2019 Nominations Notes
___________________________________
Last nomination note of 2019
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Travis posted a new comment on Schlafly Global Book Discussion Group
topic: "2020 Reading List"
As promised, here's the list of our titles for the coming year.
1/23/2020: Severance - Ling Ma (China)
2/27/2020: Solar Bones - Mike McCormack (Ireland)
3/26/2020: In the Beginning Was the Sea - Tomas Gonzalez (Colombia)
4/23/2020: Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro (Japan)
5/28/2020: Skylark - Dezső Kosztolányi (Hungary)
6/25/2020: The Rainbow Troops - Andrea Hirata (Indonesia)
7/23/2020: Freshwater - Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)
8/27/2020: Small Country - Gael Faye (Rwanda)
9/24/2020: Bright - Duanwad Pimwana (Thailand)
10/22/2020: Sea Monsters - Chloe Aridjis (Mexico)
11/19/2020: The Wind That Lays Waste - Selva Almada (Argentina)
_____________________________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number: 523
Date: Dec 15 2019
Host: Alice Adcock
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
Robert M. Hazen
The Story of Earth
Edward Wilson-Lee
The catalogue of shipwrecked books : Christopher Columbus, his son,
and the quest to build the world's greatest library
Cokie Roberts
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
My life as a meme
Novelty Books
Raphael Slepon, An ovel
Anne Fortier, The Lost Sisterhood: A Novel
Robin diAngel, White Fragility
Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race
Ta-Nehisi Coates. His latest, The Water Dancer: A Novel
Call # JF Tashjian Janet
Author Tashjian, Janet.
Title My life as a meme / Janet Tashjian ; with
cartoons by Jake Tashjian.
Imprint New York : Henry Holt and Company, c2019.
Edition 1st ed.
Summary Derek Fallon and his friends are back for
another unprecedented adventure in Book 8 of the My Life
series--this time featuring epic memes!
Janet Tashjian is the author of the popular My Life series including
My Life as a Book, My Life as a Stuntboy, My Life as a Cartoonist,
My Life as a Joke, My Life as a Gamer, My Life as a Ninja, and My
Life as a Youtuber, as well as Sticker Girl and the Einstein the
Class Hamster series, illustrated by her son, Jake Tashjian. Jake
and Janet live in Los Angeles, California. janettashjian.com
- a book of manners from way back when
_____________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number: 522
Date: 2019 11 24
Host: Dave Day
CHOICE: José Saramago The Elephant's Journey
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
6
Edward Wilson-Lee
The catalogue of shipwrecked books : 6Christopher Columbus, his son,
and the quest to build the world's greatest library
7
2
G. K. Chesterton
Tremendous Trifles
7
8
José Saramago
The Elephant's Journey
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
________________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: Oct 20
Host: Genie Bonte
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
7
Elizabeth Kolbert
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
x
Ernesto Quinonez
Bodega Dreams
8
4
Charles King
Gods of the Upper Air
8
6
Schwed & Arno
Where are the Customers’ Yachcts? - Where Are the Customers'
Yachts?: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street
____________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: sept 15
Host: Bobbie and Lloyd
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
2
Sherman Alexie
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Stories
11
9
Tommy Orange
There There
5 4
Joseph Heller
Catch 22
5 7
3
Nicole Krauss
The History of Love: A Novel
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Stories
by Sherman Alexie
Colin Whitehead
Tommy Orange
______________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: 2019 08
Host: Marian & Jonathan
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
4
David Blight
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
8
Richard Powers
The Overstory
4
Nicole Krauss
The History of Love: A Novel
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
________________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: July 28
Host: Alice
CHOICE:A
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
8
5
David Blight
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
8
5
Nicole Krauss
the History of Love
12
5
J R Ackerley
My Dog Tulip
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
_____________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
517
Date: June 23, 2019
Host: Genie
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
5
1
William Bollman
1899: L.Frank Baum’S Oz-Inspiring Macatawa Park
8
5
Muriel Barbery
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
5
3
J R Ackerley
My Dog Tulip
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations: from Joan
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
_____________________________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number: 516
Date: May, 26, 2019
Host: Renee
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
8
4
Delia Owens
Where the Crawdad Sings
8
6
Eric Larsen
In the Garden of the Beasts
6
J R Ackerley
My Dog Tulip
8
5
Caitlin Moran
How to Be a Woman
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
_____________________
/.Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date:
Host:
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
13
8
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
by Charles M. Blow
1
proposal for city county merger
5
2
Jon Meacham
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
_______________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: march 24
Host: Bollmann-
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
11
7
David Sedaris
Calypso
x
Caitlyn Mora
How to be a Woman
x
McKibben
Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
7
6
Jon Meacham
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
3
Ray Kurzweil
The Singularity is Near
2
a children’s book
Nominations that come to my attention between BookClub meetings:
Previous Recent Nominations:
____________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number: 513
Date: Feb 24, 2018
Host: Dave Day
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
6
Garth Greenwell
What Belongs to You
7
7
David Grann
Killers of the Flower Moon
7
4
Mary Beard
SPQR
5
Donna Carlton
The Moonflower Vine
my idea for a few months, perhaps 4, on a BC or CB series Beard,
Mary SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Cline, Eric "1177 BC: The Year Civilzation Collapsed" (2014)
then perhaps even another 2 on [which would make our set of 3 a CBM!
but also see https://www.acronymfinder.com/CBM.html ] Manchester,
William
American Caesar - Douglas Macarthur, 1880-1964
Section Section Description Page
Number
Preamble: Reveille p. 15
Prologue: First Call p. 26
I. Ruffles and Flourishes (1880-1917)
p. 54
II. Charge (1917-1918) p. 92
III. Call to Quarters (1919-1935)
p. 129
IV. To the Colors (1935-1941) p.
176
V. Retreat (1941-1942) p. 229
VI. The Green War (1942-1944) p.
318
VII. At High Port (1944-1945) p.
433
VIII. Last Post (1945-1950) p.
536
IX. Sunset Gun (1950-1951) p.
646
X. Recall (1951) p. 751
XI. Taps (1951-1964) p. 810
Acknowledgments p. 845
Notes p. 847
Bibliography p. 890
Copyright Acknowledgments p. 915
Index p. 917
William Manchester was born on April 1, 1922 in Attleboro,
Massachusetts. After serving as a Marine in the Pacific Theater
during World War II, he completed his B.A. at the University of
Massachusetts and earned his master's degree in English from the
University of Missouri. He was a journalist for several years before
becoming the managing editor of Wesleyan University's publications
office. He spent the rest of his career at the University, serving
in various roles including adjunct professor of history and
writer-in-residence. In addition to several novels, her wrote a
number of historical and biographical works. Among them are The
Death of a President, which won the Dag Hammarskjold International
Literary Prize and American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964. His
last major work was a three-part biography of Winston Churchill,
entitled The Last Lion. He received the Peggy V. Helmerich
Distinguished Author Award in 2000. Manchester died on June 1, 2004,
at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography)
also
https://smile.amazon.com/Blake-Crouch/e/B001H6U8X0/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Dark Matter: A Novel Jul 26, 2016
by Blake Crouch
https://smile.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Novel-Blake-Crouch/dp/1524763241/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544249070&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Dark+Matter+by+Jason+Crouch
_____________________
Nomination FORM
Book Discussion Number:
Date: 20190127
Host:
CHOICE:
VOTING:
MONTH NOMINATIONS
1st
2nd
Author
Title
7
4
Lois Lowry
The Giver
4
Lou Baczewski
Louch: A Simple Man's True Story of War, Survival, Life, and Legacy
5
5
Richard Rhodes
The MAKING of the Atomic Bomb
2
William Manchester
American Caesar

American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964Apr 30, 2008
by William Manchester
About Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer.
She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and
Japan. After studying at Brown University, she married, started a
family, and turned her attention to writing. She is the author of
more than forty books for young adults, including the popular
Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among
them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Award, the California Young Reader's Medal, and the Mark Twain
Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE
STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded
the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award.
Several books have been adapted to film and stage, and THE GIVER has
become an opera. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Maine and
Florida. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at
www.loislowry.com
The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most
influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on
twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless,
world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life
assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the
dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. This movie
tie-in edition features cover art from the movie and exclusive
Q&A with members of the cast, including Taylor Swift, Brenton
Thwaites and Cameron Monaghan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Lowry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver
_____________________________
PERSONAL NOMINATION NOTES
20190915
Edward Wilson-Lee
The catalogue of shipwrecked books : 6Christopher Columbus, his son,
and the quest to build the world's greatest library
G. K. Chesterton
Tremendous Trifles
——
569.9 P997S
Author Pyne, Lydia V.
Title Seven skeletons : the evolution of the
world's most famous human fossils / Lydia Pyne. Imprint
New York : Viking, 2016.
Details
Descript 276 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.
Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Summary Over the last century, the search for
human ancestors has spanned four continents and resulted in the
discovery of hundreds of fossils. Most of these discoveries live
quietly in museum collections, but some have become celebrities,
embraced by wide audiences and held as touchstones in how we
understand our human origins. In Seven Skeletons, historian of
science Lydia Pyne explores how seven of them gained their fame.
Drawing from paleoanthropology, interviews, museum exhibitions,
science fiction, and even poetry, Pyne brings to life each fossil.
Contents Famous fossils, hidden histories -- Old
man of La Chapelle: the patriarch of paleo -- Piltdown: a name
without a fossil -- Taung child: the rise of a folk hero -- Peking
Man: a curious case of paleo-noir -- Ascension of an icon: Lucy in
the sky -- Precious: Flo's life as a hobbit -- Sediba: TBD (to be
determined) -- O fortuna!: a bit of luck, a bit of skill.
Subject Fossil hominids.
Human evolution.
ISBN 9780525429852 (hardcover)
0525429859 (hardcover)
Summary
An irresistible journey of discovery, science, history, and myth
making, told through the lives and afterlives of seven famous human
ancestors
Over the last century, the search for human ancestors has spanned
four continents and resulted in the discovery of hundreds of
fossils. While most of these discoveries live quietly in museum
collections, there are a few that have become world-renowned
celebrity personas--ambassadors of science that speak to public
audiences. In Seven Skeletons, historian of science Lydia Pyne
explores how seven such famous fossils of our ancestors have the
social cachet they enjoy today.
Drawing from archives, museums, and interviews, Pyne builds a
cultural history for each celebrity fossil--from its discovery to
its afterlife in museum exhibits to its legacy in popular culture.
These seven include the three-foot tall "hobbit" from Flores, the
Neanderthal of La Chapelle, the Taung Child, the Piltdown Man hoax,
Peking Man, Australopithecus sediba, and Lucy--each embraced and
celebrated by generations, and vivid examples of how discoveries of
how our ancestors have been received, remembered, and immortalized.
With wit and insight, Pyne brings to life each fossil, and how it is
described, put on display, and shared among scientific communities
and the broader public. This fascinating, endlessly entertaining
book puts the impact of paleoanthropology into new context, a
reminder of how our past as a species continues to affect, in
astounding ways, our present culture and imagination.
Book List Review
Pyne takes a unique approach to chronicling the great human fossil
discoveries of the last century, aiming for the sweet spot where
anthropology, history, and myth collide. The skeletons she discusses
are all well known and significant and include the Old Man of La
Chapelle, the Tuang Child, Peking Man, Lucy, Flo (the hominin who
conjured comparisons to the Hobbit), the Sediba fossil, and, of
course, the great hoax that was Piltdown Man. In each chapter, the
fossil is introduced, those who found it and the circumstances
behind the discovery are discussed, and then the real fun begins as
the popular media coverage of the find and any resultant scientific
infighting are analyzed. There is plenty of drama associated with
these fossils, not the least of which is the continuing mystery
surrounding the disappearance of Peking Man during WWII and
everything everyone got wrong about Piltdown Man. The infusion of
these dramas into the narrative makes Seven Skeletons highly
readable and an excellent title for armchair explorers with dreams
of their own history-making discoveries.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright
2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with
permission.
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service.
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Publishers Weekly Review
Pyne (Bookshelf), a historian and philosopher of science, superbly
profiles seven fossils that she feels "tell us how scientific
discoveries become written into popular culture and scientific
ethos": the "old man," Piltdown Man, the Taung Child, Peking Man,
Lucy, Flo, and Sediba. She makes clear their importance in helping
people to understand both human evolution and the scientific
process, while addressing larger cultural questions about the nature
of celebrity and the role played by story and symbol. Pyne
acknowledges that there are many fossils that play a central role in
telling the story of human evolution, but she argues that these
seven have acquired a cultural cachet that both add to and transcend
their scientific value. Indeed, the stories associated with each
fossil, the nicknames each has acquired, and the marketing arising
from them have in many ways transformed paleoarchaeology as well as
the popular understanding people have for evolutionary history. As
Pyne notes, such stories "humanize the australophithecines, and
that's a powerful thing. It makes the fossil record accessible to us
as people, not just as scientists." Pyne's tales complement and
flesh out the well-known narratives already associated with these
fossils; her work impressively blends the humanities and science to
greatly enrich both. Agent: Geri Thoma, Writers House. (Aug.) ©
Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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service.
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Excerpt
***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof***
Copyright © 2016 Lydia Pine
"Dad, I found a fossil!"
On August 15, 2008, nine-year-old Matthew Berger tagged along with
his father, paleoanthropologist Dr. Lee Berger, on a field project
in Malapa Nature Reserve in northern South Africa. The project was
part of efforts to explore and map out known fossil sites and caves
in the reserve, about forty kilometers north of Johannesburg. While
puttering around the reserve with his dog, Tau, Matthew discovered
what he knew to be some kind of fossil sticking out of a dark brown
chunk of breccia rock. At first glance, the senior Berger thought
that the fossil was simply a piece of a very, very old antelope--a
common fossil in the area.
He picked up the block of rock containing the fossil and looked more
closely, and realized that what he was looking at was a clavicle--a
collarbone--of a hominin. He flipped the block over and saw a lower
jaw encased in the same piece of breccia. "I couldn't believe it,"
Dr. Berger giddily recalled in a New York Times interview. "I took
the rock, and I turned it [and] sticking out of the back of the rock
was a mandible with a tooth, a canine, sticking out. And I almost
died. What are the odds?"
-------
In April 2010, the fossils Matthew and his dad's team discovered in
excavations from Malapa were published in Science as a new fossil
hominin species called Australopithecus sediba. Although the
paleoanthropological community was basically in agreement that the
fossils were truly spectacular specimens, the scientific name proved
to be a somewhat controversial taxonomic assignment because the
fossils showed primitive apelike traits as well as derived, or
Homo-like, characteristics. (Many researchers thus argued that the
anatomy of Sediba would be better ascribed to the genus Homo, not to
Australopithecus.) The publication of the fossils was accompanied by
numerous opinion pieces arguing about the best taxonomic status for
the fossil--from Science to Nature to National Geographic to the New
York Times.
Regardless of its taxonomy, to date, the Malapa site was undeniably
a significant fossil locale, having yielded over 220 bone fragments
that, when put together, can boast a total of six skeletons: a
juvenile male, an adult female, and three infants that all lived
around 1.9 million to 2 million years ago. When the fossil species
was described in 2010, it was--and still is--tremendously exciting
not only because Sediba lived during a time when both australopith
species and early Homo roamed the greater African landscapes
together, but also because the fossils were from multiple
individuals with incredible archaeological provenience. These
fossils represented an interesting time in our evolutionary history
and constituted a sample of the species that was greater than just
one individual--which, in turn, helps paleoanthropologists
understand variation within fossil species.
Over the twentieth century, little did more to shape
paleoanthropology's emerging identity as its own scientific
discipline than the fossil hominin discoveries from Europe, Africa,
and Asia. Every new discovery inherently carried a certain prestige
because the fossil discoveries offered the basis for creating
hypotheses and explanations about what could be observed in the
fossil record--new fossils could make or break definitions of
species and every new discovery had the potential to rewrite the
family tree. New fossils were imbued with social prestige in their
original contexts--either accepted as ancestrally significant, like
Peking Man, or dismissed, like the Taung Child.
As more and more fossil discoveries have entered the scientific
record over the course of the last century, fossil collections are
simply not as sparse as they were in earlier decades. (There are,
for example, over four hundred Neanderthal individuals represented
in the fossil record so far, compared with the very few specimens of
the nineteenth century.) So, where does this leave
twenty-first-century fossil discoveries? What would a famous fossil
look like today? Flo and Homo floresiensis gave us one type of
modern celebrity--contentious little hobbit that she is. The
discovery of Sediba raised other questions: What historical patterns
could or would other fossil discoveries follow? What historical
patterns would they follow? What cultural expectations--and what
scientific questions--would twenty-first century fossils now need be
required to answer to?
"The dolomitic cave deposits of South Africa have yielded arguably
the richest record of both hominin and mammalian evolution in
Africa. Fossils were first recognized in these deposits in the early
20th century, but it was the discovery of the Taung child skull from
the Buxton Limeworks in 1924 that led to the recognition of the
importance of these cave sites," Berger explained in a guide to the
fossils and history of the Malapa region. Part of the reason that
the Malapa specimens could catapult so quickly into the paleo
limelight was due to the incredible paleoanthropological history
associated with the Malapa--Sediba's success is contingent, in no
small part, upon the fossils' South African legacy.
But Sediba's renown is also a product of the fossil being in the
right place at the right time and with a person to champion it, all
the while pushing for a change in the paradigm of how
paleoanthropology collects data and generates hypotheses. If the
historical parallels are any indication, the life and afterlife of a
fossil are made and remade by its contexts; its lasting celebrity is
created over decades. While Sediba's initial life history certainly
sets it up to be The Next Big Thing, it's not a foregone conclusion
that a century from now it will still carry the same distinction it
has today.
Excerpted from Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World's Most
Famous Human Fossils by Lydia V. Pyne
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are
provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced,
reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the
publisher.
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service.
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Author Notes
Lydia Pyne has degrees in history and anthropology and a PhD in
history and philosophy of science from Arizona State University. She
has participated in field and archival work in South Africa,
Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Iran, and the American Southwest. She has
published articles and essays in The Atlantic, Nautilus, and Public
Domain Review. She lives in Austin, Texas, where she is an avid rock
climber and mountain biker.Linda E. Mahon
Sue Lampe
Eliza Leiser