The next book; Nominations open for Autumn/Spring of 2009

Let's start the process. I like the seasonal idea -- two books per quarter. What do others think?

Keep in mind, we'll be choosing two books to read consecutively.

Can't wait to see what comes up!

Sounds good, teelgee.

I nominate two:

History by Elsa Morante

The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris

Yep, sounds good to me teelgee.

So, I nominate:

Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

... because I fancy a chunkster to really get my teeth into and my brain has now recovered enough from my thesis to need sustenance ...

I read Life and Fate earlier this year and while I don't want to read it again so soon, I would definitely support the idea that you all read it! So, I'll second that.

I haven't participated in one of these group reads ina while so hopefully I'll be able to for this one:)
I nominate Don Quixote

Once again, I nominate The Octopus and The Sea Wolf. Some day, hope springs eternal.

Oooo, The Octopus looks interesting and I've never read The Sea Wolf ... I love the voting bit!

I'll nominate Tristram Shandy...because I planned to read it this year.

Before we get too much farther in this process, christiguc has a system in the monthly reads that I really like. C - correct me if this is wrong:

You can nominate TWO books.
You can SECOND as many as you want (not your own nominations though).

Books that get nominated AND seconded are voted on in a poll.

There's a runoff for the second book after a clear winner is declared for the first book.

I nominate:

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

And I second Life and Fate

I nominate:

The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

I would like to nominate:

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

For the reasons that I've never read anything by either Flaubert or Faulkner.

And I'll second The Good Earth - my parents had a copy on their shelves when I was a kid, and the name "Pearl Buck" has always fascinated me. And Don Quixote and Les Miserables, because it's time for me to read a chunkster too!

I second Madame Bovary!

OK so if we're seconding, I officially second The Octopus, Don Quixote and History (which I can't get to touchstone) ...

I'll second The Octopus, The Sound and the Fury, and Madame Bovary.

I'm seconding The Golden Bowl and The Sound and the Fury.

Thanks to all those who have seconded The Octopus.

I would like to nominate:

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

and I second Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Seconding Portrait of a Lady by Henry James and
Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman

I have not participated in the last two reads because I've been reading Dostoevsky. The Brothers Karamazov, best novel ever written, I read it twice this year!

I'll nominate Vanity Fair by Thackeray and The Pickwick Papers by Dickens.

I'll second Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.

I SECOND:

The Romance of the Rose

and I second
(or is it 3rd or 4th?):
The Octopus

I would like to nominate

Dr. Zhivago

and second

Sea Wolf.
--BJ

Oh, can I second another book? I'd like to second Vanity Fair as well as those I seconded above.

I nominate:

East of Eden
and
The Grapes of Wrath

I second Dr. Zhivago

The Three Musketeers, Don Quixote, and The Sound and the Fury.

I'd like to third Madame Bovary and nominate the Magic Mountain

Donʻt think this will get seconded,
but:

The Train was on Time by Heinrich Boll

I've been so out of the loop with this group, but hope I can get back in the swing of it soon.

I'll second (or third, etc.) Vanity Fair because it's been on my "I really should read that one" list for about a year! Lots of other good choices listed, too! I'l be watching for more nominations and the poll. Thanks, all!

Let's put an end time on this phase of voting; it started the 17th, shall we say the 24th? Then we should be able to vote and be ready to read by the 1st? Too short? Just right?

Would we vote on the 24th? I might get my daughter to vote for me as I will be out of town until the 27th. Would that be ok? The first sounds good to me. :)
--BJ

#29> BJ, We'd get several days voting as usual, I would think. (It's so easy to miss one day, especially with global time differences!) I think you'd probably be fine, being back on the 27th.

Right, wookie, thanks for clarifying. Yes, the voting would begin on the 24th and last several days. Voting by proxy is also fine, billiejean!

Hi im new to the group and havent read much literature in the past (not my normal genre) but looking forward to reading some so thought would start with recommending a book on my wishlist - The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien.
Cheers

Teelgee, 24th and 1st are both good for me.

I nominate:
A House for Mr Biswas by VS Naipaul
Burmese Days by George Orwell

#30 & 31 Thanks!
--BJ

I've not participated in the group, but if I can I'll second the Train was On Time; I'm a huge Boll fan, but haven't read Train, and that one would draw me in.

I second both Burmese Days and Mr. Biswas.

Thanks, A _musing;

Thanks (for the Orwell seconding), geneg

I'll second Vanity Fair - I've been wanting to finish that one for 15 years!!

I would like to second...
Vanity Fair by Thackeray
Burmese Days by George Orwell

If you haven't nominated or seconded yet, today is your last chance! The poll will go up sometime around 11pm PDT (8am GMT), with any luck.

Remember, you can nominate two and second any number of books. Anything that is seconded will be in the poll. (But don't second your own nomination!)

ETA: It's fun to second a book, but extra seconds don't count for anything. (Does that even make sense?) In other words, once a book is seconded, it's in the poll and any others won't push it higher. All books are equal at that point. OK, I'll shut up now.

Thanks for setting all this up, teelgee. If it's not too late I would like to second East of Eden.

*nomination closure panic* Can I second one more? The Brothers Karamazov?

REally excellent suggestions here. I await the poll!

No, not too late at all, digifish and klarusu. It's a long list for the first round!

The poll is up!

ETA the poll went amok, so the actual correct poll to vote in is here:

VOTE

RESULTS

The poll has closed.

Robert

Hmm, it should be active until the 29th. Can someone else try it please? I've already voted so it won't let me see choices again, just results.

It tells me it is closed too. :(

Same here, it says it's closed -- looks like only two people voted...?

Dang, I don't know why it did that/ Here's a second try:

VOTE

RESULTS

Whoever the second voter was in the original poll will need to vote again in this one. Sorry. Hope it works this time!

I'm getting the message that the new poll is closed too!

Something is definitely misbehaving...

I think I see what I did wrong. Try again please!

It works. I just voted. Can't wait for the results.

Thanks, I voted on the second poll, right? So many good books to choose from, I wanna read them all!

Yes, in fact I'm going to delete the first one just in case.

I just voted ... so many books, so little time. Now I'm over-excited!

Is anyone else seeing a problem with the math at the voting site! 260% of what - have we stopped using 100%? Is the US Treasury Department involved?

Example: Life and Fate is ahead with 34% of the votes... but 11 votes out of a total of 86 cast by 32 people equals 12%.

Is anyone else seeing a problem with the math at the voting site!

No, because we can vote for up to three books. The percent is not a percentage of the entire vote but a percentage of the voters who voted for that book. So: 11 out of 32 people voted for Life and Fate, 34%.

Edited to say: The percentage total could get up to 300%. Since it is 260%, some people decided not to vote for three and instead chose to vote for one or two.

Aha, the plot thickens! It's not a clear runaway for L and F!

Go Vanity Fair!

Actually, I just looked up Life and Fate and that looks pretty awesome too. And that way I wouldn't have to read a book with Reese Witherspoon on the cover or have they stopped selling the movie tie-in covers yet?

>62 unlucky: That's why I prefer good old used books!

Of the three leading books, I'd prefer to read The Brothers Karamazov.
I read it 10-12 years ago, and I think a reread would be very interesting as a group read.

Perhaps we should do a runoff for the top 3 or 4 books to determine the two we'll read? What do you all think?

I'm easy either way ... happy to just take the top two, happy to do more voting. Everything's a juicy read for the long winter evenings.

I agree with teelgee, first past the post sucks. Better voting systems rock my world.

I think at the moment, we've got a fairly clear "winner" and also a fairly clear runner-up. (Which is a completely different runner-up to what we had last time I looked! Things changed quite a bit over the weekend.)

I don't see any need to muck around with the voting system at the moment (but, granted, it might have been a closer call over the weekend, when I wasn't online much).

But that's possibly also coloured by my "yay! I've wanted to read the runner-up for ages!" feeling. :)

Looks to me like Life and Fate and Vanity Fair. Neither of which I voted for. However, by the rules we set out those appear at present to be the winners if the poll is closed. I'm sure we can figure out a way by changing the rules to jigger The Octopus to be the winner.

I know! If I don't like either winner and choose not to participate this time, I can read The Octopus on my own. That will be just like as if it won!

Come on folks, if your choice doesn't win, suck it up and deal with it. Suddenly deciding to change the rules is a rather childish way of dealing with disappointment.

When does the poll close?

No, that was not the point geneg. It isn't changing the "rules" (such as they are). A couple of days ago there was a near three way tie for top book. And the guidelines set out almost from the beginning were to have a runoff vote for the second book from the 2nd and 3rd and/or 4th books if they were close. See message #9.

The poll closes on the 29th, tomorrow. If we were voting today, I'd suggest Vanity Fair and the Bros. Kara would have a runoff for 2nd.

Other thoughts?

Oops!

Even if one does pull ahead I think we should a re-vote with just those two. Since Life and Fate is also very Russian it might influence which of those people vote for if they know that they'll be reading another fairly lengthy long Russian novel.

OK, the results are in. Life and Fate will be our first book, starting any time. Someone want to volunteer to set up threads? My text is broken down into three parts, each about 300 pages. Is that good or shall we break each part in half?

The poll for the second book is between Vanity Fair and The Brothers Karamazov.

The poll is here:

VOTE

RESULTS

>73 teelgee: Thanks teelgee. I will pass on Life and Fate and have voted for the second book. When does the poll close?

Oh yeah, that. It closes on the 4th. I'm not sure how they do time on Mister Poll, if it closes at 12:01 on the 4th or runs till midnight and if so, what time zone. I couldn't find the info. So sometime on the 4th around midnight GMT I'll close it.

I read Life and Fate earlier this year, so I won't join you all in reading. But I'll be up for discussion. It's really really good.

I have decided to skip Life and Fate because I've got too many commitments as it is already, but shall join you all for the second book (regardless of which it turns out to be). Thanks for all your efforts organising this, teelgee!

I've ordered a Norwegian edition of Life and Fate (Liv og skjebne), and I assume I'll receive it in aprox. one week.
I'm really looking forward to reading this novel with the group.

#73
I think three threads will do (+ maybe a conclution).

Yay! I've had Life and Fate on my book pile for ages ... it fell on my head along with Don Quixote last time I tried to extract Twilight from beneath it (there is a moral in this, I'm sure, and they did leave a mighty bruise!). Off to vote for the second one, both of which I'm also itching to read. Bring on the classics!

I may try to locate a copy of Life and Fate. It sounds interesting. I've recently read both The Brothers Karamazov and Vanity Fair, so I'm not going to vote--though I could tell you which is better :-)

>79 klarusu: ROFL!!! No doubt, a lesson to learn from that!!!

Ah ha-- I have procured a copy of Life and Fate. I knew there had to be some fringe benefit to befriending a professor of Russian studies.

Darn... someone has just borrowed my library's copy of Life and Fate. I'll have to wait until they return it. I wonder if it might be someone from Library Thing who's planning on doing the group read?

Life and Fate - gets many solid 5 starts at Amazon, but this book is not available as an eBook or an audio book, and my local library (rather large one) does not have it. I find that curiously strange.

I am also having a hard time finding this book. The whole Hawaii library system has only one copy and it cannot be transferred. And... our borders books store in town doesn't have it either. Darn, I'll need to do an online used book search today.

Beauty of LT being not as well known in Australia yet - I have a choice of 4 copies in libraries near me :)

I noticed that the poll for our second book is now closed. Vanity Fair wins!

Thank digifish, I forgot to check it last night but didn't get any new activity notification from Mr. Poll ergo nothing had changed.

So there we have it. Anyone have feedback on the process this time? Nomination> seconding> voting> runoff?

A smooth process, I think.
Let's do it this way the next time(s) too.
Don't you agree?

I don't know how you did it before, but this seems good. I liked that the voting period was short-- not dragged out over 3+ weeks. I also like the run-off part of the process.

Note: I am an engineer. Process is my life :)

Worked for me teelgee ... and Yay! for Vanity Fair.

I'm happy with the process. But we wouldn't need the run-off vote each time, would we? I can see why it was needed this time, but if we had two obvious "winners", there wouldn't be any need for a second vote.

Off to source Vanity Fair...

Help me;
Help me.
Life and Fate and Vanity Fair cover which quarter? I am thinking of quarters as:
1st: January, February and March;
2nd: April, May and June;
3rd: July, August and September; and
4th: October, November December.
You know, ---------- the year divided into 4 sections.
Am I missing something?
Aren't you glad I am here?
Sorry to keep bugging you, but the heading of the thread reads "The next book; Nominations open for Autumn/Spring of 2009."
Yet I hear/see talk of reading "2 books per quarter" and so am "cornfused".
Horton Hears a Who is crying out: "Help me, Help me." Please.
Thank you,
belva

Sorry, should have been more clear; the Autumn is Northern Hemisphere, Spring Southern. So October through December.

Life and Fate is happening now, Vanity Fair is next up, probably early to mid November through December. Then we start again.

I'll label them by quarter next time instead of by season. I was trying to be all inclusive and not so hemisphericentric! ;o)

And yes, I'm glad you're here!!!

thanx toots!~!

I accidentally started Vanity Fair already... I figured Spring is finished in my part of the world and we are well into 'pre-summer' ;) http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/20/2661156.htm

Did I just read the word "sprummer"? Thank all the gods no one seems to like it, it's a horrible name.

I have my copy of Vanity Fair, but will hold off starting it for a little while, I've got other books to read first!

I have just begun Vanity Fair. It is my first Thackeray and I cannot begin to tell you how much I am enjoying it. I am only 50 pages in, but am finding it quite delightful. I love the way he writes and wonder if all of his works are this humorous and endearing?
belva

Yikes! I better get moving on Life and Fate. I've been savoring it, but apparently I'm moving a little too slowly.

I was slow too arubabookwoman so decided to concentrate on Life and Fate and managed to finish it. I found Parts 2 and 3 easier to read than Part 1 and was absorbed with the lives of the main characters and their final fates.

Might re-read Vanity Fair if I have the time.

aruba and rose;
My books just arrived backward so I had Vanity Fair on hand. Life and Fate is now here so I will read it after I have finished Vanity Fair. You are neither one of you slow. I just didn't have the right book at the proper time. So....................
hugs to you both,
belva

Nannybebette -- feel free to set up threads for Vanity Fair - there may be others reading it too!

Now that I have read both Vanity Fair and Life and Fate I wonder what we will be reading in the New Year.

I am wondering too. We should probably do the voting before everyone takes off for the Holidays.

Good plan. I'll set up a new thread today.

Oh, Fun. It's the bestest thing to have; fun is!~!