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WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

Assist us in selecting our upcoming FICTION book for group discussion in this forum. A minimum of 5 posts is required to participate here!
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Chris OConnor

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WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!
November & December 2015 and January 2016
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Please post in this thread your book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion. Include the title, author and a link to where we can learn more about the book. It helps significantly if you tell us why you're suggesting the book too.

Ideally, limit your suggestions to only one or two books please.

And do not suggest books here if you have no intention of actually participating in the next fiction book discussion.

We're reading and discussing Andy Weir's The Martian in October, November and December 2015. So this suggestion thread is designed to help us select a different fiction book that will potentially be discussed in November, December and January. That way we have two fiction discussions running concurrently with some overlap. Not everyone likes every fiction title so this offers a bit of variety.

And please read the suggestions other people make. If you like one of them say so! :-)
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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What does it all mean?
As a psychologist and parapsychologist, Writing The SHIVA Syndrome (BURST/Champagne Books) was a challenge. After education and personal experience with the so-called "paranormal," I was driven by an urge to bring parapsychology to the public integrating real, research based PSI within a multigenre story.
Reviews have been surprisingly good. The puzzle is how each is seeing it in different ways, with varying levels of interpretation. I am very interested in receiving other opinions or analyses about what the story means to them.

REVIEWS
In The SHIVA Syndrome, the author (a clinical psychologist) skillfully and ingeniously interweaves altered states of consciousness and parapsychology with genetics, paleontology, mythology, and religion to produce a frightening, brisk, and film-worthy story building to an intense climax. The story challenges conventional notions of reality, ultimately concluding that human consciousness extends well beyond the flesh–and offers enormous potential for both creation and destruction.Dr. Stanley Krippner, internationally known psychologist, parapsychologist, and author.

What a fascinating book! It’ll magnetize you just like the penetrating gaze of Hindu’s god Shiva and his animal companion on the book’s cover, although the relation of this god of destruction and creation to the book’s topic is symbolic. The SHIVA Syndrome is a sci-fi thriller, a mystery that unfolds on a background of myths and religions, biotechnology, military power, politics, and paranormal human abilities…The descriptions of events and characters are very vivid and engaging. Having the right amount of adventure and romance, this crisscrossing genre tale isn’t just a good read, but may also look great on a big screen. Portland Book Review 4.5 stars.


Lots of action, intriguing concepts, and examinations of belief systems and the greatest opportunity in human history to reshape the world: that’s the essence of a powerful saga in The Shiva Syndrome, which is not only highly recommended ‘as is’, but would translate well to the screen. It’s very highly recommended, indeed; especially for thriller and sci-fi readers who have become deluged with too much predictability and who seek cutting-edge action, believable protagonists, and action that is solidly intense throughout.
Midwest Book Review

The SHIVA Syndrome. written by Alan Joshua, is one of those books that managed to completely surprise me in the positive manner – a combination of thriller and mystery delivered in non-typical way will grab your attention and will not loosen its grip to the very last page…Alan Joshua with his debut succeeds in making a well-made novel, creating an untypical story and the intriguing world, combining SF, mystery and thriller motives. The author makes it impossible for the reader to guess in which direction the story will continue while the end of novel is nearing. Therefore, with The SHIVA Syndrome, Alan Joshua managed to overcome my expectations, kept me intrigued until the very end…I can heartily recommend his title to the general audience. Denis Vukosav Amazon Top 100 Reviewer

Any attempt to describe the book in a single statement is difficult, but the book mixes uncommon palettes and manages a masterpiece with it. If The Andromeda Strain was analyzed in four dimensions, The SHIVA Syndrome might be the result. Such a base comparison is an overall disservice to the unique nature of this book, however. It is a surprising, suspenseful, and utterly superb read from start to end, facing modern mindsets with past, present, and future thinking all at once. Self-Publishing Review. ★★★★★

The Shiva Syndrome is a thrilling read, and I could definitely imagine this in the theater. The author is skilled at putting the pictures in your head without confusion. You find yourself connecting with his characters so that you are vested in their outcome. Would love to see a part two! Highly recommended. New Consciousness Review 5 stars

The SHIVA Syndrome by Alan Joshua is a treat for the fans of the techno thriller as well as fans of the paranormal…The novel is a complex and multi-layered work based on science, the paranormal, religion including native American shamanism, Roman Catholicism, and Santeria. If you like the novels of Lincoln Child, you will love this one. 5 stars Marvin Smith (Amazon)

The SHIVA Syndrome” is full of action and therefore a fast pace but sometimes there are arguments among various characters that can be long with the result that the pace slows down considerably. Some moments can be heavy because the topics discussed are sometimes really complex, on the other hand they’re used to explain them a bit and contribute to the characters’ development. In my opinion, overall Alan Joshua maintains a good balance between action and dialogue. NetMassimo Blog (Massimo Luciani, Italy)

The SHIVA Syndrome was a phenomenal read but it is not a quick read. Many things develop every chapter and a lot of ideas and theories are constantly suggested involving complex thinking and understanding. The story was amazingly developed to keep the reader attentive and on their toes constantly and always guessing where the plot is heading up until the very end. Highly recommended for anyone interested in science fiction, mysteries and thrillers – you won’t be disappointed!
Littlepinkcrayon Book Review 5 stars

Anyone interested in sending questions or comments, please address them to [email protected].
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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In an election season, it might be entertaining to read It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. It's about a President who becomes a dictator.

"Not only Lewis's most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in this country".
-The New Yorker

OK I'll admit it: this article gave me the idea.
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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Or by Sinclair Lewis, "Free Air."
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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I want to recommend my novel FLING! for the next discussion. It was published in July 2015 and has been receiving very favorable reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads by men as well as women.

According to Lewis Buzbee, author and professor of creative writing at the University of San Francisco, “Fling! is both hilarious and touching, the madcap journey of an aging mother and her adult daughter from cold Protestant Canada into the hallucinogenic heart of Mexico's magic, where the past literally comes to life.  Every page is a surprise… A scintillating read.” 

The San Francisco Weekly  recommended Fling! as one of the eight summer reads along with Judy Blume, Bruce Bochy,  and other more well-known authors. It reads,  "A 90-year-old woman goes on a trip to Mexico City with her hippie daughter — and runs into several very dead, very funny relatives on the way — in the freewheeling new novel from the Bay Area author, who teaches writing at the University of San Francisco."

Here is the back cover blurb:

Is it possible to come of age at 60 or 90? Is it ever too late to fulfill your dreams?
When ninety-year-old Bubbles receives a letter from Mexico City asking her to pick up her mother's ashes, lost there seventy years earlier and only now surfacing, she hatches a plan. A woman with a mission, Bubbles convinces her hippie daughter Feather to accompany her on the quest. Both women have recently shed husbands and have a secondary agenda: they'd like a little action. And they get it.

Alternating narratives weave together Feather and Bubbles' odyssey. The two women head south from Canada to Mexico where Bubbles' long-dead mother, grandmother, and grandfather turn up, enlivening the narrative with their hilarious antics.

In Mexico, where reality and magic co-exist, Feather gets a new sense of her mother, and Bubbles' quest for her mother's ashes—and a new man—increases her zest for life. Unlike most women her age, fun-loving Bubbles takes risks, believing she's immortal. She doesn't hold back in any way, eating heartily and lusting after strangers, exulting in her youthful spirit.

The book should appeal to a broad range of readers. While the main characters are middle-aged and older, their zest for life would draw readers of all ages, male or female, attracting the youthful adventurer in most people. The heart of the book is how they approach their aging selves and are open to new experiences.

You can discover more about me and FLING! at the publishers website (http://www.pen-l.com/Fling.html) and at my blog (lilyionamackenzie.wordpress.com).

Thanks for considering FLING!
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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My spouse just wrote her first novel! I'd really appreciate it if you all considered it for your next reading!
An invisible boy fading beneath society’s ignorance...
A preacher’s daughter struggling to find the balance between expectation and herself…
A confused teen trying to make the most of his broken life.
After losing everything he held dear before the age of ten, second-year high school senior Colby Dixon's life has been an endless, downward spiral. With only his wacky friend, Sawyer, his abusive mother, Grace, and his taste for alcohol, his focus is anywhere but on his home life, school, or future. However, one wintery night a fluke finds its way into Colby's life and changes everything he's ever known. But all good things must be balanced with bad and the more Colby strives for a better life, the more adversity he’s met with. Now he's faced with the hardest decision of his life: does he continue on with his boring, wasted life knowing it's safe and secure, or does he risk it all for a chance at happiness? A coming-of-age love story between a lost soul and a fluke that was never meant to exist. Together, they will try to help one another find their place and learn to cope with the lives they’ve been dealt. Without one another, they will surely fail. In the end though, everyone must learn to stand on their own two feet. But that would take a true miracle, and those aren’t real.

AntiHero has been described as “the kind of book you get lost in” by reviewers around the country. Loved by all who have read it, AntiHero is jam packed with psychological twists, jaw dropping moments, and stories of love, lust, loss, pain, and hope. An enchanting read, AntiHero is guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat throughout this roller coaster ride.

You can get a copy on Amazon today! http://amzn.com/1478760761
Thanks for considering her novel!
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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Anthill: A Novel by E.O. Wilson
Winner of the 2010 Heartland Prize, Anthill follows the thrilling adventures of a modern-day Huck Finn, enthralled with the “strange, beautiful, and elegant” world of his native Nokobee County. But as developers begin to threaten the endangered marshlands around which he lives, the book’s hero decides to take decisive action. Edward O. Wilson―the world’s greatest living biologist―elegantly balances glimpses of science with the gripping saga of a boy determined to save the world from its most savage ecological predator: man himself.
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, by Stephen King http://stephenking.com/
"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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I see I have missed quite a few discussions of very good books. As for the current discussions I have two very different books to suggest.

One is a book I don't even know if I like it but it made my world turn and kept me thinking for a week. It's Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult.
http://www.jodipicoult.com/handle-with-care.html

It's a very sad book and makes you wonder if the current technology is worth what can happen from knowing the future. It deals with hurting friends to obtain money in order to take care of your family. Morals are tested to the limit in this book. I always think of what I would do in situations such as what this family lived with. Then I think on the ending and what the author was thinking when she wrote it the way she did. Another of her books is similar in how it made me feel, My Sister's Keeper, but I'm suggesting this book since it doesn't have a movie with a completely different ending.

The second book is more fantasy and the second book in a series. It's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion, ... e_Wardrobe

It doesn't need to have any of the other books in order to understand the storyline and deals heavily in Christ imagery while still maintaining a magical story. I know the religious part is a bit iffy but I just love all the things that Lewis does to show the story and it is very interesting to dissect.
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Re: WANTED: Book suggestions for our next FICTION book discussion!

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I second the suggestions of The Bazaar of Bad Dream by Stephen King, I have never read any King myself and this looks like a great book for discussion.

I also really like the look of The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tea-Planters-Wi ... 712&sr=1-1) I find the synopsis quite intriguing.

I would also suggest Whiteout by Ken Follett (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whiteout-Ken-Fo ... 41689031_6), having read Pillars of the Earth and World Without End it would be a nice change of pace to read one of his thrillers.
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