The Alienist by Caleb Carr and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I love this pairing. I've been wanting to read The Alienist again, and a friend just finished The Devil in the White City and said it was fascinating.

Maybe pairings should be stretched over two months, though? I'm usually a fast reader, but with a baby under eight months, not so much at the moment. And I hate the idea of skimming to keep up.

Hopefully everything we come up with will be available at the library, because my book buying budget is pretty nill.

And the anarchist in my head wants me to rec "Roget's Pocket Thesaurus." Yes, the reference book. Could be worse, the anarchist could be looking up the recipes for nitroglycerin.

Some other non-novel suggestions--a Bill Bryson book, perhaps A Walk in the Woods? A collection of essays/columns, perhaps by Mike Royko or Molly Ivins? A biography/memoir or two?

Just tossing out ideas.

OK. I think I'm going to at least try this book club thing and see how it goes.

I'd hoped to offer a romance or two for my suggestions, but all the ones I wanted to recommend are out of print. So, instead I'm going to recommend some romance-ish books:

Jaran, by Kate Elliott. Described by the author as "Jane Austen meets Genghis Khan on the set of Lawrence of Arabia," it's a science fiction novel that feels more like fantasy or historical fiction in many ways, since it's mostly set on a low-tech planet among nomads on horseback. And it's a romance, and a coming-of-age story about finding yourself, and your family, and escaping and failing to escape your past. And, IMO, a damn good read all around.

Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Not my favorite Austen--that's P&P. But IMO it's her richest, most mature, and most satisfying work.

I'm just throwing this out because DavidS (I think) mentioned Ford Madox Ford a while back.... but if you ever do the "unreliable narrator" theme, you should include The Good Soldier. I don't want to be impose-y Buffista X about suggesting it unless someone seconds interest (at which point I can go on and on about it with little provocation) but that theme caught my eye.

Vonnie K -- I loved House of Leaves, but it might not be a good selection because it's very much a love-it-or-hate-it book. It starts very slowly with an irritating narrator, and there's a ton of postmodern funkyness in the text (flip through it and just look at the page layouts). I think people would either devour it or throw it across the room after 20 minutes.

If we can do plays, my brother HIGHLY recommends "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard. I'd like to do some, but we might need to do them in pairs...

Oooh, I like Strega's rec of The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford. Really interesting book, craft-wise.

This thread is like being a kid in a candystore! I gots to slow down!

Not the recs, lilty, but the "rules" when we hammer out some kind of structure here. Nothing you can do right now, even if you had the time.

Wolfram, I actually meant to suggest to keep both the "rules" and the book list in the first post. I don't know that we could keep the recs there too, though. It might just get too big. (cc: Lilty) I didn't mean to nominate poor Lilty as keeper of either, though. I figured whoever collected it would just let Lilty know, and she could copy & paste.

I can do it! I can do it!

Hehe, just let me know whatever you guys need.

Book List, to date (the recs are too long, I'm not including them).

NOTES (please read these):

1) Some entries are marked with a * or a ** or a + or a ++, etc. See bottom of post, for explanation.

2) Sometimes, I couldn't tell if someone was seriously recommending a book/requesting that it be added to the list, so I made judgment calls. I didn't take "my friend loves" as a rec. I don't think people have to only rec books they've already read. I just couldn't decide if you were making a rec or no. If you meant to rec something, and it's not there, please speak up, so it can be added.

3) I have used bold font, for titles and/or authors who seemed to garner either interest or support from at least one person, in addition to the person who floated the suggestion. If an author was mentioned more than once, his/her name was only put in bold in his/her first entry on the list. If I missed your support for a book or author floated by someone else, please speak up, so I can correct it.

4) This is a request inspired because I am lazy (and definitely not a make or break sorta thing).

When recommending a book, if you remember to put it in following format: title, by author, it makes life easier for the list makers (because we can copy and paste, and that's the format of the list).

Also? If you like a book well enough to recommend it, please include the author's name. I made about 5 searches on Amazon this morning, to either confirm spelling, or because I had no clue at all, on the author's name.

Suggested Books

Into the Forest, by Jean Heglund
The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
My Name is Asher Lev, by Chiam Potok
Mariette in Ecstasy, by Ron Hansen
Mary Reilly, by Valerie Martin*
Louisiana Power and Light, by John Dufresne
Dirt Music, by Tim Winton
The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams**
Like Life, by Lorrie Moore**
Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore**
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman+
The Enchanted Castle, by Edith Nesbit++
Stranger Things Happen, by Kelly Link**
Mating, by Norman Rush
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor
Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
The Warden, by Anthony Trollope
Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets, by erika by David Simon
Jaran, by Kate Elliott
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford

Suggested Pairs

(See Also, Mary Reilly/Dr. J & Mr. H)

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; 1984, by George Orwell

Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein; The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

Paradise Lost, by John Milton; Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

The Alienist, by Caleb Carr; The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. _________________________________________

*Later, some posters suggested reading this as half of a pair with Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

**Short Story Collections

+ TPB (Trade Paper Back)

++ Children's Literature