May 2011's pick...

The new selection for The Ascot Book Club in the month of May 2011 is...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot

A non-fiction retelling of the life of a woman whose cancerous cells were taken with out her knowledge or permission just before her death and went on to become the largest aid in scientific discovery over the past century.

For more information on Henrietta Lacks click here.

To purchase a copy of the book, click here.

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage

April 2011. Rain. Despair. Sorrow. Spring.

All of this and more ran abundantly in the April 2011 selection of Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife. Selected by Nathan Van Dyke, the book received a rating of 7.43.

"Lives in stories have direction and meaning. Even stupid, meaningless lives, like Lenny's in "Of Mice and Men," Acquire through their places in a story at least the dignity and meaning of being Stupid, Meaningless Lives, the consolation of being exemplars of something. In real life you do not get even that." 
— Sam Savage (Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife)


To find out more about Sam Savage and his works, including Firmin, click here.
To purchase a copy of Firmin, you know what to do.

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski

In keeping with the celebration of Purim, we celebrate the coming of spring and the deliverance of the Jewish people from the Persian Empire by reading The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. Our March 2011 selection was picked by Jeff Kaplan, and it received a rating of 7.8.

"World War II has begun. A boy is sent to live in a village while his parents go into hiding from the Nazis. A woman who takes care of him, dies, leaving the boy to fend for himself. He is soon taken in by various individuals including a miller who gouges out his plowboy's eyes, and a man who sells birds. He walks to a village occupied by German soldiers. The local partisans turn him over to the Nazis. A soldier allows him to escape. The boy moves to another village, where he sees trains with Jews and Gypsies heading to concentration camps. He decides that fair-haired, blue-eyed people are God's favorites."


For more information on The Painted Bird and its author Jerzy Kosinski click here.
To Purchase your copy of The Painted Bird click here.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Roe vs. Wade caused the sudden decrease in murder and violent crimes in the 1990s?
This question and many others were examined in Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, our February 2011 selection. Selected by David Anderson, the book received a rating of 6.6.

"The numbers we're talking about, in terms of crime, are absolutely trivial when you compare it to the broader debate on abortion. From a pro-life view of the world: If abortion is murder then we have a million murders a year through abortion. And the few thousand homicides that will be prevented according to our analysis are just nothing—they are a pebble in the ocean relative to the tragedy that is abortion. So, my own view, when we [did] the study and it hasn't changed is that: our study shouldn't change anybody's opinion about whether abortion should be legal and easily available or not. It's really a study about crime, not abortion."


For more information on Freakonomics and Steven D. Levitt, check out Wikipedia.
And you can purchase your copy of Freakonomics here.

Autobiography Of Red by Anne Carson

As we herald in a new year, we salute the classics from many years before with Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson.
Our January 2011 selection was selected by Andrew Lau and it received a rating of 8.1 (our highest yet).


"Autobiography of Red is the story of a red winged monster living in the modern day. Sexually abused by his older brother, his affectionate mother too weak-willed to protect him, the monstrous young boy finds solace in photography and in a romance with a young man named Herakles."


For more information on Autobiography of Red and its author Anne Carson, check out Wikipedia.
To purchase the book click here.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Candy canes, caroling, Christmas...and your drunk uncle. It was time to usher in the holidays with a little dry, sardonic wit.

Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris was the next selection of the Book Club. Selected by Marcus Pimentel, the book received a rating of 7.08 from the club.

"Sedaris's success on The Wild Room led to his National Public Radio debut on December 23, 1992, when he read a radio essay on Morning Edition titled "SantaLand Diaries", which described his experiences working as an elf at Macy's department store during Christmas time in New York.

"SantaLand Diaries" was an immediate success with radio listeners,^[21] and made Sedaris what The New York Times called 'a minor phenomenon'."

To check out a review of Holidays On Ice, here is the review in The New York Times.

To purchase Holidays On Ice check out Amazon.com.

World War Z by Max Brooks

As Halloween approached, October was set for an apocolyptic Zombie War!

World War Z by Max Brooks was the next Selection for the Book Club. Selected by Arnie Ross, the book received a rating of 7.85 by the Club.

"Through a series of oral interviews, Brooks, as an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, describes the history of 'World War Z'. Although the true origin of the Zombie pandemic is unknown, the story begins in China after a zombie from a previous outbreak bites a young boy. The Chinese government attempts to contain the infection and concocts a crisis involving Taiwan to mask the true purpose of increased military activity. The infection is spread to other countries by the black market organ trade and by infected refugees; an outbreak in Cape Town, South Africa finally brings the plague to global attention.

As the infection spreads, only Israel initiates a nationwide quarantine and closes its borders. Pakistan and Iran destroy each other in a nuclear war after Iran attempts to stem the flow of refugees from Pakistan. The United States does little to prepare, as it is sapped of political will by several "brushfire wars", and an ineffective and fraudulently marketed vaccine has created a false sense of security. When the world recognizes the true scope of the problem, a period known as the "Great Panic" begins. The United States Army sends a task force toYonkers, New York, in a high-profile military campaign intended to restore American morale. Instead, the troops are overwhelmed and routed by the zombies; reliance on tactics designed for human enemies, who can be demoralized into retreat or surrender, are ineffective against an enemy using human wave attacks and having no fear of death. Other countries suffer similarly disastrous defeats, and human civilization teeters on the brink of collapse."

For more information on the book check out it's Wiki page.

If you would like to purchase World War Z, check out Amazon.

Maurice by E. M. Forster

As the summer left us behind, it was time to usher in the harvest season of fall with our next selection.

Maurice by E. M. Forster was the next selection for the Book Club. Selected by Tom McMahon, the book received a rating of 7.75 from the Club.

"Maurice Hall (pronounced "Morris") is first met age 14 when a discussion about sex and women between him and his prep-school teacher takes place just before he progresses to his public school. This sets the tone for the rest of the novel, as Maurice feels isolated and removed from the adult's depiction of marriage with a woman as the goal in life. Moreover, his deep-seated contempt for his own (middle) class takes root here, as he perceives that his teacher does not have the capacity to see beyond the social norm to whatever may lie behind it.

When Maurice enters university, he soon makes friends with fellow student Clive Durham, who introduces him to the ancient writings about homosexual love. For two years they have a committed if exceedingly chaste romance, which they must keep hidden from everyone they know. It is obvious that Maurice hopes for more of their only platonic attachment, but slowly it becomes clear that Clive is basically equally attached to society's view of what is right and wrong."

For more information on the book Maurice, check out the wiki link.

And if you would like to purchase a copy of Maurice, there's always Amazon.

Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion

Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion was the next selection for the Book Club.
Selected by Cole Martin, the book received a rating of 7.8 from the Club.

"The novel begins with an internal monologue by the 31-year-old Maria Wyeth, followed by short reminiscences of her friend Helene, and ex-husband, film director Carter Lang. The further narration is conducted from a third-person perspective in eighty-four chapters of terse, controlled and highly visual prose typical for Didion.

The protagonist, an unfulfilled actress, recounts her life while recovering from a mental breakdown in an exclusive Neuropsychiatric Institute. The reason for her confinement is purportedly having participated in the suicidal death of a befriended bisexual movie producer, BZ (an abbreviation for benzodiazepines, sedative drugs)."

For more information on Play it as it Lays check out the wiki link.

For information on purchasing the book, go to Amazon, duh.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger was the next selection in the book club. The book was selected by Nathan Van Dyke and it received a 7.6 rating from the club.
"The novel is narrated by Reuben Land, an eleven-year-old boy suffering from severe asthma who lives with his unusual family in a small Minnesota town in 1962. His mother abandoned the family years before. He is among three children: his older brother Davy, and his younger sister Swede eight years old. His father, Jeremiah, a school janitor, is a man of faith who quietly performs miracles – one of which is to bring Reuben to life after his lungs failed to inflate when he was born. Reuben is the only one who ever sees or notices these miracles; he concludes that he is meant to be a witness to them."
For more information of the book Peace Like a River check out the Wiki link!
For information on how to buy the book check out Amazon.com.

CIty of Night by John Rechy

City of Night by John Rechy was the first selection of the Ascot Book Club.
Selected by Jeff Kaplan the book was given the rating of 7.1 by the club.
"Set in the 1960s, the book follows the travels of a young man (Rechy uses the term “youngman” when referring to hustlers) across the country while working as a hustler. The book focuses chapters on locations that the boy visits and certain personages he meets there."
For more information about the book visit the Wiki link.
For information on purchasing the book check out Amazon.com!