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In this thread, we choose one work of Resources: Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org - A database of over 17000 books available online. If you can suggest books from here, that'd be the best. SparkNotes - http://www.sparknotes.com/ - A very helpful Cliffnotes-esque site, but much better, in my opinion. If you happen to come in late and need to catch-up, you can get great character/chapter/plot summaries here.  For recommendations on future material, suggestions on how to improve the club, or just a general rant, feel free to PM the moderation team. Past Books of the Month [for BOTM before 2019, refer to archives] 2019: January: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky February: BEAR by Marian Engel March: V. by Thomas Pynchon April: The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout May: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman June: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann July: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach August: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay September: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay October: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado November: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett December: Moby Dick by Herman Melville 2020: January: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair February: WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin March: The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini April: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio May: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Dame Rebecca West June: The African Queen by C. S. Forester July: The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale August: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire, by Howard Pyle September: Strange Hotel, by Eimear McBride October:Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (怪談)("Ghost Stories"), by Lafcadio Hearn November: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) , by Matthew Hongoltz Hetling December: Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Drury Clark 2021: January: The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley February: How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart March: Carrier Wave by Robert Brockway April: The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brian May: You Can't Win by Jack Black June:Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson July:Can Such Things Be by Ambrose Bierce August: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust September:A Dreamer's Tales by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany October:We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson November:Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers Current:  Hogfather by Terry Pratchett Book available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W5MIGC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 About the book 90s Cringe Rock posted:Hell yeah Hogfather owns any time but especially around Christmas. Cthulu Carl posted:I liked Hogfather, but it came at a really lovely time in my life and somehow managed to hit just the right spot to start pulling me out. quote:Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee.[1] It was first released in 1996 and published by Victor Gollancz. It came in 137th place in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the most loved British books of all time, making it one of fifteen books by Pratchett in the Top 200.[2] About the Author Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works.[1] He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death. Pratchett, with more than 85 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages,[2][3] was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s.[4][5] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours.[6][7] In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children.[8][9] He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.[10] In December 2007, Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease.[11] He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust,[12] filmed a television programme chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron for Alzheimer's Research UK.[13] Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, aged 66.[14] Pacing  Read as thou wilt is the whole of the law. Please post after you read! Please bookmark the thread to encourage discussion. References and Further Materials  One streaming adaptation -- there have been a few -- https://www.amazon.com/Hogfather/dp/B079VFPJJQ tsob posted:I've never actually seen "Hogfather" in it's totality, but I certainly enjoy watching clips of it on YouTube because it seems to get the cheesy but hopeful tone of most Discword stuff. Scenes like Death talking to Susan about how people need hope are great: Jedit posted:There's an audio excerpt from the new Hogfather audiobook about halfway down this article. I don't necessarily recommend that Strix listen to it, but it's definitely a good representation of the humour.   Book Barn's general Terry Pratchett thread is here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2589635 Suggestions for Future Months These threads aren't just for discussing the current BOTM; If you have a suggestion for next month's book, please feel free to post it in the thread below also. Generally what we're looking for in a BotM are works that have 1) accessibility -- either easy to read or easy to download a free copy of, ideally both 2) novelty -- something a significant fraction of the forum hasn't already read 3) discussability -- intellectual merit, controversiality, insight -- a book people will be able to talk about. Final Note: Thanks, and we hope everyone enjoys the book!
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Dec 4, 2021 14:15
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 18:56 |
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I don't normally pick books for BoTM when there's already a rolling thread for the author on the forum, but Hogfather is my favorite Christmas novel, possibly my favorite Pratchett novel, and a great introduction to Pratchett overall, and Pratchett's writing is sharp enough and clear enough that pretty much anyone can enjoy him (hence the popularity). Happy Hogswatchnight, all!
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Dec 4, 2021 14:17
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Bilirubin posted:I'm in. I think this is next in the ordered reading of Death books I have been doing so I can FINALLY read the copy of Night Watch I picked up some years ago... This is one of the few Discworld books that I think it's totally ok to read completely out of order (which is another reason it made the cut for BotM). The "Death Series" books are a lot more disconnected than the others until you hit this one. Mort, Reaper Man, and Soul Music are . . .fine. . . but this is the breakout.
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Dec 5, 2021 14:58
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MockingQuantum posted:Oh also sometimes the jokes and references in Discworld books can be a touch... uh... esoteric, especially if you're not British, ime. This website has been a big help in explaining references that I just flat out don't get: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/ Oh good call, I should have linked that website in the first post. Here's the page of annotations specifically for Hogfather: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/hogfather.html
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Dec 5, 2021 14:59
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Bilirubin posted:Crossposted from the discord: Yeah, this book contains my second-favorite footnote of all time quote:And they are correct. The universe clearly operates for the benefit of humanity. This can be readily seen from the convenient way the sun comes up in the morning, when people are ready to start the day." (My favorite footnote can be found here: {[ url]https://twitter.com/ticiaverveer/status/964967221440204801?s=20[/url]} Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Dec 12, 2021 |
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Dec 12, 2021 02:16
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Wife and I started watching the BBC adaptation tonight. it's great! (so far) The actors for the main cast are just amazingly cast
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Dec 21, 2021 02:38
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suggestions for January?
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Dec 25, 2021 04:19
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Ok, here are books entering public domain in january 2022 -- any of these look good to people? https://www.windowsdispatch.com/public-domain-books-2022/
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Dec 29, 2021 05:03
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Natty Ninefingers posted:The Sun Also Rises is pretty readable for Hemingway. This is where I'm leaning unless something changes my mind
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Dec 31, 2021 01:13
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 18:56 |
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I'll get a thread up for Sun Also Rises soonish
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Jan 2, 2022 23:00
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