Bob’s Comments (group member since Jun 22, 2011)

Bob’s comments from the Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) group.

I nominate Little Big Man by Thomas Berger. Published in 1964 and 422 pages in length. It has a Goodreads rating of 4.26. It can work for several bingo squares and can find a home on several dishes at the buffet.

Rollercoasters are meant to be fun. Your good book, bad book up and downs has got to be trying. Lets hope for a long fast run of good reading,

A great month of reading, Congrats.

Another Hardy to read. I would love to read all of his books, but unless I discover the magic of holding a book in my hands and absorbing its contents, it is a lost cause.

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx is our April 2023 Short Story/Novella Read.

This discussion will open on April 1

Beware Short Story Discussions will have Spoilers

May 2023 nominations now open! Please review the requirements below for book eligibility.

In the interest of variety, please wait a month to renominate a book that has been in the poll. These are the books from
April's poll:

Poll Winner, Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
2nd, The Color Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft
3rd, The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
4th, A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
5th, The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
6th, Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
7th, In a Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

1. Members nominating for a monthly Group Read will need to check that a copy of the text is reasonably available for members and is available in English. Moderators may disallow a nomination if a copy is not readily available.

2. Books that have already been featured as short story group reads or currently on our bookshelf, in any category, are not eligible to be nominated.

Short Story Book Shelf

3. Only books up to 130 pages maximum are eligible for nomination. If a story slightly exceeds this number of pages the moderator will decide if the story will pass through to the poll, (probably a coin toss)

4. A story's size will be determined by using the Goodreads default edition. If a larger number of editions listed indicate the story has more pages than the default edition, it may be ruled ineligible. If the story has no Goodreads edition and is a part of a larger collection, please identify the collection title and indicate the number of pages applied to the story you are nominating.

5. Only stories/books that were published before 1999 are eligible to be nominated in this section.

6. When making a nomination, please use "add book/author" link to help moderators and others view the book selected.

7. Only seven books, by seven different authors will move forward to the poll. This will be determined by the number of seconds a book receives. The seven books with the most seconds moves to the poll.

8. Only one nomination AND one second per member will be allowed. A nomination can be changed only until it has been seconded. Once seconded, in fairness to the member making the second, the nomination will stand.

8a. A second can be withdrawn and placed on another choice. This change must in some way be noted in a post such as, "I am withdrawing my second for book A and placing it on book B." It will be easier for the moderator to track changes.

9. Only one book per author, In the event that more than one book by the same author is nominated, the first one to receive a second will be eligible. The nominator of the ruled ineligible book will be able to nominate a replacement or second another already in nomination.

9a. Same author-multiple categories The same author may be nominated in multiple categories in a single month as long as the nominations are for different books. In the case of identical nominations, precedence will go to the first one to receive a second.

Nominations will run from today thru the 14th. Polls will open on the 16th and run till the end of the month

Wobbley wrote: "I just joined the group near the end of January. It seems to make the most sense to do a baseline. So, as of the time I joined, out of all the books on the shelf up to and including the January 202..."

I hope your numbers increase steady. It is fun to keep track, I have been working on our shelf for over ten years and doubt I will ever finish, but I will keep trying.

I am doing this in reverse. I didn’t pre-plan my February reading it just happened. All books were on my years challenge reading plan, except one for my wife’s book club. I just pick the next one out of this year's pile. I have had a great February. All were finished in February others started and finished.

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. wife's book club read, the things I read for love,
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Forgotten Door
So Big
No Highway
The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venicel
King Solomon's Mines
The Yearling

Welcome Lynnie, I agree North and South is a great read, 5 Stars.

Nice to see you doing another challenge. I would wish you luck, but it looks like you are flying through. Enjoy.

I too, thought that Murder at the Vicarage was the first Miss Marple. I still do, one I have not heard of The Thirteen Problems which was published in 1932, while Vicarage was published in 1930. But what do I know. I will gladly blame the new Goodreads changes. They are, at least for me terrible.

Since reading Kindred, I have been interested in reading another by Butler. I will check my library system for a copy and hope for the best.

Since you liked Lonesome Dove, you might want to try the sequels. Another I read recently was The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, really good.

Old and New is one of my favorite challenges. I also think it is one of the harder to complete. You have rocked it so far this year. The Moonstone is a great story and I loved every page. I hope it wins for you.

I can certainly get behind lighter enjoyable reading. This year is at least starting off better than last year. My reading is a little faster and my selections have so far been page turners. Don’t forget Nevil Shute for your British authors. As for 39 Steps, I read it in 2020 and I'm sure I used it for that year’s challenges. This year’s comments have been great.

Slow and steady wins the race. I think. I look at my challenge and think, wow, I’m doing great. Other times I think, wow, I’ll never finish. By the way, one of your book selections keeps jumping out at me, The Power of One. I do hope you get to that one this year, for me it was great.

This was one of my mother’s favorites. Whenever I see the title I think of her and smile. This is the only book by Buck that I have read, I do have a couple more on my shelf.

Terris, anything that wins in this year’s group polling, regardless of size is eligible for this challenge. This year’s Buddy Reads are also eligible.

Welcome Serena, one of my suggestions for a classic is All Quiet on the Western Front. Glad you are with us!

I know how you feel, there is no magic wand, no crystal ball. All we can do is vote for the one we want the most and hope for the best.