[Reading Group] June 2014 Nominations/Voting

So for June, I'm open to suggestions for themes again. If leaving it open is best, we can continue to do that. I feel like The Name of the Wind is going to stretch into June because it's pretty long, but we can certainly do a June novel as well, especially for those who aren't reading our May selection.

For the theme I was thinking non-fantasy books. Seems kind of weird for a fantasy site, but nominations could be for science fiction, horror, classic literature, etc. Out of our choices so far, we've had three books that could be classified as epic fantasy in some way (Prince of Thorns, His Majesty's Dragon, The Name of the Wind)
while Swordspoint was low fantasy with no magic to speak of and was confined to a smaller area.

If no one is keen for a non-fantasy theme, we can just go with an open theme again because it allows people to present more ideas for books.

Thoughts?

 

OK, let's go with non-fantasy then. I'll try to think of some things I want to read that aren't fantasy and would be able to have interesting discussions on.

 

So, I'm thinking it would be good to not limit nominations this time since we didn't get so many last time. However, please limit them to three at a time and only once per day if possible until nominations are closed (which will be once no one is posting here anymore )Here are my nominations then:



This is Richard K. Morgan cyberpunk. I think he's primarily a SF writer anyway, but he's also known for his fantasy series.



Considered by some to be Cormac McCarthy's best, this is a bloody tale that follows scalp hunters in the Old West, but has McCarthy's signature style.



Recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alice Munro is considered one of the finest short story writers around. I read one of her collections years ago and I agree. While this isn't a novel, I do think it would be worth checking out writers who earn such high praise.

 

Keep the nominations coming folks. I have some more here:







Choices above are not quite fantasy, but seemingly kind of steampunkish/dystopian. Some nominations for those who don't want to get completely away from speculative fiction, but don't necessarily want Medieval style fantasy with swords and dragons.

 

Lots of interesting nominations so far. I'll keep them open until May 17th and then we'll start the voting. I figure voting for your top three will work this go around.

 

From what I've heard of it, I still think it should be favored to win. I've read some of it (sample on my Kindle) and liked what I've read, but I'm not a huge SF person for the most part.

 

A couple of more days to get in any additional nominations you've been thinking about. If I don't get any tomorrow, I'll go ahead and open up the voting.

 

OK, so the final nominations are now locked in:

The Black Box by Michael Connelly
The First Rule by Robert Crais
Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Runaway by Alice Munro
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Embassytown by China Mieville
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory

For this month, please vote for three books. Only one can be one of your nominations. May 24th will be the deadline to get your votes in. Whichever book has the most votes will be our choice for June.

 

I'm going to try to read as many samples as I can this go around so I'm not going in completely blind with my votes. Worth a shot.