MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

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Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okay—until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.

It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's got to do it.



Let's get your nominations in, Folks! :)

I've read A Dirty Job and it's fun, like most of Moore's stuff.

My nomination would be:
https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

This is a great book. I'm not going to join but whatever little it may count, I'll vote for this :D

I should also clarify that I wouldn't mind rereading A Dirty Job at all.

I'm okay with Moore, too, but I wouldn't mind nominating this since I literally just started reading it today:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141014083/

We can suggest older books?


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I've read and enjoyed Maus--it's another one I wouldn't mind rereading.

I have tried and failed like three different times to get past the first 50 pages of Possession. But maybe having it be a club pick would motivate me to actually get through it.

I’ve also read Maus.

As for Possession . . . three failed tries suggests a level of difficulty we should probably avoid, at least for now, for the book club. Maybe later on we could take on a difficult book that where everyone would break their teeth on.

So, I’m going throw a vote at The sounds of building coffins / Louis Maistros

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Looks like there are just 4 of us? I was going to ask for ballots today, but if two people have coffins at #1 already, I think that already decides it.

Let's just call it and get started!

Book of the month is The Sound of Building Coffins

I need to order a copy, and I will get started when it arrives.

I need to keep my eye on this thread now 'cause I want to see what y'all think of this.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Ordered my copy. Had to go through Abe Books, and sometimes they are slow on the shipping. Hopefully I don't get started too late! In the meantime, I am reading a quick parenting book while I wait for my copy to arrive!

Okay, I placed my order for it on Amazon (my local bookstore couldn't order it in).

It wasn't difficulty in the sense of the book being challenging. It was more that I wasn't enjoying the main characters and when I would look at the book I just didn't want to pick it up. The writing style itself was fine, but also not something that strongly engaged me. You know when you suddenly realize that your eyes have read a whole page but you weren't actually reading the words?

But it is a longer book, so maybe the more compelling dynamics kick in a bit past where I'd read to.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I decided on the Kindle edition of The Sound of Building Coffins. It was only three bucks, plus I got it instantly... and I have a three-hour plane trip (plus time at the gate) on Thursday where I can at least start this book. And if I don't finish it, I'll have a similar set of circumstances on Monday heading back home.

I’ll order the book either today or tomorrow.

My in-betweener is going to be . . . Possession. The only observation I can make so far (page 166) is this book is a little more densely written; commercial fiction usually has one idea per page which makes for two literary ones for every pulpy page.

It’s still early in the story, but the main thing is that academics have to bet the success of their careers on a subject or author early on; they have both come up a bit short on two different (now obscure) Victorian poets. However, that these two writers may have known each other has already given both their careers a serious jolt.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Tracking says my book should arrive today! I will get started ASAP.

After finishing my parenting book, I fired up A Dirty Job, which I am about halfway through with. The book is equal parts entertaining and annoying, so I will probably end up giving it a middling rating unless it all of a sudden blows me away.

Anyway, will dive right into this month's book once I have it!

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

You can tell the Kindle readers versus the print readers: "I'm on page 56!" "I'm 7% done!" :)

Actually, that's about where I am: 7% through. A very odd book to start late at night while you're away from home. :) But today I fly back so if I feel inclined to read at the gate or on the plane, I'll continue reading.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I am that weirdo that reads to get away from screens, so am firmly anti-kindle, at least until my eyes get worse. ;)

My book arrived from Amazon over the weekend . . . and was totally covered in mildew. The smell was so bad I had to wrap it in plastic.

I'm waiting on a replacement.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Started it this morning. This fellow is an actual writer, not to be confused with a storyteller, who just throws words on a page to tell a tale. Not on a level with say, a Thomas Wolfe, but much closer than most of the authors I have read. Elegant use of language here, even if the material is morbid and mysterious. Good so far!

I am thinking the same thing. But I also know there is a fine line between elegant writing and self-absorbed "look at meee!" writing. He's skating on the right side so far. So far. (I'm about 21% done.)

I have, though, found a handful of proofreading errors so far. Then again, I usually do. :D

I did a little reading and found out this guy has no formal schooling/training when it comes to his writing. That's pretty awesome considering the results. 61 pages in and cruising along - I should finish this one up fairly quickly.

OK, am I correct in thinking Austruck is the last person to not have a book chosen for the club, or Thracian as well? In either case, we should next read a book chosen by someone who hasn't had a book picked yet...

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I am somewhere around chapter 42, and was close to tossing this book in the DNF pile this morning. I will soldier on, but... we shall see if I make it through!

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I finished it up.

I will hold my comments until Thracian finishes. I am back into the Moore book for now as I wait for the next title.

I'm still chipping away at it, after having to get a replacement copy. I've also just been really busy and my leisure reading time has been shorter this month. I feel bad because it was my suggestion! I'm trying to finish it this week.

Ah, don’t feel bad, that’s just some of Malvina’s lingering hoodoo.

Finished this yesterday.

I'm close, but not quite done yet.

Please go ahead and discuss if you want.

Again, I apologize for not finishing in a timely manner.

I will say this about it, in mostly a good way it has managed to consistently surprise me.

First of all, I liked the dense prose. The previous books seemed to have had churned out feel, like after they got an outline accepted by a publisher, six months later they delivered a final draft, this one feels like it was re-written, re-tooled, puzzled over.

I liked the evocative title, I was hoping for an explication, and near the end we get one. The reporter hears (some of the wiser) residents around him in his neighborhood are boarding up for the impending hurricane. He likens it to the sound of building coffins, yet these are their homes and afterwards when the storm has passed they will return to live in their . . . caskets.

The author also took actual elements and people from New Orleans history. The mass lynching of 1891. There actually was a Buddy Bolden who took the ragtime sound into jass, then others moved the jass sound into jazz. When some yankee music company up north offered the black musicians a chance to record, but they all passed on the deal but Dominick Carolla of the Jim Jan Jump orchestra agreed to their offer and scored himself a little early fame.

Okay, finally completely finished!

This post will contain MAJOR SPOILERS!!!


Ultimately I really liked this novel. I thought that the characters were well developed and, like I said earlier, it packed quite a few surprises. That sequence with Jim, Dropsy, and West felt like it came out of nowhere, even though there had actually been some good foreshadowing.

I was also not prepared for what happened to the various Morningstars around the 300 page mark.

Now, at first I was kind of mixed on the last 100 pages. It felt a bit too cutesy having the reporters basically spell out and confirm what we'd seen right before and it felt too meta.

But what really salvaged it for me was the very final sequence, told from the point of view of Nobody, in which we finally learn about his part in it all and specifically why he's so keen on finding "his fish."

A solid + for me. It took me a little while to get through the book, but I didn't dislike it. It was the kind of writing that I wanted to take a bit slower to make sure I was picking up on all that was being said.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

First, I want to quickly comment on my earlier sort of random DNF comments in this month's thread. I am glad I finished the book, and those comments were thrown out there after a couple sequences in the book that really annoyed me: The icky scene with Typhus and his real father, and the chapter about the cure, which at the time, came across to me like a thinly-veiled political rant. At times, I need to remind myself that I can still enjoy art that doesn't align with my worldview. I am just getting crotchety in my old age!

My irritation with those sections was short-lived, and really, I enjoyed the rest of the book immensely. The authored unbridled creatively was on full display, and his raw, from-the-hip writing style was refreshing - I especially enjoyed his bold move to drop a lot of the "he/she said" indicators in his dialogue - I think it shows the author's respect for his readers.

His descriptions were immersive and memorable, and I have reflected back on several of the sequences, with much of the mood and atmosphere standing out to me when I do so.

Easily the best book the club has read so far, IMO. + for me, also.

Ok, so if I am correct, either @thracian dawg or @Austruck is up next for a book choice, yea?

Yes, it's a book that left me with several little moments that were very memorable.

Correct! I think whichever of them wants to throw something out there first we can make that the August pick, and whoever doesn't get to pick can choose something for September.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I have two chapters left in the Chris Moore book, and am ready to dive into something else, but I may find a short book to squeeze in between A Dirty Job and the August book.

I loved that revelation, too. But it was just as easily conveyed by seeing the different death dates on their gravestones.

Yes, I ultimately liked this a lot as well.

The first book is almost like a condensed version of what another book would be. The big climactic moment of them saving the child. And then in the next two sections we discover that Dominick/Jim wasn't saved, that Noonday died almost for nothing, and that just by being a witness or tangentially involved, the fates of the other characters were set all askew.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

With the amount of supernatural stuff that occurred in the book, I like to think it was all actually happening, and not just in people's heads. So, for me, the sister was a ghost, Typhus was actually rebirthing aborted babies into fish, and the possession was real, the voodoo stuff was actualizing in the physical world, and on and on...

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I kinda put this down about midway in. That "elegant writing" was starting to feel self-important, and the storyline was annoying me, for some reason. Partly, I tend to dislike how "Christians" are mis-defined and then maligned in so much fiction. So I was doing a bit of an eye roll pretty early on in this one. I'm not even sure if I'll pick it back up.

Let's let the other guy choose the next book. I'm a bit swamped this month. I'll actually be ready to start a new book with this group in perhaps mid-September. :)

For July you mean? The Christopher Moore book?

Oh, absolutely.

In what ways did you feel that Christians were maligned in this text? I thought that almost every character was incredibly human, with some more selfish and some more generous than others, but that aside from Jim (who, really, was possessed by a demon) no one was actually all that evil, but at times horribly misguided. The most overtly Christian character, Noonday, probably is the most selfless person in the text (aside from one act of passion) and raises children who behave ethically when it counts.

Hey, we just finished a book I picked, so it's definitely not my turn! If Sedai wants to throw something out there, I'm up for whatever.

Haha, I hear you. I just thought you might have been referring to my previous pick, which was for July. Not exactly sure what I was diving into next, but it might be a book that probably won't generate much interest in the club:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

Already have my copy, but I totally understand if people don't want to read this. We can come up with something else, but I would want at least a couple of suggestions aside from my own. Barring that, I might fall back on the China Mieville book I posted a while back.

Where did you order from? I'm trying to get books through my library, but this one isn't available.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I order used (read: sometimes they are new, but sell as used) books from both Thriftbooks and AbeBooks online...

For instance, this was selling as used, but when I got it, it was a crisp, fresh hardcover that crackled when I first opened it, and it was clearly the first time it had been opened.

Thanks!

I'm trying to save money and The Sound of Building Coffins was a big splurge--the first book I've bought in like a year.

That one I also got a sweet hardcover from one of those sites. Sometimes, I need to settle for a ratty paperback for 2 bucks, but those work just as well!

I'm not super comfortable posting my location, as it's a relatively small town.

I am happy to look at any small list of titles and quickly say which ones I could get via the library.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Man, weird...looking around, the cheapest copy I can find anywhere is over 70 dollars. How did I just secure a new hardcover for 9 bucks? Got lucky, I guess!

My local library was demolished and is in the process of being rebuilt into a super mega library, so I am restricted to books i can buy.

Do you folks have access to the China Mieville title?

Perdido Street Station (Dark fantasy with a tinge of horror)

Here are a couple of other titles in other genres, JIC.

The Charm School - Nelson DeMille (Cold War thriller)

Triggerfish Twist - Tim Dorsey (Zany character comedy thriller - Pulp Fiction in Florida)

Read synopsis' of each book and let me know what you think! I can get my hands on these books pretty easily.

Perdido Street Station and Triggerfish Twist I could get as audiobooks through my library.

It seems like I can order Charm School from another branch in actual book form.

OK, we will wait for the other participants to chime in and then we can decide on a book.

@Blue
@thracian dawg
@Austruck
@Yoda

Pinging Yoda to keep him in the loop in case he has time to jump in

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I'm pretty much still at the point where we'd have to choose something I've already read (or was going to read in the next month or so) in order to find time to do this justice. Would really like to, though.

Fair. I am hoping that even if they can't participate, folks can at least perhaps jot a few books down for later reading that they might not have been exposed to otherwise. :)

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I can get Triggerfish Twist right away. The Charm School has a two-week wait. Perdido Street Station has a 7-8 week wait.

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OK let's call it: Triggerifsh Twist for some zany Florida Man style comedy crime fic!

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Book is ordered - coming from a used bookstore in MD, so should be here fairly quickly!

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

Borrowed the e-book with no wait/hold from the Philadelphia public library. I'm ready! Just finished another piece of fiction yesterday so I'll start in on this next.

Re: MoFo Book Club: July 2022
 

I haven't read "Dirty Work" by Christopher Moore. But, I read the review and I liked the description of the plot.