Vote for December 2024 botm CLOSED

[Kristel]

The authors for December are Colin MacInnes through Herman Melville.

Books over 600 pages are not included and books that have been past botm in 2022 are also not included.

Voting starts today and ends on the 24th when the winners will be announced.

HOW TO VOTE:
Please send your choices by private message to either myself or the Shelf Personality. Everyone gets one free vote. if you have participation points you can have up to 4 additional votes. You can use them all on one choice or you can make 5 different choices.

Only books that have not been previous botm in past 10 years will be added to the randomizer. Each book you choose will be fed into the randomizer for an opportunity to be chosen by the randomizer. * (excluded from randomizer)Ian MacPherson

Colin MacInnes - UK
1. Absolute Beginners - 2018 botm

Henry MacKenzie - Scotland
2. The Man of Feeling

Ian MacPherson - Scotland
3. Wild Harbour

Naguib Mahfouz - Egypt
4. Miramar
5. Midaq Alley 2016 botm

David Malouf - Australia
6. Remembering Babylon

André Malraux - France
7. Man's Fate

Henning Mankell - Sweden
8. Faceless Killers

Heinrich Mann - German
9. Professor Unrat

Thomas Mann - German
10. Doctor Faustus -
11. Death in Venice - 2016 botm

Katherine Mansfield - NZ
12. The Garden Party, 2014, 2011 botm

Peter Manson - UK
13. Adjunct an Undigest

Sándor Márai - Hungary
14. Embers, 2016 botm

Javier Marías - Spain
15. A Heart So White
16. All Souls

Petros Markaris - Turkey
17. Late-night News (Kostas Jaritos, #1)

David Markson - US
18. Vanishing Point-
19. Wittgenstein's Mistress

Yann Martel - Canada
20. Life of Pi, 2012 botm

Luis Martín-Santos - Morroco
21. Time of Silence

Tomás Eloy Martínez - Argentina
22. Santa Evita

Joanot Martorell - Spain
23. Tirant lo Blanc

Pavlos Matesis - Greece
24. The Daughter

Harry Mathews - US
25. Cigarettes

W. Somerset Maugham - France
26. The Razor’s Edge - 2020 botm
27. Cakes and Ale

François Mauriac - France
28. Vipers' Tangle

Margaret Mazzantini - Ireland
29. Don't Move

Eimear McBride - UK
30. A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

Patrick McCabe - Ireland
31. The Butcher Boy

Cormac McCarthy - US
32. All the Pretty Horses - botm 2014
33. Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West

Horace McCoy - US
34. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Ian McEwan - UK
35. Enduring Love
36. Atonement
37. Saturday
38. Amsterdam
39. Black Dogs
40. The Child in Time
41. The Comfort of Strangers
42. The Cement Garden - botm 2020

John McGahern - Ireland
43. That They May Face the Rising Sun
44. Amongst Women

Heather McGowan - US
45. Schooling

Zakes Mda - South Africa
46. The Heart of Redness

Herman Melville
47. Billy Budd, Foretopman

The last month of this reading year. Which book(s) would you like to read? Which ones have you read.

[Patrick]

21 done, I have a few on my TBR shelves:

- Wittgenstein's Mistress (Markson)
- Cigarettes (Matthews)
- Don't Move (Mazzantini)
- The Comfort of Strangers (McEwan)

I'll wait and see what piques everybody's interest.

[Kristel]

I've read 25 of them. A few that would work are
-Wittgenstein's Mistress (Patrick option)
-Comfort of Strangers (Patrick option)
others;
Cakes and Ale
Viper's Tangle

I also have Miramar and Schooling.

[Gail]

I have read 20 of these and have read none of the ones suggested by Patrick and have not read Viper’s either. Of these I would prefer Comfort of Strangers if others are interested.

[Patrick]

Just saying, but The Comfort of Strangers is a very short book for those (like me) trying desperately to finish the Annual read and the last of the Quarterly reads...

[Kristel]

Patrick wrote: "Just saying, but The Comfort of Strangers is a very short book for those (like me) trying desperately to finish the Annual read and the last of the Quarterly reads..."

Seems like a good plan.

[Jane]

Comfort of Strangers sounds good -- I'm in!

[Diane]

Comfort of Strangers sounds good to me too. It is short but does not sound like a merry read. I still have a few Ian McEwan books to get through.

[Kristel]

Ian McEwan has so many books on the list and we really have only read one of his as a group read. So it seems like a good plan and I like that it isn't so long.

[Pamela]

I’ve read 14 of these. I would be happy with The Comfort of Strangers too.

[Rosemary]

I've read The Comfort of Strangers (4 stars from me) so I will probably choose some for the randomizer, including Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern, which I own.

[Valerie]

I have also read The Comfort of Strangers, and gave it 4 stars. I will be concentrating on 2 books from my randomizer list which I hope to read before the end of the year.

[Amanda]

The only one I haven't read is Tirant lo Blanc, so going to vote for that.

[Jenna]

I have read several McEwan and liked them all so also totally on board with the short read comfort of strangers pick 🙂

[Kristel]

It's the last day to get your votes in. I am afraid that GR is not sending out emails if you've been previously notified of activities. I sent a group announcement on Saturday and leaving this reminder today. Announcing winner tomorrow.

[George P.]

I've only read 12 of this month's books. Don't know if I want to read Comfort of Strangers. I think I will put votes on A Heart So White and McGahern's Amongst Women- I liked his That They May Face the Rising Sun a lot.
Of McEwan it's worth mentioning that all his books except Atonement and Cement Garden were dropped from later editions of the 1001. Evidently he had some big fans in the group selecting for the 1st edition.

[Kristel]

BOTM for December 2024
Popular Vote: The Comfort of Strangers
Randomizer: Miramar, submitted by Rosemary.

Thank you everyone for your voting. Next selections will be January and of course we are starting a new set. I will also be asking for your nominations for quarterly reads. So stay tuned, keep checking in.

What will you be reading in December?

[Valerie]

I've read The Comfort of Strangers. I would like to read Miramar, but will have to see if I can inter-library loan it. Not surprisingly, it isn't available locally.

[Pamela]

Excellent, I will be reading both of these. I love Naguib Mahfouz’s writing. A great way to end the year for me!

[Kristel]

I hope to read both, too. I have Miramar in a book I bought last year.

[Gail]

I have read Miramar and loved it but I did not read it that long ago so I will pass on a reread. I will be reading The Comfort of Strangers. I don’t usually love McEwan but a few of his books have surprised me. Probably good that I am only reading one BOTM as I still have a long way to go in Joseph.

[Rosemary]

I will read Miramar! It's the first time I've had a randomizer picked, is it silly to be excited?!

[Kristel]

Rosemary wrote: "I will read Miramar! It's the first time I've had a randomizer picked, is it silly to be excited?!"
You should feel like you won a lottery!

[Rosemary]

Kristel wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will read Miramar! It's the first time I've had a randomizer picked, is it silly to be excited?!"
You should feel like you won a lottery!"

I do!!

[George P.]

Miramar is rather short. From libraries available to me I can only get it from the university; I need to go there soon to return some so I'll get it then if available (probably will be). I'll pass on Comfort of Strangers.