MobileRead 2016 Book Club CATEGORY Nominations

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I would agree with that and would back the combined group with a nomination.

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm not interested in a short story anthology of different authors, if that's what the nominated category implies, but would back a short story collection of a single author if it's proposed.

Originally Posted by CRussel

I could see a place for either, though I admit I'm much more likely to vote for one that is by a single author. I'd suggest that we let the category itself be as broad as possible, and let the individual month's voting deal with the particulars. (Though I'm not at all sure that this category will even make it in to the final list.)

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm fine with the broad category, also. It's all a carp shoot anyway - both what will make it to the final list and what will be nominated/selected.

It would appear that of those who cast votes for either Short Story Anthologies or Short Stories almost all seem willing to combine into a single Short Story Collection category (avoiding finely splitting the general idea)? All that is except for din155 who provided the initial nomination for both of these. Perhaps din155 could clarify what he intended by suggesting two short story nominations and if he would be content with reducing it to a single category? If so WTSharpe can this be done? If not I suggest Short Story Collection as a category.

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I won't be supporting classics in the vote. Since inception in 2008, the bookclub has read 38 classic books in 82 months (46.3%). Even excluding the categories that were MR Classic and Classic the totals are 27 in 71 (38.0%).

38% of the time the bookclub has chosen a classic book when it didn't have to. The bookclub will continue to seek out classics due to cost and availability. I don't see that changing if we don't have a classics category. The bookclub members aren't going to suddenly forget that classic books exist if we don't have that category.

Not that I doubt your assertion I would ask what your working definition of classic was in making your statement. A book old enough to be in the public domain is not by definition a "classic," in fact few public domain books are classics. Patricia Clarke Memorial Library is a collection of public domain books, not classics.


I agree that is is a crap shoot whether any of these possibilities will receive enough votes in the coming poll to make it into a monthly category, but as I would like to see a short story category I'd like to be sure that votes not be split or diluted. I'd say that all categories proposed are a crap shoot though some would require a fluke run of box cars to be a monthly category (eg Science), while others (eg Science Fiction) any old toss of the dice will be good.

Just to stir the pot a little perhaps some one might wish to have a category of books written for children and adolescents? Based on the results to date of pdurrant's Best Fiction of the 20th Century polling such a category would receive a lot of votes from Mobile Read member's of all ages.

[din155]

Sorry I just realised I had not actually thought it through. Thanks Hamlet53 for clarification.

[ccowie]

Originally Posted by CRussel

For two examples: The Omnivore's Dilemma and As Always, Julia. Both of which I've read, and both of which I would highly recommend. And neither is a cookbook, but very much about food and cooking. There are lots of other examples, of course. I'm not sure I'd vote for this as a category, but it's definitely a group of books that I read and enjoy.

Yes, these were the types of books I was thinking of when nominating the category. Anything by Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichle, Anthony Bourdain, Jeffry Steingarten etc. There are many and they're very entertaining, informative and, strange but true, often quite sexy.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I own a Paperwhite and my daughter owns a Nook, we have both read Manga on our devices with no problem. I can't speak for anyone else experiences, of course.

Try them on PW3/Voyage/Glo HD/H2O and see if you can easily read them. I've tried some graphic novels to find that the resolution was too low.

[din155]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

It would appear that of those who cast votes for either Short Story Anthologies or Short Stories almost all seem willing to combine into a single Short Story Collection category (avoiding finely splitting the general idea)? All that is except for din155 who provided the initial nomination for both of these. Perhaps din155 could clarify what he intended by suggesting two short story nominations and if he would be content with reducing it to a single category? If so WTSharpe can this be done? If not I suggest Short Story Collection as a category.

I am interested in reading short stories of both kinds and have no problem if categories are combined. I had kept them separate because I have not many people keen on reading anthologies with stories from different authors.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

...Just to stir the pot a little perhaps some one might wish to have a category of books written for children and adolescents? Based on the results to date of pdurrant's Best Fiction of the 20th Century polling such a category would receive a lot of votes from Mobile Read member's of all ages.

Done! I nominate-

Young Adult & Children's
For the kid in all of us. This includes anything from The Brothers Grimm fairy tales and The Secret Garden to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I'll second Young Adult & Children's.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by din155

I am interested in reading short stories of both kinds and have no problem if categories are combined. I had kept them separate because I have not many people keen on reading anthologies with stories from different authors.

I wasn't sure what was meant by either. I agree on combining them (for those scoring, I prefer by one author.)

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Done! I nominate-

Young Adult & Children's
For the kid in all of us. This includes anything from The Brothers Grimm fairy tales and The Secret Garden to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'll second Young Adult & Children's.

I'll 3rd Young Adult & Children's meaning I have 1 vote left, I think.

[Dazrin]

I would support a broad short story category. I like both themed anthologies (different authors) and single author collections so having the opportunity for people to nominate whatever they want and then choosing what sounds best out of that is appealing. I don't have much interest in non-themed anthologies but I wouldn't want to exclude them completely. If there isn't a reason for the stories to be bound together I would rather they not be. Some of the "best of 19xx" anthologies are like that.

[HomeInMyShoes]

If everyone is in agreement -- me, din155, Dazrin, kyteflyer and WT Sharpe -- can we drop the Short Story Anthology category and just have Short Stories as the category which would include both multi and single author collections?

din155 nominating, WT Sharpe seconding and HomeInMyShoes thirding.

That would give din155 and kyteflyer one nomination back.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I won't be supporting classics in the vote. Since inception in 2008, the bookclub has read 38 classic books in 82 months (46.3%). Even excluding the categories that were MR Classic and Classic the totals are 27 in 71 (38.0%).

38% of the time the bookclub has chosen a classic book when it didn't have to. The bookclub will continue to seek out classics due to cost and availability. I don't see that changing if we don't have a classics category. The bookclub members aren't going to suddenly forget that classic books exist if we don't have that category.

Point made, but many classic books don't fit into other genres or categories we have, even PCML. Something like a Drama category (not as in plays but as in book genre) could cover that gap but I'm now out of votes, and I like Classics anyway.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

The original poster specifically said, not cookbooks, but rather books where food and cooking are main subjects.

There have been a lot. I'm not sure I'd vote for this category, but it is not cookbooks.

Yes, the impression I got was books where food was an important element, like Karen Blixen's Babette's Feast (or maybe Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

[din155]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

If everyone is in agreement -- me, din155, Dazrin, kyteflyer and WT Sharpe -- can we drop the Short Story Anthology category and just have Short Stories as the category which would include both multi and single author collections?

din155 nominating, WT Sharpe seconding and HomeInMyShoes thirding.

That would give din155 and kyteflyer one nomination back.

I am in!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Not that I doubt your assertion I would ask what your working definition of classic was in making your statement. A book old enough to be in the public domain is not by definition a "classic," in fact few public domain books are classics. Patricia Clarke Memorial Library is a collection of public domain books, not classics.

My definition was old enough to hit the 70 year mark and stood the test of time to still be relevant.

Generally they were books that stood the test of time to still be published and talked about. Of the books that hit the 70 years, only Dr. Izard was suspect enough to not be deemed classic. There's a few others that I might put into the non-classic, but these are not weak names in this list:

A Passage to India, E M Forster
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
Dracula, Bram Stoker
King Solomon's Mines, Rider Higgard
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K Jerome
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie
The Trial, Franz Kafka
The Machine Stops, E M Forster
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
A Room with a View, E M Forster
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
The Island of Dr. Moreau, HG Wells
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Tender is the Night, F Scott Fitzgerald
Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott
A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, Amelia Edwards
Carmilia, Sheridan LeFanu
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
Persuasion, Jane Austen
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas
Dubliners, James Joyce
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Rema
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
The Man Who Would be King, Rudyard Kipling
The Cricket of the Hearth, Charles Dickens
The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
West with the Night, Beryl Markham

There have been 10 Classic (and of the list above a couple of the less Classic ones (Verne) were for a Classic month), 2 MR Classic, and 2 PCML months.

I did not include some newer books that certainly fit as Classic as well, including Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck.