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Welcome goonlings to the Awful Book of the Month! 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 me. Past Books of the Month [for BOTM before 2014, refer to archives] 2014: January: Ursula K. LeGuin - The Left Hand of Darkness February: Mikhail Bulgalov - Master & Margarita March: Richard P. Feynman -- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! April: James Joyce -- Dubliners May: Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- 100 Years of Solitude June: Howard Zinn -- A People's History of the United States July: Mary Renault -- The Last of the Wine August: Barbara Tuchtman -- The Guns of August September: Jane Austen -- Pride and Prejudice October: Roger Zelazny -- A Night in the Lonesome October November: John Gardner -- Grendel December: Christopher Moore -- The Stupidest Angel 2015: January: Italo Calvino -- Invisible Cities February: Karl Ove Knausgaard -- My Struggle: Book 1. March: Knut Hamsun -- Hunger April: Liu Cixin -- 三体 ( The Three-Body Problem) May: John Steinbeck -- Cannery Row June: Truman Capote -- In Cold Blood (Hiatus) August: Ta-Nehisi Coates -- Between the World and Me September: Wilkie Collins -- The Moonstone October:Seth Dickinson -- The Traitor Baru Cormorant November:Svetlana Alexievich -- Voices from Chernobyl December: Michael Chabon -- Gentlemen of the Road 2016: January: Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome February:The March Up Country (The Anabasis) of Xenophon March: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco April: Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling May: Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima June:The Vegetarian by Han Kang July:Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees August: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov September:Siddhartha by Herman Hesse October:Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse November:Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain Current: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis Available from amazon here (including ebook): Free download link here for all areas where copyright is author's life + 50 years: http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659/it-can-t-happen-here About the book: It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical 1935 political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis, and a 1936 play adapted from the novel by Lewis and John C. Moffitt. Published during the rise of fascism in Europe, the novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a Democrat and United States Senator who is elected to the presidency after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes a plutocratic/totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of Adolf Hitler and the SS. The novel's plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup's opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it as part of a liberal rebellion. Reviewers at the time, and literary critics ever since, have emphasized the connection with Louisiana politician Huey Long,[1] who was preparing to run for president in the 1936 election when he was assassinated in 1935 just prior to the novel's publication. Themes and Background Oh, I think you see where I'm going with this. Pacing Just read, then post. References and Further Reading Umberto Eco's Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt; Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco; All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren; The Iron Heel by Jack London Final Note: Thanks, and I hope everyone enjoys the book!
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Dec 6, 2016 14:25
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Cool, I'm in again. Actually about 25% in. Some pretty good and funny satire so far.
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Dec 7, 2016 11:47
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I'm also in, been meaning to read this for a while so why not now? e. I'm a chapter in it so far and have been struck by the old timey voice of narration. While reading it I was reminded of Mark Twain, and a little of Vonnegut, which got me wondering why I was putting the two of them together like that. I've decided its because, instead of being narrated by a character in the book, its classic story telling. That clicked with me, because its a similar voice that Garrison Keillor used for his Lake Woebegone stories. It reads really well and is quite engaging. The other thing that struck me is just how...appropriate...for these times this book really is. Fear of immigration? Lazy youth? Let's build up the military against some undefined existential threat and maybe have a war! Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 11, 2016 17:36
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Read the book years a go and currently looking for my copy. I remember being really impressed with how it makes clear that
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Dec 12, 2016 19:26
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Sauerkraut was called "Liberty cabbage" in WWI? lol "freedom fries" takes on a whole new meaning. We do relive history.  The parallels are really haunting. Loved the Father Caughlin callout.
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Dec 13, 2016 03:56
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Finished, was awesome. First thing that struck me was how quickly things got violent with mass killings at the drop of a hat. Different times.
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Dec 13, 2016 10:32
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I've started reading this on my own for obvious reasons, glad to see there's a thread. I'm just a couple chapters in so far, is surprisingly funny and pertinent.
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Dec 14, 2016 05:47
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Groke posted:Finished, was awesome. I remember reading that a lot of those massacres were based on actual armed clashes that had happened in the 1910's and 20's, like Ludlow. There's at least one passage listing journalists imprisoned by the new regime that included the real names of active journalists who had been most vocally opposed to militarism. I imagine they got a shock when they read it.
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Dec 18, 2016 13:11
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Groke posted:Finished, was awesome. Well, look at the Philippines.
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Dec 18, 2016 15:37
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Finished it as well. I really enjoyed it. Since I'm not American I'm sure I missed a lot of references, but it was still quite interesting. The society is very different, extremely male dominated for example, but there are indeed some parallels with the current world.
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Dec 21, 2016 13:04
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Walh Hara posted:Finished it as well. I really enjoyed it. Since I'm not American I'm sure I missed a lot of references, but it was still quite interesting. The society is very different, extremely male dominated for example, but there are indeed some parallels with the current world. Are you like from the planet Mars or something?
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Dec 22, 2016 00:02
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Need suggestions for next month. Perhaps something more positive.
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Dec 23, 2016 07:05
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Well I've finished my re-read. I remembered a lot of it but out of order, especially Doremus's conflict with his son Philip I remember that happening much earlier, which made Philip a little more sympathetic in my memory. Strangely enough the one thing I did completely blank on was the last chapter; except for a brief passage at a train station. I didn't remember anything about the ending but had a vague feeling it wrapped everything up in a neat little bow, I'm pleased that wasn't the case, the ending is pretty appropriate emotionally and narratively. I have only two real problems with it, like I said before Sinclair really didn't foresee the Popular Front, which is understandable since the Popular Front u turn happened very quickly round about the time he was writing. The other issue is that Trowbridge seems a bit to perfect, and its a bit weird that a novel that repeatedly warns the reader not to unquestioningly follow a leader, any leader regardless of ideology or personality to have a politician be perfect. Still very impressed with the criticism and description of Fascism, particularly the passages about the Concentration camps, they tally pretty closely to accounts of the early days of the Nazi penal system.
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Dec 26, 2016 13:21
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Need suggestions for next month. Perhaps something more positive. I'll re-nominate Watership Down since it's been ages and I think I want to reread it soon.
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Dec 26, 2016 15:59
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Need suggestions for next month. Perhaps something more positive. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut?
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Dec 26, 2016 16:47
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Franchescanado posted:Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut? Just to keep the Nazi train rolling?
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Dec 26, 2016 17:30
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Groke posted:I'll re-nominate Watership Down since it's been ages and I think I want to reread it soon. Also since I posted that the news has broken that the author has just died.
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Dec 27, 2016 21:39
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Groke posted:Also since I posted that the news has broken that the author has just died. Carrie Fischer wrote Watership Down?
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Dec 27, 2016 21:45
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Groke posted:Also since I posted that the news has broken that the author has just died. thanks roland barthes
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Dec 28, 2016 00:18
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Actually how about Postcards from the Edge or another of hers? I know nothing about any of them
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Dec 28, 2016 01:34
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Bilirubin posted:Actually how about Postcards from the Edge or another of hers? I know nothing about any of them This is a good suggestion. Need one or two more for a poll.
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Dec 29, 2016 03:56
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Bilirubin posted:Actually how about Postcards from the Edge or another of hers? I know nothing about any of them Well I was anyway planning to start off 2017 with one of her books (since I started 2016 with Lemmy's autobiography), so that's a fine idea too.
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Dec 29, 2016 09:53
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I'll nominate Undermajordomo Minor just to round out the poll? I just got it on a sale, and it's comedy, so it should be more positive than It Can't Happen Here. I'd like to throw in a vote for Postcards from the Edge, though!
rngd in the womb fucked around with this message at 10:27 on Dec 29, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2016 10:09
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:This is a good suggestion. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson or Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay?
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Dec 29, 2016 14:02
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Sorry I missed the flash poll. This book has gone from wonderful satire to really depressing in pretty short order. e. just finished it. Amazing. Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 22, 2017 |
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Jan 9, 2017 04:42
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