November Open Pick

[Whitney]

Where does the time go? I'm a few days late in getting this posted, but it's time for nominations for our November open pick. Nominations will be open for 6 days before the poll goes up. For new members, please read "How Things Work" in the Welcome folder. Okay, start nominating!

[LindaJ^]

The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami.

Published Jan 1, 2014. Received a lot of notice --
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST
MAN BOOKER LONG LIST
WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD
A New York Times Notable Book
A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Book of the Year
An NPR Great Read of 2014
A Kirkus Best Fiction Book of the Year

[Hugh]

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth.
It is already on my "to read" shelf and it looks very intriguing.

[Peter]

Hugh wrote: "The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth.
It is already on my "to read" shelf and it looks very intriguing."

I read The Wake, and I found it very interesting. I also read with my copy of A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary at my right hand, and sometimes the process seemed as much decoding as reading. I think at times my wife (Casceil) thought I had lost my mind.

The language can be beautiful and poetic, but at other times, rather opaque. Or both:

so it is when a world ends
who is thu i can cnaw but i will tell thu this thing
be waery of the storm
be most waery when there is no storm in sight

or

this man capd he is in grene and he wers upon his heafod a wid hat and until i is near i can not see his nebb, and then he teorns to me he locs at me with his one eage one beornan cage

Also the narrator is probably insane.

I admit I would love to have someone to discuss this book with. And some readers didn't feel the need of a dictionary, one reviewer claimed not even need the partial glossary included in the book. However, reading this book is not like reading most books, even most difficult books.

[Casceil]

In case any one has concerns about the availability of the Wake, the Goodreads link Hugh has provided takes you to the English edition. If you go to that page and click on "all editions" it will give you a list that includes a kindle edition and other print editions with a range of prices.

[Abhirakshit]

I nominate 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Heard very good things about it.

[Lily]

Abhirakshit wrote: "I nominate 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Heard very good things about it."


All 1,126 pages! I think we need some way on this board to facilitate nominating and discussing tomes like this. Yes, we are nominating for November which is still over a month away. Nonetheless, to obtain and read 2666 (description here should be in English; it does say "only" 898 pages) by then seems daunting, at least to me. (And yet what I have read about it suggests it could be a very worthy choice.)

[Whitney]

With the open pick, we assume people will take into account the length of a book, cost and availability before voting. Generally a book this long won't win the popular vote, but "A Little Life" won last month, so who's to say?

There is the additional issue of who will moderate a very lengthy book if it wins. If Abhirakshit doesn't want to moderate, I would be fine doing it (or one of the other mods if they prefer, but this is just to say that it's covered one way or another). I've read it before, and it is definitely a worthy choice.

And a reminder to everyone that nominating or voting for a book is a promise that you will join in the discussion if it wins.

[Whitney]

Also last call, nominations will be closing tomorrow.

[Casceil]

Diving Belles by Lucy Wood is a collection of short stories in which "Cornish folklore slips into everyday life."

[Hugh]

Casceil wrote: "Diving Belles by Lucy Wood is a collection of short stories in which "Cornish folklore slips into everyday life.""

Yes, it is a quirky debut collection and a much easier read than at least two of the other nominations (mine included). I'd be happy with any of them!

[Carl]

Lily wrote: "Abhirakshit wrote: "I nominate 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Heard very good things about it."


All 1,126 pages! I think we need some way on this board to facilitate nominat..."

For me, 2666 is one of the top 5 books in the last 25 years. As I recall, it could be divided into two or four to make for a longer than 1-month project. Bolano is a magical writer. His poetry is powerful also - accessible and powerful modern poetry.

[Whitney]

I'd be pretty happy with all of these as well. Carl, I think that dividing up 2666 is a good idea. It would be up to moderator if they wanted to extend the discussion that way (if it wins, of course).

The nominations are closed and the poll is up, here or from the group homepage. It will be up until the end of the month.

[James E.]

2666 is a fantastic book from an important L. Am writer & would be a great choice but yes it is long. it could be readily broken up into its 3 volumes but logistically tricky to cover. One volume a month would tie up 3 months. Not sure how the moderators would best deal with it. Seems like size alone shouldn't disqualify it.

[Whitney]

As I said in response to Lily's post, we assume people are going to take the size of the book into account when voting for it. I'm sure a lot of people are reluctant to choose a longer book, and that's fine, but if it wins that means that a majority do want to read it. There are many reasons a book may not appeal to people, and length alone is not a disqualifier. That being said, it IS a long book, and not one that's generally considered an easy read. The discussion will likely be broken up into two months or so instead of the usual one.

And I'll repeat the admonition that voting for a book means that you are committed to reading and discussing. This will be a large commitment for the moderator, and there will be crankiness if those who voted for it don't show up.

Poll is closing soon, so anyone who wants to get a last minute vote in, or change their vote to give a different book a bump, now is the time.

[Hugh]

just changed mine since it's pretty clear my nomination is out of the running!

[Casceil]

Someone else also changed a vote, so now we have a very tight race between three books. If anyone who voted for 2666 wants to change their vote to The Moor's Account or Diving Belles, you can tip the race. Here is your chance to feel powerful, people.

[Lily]

Whitney wrote: "...I'm sure a lot of people are reluctant to choose a longer book, and that's fine, but if it wins that means that a majority do want to read it...."

Well, it could mean that a significantly large group of people have read it and are interested in discussing it.

I have really torn feelings about this one. Just know that I can't personally commit to reading 2666 right now, in this time frame.

[Hugh]

A clear win for tactical voting!

[Abhirakshit]

That was close, amazing stuff. Though I wanted to tackle the beast of Bolano, The Moor's Account sounds great too.

[Whitney]

Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to this one as well. (There's an excellent film called Cabeza de Vaca based on the same events for any interested parties, based on the accounts of a different member of the party.)

Linda, as the nominator, would you like to moderate?

[Caroline]

The moderator pick for November is Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi.

[Anita]

I'm excited about our Moderator pick. Have had it on my TBR pile for a while and hadn't gotten to it, yet! Now I will.

[LindaJ^]

Whitney wrote: "Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to this one as well. (There's an excellent film cal..."

Wow -- quite a comeback to win! I am going to be traveling the last 3 weeks of November, which means I may not be logging on to Goodreads as often as usual. However, with that caveat, I am more than willing to moderate.

[Caroline]

Linda wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to this one as well. (There's an ex..."

Meant to reply to this sooner. Linda, I think that should be fine. If you can take on the initial moderating, one of us should be able to help out later in the month.

[LindaJ^]

Caroline wrote: "Linda wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to this one as well. ..."

Sounds good. I just finished the book. Should elicit some good discussion!

[LindaJ^]

Caroline wrote: "Linda wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to this one as well. ..."

Will you be setting up a placeholder for The Moor's Account? It appears I cannot start a new discussion (or I'm just not smart enough to figure it out!).

[Caroline]

Linda wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Linda wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Yes, an exciting last minute upset of the frontrunner. The Open Pick for November will be The Moor's Account. I'm looking forward to t..."

Been a bit sluggish the past couple days due to all the Halloween festivities - but the placeholder thread is now up!

Discussion thread for Boy, Snow, Bird will be added later today.