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Introductory to opening the nomination thread for our June 2014 Open Pick, I would like to reiterate our efforts in creating an group atmosphere conducive to participation. Our expectation is that anyone who nominates or votes for an open pick selection has every intention of joining the discussion should their book of choice win the poll.

Some quick ground rules: Everyone is allowed one nomination, but remember that eligible books must be works of fiction published from 2000-2014. Selections that are overly genre or fail to meet the group standards of literary quality will not be permitted in the final poll.

Nominations will wrap up late next week and the poll will run for about a week following. Happy nominating!

I would like to nominate The Enchanted: A Novel by Rene Denfeld.

Nominated it before but think it is due for another try. Canada by Richard Ford. It received the Andrew Carnegie Prize for Fiction. It starts "First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later."

It is one of my favorite books so far from the 21st century. I do not claim it to be a perfect book but it is a very enjoyable, superbly written book from which I think many interesting discussions can take place.

I would gladly read either The Enchanted: A Novel or Canada, so I won't nominate this month.

I'm going to again nominate Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I read it last month and enjoyed it very much. It is Adichie's first novel. It tells the story of a Nigerian family and inter-family relationships against the background of a government takeover.

I'm gonna take a risk since I'm curious about your opion on YA books : Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Or maybe a classic like Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (which is not YA).

Ana wrote: "...Or maybe a classic like Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (which is not YA)...."

Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ says Wicked was first published in 1995, which unfortunately would take it out of the running?

Ana wrote: "I'm gonna take a risk since I'm curious about your opion on YA books : Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Or maybe a classic like...

As Lily points out, Wicked was published before 2000 (see inclusion criteria in message 1). As for Cinder, we would be more than willing to allow a YA book to stand in the final poll, but this is an example of what we mean by an overly genre book. Is there perhaps another [not-overly-genre] book you would like to nominate?

Daniel wrote: "Ana wrote: "I'm gonna take a risk since I'm curious about your opion on YA books : Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Or maybe a classic like...

As Lily points out, Wicked ..."

Sorry, but I've read all the others I can think of.

Ana wrote: "...Sorry, but I've read all the others I can think of. ..."

Ana -- you can certainly nominate a book you have read! In fact, at one time my f2f book club would only read a book if two members had already read it. That rule limited us enough that we eventually abandoned it, but it probably led to better book selections! One only needed to continue to be willing to discuss the book. I always hesitate to nominate here a book I haven't already read, but the voting does tend to vet things pretty well with so many participants.

I'd like to nominate Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2005. The Amazon blurb says:

"Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history.

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey."

Last call for nominations! Poll will go up tomorrow, so get any last minute suggestions in now.

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin.

The nominations are now closed and the poll is up here:
June Book Poll

Again, PLEASE only vote for a book if you are planning to make every effort to read the book and join in the discussion should it win.

I can only find this poll using the link in this message. Clicking on "Polls" does not bring me to it! I voted, but I do like to watch the competition!

I just noticed that as well. Working on it!

P.S. you can keep going back via the link in the meantime.

Okay, the poll is now available from the homepage as well and voting can be monitored more easily! Thanks for pointing out the issue, Linda.

Polling ends tomorrow! Last chance to vote. Or change your vote if you're so inclined.

Poll is closed and our winner is (drum roll) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close!

Julia, since this was your nomination, would you like to moderate the discussion?

Whitney, I'd love to, but I'm moving into a retirement community on June 1, and I'll be needing some time for the adjustment. I hope the group is as touched by this book as I have been.

Foer did an interview with BookPage in 2005 that is here:

One of the key statements for me in that interview is:
"Still, the singular thrill of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is, quite frankly, the utterly engaging and utterly vulnerable character of Oskar Schell. 'I felt very, very, very strongly sympathetic with Oskar,' Foer says. 'There's a way in which he has no skin. I don't mean that he's thin-skinned. There are just no boundaries between himself and the world. Everything is personal and everything that is personal is universal. That's how kids experience the world, and that's how this kid in particular experiences the world.' Through the force of his own compassion, Oskar eventually grows up."

Okay, good luck with the move! Hopefully you will still find time to join in the discussion, since you feel so passionately about the book.

So, our moderators also have a lot of real life happening this month. Is anyone else interested in moderating?

I have already read this book and would not mind moderating. Just let me know when you want me to start the thread and what expectations you have.

good luck with the move Julia! Hope it works well for you. Need to dust my wives copy off the book shelves and get it read for next month.

Thank you, Kristina! At the beginning of the month, someone will set up a "placeholder" thread for the book, so that the discussion will wind up in the right place on the page. You can click on that placeholder and put in your own content. You can also establish new folders within that topic. How you organize the discussion is entirely up to you. Some moderators set up threads for parts of the book ("Chapters 1 - x"). Others set up threads around topics or characters within the book, like what Terry did for Let the Great World Spin. It's kind of a book-by-book decision based on what you think will work best as a way to organize the discussion for this book. A couple of practical tips for creating threads: (1) We always try to put the month and title (or abbreviation like ELIC) in the name of the thread, so that people looking at Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ on their phone can more easily identify what they want to open. (2) When you create a thread, there will be a place to put in what this topic is about. Put in the name of the book there. It will seem entirely redundant, but it is not. It enables Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ users(who may or may not be members of this group) to find discussions about the particular book.

I'm sending you a friend request. Feel free to ask questions any time.

Thanks for agreeing to do this!

Thanks for all the input. It will be fun and I am looking forward to it.

Yay, thanks Kristina!

Thanks so much, Kristina--and thanks, Ben, for the good wishes for my move.

Foer's youtube video about the book is interesting:

The introductory blurb says: "The Michigan State University Alumni Association welcomes author Jonathan Safran Foer to East Lansing to talk about his Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close novel, the 2011 selection in East Lansing Michigan's One Book program."