t peeks in and looks around

This is... neat! I couldn't really keep up with the literary thread, but with 1-2 books a month and a promise of a discussion, I think even *I* can kick my own ass into gear, so to speak.

I don't know if we're still taking recs, but I'd love to hear what the Buffistas think of Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" (which might have been discussed in the literary thread for all I know, since Consuela was the one who first recommended the book to me.) I think it's right up in our alley. The Amazon blurb goes thus:

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong...

I also have a bunch of books on the shelves I have bought at the recommendation of friends and have yet to read, including Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible", Charlotte Brontë's "Villette", Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves", all of which look like good Book Club material...

Oh, I get it. Well, still. My big slutty post is YOUR big slutty post.

(Although if it could maintain an element of sluttiness, I'd be obliged. Even if its just a Valley of the Dolls or Lady Chatterley's Lover nod.)

I suppose Henry Adams is not really beach reading

I'd like to suggest a good beachy book for next summer. Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor may be somewhat long and hard to get, but it's a fun romp through Restoration England. Or Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, for a wallow in post-WWII Hollywood.

And for something more serious, Anthony Trollope's The Warden. Life among the clergy in an 1859s English cathedral town. (Actually, I'd rather suggest his Barchester Towers or Can You Forgive Her?, but those might be too long for a book club.)

I have a mad, undying, and unexplainable love for Valley of the Dolls .

You know I'm not going to be happy unless I recommend Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets. Independent of my passion for the show, it really has changed my perception of what non-fiction journalism can be. Seriously.

That's a brilliant book, Erika!

As Kurt Vonnegut says, Valley of the Dolls is a book with it's "ups and downs, ups and downs".

I thought so. But I'm the kind of sick person who would actually try to keep track of Rules One-Nine, so they had me at "Gimme a quarter." It is way, way, better written than any other book about crime, ever. If Simon wrote faster...and the whole TV thing hadn't happened, he could send Ann Rule back to the suicide hotline. As a client.

Woo, glad I caught up before the lists were entirely set.

I'll have to mull over some suggestions for the list.

I wonder if we could do a Select the Selector every fourth book or so. It intrigues me as an idea. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. We can build our own traditions. I think it might be a good way to keep people involved, enthusiastic and add some wildcard elements.

I wonder if we could do a Select the Selector every fourth book or so. It intrigues me as an idea. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. We can build our own traditions. I think it might be a good way to keep people involved, enthusiastic and add some wildcard elements.

Agreeing muchly.