The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge discussion
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message 51:
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Stephanie
(last edited Apr 25, 2010 06:28PM)
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Apr 25, 2010 06:28PM
May books are now posted! I received two emails today and took a suggestion from each member of the group that contacted me. I am excited because these are the first two books in quite awhile that I haven't read. I will finally be able to break out the highlighter again on the printed list I have had since 2005. :)
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Looks good! I've read A Passage to India but I'm adding the Cheever book to my list for this month. -- I'm still waiting for one of last months books to come in!
Are there June selections yet? I just re-joined this group in time for summer, and want to make sure I get good editions (as opposed to broken-binding with really small type editions) from the library. Which may involve multiple branches or multiple requests!
Dree wrote: "Are there June selections yet? I just re-joined this group in time for summer, and want to make sure I get good editions (as opposed to broken-binding with really small type editions) from the libr..."June selections haven't been made yet (as far as I know, anyway!) -- usually Stephanie either picks two for us or she asks us to send her requests to read. I expect we'll be hearing from her in the next week or so about that.
Interestingly, I have just finished The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession -- one of his goals were to "collect" (steal) first editions of the Modern 100 list!!
I have received emails from one person with summer suggestions. Based on our poll, people want a general reading list. If you have suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know. The list will be for the months of June, July, and August.
The books are now posted! The discussion thread are set up, and the bookshelf is updated!
Stephanie wrote: "Yep, send me an email if you have a request (those that have know that I honor them!) otherwise, you are at my mercy. (wicked laugh here)"Stephanie, on the bookshelf you have Animal Farm/1984 listed, but on the threads, it just shows as Animal Farm. Are we reading both books or just the one? I've read them both already, but was going to re-read it if it's just the one. Thanks!
We already read 1984 as a group, but I could not find Animal Farm by itself. I tried a few times to locate it on Goodreads, but with no luck. If you want to try to find it, you can, otherwise, I will just leave the picture up that I found.
Alright, disregard my last comment. I SWEAR, I spent about ten minutes trying to find Animal Farm on its own. IT WOULD NOT COME UP. I just tried again and it was the first book to appear. What the heck? Anyway, I have it fixed on the bookshelf and in the thread.
Sounds like an Orwellian scheme to confuse us through a systematic program of disinformation.. Hmmm...
Stephanie wrote: "We already read 1984 as a group, but I could not find Animal Farm by itself. I tried a few times to locate it on Goodreads, but with no luck. If you want to try to find it, you can, otherwise, I wi..."Thanks!
Garlan wrote: "Sounds like an Orwellian scheme to confuse us through a systematic program of disinformation.. Hmmm..."Haha!
I've read 4 of the 6 summer choices. Not sure if I will get the last two done on time. Maybe Gone With the Wind, but I saw Deliverance when it first came out as a movie and I'm not sure I want that experience again!
@Stephanie - I know the new books are for the "fall", but are you considering that through October, November or even December?
I was thinking through November, but if people want I can leave the books up through the end of the year. I am fine with whatever.
Stephanie wrote: "I was thinking through November, but if people want I can leave the books up through the end of the year. I am fine with whatever."Good, I was hoping at least until November to have more time to read them. That's just 2 of the books per month, so it's more do-able!
I think I'm going to start our Autumn reads with A Room With a View because I know I own that one and it's around here .... somewhere..... my TBR piles are getting ridiculous and I just know it's in there!
NicoleMichele wrote: "Barnes & Noble recently offered "A Room with a View" as a free eBook ~ it may still be available on their website. I chose that one to start with also Lynn. I'm on page 114. I'm going to read "A..."Hi NicoleMichele - Glad to hear you're reading A Room With a View, too. I found my copy and will start it when I am done with my current book, so probably tomorrow.
I am still working on The Fellowship of the Ring. I feel like it is going to be a great story, but I am having a hard time getting into it...and it is hard to read in bed because my copy contains all volumes in the trilogy...too hard with a book light and stability!
By the way, thanks Lynn for creating threads for the books. I have had a crazy week with illness and getting ready to start my new teaching job next week...it is like you read my mind when you sent me that email offering to help out! You're the best!
@ Stephanie - Helping here will be interesting - I haven't ever moderated or co-moderated a group before. Hope you have a great start to your school year!
How's everyone doing on the 6 books we are reading through November? I have 3 of them done and have given out a 1-star, a 3-star and a 4-star rating. I'm starting to read Appointment in Samarra now.
Mod
I'm really bummed about the first few books in the readings I've read. I've lost a little bit of my impetus.
Shawn wrote: "I'm really bummed about the first few books in the readings I've read. I've lost a little bit of my impetus. "Yeah, I find that there are quite a few books on this list that I have to wonder how they got there. But I made this a challenge to myself and now I feel a need to get the books read. It makes it easier to be doing the list with others!
I am going to read A Room with a View next. I am so far behind on the list, even being part of a challenge group. Like Shawn, many of the books have been disappointing to me as well. It makes it tough to go grab the next one when you have so many new books with fantastic ratings/reviews coming out. I WILL FINISH THIS LIST!
Just a reminder to everyone that I will be posting the poll for our December read this upcoming weekend (probably Saturday night). It will be open for one week. Please e-mail me SOON if you have books you want voted on. I do have about 10 titles already -- and thanks to those who sent them!
If the votes are too spread out without one clear winner, we might have a second poll with the top two/three books depending on how many participate and what the outcome is.
Stephanie wrote: "If the votes are too spread out without one clear winner, we might have a second poll with the top two/three books depending on how many participate and what the outcome is."I'm not saying which one, but one of the titles showed up on 4 e-mails. I'm going to make the poll results hidden so everyone truly votes for the one they want...and it adds a bit to the suspense of the results!
On my last of the 6 books for this quarter (Henderson the Rain King). I'm glad we decided to go with 1-2 books a month after this and am hoping the discussions pick up by doing that!
Eric wrote: "Got good news bad news. First the good. Bought The girl who kicked the hornets nest. From the book depository in the UK. Loved the first 2. Now the bad. I am in a serrious book slump. Having a real..."Have you tried to do a reading schedule*? I have had the same problem of feeling in a serious book slump? or that I have so many books I want to read that I am drowinging in them!!!! I am prone to this because of my ADHD.
I had to find a solution for being so frustrated at not reading books or only reading the first 100 pages then putting it down, ashamed, and feeling down on myself.
Here's what I do. I read only one non fiction and one fiction book at a time. Then I look at the books I want to read and think how long I want to take on each book, Star Wars Pulp Stories read fast, so I allow myself no more than three days.** But a classic book I allow myself to savor the words and read it in 7 days. Then I put the reading time on a calender and this is the time I allocate for it. If I don't get to it then I know I was not very interested in the book in the first place. Then I get rid of the books at my local used book store.
*(for lack of a better word for it, you could call it your life line. )
**I know I will get bored if I allow the book to linger... and then I will probably leave it unread.
I hope you all vote in the December poll. As poll creator I can see the results, so just to let you know it's a tight race at the top. Get your votes in!
LynnB wrote: "I hope you all vote in the December poll. As poll creator I can see the results, so just to let you know it's a tight race at the top. Get your votes in!"Did you send out an email with the poll to announce it? I did not receive it if you did, but saw that you had posted a poll from this thread. I am enjoying being a moderator, waiting in suspense with everyone else...it is fun for a change! Maybe we can alternate months for setting up the polls. This is probably a conversation to be having via email, but I am too lazy right now. :)
Stephanie wrote: "Did you send out an email with the poll to announce it? I did not receive it if you did, but saw that you had posted a poll from this thread. I a..."Yes, I did send out an announcement to everyone in the membership, and that included you ... so I hope everyone did get one! (if anyone else reading this didn't get the announcement, let me know, and I'll reissue it to everyone)
Arrgh! I just checked the votes and since this morning "my" book has slid to 2nd place. It will be interesting to see where this vote ends up!
AND THE WINNER IS....As you can see in our poll,
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, will be our December read. December is just too busy to get more than one book read and discussed, so we are just going with the top choice for the month.
Please click on "polls" to cast your vote for a board list book and a readers' list book for the month of January! Thank you to everyone who sent me suggestions! Because I received enough by today, I went ahead and posted the polls instead of waiting until Friday.
Stephanie wrote: "Please click on "polls" to cast your vote for a board list book and a readers' list book for the month of January!..."Wow! Those were fast replies!
Check out the tie-breaker poll that will be posted for just a few days!
I see that Gone With the Wind is the only book on our Bookshelf that I haven't gotten to yet. Guess I better try that while waiting for our January reads...
I posted the covers for our two upcoming books. Only one shows at the top of the page, but if you scroll down just beyond the end of the discussions, they both show. These are our January reads:Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
LynnB wrote: "I see that Gone With the Wind is the only book on our Bookshelf that I haven't gotten to yet. Guess I better try that while waiting for our January reads..."This is one of my 7 chunksters for 2011. :)
I'd like to be reading both of this month's books, but I find our library has neither...so I've ordered them online. Should get them in another day or two.
NicoleMichele wrote: "Lynn - I had to get my copy of "Invisible Man" from a used book store. It's not even available in eBook format yet. I'm going to start it as soon as I finish "Anna Karenina".~ NicoleMichele"
I ordered mine through a used bookstore, too (Powell's). We have two local used bookstores, but neither had the book. Hopefully the books will get here soon!
Hope everyone checks their in-box. I just sent out information about our February book nominations and voting.
I am having surgery next Friday so I probably am not going to be around for awhile. I wish I could say I will be catching up on the ML list, but truthfully, I will probably be reading magazines and watching television. I'll try and stop in next week at some point, but if you don't see me for awhile, that is where I am! Happy reading!
Thank you to Lynn, who is doing an outstanding job assisting me with this group in the few months of chaos I have experienced. ;)
Hi everyone - Stephanie will not be able to get around to organizing a poll for this month, and I don't have time to get on-line much in the next week. Soooo.... I have made an executive decision :) to make our March reads be the two books that came in 2nd and 3rd in our previous poll!
Just FYI everyone - Our March books are The Magus and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. The discussion folders are up and ready to be used.
Remember to vote for next month's book! Vote is open for a few more days.
The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
I, Claudius (other topics)The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (other topics)
The Magus (other topics)
Gone with the Wind (other topics)
Invisible Man (other topics)
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