Nominating Dec and Jan Reads

[SarahC]

I am proposing that we do some consolidating for our upcoming winter reading nominations. With some of the U.S. facing a lot of work in the aftermath of disaster AND a holiday season approaching, many of us will be pretty busy. I would like to ask for nominations for the next two consecutive reads.

For our December read, I am proposing selecting a Short Read. Propose anything you wish that falls on the shorter side as Victorian novels go -- or short works if you have anything in mind. Keep in mind this is not a "holiday theme," so it doesn't have to fit into those confines.

For our January read, nominate our Longer Read. That allows you to nominate anything or any length.

The Short Read first will also allow us to begin the Long Read early if we finish up and interested members so desire to begin the next read. Not everyone is extra busy this time of year, and actually may have more reading time, so I am trying to reach a happy medium here. (And we won't need to set up the poll again to do it.)

Note: When looking at the overall list of nominations, we will use a little moderator discretion if necessary.

Final note: look back at last month's poll, there were some interesting choices there, if anyone wants to revisit those possibilities.

[SarahC]

Nominations will be taken through Friday, Nov. 16.

One Short Read nomination and one Long Read nomination per member. Thanks.

Works published during Victoria's reign, 1837-1901

[Amanda]

Hi, all! I am in the process of rekindling my romance with GoodReads and I cannot wait to participate in December and January! For a short read I'd like to nominate Silas Marner (I've never read it, alas). For a longer book I'd like to recommend The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

[John]

Hi all

For a short read, "The Spoils of Poynton" by Henry James.

For a longer read, "Is he Popenjoy" by Anthony Trollope.

Thanks, John

[Silver]

For short read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

For long read: Silas Marner by George Eliot

[Lindsey]

Hi All,

Short read - "The Professor" by Charlotte Bronte
Longer read - I second "Is He Popenjoy" by Anthony Trollope

Cheers, Lindsey

[SarahC]

Willowfaerie wrote: "For the shorter reads I would like to nominate something by Edith Wharton.

Ethan Frome Ethan Frome

Summer Summer

Bunner Sisters Bunner Sisters

They are all pretty short, and I love Edith's..."

Your noms are all good choices, thanks so much for placing them, but they fall outside our scope here in general. I added to my message #2 to make the request more clear. Please offer something else if you are interested.

[ShellWolf]

Short: The Seaside and the Fireside by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Long: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

[Janie]

Short Read: Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Long Read: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

[SarahC]

Great start to our nominations. Thanks everyone -- and such a busy day here in the U.S., we appreciate everyone taking the time to think about great reads!

[SarahC]

Martha wrote: "Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis; Ethan Fromme by Edith Warton"

Sorry, Martha, these novels do not fall within the Victorian period. Would you like to make some other nominations?

Works published during Victoria's reign, 1837-1901 (although we are opening the possibilities of works that have some period overlap - we'll have a future look at that, but these two novels would not fall within that)

[Everyman]

LOL! Amanda and Silver will have to duke it out over Silas Marner. Amanda has it for a short read, and Silver for a long read.

Whichever it is, it's a MUCH better book than you thought it was when you were forced to read it in 9th grade. Like most my age, I disliked it intensely when forced to read it back then: I loved it when I returned to it in my 30s.

Sarah didn't really define short and long, so it's fascinating to have SM nominated for both short and long within the first few nominating posts!

[Amanda]

SarahC wrote: "Great start to our nominations. Thanks everyone -- and such a busy day here in the U.S., we appreciate everyone taking the time to think about great reads!"

I'm haunting GoodReads to escape election jitters!

[Silver]

Everyman wrote: "LOL! Amanda and Silver will have to duke it out over Silas Marner. Amanda has it for a short read, and Silver for a long read.

Whichever it is, it's a MUCH better book than you thought it was w..."

I debated with myself where SM should be placed I am aware it is not that long, but I thought maybe a bit longer than some of the other short read choices. And for Decameter I would prefer something a bit more nouvelle length, I am still catching up on some reading I really got behind on as it is.

[Everyman]

Short: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Long: Meredith, The Egoist. I don't think we've read any Meredith here, have we? He isn't well known today, but in the Victorian world was one of the more popular authors, and shortly after Victoria's death he was awarded the Order of Merit by Edward VII.

[Everyman]

Amanda wrote: "I'm haunting GoodReads to escape election jitters! "

Ditto. At this point, I almost no longer care who wins and loses as long as they get it OVER with.

[Jamey]

Short: anything by Henry James
Long: Bleak House, Charles Dickens
(I'm new to the group so I don't know what you've already read...??)

[Kerry]

I am just recently trying to dive into the Victorian author era and am impressed and excited by all of the choices so far. I also have recently added all of these authors to my library which gives me a small swell of pride. I have to double check the timeframe but would Rebecca be acceptable for short?

[Kerry]

Sorry, just checked and Rebecca is too recent. My apologies.

[Lesley]

Short:

Long:

[Janet]

I'll pick two from my own TBR shelf...

Short read: Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
Long read: Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope

[SarahC]

Everyone, before you make nominations, I will ask you to read the guidelines in messages #1 and 2 above. Maybe skim down through the thread comments as well to get a look at other nominations. And possibly do a quick search to find the publication date of the work. Thanks all.

[Cynthia]

Everyman wrote: "LOL! Amanda and Silver will have to duke it out over Silas Marner. Amanda has it for a short read, and Silver for a long read.

Whichever it is, it's a MUCH better book than you thought it was w..."

That's so funny. I hated it in ninth grade.

[Joanna]

As a few of you mentioned, Silas Marner was dreadful in the ninth grade. Really dreadful, and I was even a reader of Victorian novels then - just not for school. I was astonished when I read it later (voluntarily,) and it had gotten wonderful. I had also read a "Classics Illustrated" comic of it, and didn't particularly like that either. But some of the illustrations are still fresh in my mind a zillion years later.

[Ruth]

Kerry wrote: "Sorry, just checked and Rebecca is too recent. My apologies."

Rebecca is one of my all-time faves, and is certainly Gothic, but as you say, not a Victorian. It does have a certain timelessness about it, though. I just finished not too long ago My Cousin Rachel. Again, not Victorian, obviously, but if you are a fan of Rebecca, I recommend this in the further Gothic tales of Daphne du Maurier.

[Cynthia]

Anything by Margaret Oliphant for either long or short? Since I just joined and missed out on so many books, I would love any Dickens, Trollope or James.
I'm so excited to be a member!

[Anna]

This is going to be my first read with this group and I'm not sure what has been read and what hasn't, therefore I will only be seconding other people's proposals this time. So my vote would go to 'Mary Barton' for a long read and I'm divided between seconding 'The Importance of Being Earnest' and 'The Professor' for short. (All three books have been sitting on my shelf for the past five years or so waiting to be read)

[SarahC]

Anna, I am glad you are interested in participating. We will have a voting poll to actually tally the votes, so watch for that. Also check our Read shelf here on this group. We try to avoid repeat reads if not much time has passed sine the earlier read, but you can take a look at that list.

[Anna]

Okay, thanks for clearing things up.

[Kimberly]

SarahC wrote: "Nominations will be taken through Friday, Nov. 16.

One Short Read nomination and one Long Read nomination per member. Thanks.

Works published during Victoria's reign, 1837-1901"

I like The Professor for short read and Bleak House for long.

[SarahC]

Hi all, I just wanted to do a quick note on the nominations so far. We have a good list of nominations that will make some good discussion for the upcoming months. Thank you.

I am taking a few of the noms off at this point. Those which were not Victorian works I have already noted. The group discussed Daniel Deronda exactly a year ago, so we wont repeat it just yet. Also, Bleak House was discussed earlier this year in February. Additionally, the group has just completed discussing two short works of Henry James, so, for the sake of of variety, I won't add James to the upcoming poll at this time.

Any members who put forward these noms, please feel free to offer a replacement for them.

We will take nominations through Friday and the actual voting poll will post after that.