LoT Book Club Poll

[€uroMeinke]

What Book Should we Read?

[tracilicious]

I voted for Cloud Atlas, but I want to change it to Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Can that be done?

[FEJ]

I just finished WInd Up Bird Chronicles.
My vote is for I, Lucifer.

[Gemini Cricket]

5 votes, 5 different books. :D

[flippyshark]

Actually, I meant to vote for Devil in the White City, which I've been jonesing to read for a long time, but I hit the Murakami button. Which is fine, I want to read that too.

[flippyshark]

Actually, I'd like to start my own East Coast version of the book club. Our first title?

PAT THE BUNNY!

Get reading, gang!

[Not Afraid]

I've read "Wind Up Bird....." and am currently 60 pages into "Devil in the White City" so I could reasonably discuss both. I may read "Wind Up Bird" again just to refresh if that is the choice. Otherwise, I will read just about anything I can get my eyes on.

[lizziebith]

I voted "I Lucifer" because I like the title. Har! Honestly, either that or the Murakami. I read ".......White City" last summer. Seriously though I already have about 15 books, many of them by friends, on my nightstand...OY!

[Moonliner]

I looked at the poll results this morning.

It made me laugh.

Thanks. :)

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Aftering hearing so much about Murakami, I've voted for that.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

D'ya think the world would implode if this faux-brarian didn't participate in the LoT Book Club? I just don't do much adult fiction. Maybe I'd give whatever you guys pick a try, but no promises, and no voting from me either, I have no clue which one to pick.

[tracilicious]

When does the poll close?

[Ghoulish Delight]

A second for Murukami...and I'd suggest Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World...because I'm almost finished reading it :D

[Not Afraid]

I just don't do much adult fiction.

Not all of the books on the list are fiction.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Hmm, perhaps a blurb on these books would be helpful?

Quotes are publisher blurbs from bn.com.

"Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, inveigles his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. And onward, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history." But the story doesn't even end there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.
"The Prince of Darkness has been given one last shot at redemption, provided he can live out a reasonably blameless life on earth. Highly sceptical, naturally, the Old Dealmaker negotiates a trial period - a summer holiday in a human body, with all the delights of the flesh." "The body, however, turns out to be that of Declan Gunn, a depressed writer living in Clerkenwell, interrupted in his bath mid-suicide. Ever the opportunist, and with his main scheme bubbling in the background, Luce takes the chance to tap out a few thoughts - to straighten the biblical record, to celebrate his favourite achievements, to let us know just what it's like being him." Neither living nor explaining turns out to be as easy as it looks. Beset by distractions, miscalculations and all the natural shocks that flesh is heir to, the Father of Lies slowly begins to learn what it's like being us.
"Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds - a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake." The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.
John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same.

Marley quickly grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, a dog like no other. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, flung drool on guests, stole women's undergarments, and ate nearly everything he could get his mouth around, including couches and fine jewelry. Obedience school did no good—Marley was expelled. Neither did the tranquilizers the veterinarian prescribed for him with the admonishment, "Don't hesitate to use these."

And yet Marley's heart was pure. Just as he joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley shared the couple's joy at their first pregnancy, and their heartbreak over the miscarriage. He was there when babies finally arrived and when the screams of a seventeen-year-old stabbing victim pierced the night. Marley shut down a public beach and managed to land a role in a feature-length movie, always winning hearts as he made a mess of things. Through it all, he remained steadfast, a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.
The publication in 1857 of Madame Bovary, with its vivid depictions of sex and adultery, incited a backlash of immorality charges. The novel tells the story of Emma Bovary, a doctor’s wife bored and unfulfilled by marriage and motherhood. She embarks upon a series of affairs in search of passion and excitement, but is unable to achieve the splendid life for which she yearns. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a downward spiral that inexorably leads to ruin and self-destruction.

Along with Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Flaubert’s tragic novel stands as a brilliant portrayal of infidelity, an incisive psychological portrait of a woman torn between duty and desire. Written with acute attention to telling detail, Madame Bovary not only exposes the emptiness of one woman’s bourgeois existence and failure to fill that void with fantasies, sex, and material objects. Emma’s thirst for life mirrors the universal human impulse for idealized fulfillment.

The self-interested disregard of a dying woman's bequest, an impulsive girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage between an idealist and a materialist--all intersect at a Hertfordshire estate called Howards End. The fate of this beloved country home symbolizes the future of England itself in E. M. Forster's exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends, as exemplified by three families: the Schlegels, symbolizing the idealistic and intellectual aspect of the upper classes; the Wilcoxes, representing upper-class pragmatism and materialism; and the Basts, embodying the aspirations of the lower classes. Written in 1910, Howards End won international acclaim for its insightful portrait of English life during the post-Victorian era.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is many things: the story of a marriage that mysteriously collapses; a jeremiad against the superficiality of contemporary politics; an investigation of painfully suppressed memories of war; a bildungsroman about a compassionate young man's search for his own identity as well as that of his nation. All of Murakami's storytelling genius -- combining elements of detective fiction, deadpan humor, and metaphysical truth, and swiftly transforming commonplace realism into surreal revelation -- is on full, seamless display. And in turning his literary imagination loose on a broad social and political canvas, he bares nothing less than the soul of a country steeped in the violence of the 20th century.
Hmm. Ok, I guess I'd vote for either Madame Bovary or Wind up Bird. Or rather, anything but Howard's End.

[Gemini Cricket]

See, I don't know if I'm right for this club. I scanned CP's summaries instead of reading them...
:D

[Cadaverous Pallor]

See, I don't know if I'm right for this club. I scanned CP's summaries instead of reading them...
:DI scanned them as well, but my justification is that I don't want to spoil the book :D

[Matterhorn Fan]

So did I. I find book summaries to be annoying to read.

But, I do agree with CP's conclusions. I already own a beautiful copy of Madame Bovary that I've never read, and I would have bought Wind Up Bird at Borders yesterday (but they didn't have it).

I have a strong feeling I'd dislike Cloud Atlas very, very much. Is it a first novel? It sounds like a first novel.

[Gemini Cricket]

I actually read 'Madame Bovary'. Loved it. I wrote a paper on it in college. Got an A.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I will read it one day.

[tracilicious]

So did I. I find book summaries to be annoying to read.

But, I do agree with CP's conclusions. I already own a beautiful copy of Madame Bovary that I've never read, and I would have bought Wind Up Bird at Borders yesterday (but they didn't have it).

I have a strong feeling I'd dislike Cloud Atlas very, very much. Is it a first novel? It sounds like a first novel.

It's a third novel. I'm reading his first novel right now and he's a pretty darn decent writer. Similar to Murakami in many ways. I'm looking forward to Cloud Atlas, but I don't think the summary does it justice.

[Matterhorn Fan]

From the summary, it sounds like it might be trying too hard to be "literary."

But it might just be a terrible summary.

[wendybeth]

I actually read 'Madame Bovary'. Loved it. I wrote a paper on it in college. Got an A.
I thought it was one of the most perfectly crafted novels I have ever read. It's origins are interesting- Flaubert wrote it after being challenged by a friend, who accused him of being too steeped in Romanticism to write a realistic story. Madame Bovary is considered to be one of the finest examples of the realistic genre ever. (It was banned for a time, and he was brought up on obscenity charges as well).

I got an A on my college paper as well, GC.:D

[Matterhorn Fan]

My edition claims that with this book, Flaubert invented the novel. Hmmm.

[wendybeth]

Actually, I belive it's Fielding who is credited with that, but I could be wrong. Flaubert is considered to have invented the first true novel of the Realism movement, which also includes the works of Tolstoy, Dickens, etc.

[Not Afraid]

I voted for Mdm. Bovary for several reasons.

* I have never red Flaubert
* I probably wouldn't pick up thius book pn my own and isn't that what a book club is all about - reading something you wouldn't normally read and expanding your horizions?
* I've read Wind Up Bird, Howard's End and am currently reading Devil....
* We own I, Lucifer and I will get to it eventually
* The other 2 don't have reason enough to make a list. ;)

So, there you have it.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Aphra Behn has been credited with inventing the novel, too.

I guess it's a ready-made dissertation topic: Find a prose text of more than 50 pages and argue that it was the first novel ever written. Bonus points if it was written earlier than all the other stuff on which people have written "this marks the invention of the novel" dissertations.

[wendybeth]

MF is correct, but the definition of novel varies greatly from one expert to the next. Aphra's is considered to be the first wholly original work of prose fiction in English, but Le Mort d'Arthur predates it by several hundred years. Since it is derived from legend, it is not considered to be original, but it is presented in what is now considered to be the novel form.

[Matterhorn Fan]

The odd thing is that Behn presents the material as real. It generates much "could this have really happened?" discussion--I think the ultimate answer is no, not exactly as it's told at least, but really, it doesn't matter.

It's a great story/novel/work/whatever.

Sheesh, I'm derailing threads right and left today.

When does the poll close? OR, is this just a primary/meta-poll? Will there be a final showdown between the top 2?

[tracilicious]

Ok, so it appears we have a tie. What now?

[Gemini Cricket]

Another poll! Another poll!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I think the original poster is able to break the tie, and we can read the runner up second.

[tracilicious]

Uh oh. I don't want to break the tie. Can't we just have another poll with just the top three. A short one maybe, that closes at the end of the day. Come morning we'll start with the winner. :confused:

[Prudence]

Wow! I'm surprised that other people want to read Madame Bovary!

[cirquelover]

I'm not sure how good I will be at a book discussion but if you can all decide on a book I'll pick up a copy and read along. With summer coming and no more schooling the boy I should have some time on my hands.

I've never read any of the books listed so it should be fun. I'll check back to see what the final decision is.

[mistyisjafo]

Why not just read them in order of popularity? That way we'll have a nice long list to pick from.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Question. Has any moderator gone through and edited the results to reflect the handful of "I voted for the wrong thing" posts in here? If not, perhaps I'll do that so we have a more accurate accounting of what people want to read.

[Not Afraid]

I haven't.

[blueerica]

I voted for what I wanted. Mme Bovary. For the reasons NA cited above. I know I will read Murakami on my own. Or at least I think I will. Perhaps it should be after Mme. Bovary.

I am also a late entry in voting, and it looks like I broke the tie, if there was truly a tie.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Looking back through, there was one "I meant to vote for Murakami" and one "I meant to vote for something else, but voted for Murakami...but I'm okay with that". *shrug* Seem to cancel each other out.

[Gemini Cricket]

Madame Bovary it is.

[€uroMeinke]

So are we cool with Madame B, or do we want another elimination round?

[tracilicious]

I'm good with Madame Bovary. I'm actually excited about it because the chances I would ever have picked it up on my own are slim.

Do we want to set an end date? A mass IM chat would be cool if we can schedule a time when the majority of people can attend. I request now that our discussion thread be marked as a spoiler thread because those spoiler boxes are damn annoying.

[Not Afraid]

ok. I ordered a copy of MB from Amazon. I'm hoping they ship in their usual speedy fashion. I think Chris is almost done with I, Lucifer and I am almost 2/3 of the way through Devil in the White City, so I think we can both be done in about 3-4 weeks.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Grabbed MB at the librar today. I should be finished with Hardboiled Wonderland by tomorrow, then I'll begin MB.

[wendybeth]

I'm shocked!!! You guys are soooo cool! You will not be sorry- it's an awesome book, and you will recognise someone you know in virtually every character. It's been a few years since I read it, so I will commence the re-read this very evening.

:D

[Prudence]

I guess I should participate, since I suggested it. I actually dug it out the other night and started, but with all my school reading, and my extremely important LoT posting, it's slow going.

[Snowflake]

I'm good with MB, I acutually have a copy! :-)

[Gemini Cricket]

ok. I ordered a copy of MB from Amazon. I'm hoping they ship in their usual speedy fashion.
Ya know, ya could go to the liberry and borrow it. It costs nothing and there's no shipping charges. :D

I've read MB already, but I'll be downloading the book on audio tonight. Read by Harvey Fierstein.

Just kidding, I'm going to my local liberry and borrowin' it from them.

[mousepod]

I'm getting mine today...

[mousepod]

...or I could just download the e-book (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2413)

[Matterhorn Fan]

I already have a copy.

I'll finish "Kafka on the Shore" first, though. It's wrapping up, so I should be reading with you guys fairly soon.

[Ponine]

I'll try to get it over the weekend. Start on Monday.
We're waiting till the end to discuss, right?

[Gemini Cricket]

That's a good question. How long do we have to read it?

[mistyisjafo]

Cool! I'm going to check the used book store before going to B&N to buy it. I'll start Monday!

[€uroMeinke]

...or I could just download the e-book (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2413)

Cool - I can read it on my phone

[blueerica]

I am finishing up Angels and Demons at the moment... /sigh

(And yeah, I stayed out of the DaVinci Code thread because I hadn't read it, and once I did read it, I didn't want to take the time to swim through the pages that had accumulated, so... maybe later today I'll read it since I have the day off)

[cirquelover]

I'll see if the library has a copy.

Now for the dumb question, is Windows messenger IM? If not let me know and I'll have my husband help me out when he gets back from Boston next weekend.

[tracilicious]

Shall we say a month from Monday to read it, or is that too long? 2 weeks? 3 weeks?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'm shocked!!! You guys are soooo cool! Even after all these years she still is shocked that we're cool. :p I'm not that surprised that a sex book won. I voted for it, btw. ;)

I'll pick up a copy at the library today.

Now for the dumb question, is Windows messenger IM?I don't know what you mean by Windows messenger. Most of us have accounts with Yahoo Instant Messenger, right?

[cirquelover]

The only messenger I can find on my computer says Windows Messenger so I didn't know where all of you go, or if it was the same thing.

I'll see if my husband can help me out with Yahoo IM, if that's where you guys are going to discuss the book, that way I can join in.

[Not Afraid]

You have MSN, which is certainly not the most popular of messingers. Most of us use with Yahoo IM or AIM and I use Google Talk quite a bit.

Go to: http://messenger.yahoo.com/ to download a copy, It is free and useful for chatting off of the boards.

[Prudence]

Can you conference on YM?

[Not Afraid]

Yes, YM is pretty easy to conference on. Although I dislike conferencing. It gets too scattered.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Can you conference on YM?
Yes

[Not Afraid]

What? You didn't like my answer with commentary?

[Ghoulish Delight]

What? You didn't like my answer with commentary? Well, if you'd stop posting at the same time as me...

[Not Afraid]

Get out of my brain. :p

[Matterhorn Fan]

I'm on YIM, but is there a problem with a thread right here on the message board?

[tracilicious]

No, we'll definitely have a thread. I personally enjoy conferences, so if anyone else has an interest in discussing the book that way as well as a thread, well that's great. I love the conversational style of a conference. I think things get discussed that way that probably wouldn't in a thread. It doesn't need to be either/or. It can be both. If some want to participate, great, if not, ok.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I didn't meant to imply that I was against an IM conference.

I do, however, think it'd be pretty darn difficult to get everyone online (and available to chat) at the same time.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

We can also archive the conference and post it on the board for viewing by those that didn't attend (and therefore pressure them into attending, regardless of time zone :evil: )

[Matterhorn Fan]

I'm not sure how posting the conference would pressure someone into attendng it. Mightn't that have the opposite effect?

Add to "time zone": work schedules, social obligations, things burning in the oven, pets, children, technical difficulties, weather, mood, etc.


On a more optimistic note, I finished my Murakami this afternoon and I'm ready to start reading a new book!

[cirquelover]

I had to make the librarian go into the basement in the storage area to find it but I got the 1957 translation by Francis Steegmuller. I'm not sure if there is more than one translation but at least I found one.
It's kind of interesting on the jacket it says it was first published 100 years ago,from 1957, so it is fitting that the new translation should be published as part of the centenary celebration.
I'm surprised I have never read it, maybe once I start reading it will click that I have read it in the past. Well time to get reading since the husband is gone for the week!

[Gemini Cricket]

Let's conference at 8am eastern standard time!
:D

[cirquelover]

You're on your own then cause I get up at 5 AM Pacific time for no one:p

[Gemini Cricket]

You're on your own then cause I get up at 5 AM Pacific time for no one:p
:D

[Matterhorn Fan]

Let's conference at 8am eastern standard time!
:DIf that's a Saturday, I'll be there!

[SacTown Chronic]

I'm in. I picked up a copy at a used bookstore for five bucks.




I voted for Mdm. Bovary for several reasons.

* I probably wouldn't pick up thius book pn my own and isn't that what a book club is all about - reading something you wouldn't normally read and expanding your horizions?
That's why I'm here.

[tracilicious]

I didn't meant to imply that I was against an IM conference.

I do, however, think it'd be pretty darn difficult to get everyone online (and available to chat) at the same time.


We most likely won't be able to get everyone. But if we set a weeknight in advance, at least some might want/be able to attend. There will still be plenty of in thread discussion for those that don't make it to IM.

[wendybeth]

I had to make the librarian go into the basement in the storage area to find it but I got the 1957 translation by Francis Steegmuller. I'm not sure if there is more than one translation but at least I found one.
It's kind of interesting on the jacket it says it was first published 100 years ago,from 1957, so it is fitting that the new translation should be published as part of the centenary celebration.
I'm surprised I have never read it, maybe once I start reading it will click that I have read it in the past. Well time to get reading since the husband is gone for the week!

That's considered to be the definitive translation, but there is also one by Paul de Man that's pretty good. I have a great book that is a compilation of correspondance between Flaubert and many of the literary and critical luminaries of his day. The ones between himself and his mistress Louise Colet are great. (This collection was compiled and edited by Steegmuller). Gustave was very......earthy. Intense, incredibly intelligent, but a bit of a nasty boy too.:D

[mousepod]

One of my pals here owns a used book store - so I traded some 'Andy Richter Controls the Universe' for Flaubert. I'm on vacation this week, so I'm just gonna plunge right in...

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'm not sure how posting the conference would pressure someone into attendng it. Mightn't that have the opposite effect?
True, it might. I was thinking of the jealousy of not being involved in the conversation. I personally would be bummed to miss that sort of thing.

Got my paperback copy from the classics section - ready, set, oh wait I'm busy most of this weekend ;)

[Matterhorn Fan]

I've also got the Steegmuller translation. Three cheers to the Everyman Library!

[€uroMeinke]

I got as far as the beginning of chapter two when the battery on my cell phone died

[Ghoulish Delight]

Mine has a red cover.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Does yours have gold letting on the spine?

[Gemini Cricket]

I think I have a copy with the rest of my books. But heck if I'm going down to the basement at this time of day...

[Prudence]

Crap - my translation is anonymous. Of course, it was also conveniently located on my bookshelf and I don't have time to get another. So scary anonymous translation it is.

Of course, I could go hardcore and track down a non-translated version...

[wendybeth]

It's kind of fun comparing translations- there really are huge differences, particularily with the novel form of bygone eras. Your translater has to be very familiar with the traditions and idioms of that time and be able to translate them in such a way that they don't mangle the form of the author's prose. Oscar Wilde was savaged by the snotty French critics for his works written in French. They're never happy, even if it's an original work and not a translation of a French author by a non-French type person.:rolleyes:

[katiesue]

I picked up a copy from the Borders "classics" collection this morning.