tGC Book Club 3 - Suggestions Thread

Dr Galen · 16-02-2010 1:11pm #1

As the title says really. A thread for suggestions on what should be the 3rd book in the Gentlemen's Club Book Club.

Make your suggestion and maybe a little blurb about why you are putting it forward and a vague synopsis.

This is Tuesday. I'll leave the thread open til Thursday night, then take the options and make a poll. I can copy the info on each poll choice into that thread too, so that all the info will be in once place.

Cheers

MM

trout · 16-02-2010 1:27pm

Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving

I'm putting this forward for consideration ... one of my favourite authors; although not to everyone's taste; I love the dark and lyrical prose ... highly recommended. Everyone should read The World according to Garp, or The Cider House Rules (forget the awful movie).

This is the Amazon blurb:

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County - to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto - pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them.

In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving's twelfth novel - depicts the recent half-century in the United States as 'a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course'. From the novel's taut opening sentence - 'The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long' - to its elegiac final chapter, Last Night in Twisted River is written with the historical authenticity and emotional authority of The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany. It is also as violent and disturbing a story as John Irving's breakthrough bestseller, The World According to Garp. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author's unmistakable voice - the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. Near the end of this moving novel, John Irving writes: 'We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly - as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth - the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives'.

Snowie · 16-02-2010 2:33pm

Grumpy Old Rock Star: and Other Wondrous Stories bye rick wakemen

Product Description
Around about August 1948, Mr and Mrs Cyril Wakeman had an early night and some time later, at Perivale in Middlesex, Mrs Wakeman produced a bonny baby son. They named him Richard, but he quickly became known as Rick. Rick was a likeable little fellow who had a talent for the piano and for making trouble. Music became Rick's life - he joined a popular music group called Yes and became a legend. Much later he became a Grumpy Old Man who appears on Countdown, hosts a hugely popular radio show on Planet Rock and performs a one-man show telling stories about his rather extraordinary life.Which is where this book you are holding comes in. Mr Wakeman is simply one of the great storytellers of our age - let's face it, he has some fabulous material. It seemed a shame that some of the funniest yarns should not be more widely known. So he accepted some cash and here we are. Curl up by the fire with a Grumpy Old Rock Star and your nearest and dearest. We defy you not to want to read it aloud and laugh.

this book made me laugh beyond beleif I was asked could i stop laughing on a plane and i spurted coffee all over it to mean while my dad was laughing at me laughing at the story due him jsut having read it.....

Its so much fun to read Id recomend it big time

.....Its so so so so so FUNNY

Otis Driftwood · 16-02-2010 2:46pm

I propose Lullaby by Chuck Pahlaniuk.

Reason being I reckon its his best by quite a way but tends to get lost in Fight Clubs wake.It kicks ass and could easily be read in less than a week.

That_Guy · 16-02-2010 5:39pm

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: I was recommended this book by a friend and bought it a couple of months ago but I never started on it.

I've heard very good things about it. I don't know if it'll be to everyone's taste though.

Amzon.co.uk synopsis:

It’s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and his best friend has just announced that he’s an alien. At this moment, they’re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed with the big, friendly words: DON’T PANIC.

The weekend has only just begun…

Volume one in the trilogy of five

Nervous Wreck · 16-02-2010 8:48pm

nedtheshed wrote: »

I propose Lullaby by Chuck Pahlaniuk.

Reason being I reckon its his best by quite a way but tends to get lost in Fight Clubs wake.It kicks ass and could easily be read in less than a week.

Second.

Cicero · 17-02-2010 12:17am

I propose

Atonement- Ian McEwan

Shortlisted for the Booker prize 2001...was ultimately made into a film so might be interesting for people to read the book and then watch the film and do a compare/contrast- have not read/seen either so would be an adventure for me also.

Cicero · 17-02-2010 12:22am

That_Guy wrote: »

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: I was recommended this book by a friend and bought it a couple of months ago but I never started on it.

...was positively massive in the early 1980s...was made into a BBC production also around the same time...the Douglas Adams series of books is well worth a read...

That_Guy · 17-02-2010 10:47am

Cicero wrote: »

...was positively massive in the early 1980s...was made into a BBC production also around the same time...the Douglas Adams series of books is well worth a read...

I've seen the film that was out a few years ago but I've been assured that the book is so much better. I don't mind what book is chosen though.

Dr Galen · 18-02-2010 8:28pm

anyone else??

Snowie · 18-02-2010 8:43pm

I would just like to follow up my imput with people need to laugh and his book will...Make you cry with laughter I mean fits of gigiles will be had... Its awesome vote mine

Cicero · 18-02-2010 9:13pm

happy to go with which or whether- only one question....how many people will report back on their reading?:o...even if it's just three people, that's great, but would hate to go off and read a book and find no-one contributing to the thread..that's all..:)

OldGoat · 18-02-2010 9:24pm

Cicero wrote: »

happy to go with which or whether- only one question....how many people will report back on their reading?:o...even if it's just three people, that's great, but would hate to go off and read a book and find no-one contributing to the thread..that's all..:)

Most of us who have been in this book group report back on what we've read.

That_Guy · 19-02-2010 9:55am

Poll time?

Another suggestion. Playboy.... for its informative articles.

tGC Book Club 3 - Suggestions Thread

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