The Quasi-Official September Book Reading Game

[Leslie]

Wait a minute...where's Geoffrey? Don't we have eager game players? Isn't it September 1st? Okay...I'll get things rolling. Here's the list of game match-ups for this month.

Selector	Selectee	Genres	Dealbreakers
Annalog	MoyJoy	My goodreads For me price is not a deal breaker so my selector can do more than 9.99 if they're passionate about it.	historical/non-fiction; TALKING ANIMALS!
Basilius	Annalog	Science Fiction; Mystery; Fantasy, I have an account on Goodreads	No Deal Breakers
Berrytastic	Jeff	biographies, non-fiction, fact-based fiction or historical novels.	No erotica, please.
ciscokid	Basilius	Science Fiction;  Military History	Romance (Paranormal or otherwise), Horror, and Religion (with intent to convert).
djgross	imallbs	Mystery/Detective; American and Western European History This is supposed to be a link to my Goodreads list but I'm not promising anything.	No Deal Breakers
drenfrow	Leslie	I'll be honest, I'm the most high-maintenance player in this game. I love being a picker (and I think I do pretty well in that department) but I have a harder time as a pickee. Ready to take me on? Okay, here's a few parameters	No Deal Breakers
Emily King	ciscokid	Horror, Paranormal/Supernaturl Thrillers, Apocalyptic fiction, Some Sci Fi...my taste in books is actually pretty broad....these are just my favorites.	Homosexual romances, short story anthology(I like long, involved books), anything political
fadedrainbows	KingAl	Sci-fi/fantasy, Mystery/thrillers.  Here's my Goodreads	Romance
Geoffrey	drenfrow	Mystery, Fantasy/Sci Fi, Science/History of Science	extreme violence/gore, extreme sadness, horror/scary stuff, You can check out my books on Goodreads: Donna's Books
imallbs	Berrytastic	crime book reader and have recently discovered historical fiction such as pillars of the earth.	apart from a barbara cartland style romantic novel i am prepared to try most things .
Jeff	Emily King	Urban Fantasy; Paranormal; Horror; Mystery here is my Goodreads	Non-Fiction; Religious / political with the intent of change; Harlequin-style romance.  Chick Lit. I would prefer an indie or something less expensive, if possible.
kaotickitten	fadedrainbows	Paranormal Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Chick Lit My Goodreads	No Deal Breakers
KingAl	Geoffrey	Science Fiction; Fantasy; Alternate History; gay themed books.  You can find me on goodreads here.	No Deal Breakers
Leslie	Tripp	historical fiction; chick lit; family saga; drama; suspense; thrillers; religion is OK if it is presented culturally, not to convert.	Horror  and any creature that is typically associated with horror (vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc.).
MoyJoy	kaotickitten	Christian Romances, YA fantasy	No Deal Breakers
Tripp	Tuttle	Fantasy, Science Fiction	I'm going to have to set some sort of monetary limit. This may be edited but for now lets say $5.   Nothing extremely depressing.
Tuttle	djgross	Mystery, suspense	No Deal Breakers

[Leslie]

For Tripp, I have two very different choices for you.

Looking at the type of books you enjoy, I don't see any young adult (YA) titles. Well, YA books are my guilty pleasure. Here's one I read back in June. I absolutely loved this. Great storytelling with wonderful growth of the characters over the course of the book. It is written in third person, present tense (very unusual, I thought) with alternating voices in each chapter. Don't let that put you off--if you are like me, you'll discover that the writing style works very well.



For your second choice--I see you read lots of historical fiction. How about historical non-fiction that reads like fiction? Usually Civil War books make my eyes glaze over but I thought 1861 was fascinating. My husband and son have also read this and thought it was great, too. Wait 'til you read about the Wide Awakes, and the Zouaves, and Elmer Ellsworth, and Jesse Fremont and... and...



Anyway, Tripp, I hope one of these choices works for you!

L

[Emily King]

ciscokid... we have a lot of books in common, so this wasn't too difficult for me. 

My first pick is a recent favorite of mine: Blood of Requiem by Daniel Arenson


Second pick is another favorite series... Skinwalker by Faith Hunter


Third pick - love this series as well... Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

[djgross]

imallbs, thanks for your Goodreads link. 

My first pick for you is Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.   Magic Bites is the first book in a great Urban Fantasy series, but also works as a standalone suspense.   



Second pick is Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.   Another first book in a strong UF series that works as a standalone suspense. 




Third pick is non-fiction.   Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert:  "Harvard professor Gilbert reveals his take on how our minds work, and how the limitations of our imaginations may be getting in the way of our ability to know what happiness is."    A very interesting read.  The paperback is $9.06, but the Kindle edition is $11.99.   

[fadedrainbows]

imallbs, thanks for your Goodreads link.  
Second pick is Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.   Another first book in a strong UF series that works as a standalone suspense.  

I want to add that I loved Rosemary and Rue. It was wonderful. Also, if you have read Mira Grant, she is the same person so you might already know her!

[Jeff]

Emily,

If this is too far outside your comfort zone, let me know and I'll give you another pick.

[Geoffrey]

Wait a minute...where's Geoffrey?

Sorry.  I'm buried deep in Financial Data Hell and forgot to post this .... Donna, I have your selections narrowed down to 6 or 7 so I'll be back later with my selections for you......

[Emily King]

Emily,

If this is too far outside your comfort zone, let me know and I'll give you another pick.

I one-clicked it... I'm halfway through the 3rd Game of Thrones book right now, so it's going to be at least a week before I get to it.

[Jeff]

I one-clicked it... I'm halfway through the 3rd Game of Thrones book right now, so it's going to be at least a week before I get to it.

Hurry up. I'll be waiting expectantly for your comments. 

[Annalog]

MoyJoy, when I was checking on price and status of the following from my Kindle last night, the page told me that the book was currently unavailable. Fortunately when I checked via the Internet this morning, I saw that the book was really available. I suspect that this edition has corrected some scanning typos that exist in my copy. This book was recommended to me last year in this game. Reading it reminded me of why I loved reading SF in the 70s and 80s. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Bloodchild and Other Stories  by Octavia E. Butler


I was at my Mom's house last night and mentioned that I needed to find a book to recommend. She suggested The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which I had sent to her Kindle, since we both enjoyed it. I mentioned that historical and non-fiction were deal breakers this month and that I needed to suggest a book that was not a deal breaker. You do not need to consider the following a suggestions.


Let me know if the above doesn't work for you and I will suggest other books.

[KingAl]

Geoffrey:


This is going to be tough since most of my reading is sci fi/fantasy...

First is a historical book, covering the mass murder of millions of  Europeans by Stalin and Hitler.


The second choice is the first in a 2 book historical fiction series in 12th century England.


This true crime book about a teenage high school dropout who managed to travel all over the world by passing bad checks and pulling all sorts of other cons. (You may have seen the movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.) It is over the $9.99 price point, but definitely worth a read.


I hope one of these work for you. (I will be on vacation from tomorrow to Sept 5, so if they don't work, I probably won't be able to give more suggestions until sept 6.)

[Tuttle]

djgross,

I was having issues coming up with a book to recommend to you until checking this thread and seeing the other recommendations.

This true crime book about a teenage high school dropout who managed to travel all over the world by passing bad checks and pulling all sorts of other cons. (You may have seen the movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.) It is over the $9.99 price point, but definitely worth a read.

I actually also would like to recommend Catch Me If You Can to you. I will keep working on more suggestions, but am unlikely to be able to post again until Monday.

[Berrytastic]

Jeff,

I noticed you have read Pillars of the earth and enjoyed it.Whilst this is  not identical i found it similar in it being a long book full of twists and turns and side stories and politics plus of course it is enjoying a lot of popularity at present due to the TV show.I have checked your good reads and it does not appear there so i am going to suggest


Game of thrones - Book 1 A song of Ice Fire

Let me know if you have already read this and i will choose another


Peter

[ciscokid]

Basilius, I think I've come up with a few choices for you.


A boy's coming of age story with a supernatural twist.



My favorite Sci fi novel.



Ok, I know you said no horror.....but this book is a LOT more fantasy than horror.  Although I have read a lot of Stephen King's books, I have found very few that I like..... most are just disturbing, but not this one.  I consider this one of my favorite books.  Try the sample before you write it off.  




If none of these work, let me know and I'll come up with something else.

ciscokid

[ciscokid]

Emily, since the purpose of this reading club is to read books out of our usual genre, I'm going to go with Blood of Requiem (Song of Dragons, Book 1.  I don't read much fantasy, so its definatley out of my genre.....and I've read a lot of vampire books lately and need a rest from them.  It was a hard choice though since the other two definatley look intersting.  I'm adding them to my kindle wish list, so I may eventually get to them also.  Thanks, I'm looking forward to digging into this book as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading. 

ciscokid (Toni)

[Jeff]

Jeff,

I noticed you have read Pillars of the earth and enjoyed it.Whilst this is  not identical i found it similar in it being a long book full of twists and turns and side stories and politics plus of course it is enjoying a lot of popularity at present due to the TV show.I have checked your good reads and it does not appear there so i am going to suggest


Game of thrones - Book 1 A song of Ice Fire

Let me know if you have already read this and i will choose another


Peter

Good choice. It's definitely not something I'd read on my own. I'm still busy with the modifications of the KB Authors List so it will be a day or two before I can get started. Thank you.

[Emily King]

Good choice. It's definitely not something I'd read on my own. I'm still busy with the modifications of the KB Authors List so it will be a day or two before I can get started. Thank you.

Now you're going to understand why it's taking me so long to finish the 3rd book... these are huge. The 3rd one is 21,600+ locations!!!   But, that being said... I just LOVE this series.  I hope you enjoy it!

Toni (ciscokid) - I'm not a huge fantasy fan and felt that Blood of Requiem is kind of light fantasy... I hope you enjoy it and also hope you check out those other series. 

[drenfrow]

Okay Leslie, here I go...

My top recommendation is The Phantom Tollbooth, one of my all time favorite books.



Next is an historical novel inspired by true events during a plague outbreak in England in the 1600's.



Finally, my if-all-else-fails recommendation is the first book in a series I am really enjoying.  This is a lame recommendation because you have read several books by this author and his first mystery series but according to Goodreads you haven't read this one.



Let me know if I need to go back to the drawing board.

[Tripp]

Hi Tuttle,
Here are my selections for you. 

First, this is a freebie from Kathy Bell, one of our own KB authors.  It is Regression, the first book in a trilogy.  Book 3 is due out 11/11/11, so if you like it you won't have long to wait.


Next is one of the first books I read on my Kindle.  It is My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson.  This is just a tad above your set limit of $5 but I am taking a chance.  This is technically "Brit Lit" but this is no Bridget Jones.  It is very thoughtful and a really good read.


Finally, Blood of Requiem by Daniel Arenson, another one of our KB authors.  This is also a first in a trilogy and the second just came out recently. 

 
I hope you like one of these. Let me know if you need any other choices.

Leslie,
I was able to grab the last copy of 1861 from the library's e-books.  I am intrigued by What They Always Tell Us and will be downloading a sample.  I will let you know what I finally end up choosing.  (maybe both...if so, this will be the third month in a row for me.)

I am in the middle of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks so it will be a few days before I pick up one of your selections.  Thanks so much.

[Geoffrey]

Donna,
I usually prefer to be the firstest one to post my selections, but if wishes were horses ….   …. Our tastes in Science Fiction and Fantasy are often in alignment so I thought I’d just toss out some of my favorite books that you should read if you haven’t already….

Your first option is the book I just finished re-reading yesterday and the Granddaddy of all Steampunk:  The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling.



Your second option is Fag Hag by Robert Rodi.  I loved this back in the day when it came out.  It’s just released in kindle form after being out of print forever and it’s just a trainwreck of a relationship between a single woman and her gay best friend (think Will and Grace if they were even more dysfunctional.)




Finally, in honor of the new school year, I’m assigning you an extra credit reading selection:  Evolution by Stephen Baxter .  This is the story of humanity from our furthest ancestors on Pangaea through the modern day and onto the Pangaea Ultima and the end of Life on Earth.  It’s a great read ….

[Tuttle]

Hi Tuttle,
Here are my selections for you. 

First, this is a freebie from Kathy Bell, one of our own KB authors.  It is Regression, the first book in a trilogy.  Book 3 is due out 11/11/11, so if you like it you won't have long to wait.

Downloaded, with that being free its definitely worth grabbing, as it looks interesting enough that I'd grab it if I saw it free anyways.

Next is one of the first books I read on my Kindle.  It is My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson.  This is just a tad above your set limit of $5 but I am taking a chance.  This is technically "Brit Lit" but this is no Bridget Jones.  It is very thoughtful and a really good read.

This one I downloaded a sample of - didn't grab my attention enough to buy it without sampling, but also didn't seem like I'd necessarily dislike it either.

Finally, Blood of Requiem by Daniel Arenson, another one of our KB authors.  This is also a first in a trilogy and the second just came out recently. 

Ooh, I'd missed that Tears of Requiem had came out. You can't get credit for recommending this one - I've been buying Daniel Arenson's books without sampling since I read Firefly Island. However, thanks for the note about the second one having came out, I must have missed that somehow.

[drenfrow]

Geoffrey, you gave me three interesting suggestions.  I read The Difference Engine several years ago so I'll pass on that one. Fag Hag looks intriguing and I'll start it tonight.  I also downloaded Evolution because it looks interesting but I have some reservations.   Evolution is one of my favorite areas of science so I know a lot about it which means I tend to be critical of poor science in books.  I'll let you know what I think.

[djgross]

djgross,

I was having issues coming up with a book to recommend to you until checking this thread and seeing the other recommendations.

I actually also would like to recommend Catch Me If You Can to you. I will keep working on more suggestions, but am unlikely to be able to post again until Monday.

Hi Tuttle,

No worries about other selections      Catch Me If You Can looks highly entertaining. 

Have a great Labor Day!

DJ   

[imallbs]

Berrytastic, this book is definitely not a romance.  How do you feel about space opera?



This is the 1st of a series and a light read.  If you want a different choice, let me know.

djgross
I'm going to read Rosemary and Rue.  I won't get to it until next week at the earliest tho.

[kaotickitten]

Ok fadedrainbows, youand I seem to read alot of the same books so I checked all I wanted to suggest you had read.  So alas I went to your tbr with a fine tooth comb and came up with these three.

The first choice I have for you is one I think you might enjoy.  I truely loved this book and think it is worth a read.
Better yet it is also free.



The second choice is:

The third and last choice happens to be one of my favorite all time books.  It may be a little too long for you for this month.