[nesfa-reading-group] Fwd: NESFA Reading Group email

[David G. Grubbs]

I asked our newest reading group member, Ann Katsios, to suggest books to
vote on at our next meeting on January 3rd for our May book to read.

Below are her suggestions.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: ananya <ann_wazup at rocketmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 16, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: NESFA Reading Group email
To: David G. Grubbs <dggrubbs at gmail.com>


Hi David,

After some delightful hours of book-hunting, I am excited to share three
books that I think will make interesting reads. While searching for books
that the group hadn't already read, I stumbled upon so many fascinating
titles that my own to-read list has grown quite a bit!

Attached are the book descriptions straight from Amazon for convenience,
along with some reviews and awards each book has received. I look forward
to hearing everyone's thoughts on these suggestions.


1. In Ascension -- Martin MacInnes

*Martin MacInnes has been published in 13 languages and is the winner of a
Manchester Fiction Prize, a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award and a
Somerset Maugham Award. His third novel, In Ascension (2023), was
longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Kitschies award, and
won the Arthur C. Clarke award, Blackwell's Book of the Year, and the
Saltire Prize for Fiction. In Ascension is a Times bestseller and has been
optioned for film.* - Goodreads


*Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her
unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of
her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study
ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh
joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first
life forms - what she instead finds calls into question everything we know
about our own beginnings.Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and
an ambitious new space agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she
learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena
from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond
human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency
will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and
faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a
journey across the breadth of the cosmos. *

Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2024
Listed for the Booker Prize
Blackwell's Book of the Year

'Utterly compelling' The Times, Books of the Year
'Profound and thrilling' New Statesman, Books of the Year
'A far-reaching epic' Financial Times, Books of the Year

2. The Mountain in the Sea — Ray Nayler



*When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to
travel to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a highly
intelligent, dangerous octopus species, she doesn't pause long enough to
look at the fine print. DIANIMA - a transnational tech corporation best
known for its groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence - has
purchased the islands, evacuated their population and sealed the
archipelago off from the world so that Nguyen can focus on her research.But
the stakes are high: the octopuses hold the key to unprecedented
breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence and there are vast fortunes to be
made by whoever can take advantage of their advancements. And no one has
yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.*

Locus Award 2023 - Winner of First Novel award
Nebula Award 2023 Finalist.
Ray Bradbury Prize 2023 Finalist.
Shortlisted for the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award

'I loved this novel's brain and heart'
DAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS

'A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful,
and redemptive'
JEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF ANNIHILATION


3. Venomous Lumpsucker -- Ned Beauman



*The venomous lumpsucker is the most intelligent fish on the planet. Or
maybe it was the most intelligent fish on the planet. Because it might have
just gone extinct. Nobody knows. And nobody really cares, either. Except
for two people.Mining executive Mark Halyard has a prison cell waiting for
him if that fish is gone for good, and biologist Karin Resaint needs it for
her own darker purposes. They don't trust each other an inch, but they're
left with no choice but to team up in search of the lumpsucker. And as they
journey across the strange landscapes of near-future Europe - a nature
reserve full of toxic waste; a floating city on the Baltic Sea; the lethal
hinterlands of a totalitarian state - they're drawn into a conspiracy far
bigger than one ugly little fish.*

Arthur C. Clarke Award (2023)
Sunday Times Science Fiction Novel of the Year

'Brutally satirical and grimly hilarious' Daily Mail
'A laugh-out-loud novel about mass extinction (yes, really)' Sunday Times
"It's not often a book manages to be hilarious, terrifying, and deeply
moving all at the same time." - Nemo on goodreads


Best,
Ann Katsios

On Tuesday, 10 December 2024 at 11:08:06 GMT-5, ananya <
ann_wazup at rocketmail.com> wrote:



Yes, I can definitely get it to you before then.


Yahoo Mail: Search, organise, conquer
<https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=US_Acquisition_YMktg_315_SearchOrgConquer_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=US_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100002039&af_sub5=C01_Email_Static_&af_ios_store_cpp=0c38e4b0-a27e-40f9-a211-f4e2de32ab91&af_android_url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.mail&listing=search_organize_conquer>

On Tue, 10 Dec 2024 at 11:00, David G. Grubbs
<dggrubbs at gmail.com> wrote:
The idea is to present three books at the January 3rd meeting, which is 3.5
weeks from now. Will you have time between now and then?


On Tue, Dec 10, 2024 at 10:57 AM ananya <ann_wazup at rocketmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

Please engage someone else to do so. This week is a bit chaotic for me.

Thanks,
Ann Katsios

On Tue, 10 Dec 2024 at 10:47, David G. Grubbs
<dggrubbs at gmail.com> wrote:
Ann,

Do you want to suggest three books for the NESFA Reading Group?  If not,
please tell me so I can engage someone else to do so.


On Sat, Dec 7, 2024 at 11:49 PM David G. Grubbs <dggrubbs at gmail.com> wrote:

I got a note from Wes that you showed up to this month's book discussion
and gave an email address to add to our reading group mailing list:
ann_wazup at rocketmail.com

Can I ask for your full name?  Please forgive me if I immediately believe
"Wazup" is a joking reference to the advertising-award-winning 2000
Budweiser commercials and the current meme that "Scary Movie" parodied.

I assume you saw the vote for the April book at yesterday's discussion.
Those were my suggestions, but I had a rehearsal last night and couldn't
make the discussion. Wes or someone else may have read aloud my review of
yesterday's book at the meeting.

In any case, are you ready to suggest books?

The way we've done it for some years is to rotate through the group and
have someone suggest three books that the group votes on for a future
discussion. New people get pushed onto the front of the rotation.

We have chosen books to read up through April. If you have three ideas for
books, your suggestions will be voted on at the January 3 meeting and the
winner will become our May selection. You don't necessarily have to promise
to be there in May. We want everyone to get a chance to suggest books and
new ideas are always welcome.

So, please either tell me you can't (or don't want to) do it next month or
pick three books and for each book, send their titles and some clips from
various review sites (like Goodreads, or others). At least a week before
the next meeting (on January 3).
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