Choosing a book for January/February 2019

[Louise]

Please list 5 books that you would like to read with the group in January. We will take those with the most mentions to create a poll. Thank you.

[Louise]

I will get us started:

Sand
My Dog Tulip
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
A Month in the Country
Jigsaw

[Cynthia]

So it can be something that has already been read?

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Loving by Henry Green

Stoner by John Williams

Act of Passion by Georges Simenon

Fat City by Leonard Gardner

The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards

[Louise]

Cynthia wrote: "So it can be something that has already been read?"

Yes, if you think people will want to re-read it to discuss in January.

[ColumbusReads]

The New York Stories of Edith Wharton - Wharton
Dirty Snow - Georges Simenon
The Expendable Man - Dorothy Hughes
Hard Rain Falling - Don Carpenter
The Strangers in the House - Simenon

[Louise]

Hi Columbus! Nice to see you here too!

[ColumbusReads]

Louise wrote: "Hi Columbus! Nice to see you here too!"

Hi Louise! I’m just book-stalking you. Haha... great that you’re moderating. I love NYRB classics!

[Mirko]

I have made a couple of changes to my original list. The five books I'd like to read with the group:

Omar Pasha Latas by Ivo Andric
Katalin Street by Magda Szabo
Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal
Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon
Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

[Kevin]

Loving this new thread and I'll read/re-read anything. But if I'm picking 5 then...

The Book of Ebenezer Le Page - G.B. Edwards
Ice Trilogy - Vladimir Sorokin
Katalin Street - Magda Szabo
Augustus - John Williams
Testing the Current - William McPherson

[Pillsonista]

Great thread! My five:

The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Álvaro Mutis

The Lord Chandos Letter and Other Writings by Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin

That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda

The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla

[Liz M]

Five short nyrb books I own that I would like to read:

Hill by Jean Giono
The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns
Envy by Yury Olesha
Tyrant Banderas by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán

[Jason]

I have the following on my reading list:

The Vet's Daughter
The Old Man and Me
A View of the Harbour
Katalin Street
Blood Dark

[WndyJW]

I will second


Omer Pasha Latas: Marshal to the Sultan
Katalin Street
A View of the Harbour


I will leave mine at three to tighten up the number of books in the running and recommend that we vote on books that have been seconded.

[Louise]

I'm cleaning up the other thread so I'm putting Helen's suggested 5 here:

The Land Breakers
Warlock
Kaputt
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
Beware of Pity

[Louise]

Keep your suggestions coming. So far Katalin Street has 4 nominations, and 5 other titles have 2 each. You have until Saturday Dec. 8th at 11:59pm EST to get your nominations in.

[Christopher]

Berlin Alexanderplatz is TBR for me.
I have a copy of Kaputt.

What about Post Office Girl and The Dud Avacado?

Has everyone read these but me?

[Seana]

Christopher wrote: "Berlin Alexanderplatz is TBR for me.
I have a copy of Kaputt.

What about Post Office Girl and The Dud Avacado?

Has everyone read these but me?"

Not to dissuade anyone from picking these, but Post Office Girl and The Dud Avocado have been past reads here. Both very good.

I'm happy with whatever the selection turns out to be, but of the picks so far, I am most interested in

Katalin Street
The Invention of Morel
Dirty Snow

[Louise]

Post Office Girl and The Dud Avacado are on my TBR pile.

[Louise]

Christopher, are you nominating these four titles?

[Louise]

Seana wrote: "Not to dissuade anyone from picking these, but Post Office Girl and The Dud Avocado have been past reads here. Both very good..."

Post Office Girl was read in Jan. 2012 so 7 years ago. I'm guessing the membership has changed a bit in that time? I think if a title hasn't been discussed in the past 3 years we should be able to give it another go. I cannot find when The Dud Avocado was discussed. Some other nominated titles have been discussed in the past too, but I think if they get nominated and voted on by the majority, we should be okay to have another discussion.

[Christopher]

Yes, and Invention of Morel is my fifth.

[Seana]

Yes, I totally agree, rereads are acceptable. I don't know that I will personally reread, because I'm not much of a re-reader, but I will follow along with interest if a book I have already read is chosen. And yes, I'm not sure if I read The Dud Avocado because of this group. I thought so, but not at all sure.

[Seana]

Okay, not to be a contrarian but just in the interest of clarity, here is the thread on The Dud Avocado.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Louise]

Thanks Seana. I could not find it. You’re not being a contrarian at all :-).

[Seana]

I looked it up more to see what I thought I remembered than to prove anything. I had some younger friends in the non online world who were into it and I thought that might have been the influence.

[Dan]

Life and Fate
Collected essays of Elizabeth Hardwick

[WndyJW]

I will second Life and Fate

[WndyJW]

I’m a newer member and re-reader so if it’s been a while since I read any book I loved I will reread and if I read the chosen book recently I can discuss it without rereading.

[Suki]

I'm intetested in reading any NYRB, but I've got these on my TBR:

The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes

Thus Were Their Faces: Selected Short Stories by Silvina Ocampo

The Gate by Sōseki Natsume

Compulsory Games by Robert Aickman

The Return of Munchausen by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

[Lois]

I think I will wait till the poll is created and just vote rather than nominate, but interested to see what comes up :)

BTW I like the idea of the 3-year rule - I will re-read depending on time available and length of book, but don’t mind skipping the odd month while others catch up on past reads (and there are lots of past reads I missed too, so might be good to get a second chance!).

[Antonomasia]

I don't do a lot of group reads but would like to add to the votes for Dirty Snow. Been meaning to get round to Simenon for years and the book is short.

I'm also interested in Katalin Street but this is only being published in the UK in January 2019 so won't be as easy to get here. (Don't count this as a nomination of Katalin Street please.)

ETA I am reading The Doll at the moment so would welcome a discussion on that. It is a long book, however. (This is a nomination.)

[Kris]

I second Katalin Street and The Vet’s Daughter. Also: The Slynx, Angel, and The Ten Thousand Things.

Looking forward to it!

[Helen]

Suki wrote: "I'm intetested in reading any NYRB, but I've got these on my TBR:

The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes

[book:Thus Were Their Faces: Selected Short Stories|220564..."

I am also interested in reading The Gate, it's on my TBR pile.

[Helen]

Antonomasia wrote: "I don't do a lot of group reads but would like to add to the votes for Dirty Snow. Been meaning to get round to Simenon for years and the book is short.

I'm also interested in Katali..."

I'm also in the UK. I agree, it will be hard to join in for this one should it be chosen as the first read, which would be a shame because it looks a good one.

[Brad]

Hi!

Sand - Wolfgang Herrndorf
My Dog Tulip - JR Ackerley
Katalin St - Magda Szabo
Grand Hotel - Vicki Baum
The Singapore Grip - J.G. Farrell

Looking forward to the poll.

Brad

[Brad]

Also happy to re-read anything by Henry Green, one of my favourite writers.

[Emma]

sorry, I had just listed classics I mean to read. Now these are NYRB:
Fatale, by Manchette
A Balcony in the Forest, by Gracq
Act of Passion, by Simenon
Confusion, by Zweig
The Gate, by Soseki

[NancyKay]

Kempowski, All for Nothing

Book of Ebenezer le Page

Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner

[Rachel]

Katalin Street (Szabo)
The Dud Avocado (I haven't read it either)
The Slaves of Solitude (Hamilton)
The Green Man (Amis)
A Game of Hide and Seek (Taylor)

[Lobstergirl]

I'll second The New York Stories of Edith Wharton.

I will mention two that I own and haven't read yet, but I doubt these will result in enthusiasm as they are nonfiction and long.

Memoirs by Lorenzo Da Ponte
The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership

[Cynthia]

A Month in the Country
Beware of Pity
Berlin Alexanderplatz
The Go-Between
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page

[WndyJW]

I’ll second The Singapore Grip, Grand Hotel and Summer Will Show

[Aarti]

How exciting!

Of those already nominated, I add my vote for:
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
- Memed, My Hawk
- The Post Office Girl

Not sure it is worth adding more at this point, but I also have these unread on my shelf and would love the impetus to read them:
- Miami and the Siege of Chicago
- Sheppard Lee

[Louise]

Just a few hours left to get your nominations in, not that we need anymore, lol. 73 titles have been nominated so far! I will be creating the poll at midnight tonight (EST).

[Jeff]

Just found this group (thanks Seana!) so I figured I may as well slip under the wire and list the NYRB books that I own but haven't yet read.

Witch Grass by Raymond Queneau
Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

[Louise]

Welcome to the group Jeff! I will gladly add your nominations.

[Seana]

Great, Jeff and Louise. And if they don't get picked this time, there will be other chances.

[Louise]

Nominations are closed and the poll is open! Please vote for the book you want to read and discuss in January.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to submit nominations. We had 76 different nominated books!!!! 23 books had two nominations each. 7 books had 3 or more and those 7 books have been included in the poll. Go check it out!

[Jason]

Thanks, Louise, for tracking nominations and setting setting up the poll!