June 2020 BOTM - Results

[John]

And the votes are in. The Last Crusader: A Novel about Don Juan of Austria, by Louis de Wohl will be our June 2020 BOTM, winning with 8 votes in its first month on the voting list. The Last Crusader was closely followed by Europe and the Faith with 7 votes and American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States with 6. Six books received 3 or 4 votes and six received 1 vote each.

There were no books that received no votes, but as the person who nominated Broken Body has asked that it be withdrawn, it will be removed from the list.

The two new books joining the voting list next month will be The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis, nominated by John, and The Light: Who Do You Become When the World Falls Away?, by Jacqueline Brown, nominated by Madeleine.

[John]

We didn't have any books eligible for the randomizer this month, again. Some of those books have had only a single vote for quite some time. I've decided to identify the books each month that receive a single vote. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't vote for these books next month. I am sure that we have had books that received a single vote in one or more months that went on to be selected as a BOTM. Perhaps even books that received no votes, survived the randomizer and went on to be selected as a BOTM. That is certainly a valid reason to use one or both of your votes to keep a book that you really want to read in the running for the next month. But at some point, it should become clear that the book is unlikely to be selected. This information is provided to help people identify what that point might be.

With that introduction out of the way, the following books (with the month they were first in the voting list) received a single vote in the polling for the June 2020 BOTM:

- Out of the Ashes - October 2018

- The Divine Milieu - April 2019

- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning - August 2019

- Bodies & Souls - December 2019

- Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought - June 2020

For those who are interested, Out of the Ashes is not the book that has been on the list the longest, that would be The Myth of Hitler's Pope, first included in the voting for the March 2018 BOTM, followed by The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, first included in the voting for the April 2018 BOTM.

[Kerstin]

FYI, 'The Last Crusader' is available on FORMED for anyone who has access.
I am still debating if I can fit it in... I am tempted :-)

[Madeleine]

I checked on FORMED. The Last Crusader is an audiobook, I downloaded it on my Kindle but didn't see an option for an ebook through FORMED.

[Kerstin]

I must have missed that.

[Mariangel]

https://watch.formed.org/the-last-cru...

Try the above link while you are logged in. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see the Kindle and Epub buttons.

Alternatively, use the Search feature (I looked for "Crusader")

[Kerstin]

I double checked, the download for both kindle and epub is right there when you scroll a little further down.

[Madeleine]

Kerstin, I found that, and it has now downloaded on my Kindle, but it shows up not as a normal ebook, but in machine language. I don't know if there is a way to convert, but I do have the audiobook, and I may have to settle for that. I may or may not get to finish it! I did put in a trouble report to FORMED help. We'll see.

[John]

Kerstin wrote: "FYI, 'The Last Crusader' is available on FORMED for anyone who has access.
I am still debating if I can fit it in... I am tempted :-)"

I hope you do, Kerstin - it is excellent.

[Robert]

Kerstin wrote: "I double checked, the download for both kindle and epub is right there when you scroll a little further down."

Sure you got the .mobi file and not the .epub? Worked fine for me. If not, you could try using calibre on your desktop. Works like a charm for me when converting between file formats to put books on my kindle.

[Madeleine]

Robert, thank you. I have been deliberating whether to get calibre. It seems to have some excellent reviews. Nothing I tried let me download in a readable format, so I broke down and bought the Kindle version. It's a long book, so I thought better to get started than waste more time. But I just might try calibre in the future.

[John]

John wrote: "We didn't have any books eligible for the randomizer this month, again. Some of those books have had only a single vote for quite some time. I've decided to identify the books each month that recei..."

Mariangel very helpfully dug through past voting records to generate additional data. The following are the books that received only one vote or no votes and survived the randomizer in the last six polls:

March 2020 BOTM (three books tied, which is why the next vote wasn't until this month's vote for the June 2020 BOTM; other gaps below reflect similar ties):
- Europe and the Faith, March 2020

February 2020 BOTM
- American Catholics, September 2019
- Bodies & Souls, December 2019
- Scarlet Pimpernel, April 2018
- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning, August 2019

January 2020 BOTM
- Deliver Us From Evil, December 2019 (selected as a BOTM in March 2020)
- Divine Milieu, April 2019
- Scarlet Pimpernel, April 2018
- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning, August 2019

December 2019 BOTM
- Bodies & Souls, December 2019
- Deliver Us From Evil, December 2019 (selected as a BOTM in March 2020)
- Georgios, April 2019 (removed February 2020)
- Knowledge and Christian Belief, April 2019 (removed January 2020)
- Myth of Hitler's Pope, March 2018
- Out of the Ashes, October 2018
- Scarlet Pimpernel, April 2018
- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning, August 2019

October 2019 BOTM
- American Catholics, September 2019
- Knowledge and Christian Belief, April 2019 (removed January 2020)
- Myth of Hitler's Pope, March 2018
- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning, August 2019
- Spiritual Combat, May 2018 (selected as December 2019 BOTM)

September 2019 BOTM
- American Catholics, September 2019
- Georgios, April 2019 (removed February 2020)
- Myth of Hitler's Pope, March 2018
- Scarlet Pimpernel, April 2018
- The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning, August 2019
- Spiritual Combat, May 2018 (selected as December 2019 BOTM)

[Kerstin]

Robert wrote: "Sure you got the .mobi file and not the .epub?"

Very sure. With my ancient kindle I have to download on my laptop and then transfer via USB cable.

[Kerstin]

John wrote: "Kerstin wrote: "FYI, 'The Last Crusader' is available on FORMED for anyone who has access.
I am still debating if I can fit it in... I am tempted :-)"

I hope you do, Kerstin - it is excellent."

Well, with this encouragement how can I refuse!