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It's that time again... The time when literary prize judges and winners around the world hold their breath waiting to see which book 21st Century Lit members will pick as their next read. Will it be a crowd favorite? Will it be a surprising new gem omitted by the cognoscenti? Your exclusive membership in this group puts the power in your hands!

Nominations for the June Open Pick will be open for a week before the poll goes up. Please feel free to comment below and nominate one selection.

New to the group? If so, please check out the "How Things Work" post in the Welcome folder.

OK, I'd like to nominate The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall, with the caveat that I have not read it yet.

I'd like to nominate Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which I haven't read either.

Dianne wrote: "I'd like to nominate Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which I haven't read either." That would have been a fine choice, but unfortunately it has been discussed here before. Whitney has provided this useful list:
/topic/show/...

Oh ha! Ok I retract. Thanks Hugh! I'm still new to all of this.

Dianne wrote: "Oh ha! Ok I retract. Thanks Hugh! I'm still new to all of this."

No big deal, Dianne--I'm sure you can come up with another great nomination :)

Thanks for kicking off the nominations, Hugh! I always think it's a little bit more of a shared adventure when it's a book one hasn't read yet.

Ok here's one, The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Also not read yet.

Excellent choice, Dianne. That was the one that really stood out to me from the Booker list.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

How about The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen?

All of these books look really good! I've only heard of the Vegetarian before but may be adding the rest to my "to read" pile as well.

Dianne, Half of a Yellow Sun is almost at the top of my "to-read" pile so I may be lurking in that old discussion thread soon, hehe.

Caroline wrote: "Dianne, Half of a Yellow Sun is almost at the top of my "to-read" pile so I may be lurking in that old discussion thread soon, hehe...."

Caroline -- HoaYS was on my TBR list for years and years, the book actually a loan/gift from a f2f book club colleague. When I finally got to it, I wondered why it had taken me so long. Not too long afterwards I followed it with Adiche's Americanah. Some very good TED interviews with Adiche are online. With HoaYS I enjoyed finding some online pictures of the places mentioned in Nigeria, perhaps especially of the university. I have never gotten to her Purple Hibiscus.

(Sorry for the diversion on this nominations list. I am too bogged down to either nominate or even vote, but I continue to follow. I know the group likes to find new, exciting, relatively unknown writers, which is wonderful, but I do hope the group also will consider others of the Neustadt writers, not necessarily for June. I will nominate when I know I can participate.)

Caroline wrote: "All of these books look really good! I've only heard of the Vegetarian before but may be adding the rest to my "to read" pile as well.

Dianne, Half of a Yellow Sun is almost at the top of my "to-r..." I must get round to reading those discussions too - I read it a few months ago, before we created the index to the archives

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "How about The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen?"

I second The Sympathizer.

Portia wrote: "Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "How about The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen?"

I second The Sympathizer."

Me too. No need to nominate this month, as I have the Sympathizer on my shelf.

Great minds think alike.

Lily wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Dianne, Half of a Yellow Sun is almost at the top of my "to-read" pile so I may be lurking in that old discussion thread soon, hehe...."

Caroline -- HoaYS was on my TBR list for y..."

Thanks for the recommendations, Lily. I read Americanah a couple years ago and loved it. I'm also curious to read We Should All Be Feminists.

Caroline wrote: "I'm also curious to read We Should All Be Feminists. ..."

Not fiction, so not eligible here, but heard Anne-Marie Slaughter and her husband Andrew Moravcsik speak this past week. Her Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family is now near the top of my TBR. Like Sandberg's Lean In, probably another book to consider alongside Adiche's WSABF.

We Should All be Feminists is definitely worth reading. It's very short, so can be read in an hour or so. The TED talk its based on is worth watching as well.

So is All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. Terri Gross, who is close in age to me, mentioned to Ms. Traister during their "Fresh Air" interview, that Boomer women didn't think much about not marrying.

Portia wrote: "One more, please All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. Terri Gross, who is close in age to me, mentioned to Ms. Traister during their "Fresh ..."

That's a non-fiction book, so isn't eligible. But I agree that the interview was interesting :-)

I know that, Whitney. I was merely joining in the feminist conversation. If I were interested in nominating it, I would have done so in the proper thread.

Portia wrote: "I know that, Whitney. I was merely joining in the feminist conversation. If I were interested in nominating it, I would have done so in the proper thread."

(laughing) Portia, I think you just threw us all a "cut it out"! I believe this is "the proper thread" for nominating. But thx to whomever for allowing perhaps too many diversions -- they can be both the bane and richness of these boards -- and we do go astray from time to time. I take some of the "guilt" on this one.

Lily wrote: "Portia wrote: "I know that, Whitney. I was merely joining in the feminist conversation. If I were interested in nominating it, I would have done so in the proper thread."

(laughing) Portia, I thin..." Probably just as well that most of these 24 comments are not nominations, otherwise we'd be in for a pretty random voting process!

It's fun to go off topic sometimes, hehe.

Pulling things slightly back on topic, looks like The Sympathizer just won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Excuse the newbie question, but how do you get to the archived thread for yellow sun? Maybe a few of us could revive the discussion, time permitting with all the other great reads we have going on! Do people do that, keep the discussion alive?

Dianne wrote: "Excuse the newbie question, but how do you get to the archived thread for yellow sun? Maybe a few of us could revive the discussion, time permitting with all the other great reads we have going on!..."

It's not the easiest thing to find, but here's an index to 2013 discussions that Hugh very kindly put together for us: /topic/show/...

Links to the yellow sun discussions are somewhere (I think towards the bottom) of that index thread.

People are free to comment on old discussions as they wish - sometimes other people respond, sometimes not. I've just started reading yellow sun so I'm open to hitting up the old discussion thread if you and/or others are interested too.

Caroline wrote: "...I've just started reading yellow sun so I'm open to hitting up the old discussion thread if you and/or others are interested too. ..."

If HoaYS comes up with new entries and I catch that, I'm likely to check what is added.

Cool that sounds good to me, maybe we few can pick it up in May :)

Lily wrote: "Portia wrote: "I know that, Whitney. I was merely joining in the feminist conversation. If I were interested in nominating it, I would have done so in the proper thread."

(laughing) Portia, I thin..."

Or "Knock it off!" if you prefer ;-)

Stop Cruzing around the thread. Join in the Hillaryty. Don't let your selection get Trumped. The midnight oil Berns out on April 30th. So vote now:
/poll/show/134124-what-will-be-our-open-pick-book-for-june-2016-please-take-into-accou

The June Open Pick Poll (never referred to as JOPP since it is so easily confused with January's and July's) will remain up for a week. It's also, mercifully, free of puns (an extra member benefit not usually touted in the promotional literature).

Marc wrote: "Stop Cruzing around the thread. Join in the Hillaryty. Don't let your selection get Trumped. The midnight oil Berns out on April 30th. So vote now:
/poll/show/1......"

I Kasich'nt wait to see which book wins. Sorry, that was terrible. Kasich is a really hard name to fit into a pun.

Kasich is a hard name to work into a pun. Nice try, though, Caroline.

The more "terrible" the pun, the better :o

Be ready for a runoff poll in Kasich's a tie?

Good one Whitney!

Impressive, Whitney!

So much cleverness! :)

nose to nose - good way to get in the mood for the Kentucky Derby!

looks like my nomination is out of the running, so I've changed my vote...

It was a close contest with The Sympathizer coming out on top. Discussion will start June 1st. Kirsten, are you interested in moderating the discussion?

Not really, Marc. There must be someone better than me!

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Not really, Marc. There must be someone better than me!" I think you should give it a go at least once. I can't volunteer to take this one over, because I have not yet got hold of a copy of the book let alone read it.

No pressure, Kirsten, we'll get it covered if you don't want to . But I agree with Hugh, you really should give it a go!

There's a giveaway for a signed copy of The Sympathizer. Only about 3000 entries so far...
/giveaway/sh...

I take it Netherlands is the moderator pick for June? I read it a few years ago and found it so-so. I don't plan to re-read. But I'll be following the discussion, as interestingly, while I did not consider it any more than ok, I can remember it, without even reading the book blurb!

Yes, Netherland is the moderator pick. A group email went out last week.

Linda wrote: "I take it Netherlands is the moderator pick for June? I read it a few years ago and found it so-so. I don't plan to re-read. But I'll be following the discussion, as interestingly, while I did not ..." I'm another who read that several years ago (I must admit partly because I was interested in the cricket sub-plot) - I suspect I won't find time to re-read it but will certainly follow the discussions. There is an essay in Zadie Smith's "Changing my Mind" which contrasts Netherland with a Tom McCarthy book which I found very intriguing, so I hope the discussion gets a decent response.

This is one reason moderator picks are often recent releases. On the one hand, recent releases are more expensive and harder to get from libraries or used book stores. On the other hand, with older books there is always the risk that too many people have read them.

Hugh wrote: "Linda wrote: "I take it Netherlands is the moderator pick for June? I read it a few years ago and found it so-so. I don't plan to re-read. But I'll be following the discussion, as interestingly, wh..."

Hugh, what is the McCarthy book?