Literary I Will Not Follow Where the Path May Lead • May 2020 - Page 2

sun surfer · 05-06-2020, 01:41 AM

Wow. I know of films adapted from books and alternatively novelisations of scripts, but a film and book being made in tandem sounds very unique.

sun surfer · 05-06-2020, 02:51 PM

This month I've decided to try limiting my votes to about 2/3 of the nominees. It was hard because I liked all the nominations just as much as other months, and would equally be happy with any of the ones I'm not voting for winning. I read previews of all nine and think I'd enjoy any of them.

Some random thoughts on a few (and this doesn't imply a greater interest in these than the others, they're only some extra things I've thought of to say)-

Of ones I haven't mentioned yet, The Caliph's House looks very interesting. I do love nonfiction travel writing and Morocco holds a special allure. I know a little about the country but haven't ever really read much on it, though I've seen some films set there from Casablanca (which doesn't focus on the culture but still is famously set there) to Only Lovers Left Alive (another non-Moroccan film, but it does feature some very culturally relevant scenes set and filmed in Morocco). I'm intimidated by the length of Shantaram, but I love the description and so the chips can fall where they may; if it wins I'm up for the challenge. It also has an extremely high Goodreads rating for a highly reviewed non-sequel fiction book. It's 4.27; over half of the reviewers gave it 5 stars, and over 80% gave it either 4 or 5 stars.

It could be interesting with 2001 to see how it compares to the film and especially how it differs, and I've never read any Clarke so this would give me an opportunity to do so.

The hardest one to not vote for was Waugh since I loved Brideshead Revisited so much, but I stuck to my 2/3 goal.

I'll list my votes in reverse nomination order:

-1 to Beyond the Black Stump
-1 to 2001: A Space Odyssey
-1 to The Caliph's House
-1 to Shantaram
-1 to Goodbye to Berlin
-1 to Moonfleet

sun surfer · 05-06-2020, 03:01 PM

One other thing I meant to say, and I don't want to edit a post with votes, so I'll say it here in a separate one, is that my votes were also influenced by authors that had moved to other countries. Generally that wouldn't matter to me and I'll be just as happy with any of the authors winning whether they ever moved countries or not, but considering the topic it did have me considering that as a consequential factor for my own votes.

AnotherCat · 05-06-2020, 09:10 PM

Mine are:

2 - Moonfleet
2 - The Caliph's House
2 - Beyond the Black Stump
1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
1 - Goodbye to Berlin

Bookworm_Girl · 05-09-2020, 04:54 PM

Here are my votes.

The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah - 2

Moonfleet by John Meade Falkner - 2

Beyond the Black Stump by Nevil Shute - 2

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - 1

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - 1

sun surfer · 05-09-2020, 04:54 PM

About five and a half hours left vote.

sun surfer · 05-09-2020, 04:55 PM

Wow, we posted at exactly the same time! Heh.

Bookworm_Girl · 05-09-2020, 05:05 PM

I hard a hard time deciding as always. I say that every month! I like the fun way this category was interpreted even more than I expected.

I have read Scoop and enjoyed the satirical comedy of it. Well, more specifically, I listened to it and wouldn’t mind reading it again in book format. Like sun surfer, the only book I have read by Nevil Shute is A Town Called Alice although I own On The Beach and will get to it someday. I remember seeing the movie 2001 but don’t think I have read anything by Clarke before.

Bookworm_Girl · 05-09-2020, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Wow, we posted at exactly the same time! Heh.

Great minds think alike!

sun surfer · 05-10-2020, 12:24 AM

Initial voting is complete and, surprise surprise

, we have a tie! It is between:

-Moonfleet
-The Caliph's House
-Beyond the Black Stump

Run-off voting is now open!

Voting will close exactly TWO DAYS from this post.

Each person has TWO votes to use.

If the run-off ends in a tie, the selection that received all its votes first will win.

sun surfer · 05-10-2020, 12:33 AM

Adding in the run-off wording to the OP, I noticed that we're now deciding between the very first, the very middle and the very last nomination.

I'm going to wait a bit to vote to see where the wind may blow. I'm having a hard time deciding on one of these not to vote for, let alone two.

AnotherCat · 05-10-2020, 08:56 PM

Mine are:

1 - Moonfleet
1 - Beyond the Black Stump

Bookworm_Girl · 05-11-2020, 01:28 AM

My votes are:

1 for The Caliph’s House
1 for Moonfleet

sun surfer · 05-11-2020, 06:57 PM

I’ll go with what everyone has voted for and give 1 to Moonfleet. I’m also adding Beyond the Black Stump and The Caliph’s House to my tbr, along with some of the others from this month.

AnotherCat · 05-11-2020, 08:40 PM

I had decided that I would start reading Moonfleet regardless as it is a book that had been on my mind for a long time, so am already a few chapters into it.

I have read all of Shute's books over the years but Beyond the Black Stump was a long time back so was already on my to reread list, as was 2001 again last read years ago (Scoop is also on my reread list so I'd better confess that all my nominations were of books I wanted to get back too rather than ones never read

).

The Caliph’s House looks very interesting and is now on my to be read list, so interesting looking that getting to reading it might be pretty soon.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Short Fiction Bedford-Jones, H: The Wolf Woman, and other stories (2020); v1, 10 Feb 2020	Pulpmeister	ePub Books	0	02-10-2020 08:19 AM
Short Fiction Bedford-Jones, H: Three Piece Dollar, and other stories (2020), v1, 10 Jan 2020	Pulpmeister	Kindle Books	0	02-09-2020 09:06 PM
Short Fiction Bedford-Jones, H: Three Piece Dollar, and other stories (2020), v1, 10 Jan 2020	Pulpmeister	ePub Books	0	02-09-2020 09:04 PM
PRS-350 About the epub custom font path And how to know the path?	52manhua	Sony Reader Dev Corner	6	12-20-2013 01:28 AM
Follow A Certain Path, ebook or paperback!	sjboyer	Self-Promotions by Authors and Publishers	0	03-06-2012 04:41 PM

05-06-2020, 01:41 AM	#16
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	Wow. I know of films adapted from books and alternatively novelisations of scripts, but a film and book being made in tandem sounds very unique.

05-06-2020, 02:51 PM	#17
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	This month I've decided to try limiting my votes to about 2/3 of the nominees. It was hard because I liked all the nominations just as much as other months, and would equally be happy with any of the ones I'm not voting for winning. I read previews of all nine and think I'd enjoy any of them. Some random thoughts on a few (and this doesn't imply a greater interest in these than the others, they're only some extra things I've thought of to say)- Of ones I haven't mentioned yet, The Caliph's House looks very interesting. I do love nonfiction travel writing and Morocco holds a special allure. I know a little about the country but haven't ever really read much on it, though I've seen some films set there from Casablanca (which doesn't focus on the culture but still is famously set there) to Only Lovers Left Alive (another non-Moroccan film, but it does feature some very culturally relevant scenes set and filmed in Morocco). I'm intimidated by the length of Shantaram, but I love the description and so the chips can fall where they may; if it wins I'm up for the challenge. It also has an extremely high Goodreads rating for a highly reviewed non-sequel fiction book. It's 4.27; over half of the reviewers gave it 5 stars, and over 80% gave it either 4 or 5 stars. It could be interesting with 2001 to see how it compares to the film and especially how it differs, and I've never read any Clarke so this would give me an opportunity to do so. The hardest one to not vote for was Waugh since I loved Brideshead Revisited so much, but I stuck to my 2/3 goal. I'll list my votes in reverse nomination order: -1 to Beyond the Black Stump -1 to 2001: A Space Odyssey -1 to The Caliph's House -1 to Shantaram -1 to Goodbye to Berlin -1 to Moonfleet

05-06-2020, 03:01 PM	#18
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	One other thing I meant to say, and I don't want to edit a post with votes, so I'll say it here in a separate one, is that my votes were also influenced by authors that had moved to other countries. Generally that wouldn't matter to me and I'll be just as happy with any of the authors winning whether they ever moved countries or not, but considering the topic it did have me considering that as a consequential factor for my own votes.

05-06-2020, 09:10 PM	#19
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	Mine are: 2 - Moonfleet 2 - The Caliph's House 2 - Beyond the Black Stump 1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey 1 - Goodbye to Berlin

05-09-2020, 04:54 PM	#20
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	Here are my votes. The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah - 2 Moonfleet by John Meade Falkner - 2 Beyond the Black Stump by Nevil Shute - 2 Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - 1 Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - 1

05-09-2020, 04:55 PM	#22
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	Wow, we posted at exactly the same time! Heh.

05-09-2020, 05:05 PM	#23
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	I hard a hard time deciding as always. I say that every month! I like the fun way this category was interpreted even more than I expected. I have read Scoop and enjoyed the satirical comedy of it. Well, more specifically, I listened to it and wouldn’t mind reading it again in book format. Like sun surfer, the only book I have read by Nevil Shute is A Town Called Alice although I own On The Beach and will get to it someday. I remember seeing the movie 2001 but don’t think I have read anything by Clarke before.

05-10-2020, 12:24 AM	#25
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	Initial voting is complete and, surprise surprise , we have a tie! It is between: -Moonfleet -The Caliph's House -Beyond the Black Stump Run-off voting is now open! Voting will close exactly TWO DAYS from this post. Each person has TWO votes to use. If the run-off ends in a tie, the selection that received all its votes first will win.

05-10-2020, 12:33 AM	#26
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	Adding in the run-off wording to the OP, I noticed that we're now deciding between the very first, the very middle and the very last nomination. I'm going to wait a bit to vote to see where the wind may blow. I'm having a hard time deciding on one of these not to vote for, let alone two.

05-10-2020, 08:56 PM	#27
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	Mine are: 1 - Moonfleet 1 - Beyond the Black Stump

Advert

Advert

05-11-2020, 01:28 AM	#28
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	My votes are: 1 for The Caliph’s House 1 for Moonfleet

05-11-2020, 06:57 PM	#29
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	I’ll go with what everyone has voted for and give 1 to Moonfleet. I’m also adding Beyond the Black Stump and The Caliph’s House to my tbr, along with some of the others from this month.

05-11-2020, 08:40 PM	#30
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	I had decided that I would start reading Moonfleet regardless as it is a book that had been on my mind for a long time, so am already a few chapters into it. I have read all of Shute's books over the years but Beyond the Black Stump was a long time back so was already on my to reread list, as was 2001 again last read years ago (Scoop is also on my reread list so I'd better confess that all my nominations were of books I wanted to get back too rather than ones never read ). The Caliph’s House looks very interesting and is now on my to be read list, so interesting looking that getting to reading it might be pretty soon.