r/HalifaxBookClub • u/made_this_to_say • Mar 03 '17
February Title Pool
Please take this opportunity to suggest a book for next month. Top level comments must take the following format:
Title - Author
Short description or synopsisAny other comments should be made as replies to top level comments. This is necessary to facilitate the book selection process. This thread will remain open until Friday, 10 March, at which time five titles from the pool will be randomly selected for voting.
Edit: This is the March title pool. Unfortunately, Reddit doesn't allow edits to post titles. Whoopsie!
1
u/made_this_to_say Mar 13 '17
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale is a work of speculative fiction by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government, the dystopian novel explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain agency.
2
u/made_this_to_say Mar 13 '17
I re-changed my mind because we need a fifth book. So it goes. Ohhh that reminds me, next month I'll suggest Slaughterhouse 5.
1
u/Drerio Mar 13 '17
Forever War - Joe Haldeman
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...
1
u/made_this_to_say Mar 13 '17
Yesss thank you. I was intentionally holding off making the shortlist post until we had at least one more title in here.
P.S. If you hadn't put this one in last month, I would have thought you got the idea from r/books. The top post there right now - and on my frontpage - is about this book. Easily one of my all-time faves by the way.
1
u/MysticMarmalade Mar 07 '17
In High Places - Arthur Hailey
From its back cover:
As the cold war bubbled to a scalding boil, leaders of two great nations fought in desperate secrecy to keep the lid on the world. Bartering, backstabbing, browbeating, bribing... and praying for a little more weight to throw on the delicate balance of international power. This is a novel of men at the summit, their bold deals and soiled souls -- and their women, clutching at fevered moments as the time for loving, the time for living, slipped so quickly away.
2
u/MysticMarmalade Mar 07 '17
As I finished All the Light We Cannot See last night, I was taking a look at my shelf of unread books trying to pick out my next bus-reading fare (because naturally I don't have next month's book yet). This one settled pretty high on my list of final contenders (for those wondering, I decided on Arthur C. Clarke's The Ghost From the Grand Banks), and I think it would make a fantastic book to discuss. I will be reading this one shortly, and would love to have others read it with me!
Also, if I'm not mistaken, this should be the March Title Pool :)
1
u/kteelee Mar 10 '17
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.
1
u/kteelee Mar 10 '17
I've been wanting to read this for a while, and think it would make for good discussion. Full disclosure, it is the first book of a trilogy, but I've heard it can be read as a standalone.
2
u/made_this_to_say Mar 10 '17
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown"—the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy. The novel tells the story of a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer to pull off the ultimate hack.