08
Welcome Amber! Go and introduce yourself!
