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Book Club News
| May 12, 2015
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In This Issue
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Speculative Fiction for Book Clubs
When The Night Comes Unforgettable Scent of Triumph The Headmasters Wife
Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf
The Underground Girls of Kabul
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Hello,
A few weeks ago, the wildly popular website Humans of New York featured an adorable elementary schooler. What stuck with me was her hugely inventive story - she had created a country called Manizao, she explained, that was between India and China and its president was a girl called Mahava. These intricately plotted stories from childhood are wonderful products from kids who can color outside their boxes and transport themselves to places of wonder and fantasy. The magic of speculative fiction fills such a niche for adults all while spinning a credible yarn. In this special issue, our book club recommendations deliver great stories, speculative fiction that will fire your imagination by asking a very basic and intriguing question: what if?
Also, our book club is currently discussing five books, four of which are profiled below. If you've read any, do join the discussion. If not, make sure to check out these proven winners for your book club! And mark your calendar for upcoming discussions - talking of which, we have copies of two of these books to share with you. More info below.
Best regards, Davina, BookBrowse Editor
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Speculative Fiction for Book Clubs
| The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon Paperback Apr 2008. 464 pages. Published by HarperCollins
What if the outpost you believed to be your sovereign home were to be handed over to someone else? The Federal District of Sitka has been an independent harbor for generations of Jews for sixty years. Now as it is being merged with Alaska, an improbable homicide detective must lead the charge to navigate personal problems that are unearthed by the changing tides of history. More about this book |
| Resistance by Owen Sheers Paperback Feb 2009. 320 pages. Published by Anchor Books. What if Germany had got the upper hand in World War II? It's 1944 and Germany has invaded Britain, the women of the Welsh border valley of Olchon wake to find their men have disappeared into the hills to join the Resistance. Later, Germans occupy the village and harsh realities force the women to forge uneasy alliances to fight larger battles. More about this book |
| On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee Paperback Dec 2014. 432 pages. Published by Riverhead Books.
What if one stretches everyday news events to its logical extreme? In the future America, what if the one-percenters were the only ones who could live comfortably and safely while the rest either make do on the streets or live in communities like B-Mor where rules are strictly enforced and meaningful work is a thing of the past? The scary version? It could indeed happen. More about this book |
| When She Woke: A Novel by Hillary Jordan Paperback Sep 2012. 368 pages. Published by Algonquin Books.
What if today's political divides were tomorrow's political realities? What if you were a fallout of this new American landscape where the choices you make color you, quite literally, for life? Hannah Payne is marked red for murder as in murder of her unborn baby. The paths she navigates to forge a new life are riveting and will appeal to readers of all political persuasions. More about this book |
| The Last Man Standing by Davide Longo Paperback Oct 2014. 352 pages. Published by MacLehose Press.
What if the world as you know it is disintegrating before your very eyes? What would be in your evacuation kit? As Italy descends into chaos in this post-apocalyptic novel, Leonardo, a writer and professor of some renown, battles to save the ones he loves while drawing on every last ounce of courage to fight off the evil that threatens the very foundations of society. More about this book |
| Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Paperback Jun 2, 2015. 352 pages. Published by Vintage.
What if a pandemic ravaged through the world and left just a few standing? What values would they hold dear to pass on to the new generations of humans that will spring forth? In this BookBrowse favorite, also nominated for the National Book Award, it turns out that the most enduring legacy we have crafted is: art. So even in our darkest hour, there is hope. More about this book |
| The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel by Michel Faber Hardcover Oct 2014. 480 pages. Published by Hogarth Books.
What if you were separated from the ones you love by an entire world yet torn by duty and allegiance to stay put where you are? Peter, a man of faith, must address this question as he preaches the word of God on planet Oasis, way too far from home, while his wife Bea struggles on a planet that is becoming alarmingly hostile and alien. More about this book |
| The Martian by Andy Weir Paperback Nov 2014. 384 pages. Published by Broadway Books. What if you were an astronaut who traveled to Mars but got stranded on the Red Planet? Would you, like Tom Hanks in Castaway, use ingenuity and willpower to make it through? Or would you have to face stark realities quite literally? Mark Watney battles the struggle for survival in this page-turner after being abandoned by crewmates who assume he died in a dust storm. More about this book |
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The BookBrowse Book Club
Please Join Us to Discuss:
Scent of Triumph: A Novel of Perfume and Passion by Jan Moran
Published Mar 2015, 384 pages
When French perfumer and aristocrat Danielle Bretancourt steps aboard a luxury ocean liner, leaving her son behind in Poland with his grandmother, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever.
More about this book | Join the discussion
Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime by Scott Simon
Published Mar 2015, 256 pages
When NPR's Scott Simon began tweeting from his mother's hospital room in July 2013, he didn't know that his missives would soon spread well beyond his 1.2 million Twitter followers. Over the course of a few days, Simon chronicled his mother's death and reminisced about her life, revealing her humor and strength, and celebrating familial love.
More about this book | Join the discussion
The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene
Published Feb 2015, 288 pages
Luminous and atmospheric, bringing to life the tight-knit enclave of a quintessential New England boarding school, the novel is part mystery, part love story, and an exploration of the ties of place and family. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, The Headmaster's Wife stands as a moving elegy to the power of love as an antidote to grief. More about this book | Join the discussion
When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett
Published Apr 2015, 256 pages
From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of Past the Shallows comes a remarkable new novel that weaves together the lives of a young girl from Tasmania and a sailor in search of meaning, whose brief encounter leaves a lasting impact on both.
More about this book | Join the discussion
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Win Books
Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Norah Vincent
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publishes 04/07/2015.
Category: Historical Fiction. 288 pp.
About this Book:
Intellectually and emotionally disarming,
Adeline - a vibrant portrait of Woolf and her social circle, the infamous Bloomsbury Group, and a window into the darkness that both inspired and doomed them all-is a masterpiece in its own right by one of our most brilliant and daring writers.
7 copies to give away. Offer closes Friday May 15 at 3pm ET.
Discussion will open June 15, and will stay open for about 6 weeks.
The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg
Crown, publishes 07/14/2015.
Category: Investigative Journalism. 384 pp.
About this Book:
An investigative journalist uncovers the hidden Afghanistan custom of girls being brought up as boys that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl. "Nordberg's immersive reporting reveals an astonishingly clear picture of this resourceful, if imperfect, solution to the problem of girlhood in a society where women have few rights and overwhelming restrictions." - The Boston Globe
10 copies to give away. Offer closes Friday May 15 at 3pm ET.
Discussion will open July 13 and will stay open about 6 weeks.
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