Book Club Choices: 23-08-09

tbh

1. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
2. Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
3. The World According to Garp - John Irvine
4. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
5. The Ongoing Moment - Geoff Dyer
6. A long, long way - by Sebastian Barry


American Gods: Neil Gaiman

Within just a few pages of Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, he commandingly reveals that he is at his considerable best with this disturbing and dark journey into the hidden soul of America. Gaiman, one of the most talented and imaginative writers at work today, achieved nigh-legendary status with his comic Sandman, which took the genre to heights that even the equally talented Alan Moore had not attained; Gaiman's subsequent career as a novelist has displayed the same glittering inventiveness and exquisite use of language.

Gaiman's protagonist Shadow has patiently done his time in prison. But as the moment of his release approaches, he begins to sense that some unnamed disaster is lying in wait for him. As he makes his way home, he encounters the mysterious Mr Wednesday, who appears to be both a refugee from a distant country at war and the King of America. And perhaps even a god. As Shadow and Mr Wednesday begin a bizarre odyssey across the United States, solving murders is only one of their accomplishments. With an epic storm of supernatural origin brewing, one questions whether they will be destroyed before Shadow pays the price for grim mistakes in his past.


Digital Fortress - Dan Browne

When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine - encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls in its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it will cripple U.S. intelligence.

The World According to Garp - John Irving

Like all extraordinary books, "The World According to Garp" defies synopsis', wrote the "Chicago Sun Times" when "Garp" was first published in 1978. It is a marvellous, important, permanent novel by a serious artist of remarkable powers. "Garp" is a book that captivates all who read it. Peopled with the most extraordinary characters you will ever meet, here is a novel that will make you laugh, make you weep, and, above all, make you think.

Shantaram - Greg Roberts

In 1978, gifted student and writer Greg Roberts turned to heroin when his marriage collapsed, feeding his addiction with a string of robberies. Caught and convicted, he was given a nineteen-year sentence. After two years, he escaped from a maximum- security prison, spending the next ten years on the run as Australia's most wanted man. Hiding in Bombay, he established a medical clinic for slum- dwellers, worked in the Bollywood film industry and served time in the notorious Arthur Road prison. He was recruited by one of the most charismatic branches of the Bombay mafia for whom he worked as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler, and fought alongside a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. His debut novel, SHANTARAM, is based on this ten-year period of his life in Bombay. The result is an epic tale of slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison torture, mafia gang wars and Bollywood films. A gripping adventure story, SHANTARAM is also a superbly written meditation on good and evil and an authentic evocation of Bombay life.

The Ongoing Moment - Geoff Dyer
In his last book, YOGA FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO DO IT, Geoff Dyer confessed that not only did he not take pictures in the course of his travels but that he did not own a camera. With characteristic perversity - and trademark originality - THE ONGOING MOMENT is Dyer's unique and idiosyncratic history of photography. Seeking to identify their signature styles Dyer looks at the ways that canonical figures such as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Kertesz, Dorothea Lange, Diane Arbus and William Eggleston have photographed the same scenes and objects (benches, hats, hands, roads). In doing so Dyer constructs a narrative in which those photographers - many of whom never met in their lives - constantly come into contact with each other. Great photographs change the way we see the world; THE ONGOING MOMENT changes the way we look at both. It is the most ambitious example to date of a form of writing that Dyer has made his own: the non-fiction work of art.

A long, long way - by Sebastian Barry
One of the most vivid and realised characters of recent fiction, Willie Dunne is the innocent hero of Sebastian Barry's highly acclaimed novel. Leaving Dublin to fight for the Allied cause as a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, he finds himself caught between the war playing out on foreign fields and that festering at home, waiting to erupt with the Easter Rising. Profoundly moving, intimate and epic, "A Long Long Way" charts and evokes a terrible coming of age, one too often written out of history.

OldGoat

Lols. 5 votes, 5 different choices.

Otis Driftwood

Aye,I was wondering what would happen should this arise.Even if the one I voted for doesnt win Im going to check it out anyway.

OldGoat

Same here. Just the impudius I needed to kick me out of my comfort zone.

Will

I just tipped the balance

tbh

nedtheshed wrote: »

Aye,I was wondering what would happen should this arise.Even if the one I voted for doesnt win Im going to check it out anyway.

I'd be optimistic we'd get to all of them eventually Ned. Once the first one is down, we'll add one of your to the list and vote again.

@will, I read "garp" before but it was so long ago, I'd love to read it again. I remember I enjoyed it. I nominated "A long, long, way" because I don't think I ever read a book that I thought as much about afterwards, so I'm dying to discuss it - as I say, hopefully we'll get to all of them eventually.

Fajitas!

I'm not going to vote - I've not read any of the other books up there than the one I suggested - something does make me want to avoid Dan Brown though :pac:

Dord

I voted for "A long, long way", it sounds like it might be good.

OldGoat

Also ment to say that watching the film of the book is cheating. :rolleyes:

Dord

I may have voted again.... not sure how.

Gillo

Dord wrote: »

I may have voted again.... not sure how.

You can read it twice then.

Funny only heard of one of those books they all sound pretty good.
Whats the story with suggesting other books for future poll's.

trout

Gillo wrote: »

Whats the story with suggesting other books for future poll's.

Suggest away ... we'll have to figure out how to manage the list ... but suggest away in the meantime.

tbh

wiki page? that way anyone can edit...I don't know how to create one tho.

trout

we have a wiki ?

Dr Galen

a what now?

OldGoat

tbh wrote: »

wiki page? that way anyone can edit...I don't know how to create one tho.

trout wrote: »

we have a wiki ?

If anyone suggests we call the wiki a Bookie I'm gonna throw something.

tbh

Ok, if you want to add a book to the list, just go to the books wiki, or - as I like to call it - the "bookie"...ehhh.. "wookie" and hit edit. Then, add your choice to the end of the list followed by <br>.

be advised, we can see who's added what

http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Gentlemens_club_book_club

K4t

Shantaram - Greg Roberts

Looks like the best option to me. Would be good fun discussing it.

OldGoat

I'm still hoping that 'The ongoing Moment' will make a late charge in the final furlongs. Can we have proportional representation in the voting?

Fajitas!

Even I'm feeling sorry for poor Geoff at this stage, I'm going to vote for it

nkay1985

Right so, I've just come upon this and think it's a great idea. I voted for 'A long, long way'. I've read 'Digital Fortress' and while it's ok, it's certainly nothing special. How did all these ones get suggested by the way?

/heads to the bookie wiki

Fajitas!

There's another thread where OldGoat kicked it all off, subtly titled "Under the Covers" or similar!

deadhead13

I've read Sabastian Barry's "The Secret Scripture" and it didn't exactly make me want to run out and buy another one of his novels.

OldGoat

Did we set a time limit on this? It looks like it's going to be the Barry book.
On a plus note, Mrs. Goat tells me we already own a copy. It wouldn't be the first time we've each bought the same books.

Keano

My local library do not have that book but a library near by do.

tbh

deadhead13 wrote: »

I've read Sabastian Barry's "The Secret Scripture" and it didn't exactly make me want to run out and buy another one of his novels.

I know exactly what you mean. I promise you, this is a far superior piece of work. I read this first and couldn't wait to read the scripture, beautiful dialogue, but the story left me feeling cheated.

OldGoat wrote: »

Did we set a time limit on this?

28-08 at around 8pm

Don't forget, if you want to suggest a book, anyone can add one to the list on the wiki. I'll dig out the link and edit this post in a sec.

http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Gentlemens_club_book_club

deadhead13

tbh wrote: »

and couldn't wait to read the scripture, beautiful dialogue, but the story left me feeling cheated.

Yeah, not wanting to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, I'll just say the story wasn't believable in parts. Which kind of ruined it, for me anyway.

nkay1985

So we're all reading Sebastian Barry?

Anyone found anywhere good to get this. I reckon it can probably be found cheap on Amazon so might give that a try when I'm not delirious with tiredness!

What's the timeframe for reading?

trout

nkay1985 wrote: »

What's the timeframe for reading?

mrs trout, who knows things, tells me the normal timeframe is a month

tbh

Ok - great Sebastian Barry it is.
I'll close this thread now, and open a new one in a couple of weeks when we need to make our next choice.

General book club thread is here

Books up for discussion are here

The discussion thread for "A Long, Long Way" is here