The book club live stream went well I think! Let's do another one if you are interested (if not please ignore). We will plan a live stream for about six weeks after the poll ends---which will put the live stream in mid-July. More to come on that.Please vote in this poll (but only if you actually plan to read the book!!!! If you are not interested please ignore.) These are all books I plan on reading at some point so book club will be a good push to get me to actually read it. Except Moby-Dick ---I have read it and I am planning to reread this year.Short descriptions:
First 200 pages of Moby-Dick (1851) by Herman Melville. I love this book and I am re-reading it this year. It's a little too much to ask everyone to fully read though. It is a thick, dense story of the sea!
Signs Preceding the End of the World (2015) by Yuri Herrera translation by Lisa Dillman. From the back ' Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the US carrying a pair of secret messages - one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.
Freezing Point (1969) by Andres Bodelsen translated by Joan Tate. From the inset cover 'Bruno, young magazine editor, seems to live a charmed life, until he discovers a growth on his neck --the first sign of incurable cancer. But his doctor offers him a unique opportunity : Bruno can choose to be 'frozen down' until medical science has developed a cure for his condition. He makes his decision, just after meeting and falling in love with an enigmatic ballroom dancer.
On the Calculation of Volume I (2024) by Solvej Balle translated by Barbara Haveland. From the back 'Tara Alter, the heroine of On the Calculation of Volume, has involuntarily stepped off the train of time: in her world, the eighteenth of November repeats itself endlessly. We meet Tara on her 121st eighteenth of November: she no longer experiences the changes of days, weeks, months, or seasons. She finds herself in a lonely new reality without being able to explain why. How is it that she wakes every morning into the same day, knowing to the exact second when the blackbird will burst into song and when the rain will begin? Will she ever be able to share this strange existence with her beloved and now chronically baffled husband?'(Warning: This book is the first of seven in a series.)
Dungeon Crawler Carl (2020) by Matt Dinniman. From the inset cover 'Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world-or just get to the next level-in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that's actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly drug-dealing llamas. This ain't your ordinary game show.' (Warning: This book is the first in a series of ??? --at least 8 are out.)