BABBLING BOOKS

sirg1006 · Last edited by sirg1006 on Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:14 am; edited 1 time in total

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 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 16th November!

1.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 309 pages, £5.59

To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary circumstances in the 1930s in the Southern United States. The story covers a span of three years, during which the main characters undergo significant changes. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small, close-knit town, and every family has its social station depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long their ancestors have lived in Maycomb.

2.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez 432 pages, £6.39

This magical realist novel tells the history of the Buendias family, the founders of Macondo, a remote South American settlement. In the world of the novel there is a Spanish galleon beached in the jungle, a flying carpet, and an iguana in a woman's womb.

3.

The Electric Michelangelo - Sarah Hall 352 pages, £4.00

Opening on the windswept front of Morecambe Bay, on the remote north-west coast of England, The Electric Michelangelo is a novel of love, loss and the art of tattooing. Hugely atmospheric, exotic and familiar, it is an exquisitely rendered portrait of seaside resorts on opposite sides of the Atlantic by one of the most uniquely talented novelists of her generation.

4.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini £3.99, 324 pages

The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.

5.

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks £6.39, 320 pages

Spring 1666: when the Great Plague reaches the quiet Derbyshire village of Eyam, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and witch-hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. So begins the Year of Wonders, seen through 18-year-old Anna Frith's eyes as she confronts the loss of her family, the disintegration of community, and the lure of an illicit love. Based on a true story, this novel explores love and learning, fear and fanatacism, and the struggles of the 17th-century science and religion to interpret the world at the cusp of the modern era.

6.

A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer 128 pages, £5.59

David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care but not to David, her son, whom she referred to as "an It". This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel,The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

dinksbumps · Babblers First Words Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 10

Definitely a child called it.

mistymoo · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:16 pm Post subject:

I voted for "To Kill a Mocking Bird" I've never read it and would like to.
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Currently reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Tigerlily · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:23 pm Post subject:

I read 100 Years of Solitude and thought it was dull to be honest! However, it could have been I wasn't in the right mood to appreciate it, so if it gets chosen I wouldn't mind re-reading it. I might find I enjoy it.
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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

lovely treez · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:12 pm Post subject:

Went for the Kite Runner - I've already read it but it's a fantastic book and not too long either!

smiler07 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:40 am Post subject:

I went for Kite Runner as I already have that one TBR and I've read most of the others.

Tigerlily · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:16 pm Post subject:

I voted for To Kill A Mockingbird as have always wanted to read it.
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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

welshy · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:10 pm Post subject:

Voted for Years Of Wonder as it sounds the best

angelicfi · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:21 pm Post subject:

I voted for Years of Wonder as I have it...lol
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Currently Reading:-
"Amy's Honeymoon"- Julia Llwelleyn

nicnic · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject:

I've read mockingbird and kite runner but I'm hapy to read any of the others except the Dave Pelzer thing - too horrible.
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Currently reading: Man in the Dark by Paul Auster

katey · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject:

None of these grab me particularly, but I have voted for Geraldine Brooks.
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Katey
xxx

Books 01.09- 18 (5)
Books 02.09- 12 (4)
Books 03.09- 9 (1)
Books 04.09- 3 (0)
Books 05.09- 3(0)
Books 06.09- 8(1)
Books 07.09- 9(0)
Books 08.09- 10(1)
Books 09.09- 3(1)
Books 10.09- 9(1)

Target for 2009- 100 (15)- 16(2) to go!

steviebee · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:38 pm Post subject:

Voted for Kite Runner as in tbr - read Mockingbird at school (enjoyed it) and gave up with Solitude cos it felt like it would take me 100 years to read it!. Anyway, prepared to try again.
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http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/UserBooks.aspx?UserID=13213

Currently reading Deal Breaker - Harlan Coben

MissMuppet · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:54 am Post subject:

I voted for One Hundred Years of Solitude as I've read The Kite Runner and A Child Called It, I couldn't get into Year of Wonders...

ambercorns · Babblers First Words Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 2

I voted for Kite Runner as I've just read it, should I have done that or voted for something else??

sirg1006 · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

Doesn't really matter Amber - if you've finished it then if it gets chosen you could give your opinion on it first and others could join in later once they've finished.

Some may go for another book they haven't read if they fancy it.

D

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

blueflower · Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 3:57 pm Post subject:

sirg1006 · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:16 am Post subject:

We have the winners!

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

and The Accidental - Ali Smith

These books will be discussed from 22nd November!

D

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

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