Vote for March 2021 BOTM CLOSED

[Kristel]

March: Atwood to Barth
I am posting early. Heading out on Friday for Florida. Voting will go through the 23 and winners announced on the 24th regardless. Just extra time to ponder. One book is by popular vote and one will be selected by randomizer. Book under 600 pages and not a previous BOTM in past two years are included. If you think I missed something please let me know. Everyone gets a free vote but you can use participation points up to 5 total votes including your freebie. Please feel free to try and persuade people to vote on books you really want to read. Send a PM to the Reading 1001 shelf personality or to me. Don't forget to vote!

Excluded books: Cat's Eye, Another World, The Blind Assassin (637), Cloudsplitter, Giles Goat Boy.


Margaret Atwood, Canadian author, born 1939.
1. Surfacing, 1972, 244 pages
2. The Handmaid's Tale, 1985, 314 pages
3. The Robber Bride, 1993, 528 pages
4. Alias Grace, 1996, 468 pages

Bernardo Atxaga Spain, 1951
5. Obabakoak: Stories from a Village

Jane Austen England 1775 to 1817
6. Sense & Sensibility 1811, 409 pages
7. Pride and Prejudice 1813, 279 pages
8. Mansfield Park 1814, 488 pages
9. Emma 1815, 474 pages
10. Persuasion 1818, 249 pages
11. Northanger Abbey 1817, 251 pages

Paul Auster 1947, US
12. The New York Trilogy 1987, 308 pages
13. Moon Palace, 1989, 320 pages
14. The Music of Chance 1989, 320 pages
15. Mr. Vertigo 1994, 318 pages
16. Timbuktu 1999, 181 pages
17. The Book of Illusions, 2002, 288
18. Invisible 2009, 308 pages

Mariano Azuela Mexico, 1873 to 1952
19. The Underdogs 1916, 176 pages

Mariama Bâ Senegal, 1929 to 1981
20. So Long a Letter 1980, 90 pages

James Baldwin US, 1924 to 1987
21. Go Tell It on the Mountain 1953, 256 pages
22. Giovanni's Room 1956, 159 pages

J.G. Ballard China, 1930 to 2009 English novelist
23. The Drowned World 1962, 198 pages
24. The Atrocity Exhibition 1970, 136 pages
25. Crash 1973, 244 pages
26. High-Rise 1975, 208 pages
27. Empire of the Sun 1984, 351 pages
28. Cocaine Nights 1996, 336 pages
29. Super-Cannes 2000, 400 pages

Iain Banks Scotland, 1954 to 2013
30. The Wasp Factory 1984, 192 pages
31. The Crow Road 1992, 501 pages
32. Complicity 1993, 313 pages
33. Dead Air 2002, 436 pages
Iain M. Banks pseudonym for Banks, published SF
34. The Player of Games 1988, 293 pages

John Banville Ireland, 1945
35. The Newton Letter 1982, 96 pages
36. The Book of Evidence 1989, 220 pages
37. The Untouchable, 1997, 368 pages
38. Shroud 2002, 257 pages
39. The Sea, 2005, 195 pages

Muriel Barbery Morocco, 1969
40. The Elegance of the Hedgehog 2006, 325 pages

Henri Barbusse France, 1873 to 1935
41. The Inferno 1908, 255 pages
42. Under Fire 1916, 352 pages

Alessandro Baricco Italy, 1958
43. Silk 1996, 91 pages

Pat Barker UK, 1943
44. Regeneration 1991, 256 pages
45. The Ghost Road 1995, 277 pages

Djuna Barnes US, 1892 to 1982
46. Nightwood 1936, 182 pages

Julian Barnes UK, 1946
47. Flaubert's Parrot 1984, 190 pages
48. The Sense of an Ending 2011, 150 pages

John Barth US. 1930
49. The Floating Opera 1956, 240 pages
50. The End of the Road 1958, 198 pages


So which ones would you like to read this year?

[Kristel]

I've read 29 of the books and am interested in several for March.

The Robber Bride
So Long a Letter
Empire of the Sun
Super Cannes
The Wasp Factory
The Ghost Road

[Diane]

I would really like to read Alias Grace, the only Atwood I have not read.

The Robber Bride is an excellent book, one of my favorites.

I am down for Empire of the Sun.

[Diane]

Kristel wrote: "I've read 29 of the books and am interested in several for March.

The Robber Bride
So Long a Letter
Empire of the Sun
Super Cannes
The Wasp Factory
The Ghost Road"

Kristel enjoy your trip to Florida. In California we are encouraged not to travel more than 120 miles from our home. I went from Los Angeles to San Jose for business and I am having a difficult time.

[Pip]

I have only read 19, but I am interested in re-reading Jane Austen or Pat Barker because it has been a while

[Amanda]

I've read 40 of these ones, and unfortunately most of these are the ones already mentioned by people above.

The only one mentioned already that I haven't read yet is Super-Cannes. But as more people comment, could also be interested in:

-Obabakoak: Stories from a Village
-A bunch of the Banks books: Moon Palace, Mr. Vertigo, Complicity, Dead air, The Player of Games
-Shroud
-Under Fire
-Inferno

[Tracy]

I’ve read 45 of this group. I could get behind Obobakoak or The Underdogs.

[Patrick]

I've read 24 of these. My TBR shelf has another four, not sure how much interest/support these would get:

- Emma (Austen)
- The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood; I missed the boat on that one, I guess nobody wants to read this again)
- The Wasp Factory (Banks)
- The End of the Road (Barth)

[Taz]

The Handmaid's Tale is a brutal read. An excellent book though.

My votes:
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Empire of the Sun (another brutal read)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Nightwood

[Valerie]

I am interested in The Wasp Factory

[Leni]

I have read all of the Austen books, but I'm always up for a re-read. Except for MP, which is my least favourite Austen. I'd love to read more Atwood, so I'm happy to Alias Grace or The Robber Bride. I read The Wasp Factory just a couple of years ago, but I'm happy to read any of the other Banks books.

I have read both Baldwin books, and they are excellent, but I'd rather not read them again (so soon).

My preference would be The New York trilogy, because I've had that on my shelf for a while (and it is on my Boxall/Guardian crossover list). But I'm honestly up for anything as long as I can get hold of the book (at a reasonable price).

[Dan]

New York Trilogy

[Gail]

I have read 14 of these. Fourteen, as compared to Tracy's 45, and yet I have read the two books that Tracy would like to read: Obabakoak and The Underdogs. The odds of that seem slim to me...
Books people have mentioned that I have not read and would be happy to read:
The Robber Bride
The Wasp Factory
Actually any of the Banks (I have read none of them)
Of the Baldwin, I have not read Giovanni's Room
Of the Austin, I have only read Emma, Persuasion and S&S
Nightwood
The New York Trilogy

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Plenty on this list still for me to read, though of everything, I'd pick The Underdogs.

Austen I've read, and Ballard, D. Barnes, Auster, Barker, and Barth I've read enough to know I'm not chomping at the bit to read anymore.

[Diane]

I've read 45, so I'm pretty much out. However, there may be hope, as all the books I have not read have been mentioned by others:

Inferno
Shroud
Dead Air
The Crow Road
Super Cannes

[Pip]

I have just picked up The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Giovanni's Room and Cocaine Nights along with a large armful of other 1001 books at Gertrude and Alice, the excellent bookshop just down the road from my daughter's Sydney house, so I would love one of those to be chosen.

[Jamie]

I've read ~22 of these, including all of Ballard and Austen. I own The Untouchable, but it is on my TBR Takedown shelf.
I'd be most interested in either The Robber Bride or The Underdogs for the March BOTM.

[Jen]

I was hoping for Ballard but see that won't be a popular choice - I would also be interested in The Underdogs.

[Gail]

Super Cannes seems to be Ballard that people would vote for.

[Kristel]

I was one that said I would be up for Super Cannes.

[Leni]

I just bought The Man Without Qualities, The Goldfinch, The Glass Bead Game, and Hyperion (this last one in German because the translation costs a mint! Gulp.) So I'm going to vote for a book I already own or can get through the Covid-limited library service. LOL

That means:
New York Trilogy
Mr Vertigo
The Drowned World
Empire of the Sun
Alias Grace
The Robber Bride
Any of the Austens
The Untouchable
Regeneration
The Sense of an Ending
Flaubert's Parrot

Wow, ok, my digital library service is coming through for me here.

[Jamie]

I finished most of Ballard's novels over the past few months, including many of his non-List ones, and would recommend Super-Cannes or High-Rise, for folks who really want to do some Ballard in March. High-Rise is a bit different, but the audiobook is read by Tom Hiddleston, always a plus. Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition are both pretty gross, really. Empire of the Sun is lovely, and has scenes in it that I wish they'd kept in the movie. :)

[Diane]

Jamie wrote: "Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition are both pretty gross, really. "

Would definitely agree.

[Amanda]

I could also mess with Super-Cannes if people are thinking in that direction. That's what I'm probably voting for.

[Diane]

Amanda wrote: "I could also mess with Super-Cannes if people are thinking in that direction. That's what I'm probably voting for."

I can definitely get behind it.

[[deleted user]]

Books excluded from Randomiser:

The Handmaid's Tale
Elegance of the Hedgehog

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I see you don't do polls over here--how do you decide the winner of the BOTM?

[Kristel]

Bryan--Pumpkin Connoisseur wrote: "I see you don't do polls over here--how do you decide the winner of the BOTM?"

Voting is done by private message to me or to the bookshelf personality. Right now I am away from home, so best to send to me. Everyone gets one free vote but you can do additional votes if you've earned participation points. (See how to earn participation points). We don't do polls because there are too many choices to do the poll method, We occasionally do polls when there is voting that requires less choices.

[Jessica]

I've read 19 of these and the list includes 2 of my favorite authors: Atwood and Auster.

I'd love to read:
Surfacing
New York Trilogy
Moon Palace

2nd tier of want to reads:

Obabakoak
Mansfield Park
Crash
Wasp Factory
The Underdogs

[George P.]

I've read eleven of the choices, a little less than my usual percentage, and have ten of them on my to-read list.

Saw 4 prior endorsements on Empire of the Sun- and that would be my 1st choice.

My 2nd choice: The Crow Road by Banks; I think 3 people mentioned him/it including Diane (w/ the cat pic).

The only Atwood in the list I haven't read is Robber Bride so I'd like to read that as well, and I make the 5th to endorse that.

I do want to read Ghost Rd but I want to read the 2nd bk in the trilogy before that, Eye in the Door (which isn't on the list). I liked her Regeneration a lot and Another World somewhat. Eye in the Door and Ghost Rd combined would be 560 pages for me. Kristel is the only other one liking it up til now though.

[Leni]

There seems to be quite the spread here. Now I'm really curious which book we will end up with. And of course there's the monthly excitement of the randomiser. But why is The Handmaid's Tale and The Elegance of the Hedgehog excluded from the randomiser but not from the voting?

[Kristel]

Bookworm decided to give books that have less chance to improve opportunity. She is excluding previous winners.

[Leni]

Oh, I see. That's a good idea. More of a chance that the randomiser will pick something few have read.

[Hilde]

I have The Robber Bride on my shelf, so I could get back that one as well.

[Kristel]

The winner's this month
Popular vote: Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard
Radomizer: The Newton Letter by John Banville.

What will you be reading in March?

[Leni]

The Newton Letter appeals to me. It's also short, so it won't take up much space in my overflowing bookcases. On the other hand, it's third in a trilogy, and while they don't seem to be connected by anything but a science theme I feel tempted to read them all.

[Diane]

I will be reading Super-Cannes. I have already read The Newton Letter.

[Kristel]

I have Super-Cannes so that will be what I will read. I do not own The Newton Letter and doubt that I want to purchase it right now. It is available at Abe Books for purchase. I think Better World Books has it also.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I read Super-Cannes a few years ago. I The Newton Letter were to fall in my lap between now and then, I'd read it, but I'm not really a big Banville fan.

I'll be interested in hearing how others take Super-Cannes.

[Gail]

My library has Super-Cannes so I will be reading that and I will look for The Newton Letter

[Amanda]

I'm on the same page as Diane, going to read Super-Cannes (so happy it won: finally a botm vote comes through for me this year lol) but have already read Newton Letter.

[Patrick]

Provided I can source either of them (Super-Cannes more likely, Newton Letter a long shot), I should be able to read them.

[George P.]

I'm not very excited about either of these books, so I think I will focus on reading some of the 25 or so books that I have bought and not yet read- I resolved recently to make a dent on those.
I do want to read Ballard's Empire of the Sun but don't know if I'll get to it this year.

[MaryAnn (EmilyD1037)]

I don't have either one of those so I am going to skip reading them. I am trying to read from shelves at home, so I will work on them.